Officials hopeful a newly named program can help cut violent crime in Charlotte

City and county officials on Tuesday unveiled the name of a violence interruption program they hope will end violent crime “plaguing” Charlotte neighborhoods.

Alternatives to Violence will hire community members from violence-stricken neighborhoods and train them to intercede before violence happens and to help prevent recurrences, Mecklenburg County Commissioners Chairman George Dunlap said.

“Today is an important day in the city of Charlotte, and in Mecklenburg County, as we strive to bring an end to the violence plaguing our neighborhoods in various communities,” he said during a news conference Tuesday. “Violence has a domino effect, oftentimes leaving trails of trauma in its path, not only for its victims, but for the community at large.”

Violent crime increased 15% in 2020, and Charlotte-Mecklenburg police recorded 121 homicides — one shy of tying 1993’s record of 122.

The program will begin along Beatties Ford Road and LaSalle Street, one of four areas CMPD identified as a hot spot for violent crime in 2020.

On June 22, 2020, four people died after being caught in crossfire during a Juneteenth block party along Beatties Ford Road near Catherine Simmons Avenue.

“Nobody’s forgotten the last time when we had the Beatties Ford Road killings along [Catherine Simmons Avenue],” Mayor Vi Lyles said Tuesday. “I mean that’s just not acceptable.”

First steps for ATV

Youth Advocate Programs Inc., a partner in the ATV program with the county and city, is in the process of selecting six community members from the Beatties Ford Road corridor to train.

“Our ATV staff will connect individuals with resources that they need,” YAP president Gary Ivory said. “Those resources could be housing related, health related, mental health, substance abuse or whatever they need to get on a successful path.”

Ivory said the ATV staff will be available and accessible 24/7. He said YAP hopes to make job offers in the next four to six weeks, and officially launch the program over the next six to eight weeks.

The program will enlist just six full-time employees because of budget limitations, Ivory said.

“We think that’s a really good start,” he said. “It’s six [people], but we think we will begin to reduce crime in those areas with those six people.”

Ivory said the program will train the six people using partner Cure Violence’s approach to interrupting violence. Cure Violence is a nonprofit that has implemented its metric-based violence interrupter model in cities across the United States — including in Milwaukee and Chicago. The organization received $390,000 in 2020 to partner with the city to implement their anti-violence program for a year, the Observer previously reported.

ATV also will create jobs for, and give stipends to, the youth living in targeted communities so they have “an alternative to the underground economy and to violence,” Ivory said.

‘Go slow to go fast’

The city and county will be co-hosting a virtual “safety summit” for Beatties Ford Road residents on June 10. Dunlap said the summit will provide an update on the resources coming to the area, how to use them and how to get involved with ATV.

“This is a community that we want to be able to hold up in the way that we hold up any neighborhood in Charlotte,” Lyles said.

Last month, the city announced 17 community-based organizations that will receive $50,000 in grants through the SAFE Charlotte program.

“There’s a saying: Go slow to go fast. We went slow to go fast, and now today we are ready to start rapidly,” Lyles said about the city’s attempt to curb violence in the Charlotte-area.

Those who want to submit applications to participate in the ATV program and become a violence interrupter can visit www.yapinc.org.