Detroit's $10M ShotStopper program backing community activists to curb gun violence is underway
DETROIT (FOX 2) - Community activists have repeatedly said that it is impossible to arrest your way out of the gun violence problem in Detroit. The city's ShotStopper program is an effort where they get to put their work into action.
Patricia Butler says enough is enough when it comes to lives being lost to senseless gun violence in her west side Detroit neighborhood - and across the whole city, for that matter.
"My son’s best friend was buried out of this church. He was coming home from work, and somebody killed him," she said. "All he wanted was a pop from the gas station."
It’s why she checked out a community update on the City’s Shot Stoppers program at Kadesh Baptist Church Wednesday to see how federal dollars are being spent to save lives without police doing all the work.
"I’ve been in this neighborhood 25 years," Butler said. "I am a pastor, and it has affected me personally and professionally."
"Forty percent of all the shootings are in their six zones," Mayor Mike Duggan said.
Map courtesy City of Detroit
Duggan hosted the community meeting to lay out how $10 million in federal spending is being used with six groups doing the work in the neighborhoods.
"Our program is dealing with the youth," said Zoe Kennedy.
Kennedy is with one of the funded programs, Force Detroit.
"We use the credible messenger model so we use individuals from the community who have a reputation, or that has a previous existing relationships to leverage that to make new relationships," Kennedy said.
The work started August 1st, with each of the six ShotStopper groups, using their own strategies to reduce violence.
They get a quarterly base budget of under $200,000 and get paid more money, based on how much they reduce shootings in their assigned area of the city.
"I want the people of the city to hear directly from the activists who will be in the neighborhoods establishing the relationships and hopefully defusing the arguments before they turn to violence," Duggan said.
FOX 2: "How will you evaluate the success of it ?"
"If shootings go down we did well, and that’s our goal," Duggan said.
To learn more about the ShotStopper program GO HERE.
