Lexington releases 4-year strategic plan on youth gun violence. See what’s in it.
A Lexington program designed to tackle rising youth gun violence unveiled a four-year strategic plan Friday that calls for more community partnerships to address intervention and prevention strategies, and also asks for more funding.
One Lexington, which was started to tackle a rise in gun violence in youth and those in their 20s, has spent more than a year on the long-range plan.
Some of those goals include:
- Expanding street outreach capacity by 50%
- Increasing outreach to more diverse communities
- Expanding high school and middle school programs to identify students at-risk for gun violence
- Increasing funding sources to tackle various prevention, intervention and re-entry programs
Much of the plan focuses on the need for more partnerships and community involvement.
“It has been clear from the beginning that One Lexington needs outside support and community involvement,” said Mayor Linda Gorton, during a press conference Friday unveiling the new long-term plan.
Some of the goals outlined in the report have already started. Last week, the city unveiled a new micro-grant program that supports organizations already involved in violence prevention.
The plan was developed with the help of Cities United, a nonprofit that works with more than 80 cities across the country on violence prevention efforts, and the University of Kentucky’s Community Innovation Lab.
Devine Carama, director of One Lexington, said the city looked at evidence-based models that stop gun violence but is also tailoring programs directly to Lexington. Carama has helped start a mentoring program in middle schools. The University of Kentucky Chandler Medical Center has helped with an intervention program that gets services to gun-shot victims, among other programs.
The city has seen a 50% reduction in kids ages 13 to 29 involved in homicides this year compared to last year, Gorton said. There were 20 in 2021. There have been 10 so far this year.
However, overall homicides have increased. The city recently set a record of 38 homicides with two months left in the year.
Homicides and shootings have been a key topic in the November general election for mayor. Lexington-Fayette Urban County Councilman David Kloiber, Gorton’s challenger, has pushed the city to adopt group violence intervention strategies, a model that targets services to people who have been involved with gun violence. It’s a model other cities have used that has worked, he has said.
Gorton said Friday that the model One Lexington is using is community violence intervention. It is tailored to Lexington’s needs. Group violence intervention has not worked for all cities, she said.
“Group violence intervention is an old program,” Gorton said.
Carama said the strategic plan “was not copy and paste,” and was tailored to meet Lexington’s needs after hearing from people who have been involved with gun violence and through various community forums about public safety. Carama said the group will also take its strategic plan out into the community for feedback.
Carama said trends in youth violence change over time. It’s likely the city will have to continue to make tweaks to its prevention and intervention strategies.
“It’s easy to get caught up in the emotions of right now,” Carama said.
