Contributed
Councilmember Scotty Johnson and Vice Mayor Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney asked for Cincinnati Council to release the $275,000 allocated for the Advance Peace Program, a gun violence reduction program that has reduced gun violence in cities across the country.
Kearney said, “While Cincinnati has seen a decrease in shootings, we are not experiencing a downward trend in gun homicides. We had 63 gun homicides in 2023 and 63 gun homicides in 2024. This year, there has been an increase in gun homicides among juveniles.”
“Cincinnati Police are the best in the country. They are working hard and doing their job, but we cannot police our way out of violence,” Johnson said. The City has a policing and non-policing strategy to reduce gun violence. On the non-policing side, the administration combined many of the initiatives that have been in place for the past few years into Achieving Change Together, known as ‘ACT for Cincy.’”
ACT has five key areas: neighborhood revitalization, reducing youths’ accessibility to guns, holistic well-being, more youth support, and community-based policing strategies. Community volunteers are working in each of the five areas. Johnson and Kearney said they are very thankful for their important work.
“There is a gap in our anti-gun violence strategy,” said Kearney. “We must engage that small group of individuals who are at the center of the gunfire. It’s important to understand that much of the gun violence is retaliatory. It involves “beefs” (conflicts) between individuals, groups, and even neighborhoods. Gun violence feeds off of a continuing cycle of trauma. When someone is shot, the next shooting already is being planned. We have seen innocent adults and children can caught in the crossfire.”
Advance Peace is an anti-gun violence strategy founded by DeVone Boggan in Richmond, California more than a decade ago. One of the many elements of Advance Peace is community violence interrupters – “credible messengers” who have lived experience on the streets of the city they serve. They engage those who are most at risk of shooting or being shot. Engagement occurs everyday, several times a day. They help those involved in ongoing gun violence to understand that they have other options, and can make other choices. In addition to daily check-ins, a few of the other elements of Advance Peace include mapping life goals, learning to navigate social services, participating in group life skills classes, transformative travel, and learning conflict resolution. The ultimate goal is to transform lives and that results in significantly reducing gun violence.
When Boggan started Advance Peace, Richmond, CA was considered the third most dangerous city in the United States in terms of gun violence. Richmond now is below the 50 cities with the highest gun violence rates. Recent data from other cities that implemented Advance Peace proves that its CVI infrastructure works. A few examples of decreases in gun homicides in recent years are Lansing, Michigan (-42%), Fresno, California (-45%), and Orlando, Florida (-26%).
“Critics say they don’t want something “from the outside,” Advance Peace works from the inside. Credible messengers must be from the community that they serve,” Kearney said. “This is a job for community insiders only, not outsiders.”
Critics say that Advance Peace is like “paying children for bad behavior” but Kearney said that only good behavior is rewarded. There is no ongoing stipend, contrary to the information that some councilmembers set forth. “Rewards are given when someone reaches one of the milestones on their life map, such as maintaining a job,” Kearney explained. “It’s positive reinforcement for good behavior, and positive reinforcement works. I’m a mom so I know.”
Advance Peace addresses the gap in the City’s safety plan: It engages those at the epicenter of the gun violence. Kearney said the strategy is grounded in data and action.
Kearney and Johnson are asking the City to release the $275,000 that was allocated for Advance Peace in Cincinnati under the condition that their team secures matching funds. “This allows the program to begin now at a critical time. The time is now to create this proven community violence interruption infrastructure. The time is now to engage our community’s credible messengers to interrupt the violence. The time is now to have the courage to implement a proven strategy, Kearney said. “Let’s have the courage it takes to save lives.”
For more information about Advance Peace, see the video below.
