As students return to school, city of Albany leaders say they are continuing efforts to prevent youth violence by connecting young people and their families with community support before a situation escalates.
The strategy brings together the Albany Police Department, the city’s violence-prevention partners and Trinity Alliance of the Capital Region through the state’s Gun Involved Violence Elimination initiative, known as GIVE.
Shaquana Kakumba, Albany police’s anti-violence coordinator, described the approach as a focused-deterrence strategy involving law enforcement, community members and social-service providers.
“Group violence intervention is a focused-deterrence strategy, in partnership with law enforcement, the community and social-service providers, with the goals to reduce gun violence and homicides in the city,” Kakumba said.
A central part of the effort involves what officials call “custom notifications,” face-to-face meetings involving a young person, their family, police and community partners.
Officials said the meetings deliver a message that violence will not be tolerated while also offering support to people who want to change course.
Pastor Charles Gresham, chair of the Violence Prevention Task Force, said the approach is focused on building relationships and identifying young people who may be at risk of harming themselves or others.
“It is connection before correction,” Gresham said. “It is our opportunity to go to those that have been identified as at-risk youth that could either hurt themselves or hurt others.”
The city said Albany police completed 31 custom notifications with Trinity Alliance during the latest quarter of the GIVE initiative.
Trinity Alliance representatives said each family’s needs can differ, but available support can include help returning to school, employment assistance, mental health services and resources for trauma and grief.
“We can help with getting them back in school, getting them on the right track, seeking employment, mental health services,” said Kenneth Glover, jail transition coordinator for Trinity Alliance’s Gun Violence Initiative. “We have a host of other services as well: trauma, grief and stuff like that.”
City leaders said they expect an October report to outline violence-prevention work completed over the prior 90 days and how officials plan to measure whether those connections are helping reduce violence.