Report sheds light on community violence intervention in Columbus

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – A new report completed by the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform analyzes some of the anti-violence work being done in the city of Columbus.

Columbus' Office of Violence Prevention brought in the NICJR to do the report. Shantay Jackson, Director of the National Offices of Violence Prevention Network, which is part of the NICJR, first visited Columbus six months ago to meet with community violence intervention programs.

“Looking at city agencies and looking at community based organizations that are doing the work associated with intervening and preventing violence," Jackson said as she described the report.

The report examines what is being done well in the Columbus anti-violence space and where improvements are needed. Jackson said organizations do well when it comes to bringing resources to people as opposed to relying on them to come in. She also said a strength for the city is there are people with lived experiences doing this kind of work. The report identified data driven decision making as an area where improvement is recommended.

“We recommend you all do more comprehensive and thorough reach out to your Somali community, we did see that as a challenge here in this report," Jackson said. "And last, but certainly not least, more robust coordination and collaboration across the community based organizations."

Columbus' OVP will use the report to guide its work, according to Rena Shak, the director of the office. She said even since February she's noticed improvements.

“We have seen collaboration between these organizations unlike we have seen at any point in time previous to this in Columbus’ history," Shak said.

The report includes a map. Dots show where fatal and non-fatal shootings happened in 2022 and 2023. Other dots show where community-based organizations and city agencies working in the anti-violence space are located. Shak described it as one of the most impactful parts of the report.

"I think you’re really able to get a grasp on what we’re working with both as a city when it comes to resource provision but also the homicides and the felonious assaults," Shak said. "If you look at that map you see violence touches every corner of our city. Looking at images like that to help us in deciding where to physically place offices so that those individuals can physically access resources but also making sure we’re using the data behind it and not just plopping offices our resources where they might not be most impactful."

Columbus City Council approved a $250,000 contract for the NICJR earlier this year. Reports like this one from the organization are just part of the work, according to Shak and Jackson. Shak said there will also be more training and assistance. Jackson's team is working on another report which will look at the cost of fatal and non fatal shootings.

"Its really meant to demonstrate how much one non-fatal shooting costs your city, how much one fatal shooting costs your city, and then it’ll be up to Columbus to determine whether or not you want to pay for gun violence after the fact or if you want to invest dollars in prevention," Jackson said. "But either way we’ve got to pay for gun violence I would encourage us to make sure we’re paying to prevent it and to intervene."

Columbus' OVP is still working on its own inventory of all the anti-violence efforts across the city, according to Shak.