Violence interrupters to begin work in Toledo neighborhoods Tuesday

Aug. 27—Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz on Thursday introduced four new staff members who will begin working in Toledo's Englewood and Junction neighborhoods to curb shootings and other violence.

They're part of the mayor's initiative to reduce gun violence, which is addressing Toledo's increase in shootings as a public-health crisis.

The administration is using a program from Cure Violence, a Chicago-based nonprofit, as its foundation for the violence-reduction work. Cure Violence staff are in town training Toledo's new hires so they're prepared to hit the ground running Tuesday.

Gerald Carter, Isaac Miles, and William Gauldin will serve as violence interrupters, tasked with engaging productively with residents at risk of being involved in gun violence and de-escalating tensions before they boil over. LaMishyia Hudson has been hired as an outreach specialist for the program and will supervise the three violence interrupters.

All are from Toledo and have connections in the neighborhoods in which they'll work. They were selected from a pool of 30 applicants by a committee that included the mayor's administration, Toledo Police Department representatives, and the Interfaith Ministerial Alliance.

"We were looking for folks who have credibility in the neighborhood, who are authentic and real representatives of the neighborhood," Mr. Kapszukiewicz said.

He added that a criminal history was not a deterrent — in some cases it may even help the violence interrupters relate to the at-risk people they're trying to help — but candidates had to be fully out of "the life" in order to be considered for the position.

"Your day has to match your night in order for us to move forward. Not only will the community look at that, but the participants will look at that," said Jarmain Merritt of Cure Violence Global.

Mr. Kapszukiewicz said the staff will have an office at One Government Center as well as at the Frederick Douglass Community Center, but all four will primarily be out working in the neighborhoods themselves.

The mayor said the violence interrupters' roles aren't to pass judgement or decide who is right or wrong, they are simply to de-escalate and prevent violence from occurring. He also emphasized the staff don't have a working relationship with law enforcement and should not be viewed as informants or police officers.

"There is no intersection with their work and police work," Mr. Kapszukiewicz said.

JoJuan Armour, who was hired in February to lead the mayor's gun violence reduction initiative, said much work has been put into readying the program over the last six months, and he's optimistic it will succeed at curbing violence in Toledo.

"I'm extremely excited to be in this phase of the process. I'll be more excited once the numbers start going down and we are proven to be effective with what we're trying to produce."

Mr. Miles said the ultimate goal is to lower the gun violence, and he believes the group is well-equipped to do that.

"We've all been through the inner city. Myself personally, I was on one side of the fence of violence, and now I'm on the other side trying to prevent it," he said. "We're trained by the best people who could train us in this type of work."

Toledo City Councilman Tiffany Preston Whitman said she is "definitely optimistic" about the initiative, but she wants to see it ramp up quicker because of how prevalent gun violence has become in Toledo. She also wants to see the administration monitor whether violence will truly be reduced citywide through this program, or if it will simply change locations within Toledo.

Councilman Cerssandra McPherson also expressed her support for the program and Mr. Armour, and she hopes the rest of Toledo gets behind them, too.

Ms. Hudson said she has worked in social services for a long time, and this is the first initiative that she has been a part of that takes people from the community, trains them, and puts them back into the community to solve a problem. She is enthusiastic about the public health approach and said she's glad to see Toledo trying this method.

"There are a lot of naysayers, and there's nothing that I can say today that's going to change their minds," Ms. Hudson said. "But I do feel that our outcomes will make that change. Give us an opportunity. That's all I'm asking for."

The Kapszukiewicz administration said the four staffers assigned to the Junction and Englewood neighborhoods are just the start of the violence interrupter program. They hope to hire more to start working on the North End and in East Toledo — areas selected because of ShotSpotter technology — before next summer.

The city's contract with Cure Violence is $80,000, which was budgeted in the general fund. Mr. Kapszukiewicz said the four new positions, which will cost about $185,000 annually when combined, will be funded with federal American Rescue Plan Act money.

First Published August 26, 2021, 8:02pm