A new $275,000 program would pay criminals to behave. The Council will vote on it on Wednesday

CINCINNATI (CINCINNATI ENQUIRER) – The Cincinnati City Council is poised to spend $275,000 on a gun violence reduction program that seeks to remove “active firearm offenders” from the street life through pay, travel, job training, therapy and more , according to our media partners at the Cincinnati Enquirer.

The money for the program is part of a $65 million spending plan for money that was not spent as part of last year’s budget. The Council will vote on the final part of the spending law on Wednesday.

The anti-violence program was included in the spending bill during a meeting of the Budget and Finance Committee on Monday, but few details were disclosed.

“You all understand how tough the last few weeks have been,” said Vice Mayor Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney, who is supporting the program’s launch in Cincinnati. “We just lost a 5-year-old child, the victim of a drive-by shooting. He was asleep in his bed in Winton Hills. We know that my staff member’s family was recently affected when their cousin was shot four to six times in the back. He was 18 years old… we have to do something about it.”

The success of one city

Advance Peace was first presented to the City Council last spring as a way to address gun violence. The founder of the program in Richmond, California, DaVone Boggansaid his city experienced a 54% reduction in fatal shootings and a 50% reduction in non-fatal shootings between 2010 and 2014.

Richmond, California is a city about a third the size of Cincinnati. It received $600,000 in its first year in 2010 and received $1 million in its third year.

Cincinnati’s contribution of $275,000 is a fraction of that, but it does take into account that money would be raised from outside. But no one could say how much.

It’s also unclear how many people the Cincinnati program could afford to help. It would be overseen by Cincinnati Works, a local nonprofit whose work focuses on giving people a second chance.

The US Department of Justice is intrigued by the program, which operates in eleven cities.

Last fall the The Justice Department gave Advance Peace $2 million to work with UC Berkeley to evaluate data from participating cities to determine how successful the model is.

Lansing, Michigan has seen a 65% reduction in gun violence since the passage of Advance Peace in 2022. This was reported by The Trace, a nonprofit newsroom focused on gun violence that cities nationwide saw a 12.3% decrease in homicides between 2022 and 2023.

Kearney floated the idea and has traveled to other cities to see how the program works. She declined to comment but said publicly that the program has been successful elsewhere.

Scotty Johnson, chairman of the city’s Public Safety and Governance Committee, said the program will give different groups and advocates in the city an opportunity to work together.

Advance Peace offers firearms offenders an immediate reward for achieving life goals as part of the fellowship in the program, and operates separately from law enforcement. Participants can remain anonymous.

Boggan said this anonymity provides safety to people who have violent enemies and also builds trust among participants, making them more likely to choose a fellowship over their current street life.

How Advance Peace Works

Like other programs the city has offered in the past, Advance Peace provides wrap-around services to the people involved: therapy, connections to social services, job training and mentoring. Boggan said the fellows have at least seven contacts with staff every day during the 18-month fellowship.

But it differs by offering cash payments to fellows for achieving life goals they defined in the program.

Another key point of the program is “transformative travel,” Boggan said. He said trips out of town give the boys a chance to escape the danger they face and understand that there is life outside their neighborhood and city.

Advance Peace also differs from other programs in its independence. Boggan said his employees can attract potential criminals to their program because they break away from law enforcement.

Previous programs relied on “call-ins” to give offenders an ultimatum: Get help or you will be targeted by law enforcement. There is no such ultimatum at Advance Peace.

Boggan said the cost per fellow per year is at least $37,000.

What the police say

Ken Kober, president of the Cincinnati police union, is skeptical.

“Just because it works in Richmond doesn’t mean it will work here, but maybe it will,” Kober said.

He was critical of the program’s lack of cooperation with law enforcement. He said the department has spent years building trust with the community, and this could be a step backwards.

“Why don’t we focus on job placement, instead of paying people to stay out of trouble?” Kober said, adding that paid job training, trade internships and other education could also be helpful.

Councilor Anna Albi, who campaigned for anti-violence initiatives, said Advance Peace is just part of a larger solution the city is investing in.

Among other programs, she pointed to a new violence intervention program in hospitals.

“It is very important to me that our residents understand the holistic approach the city is taking to gun violence prevention,” Albi said. “You’ve heard me say more than once that it’s a ‘yes’ approach; it’s not just one thing, but the culmination of multiple, data-driven approaches. I see Advance Peace as an additional tool in the toolbox when it comes to reducing violence.”

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