City of Indianapolis Launches Youth Violence Reduction Initiative
INDIANAPOLIS — The City of Indianapolis is unveiling a new initiative to try to reduce youth violence.
The Youth Alternatives to Violence & Crime Initiative ties into the Gun Violence Reduction Strategy, which the city launched in 2021, that focuses on 18 to 35-year-olds. The youth initiative will include those 17 and younger who are most at risk of committing violence and will work to connect them to resources like mentors or therapy before violence happens.
“Too often, we’ve seen our youth fall prey to this violence,” Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett said on Wednesday. “It’s unacceptable.”
According to Mayor Hogsett’s administration, there has been a 62% reduction in criminal homicides and a 48% drop in non-fatal shootings since the strategy started five years ago.
“Real progress is being made, but we’re not declaring victory because one homicide is immoral,” said Hogsett.
David Muhammad is with the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform. Alongside Mayor Hogsett and other city leaders, Muhammad said there is a small number of young people in the city with serious challenges that they want to help in order to make the city safer and give them a more promising future.
“If we identify individuals with those risk factors and engage them effectively, we can drive overall shootings and homicides down,” Muhammad said.
Chief of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department Tanya Terry said they, of course, want to reduce violence, but also make resources more available to give young people a better chance to achieve long-term success.
“It’s certainly going to take all of us to do that, involving the parents, family members, relatives, friends, and then our community-based organizations, OPHS, and IMPD,” she said.
According to Chief Terry, IMPD has seen a slight increase in the number of local youth who have been suspects and victims in both non-fatal shootings and homicides. She called that “a real concern.”
Muhammad attributes the recent rise in gun violence involving kids to them having access to guns and getting into arguments.
“We’re primarily focused on that larger number where the violence is predictable, the people are identifiable, and therefore, it is preventable,” said Muhammad.
Community partners, including Inner Beauty Program Inc., New Breed of Youth Mentoring Program, Vantage Point Counseling, and Voices Corp., are offering a multitude of services to young people. 60% have been referred to the initiative.
The Connection Center will activate again during the weekend of the Final Four in Indianapolis.
