On June 6th, Network Connect participated in the Community Public Safety Initiative’s Public Safety Round Table launch. The event was the first in a series of community sessions to provide community members with a forum to voice their concerns about the violence in the community and collaborate with community leaders to find solutions. The goal is to put community safety back in the hands of the community.
In 2022 The Community Based Public Safety Collective (CBPSC), which is a collection of nonprofits and community-based organizations, conducted a landscape analysis of the city of Wilmington. The result was the development of a strategy to address violence with a community-based approach. The collective identified 4 organizations to support the implementation of the strategy, Network Connect, The Center for Structural Equity, the Youth Advocate Programs, Inc., and the Wilmington Community Advisory Council.
In reaction to the landscape analysis, the City of Wilmington established Wilmington’s Community Public Safety Initiative and appointed Dr. Debra Mason, former Deputy Executive Director of the HOPE Commission, to head up the initiative as the CSPI Coordinator. Dr. Mason will support the training of Network Connect in addition to the other 3 organizations that have been brought in to support the initiative.
In addition to the twice monthly Round Tables, facilitated by the Wilmington Community Advisory Coalition, (CBPSC) is responsible for the following:
Conduct Organizational Readiness Assessments for participating community organizations to identify the current level of infrastructure and organizational health and readiness for community violence intervention work
Assist with building organizational and programmatic readiness, as well as provide participating organizations with coaching on topics such as financial management, operational protocols, workforce development, relationship/partnership management, services to gun violence victims, fundraising, and identifying federal funding opportunities
Facilitate intervention peer-learning between selected intervention organizations in Wilmington and established community-based public safety organizations in other cities to share experiential knowledge and best practices.
CBPSC The Collective is a national training and technical assistance and capacity building provider for emerging CBPS initiatives, also known as Community Violence Intervention agencies. Its goal is to create a world in which lives are not lost to community violence. The Collective’s mission is to strengthen neighborhood leadership by investing in education, advocacy and training of community based public safety practitioners and organizations. To learn more about the CBPS Collective, you can view the April 19, 2022, Public Safety Committee Meeting by clicking here.
YAP
Youth Advocate Programs— YAP for short— is a national nonprofit advocating for and delivering evidence-based services in homes and communities as a more effective and racially
equitable alternative to youth incarceration, congregate child welfare, behavioral health, and intellectual disabilities placements, and neighborhood violence.
The Center for Structural Equity
CFSE operates from a Structural Violence Framework which argues that challenges experienced by low-income, Black and Brown communities, are a result of structural violence, not individual shortcomings or pathologies. The Center for Structural Equity has three priorities: community violence reduction, positive youth development, and impactful community engagement.
Wilmington Community Advisory Council
WCAC’s mission is to mobilize entities that have the power to better support Wilmington youth, their families and communities, whom are most impacted by gun and youth violence. Their vision is to harness the individual and collective power of people and organizations in Wilmington who are committed to preventing youth violence and promoting positive youth development.