Number
170642
Version
SUBSTITUTE 1
Reference
Sponsor
ALD. MURPHY
Title
Substitute resolution requiring the Health Department to seek Common Council approval prior to implementing a Cure Violence initiative.
Analysis
This resolution directs the Health Department to seek Common Council approval prior to implementing any initiative based on the Cure Violence model.
Body
Whereas, Cure Violence is a nationally-recognized program that seeks to interrupt and de-escalate community-based violence; and
Whereas, The Cure Violence model includes hiring and training culturally-appropriate violence interrupters to identify and mediate potentially violent conflicts and to follow up with the involved parties to prevent further conflict from turning violent; and
Whereas, Cure Violence organizations in Chicago and New York have received media attention for hiring violence interrupters who were purported to be active gang members or who were accused of committing crimes while employed by local Cure Violence organizations; and
Whereas, A Chicago-based Cure Violence organization has provided training and education on the Cure Violence model in the Milwaukee area in the past; and
Whereas, The Cure Violence model has elements in common with and may be viewed as an extension of the City’s Safe Zones initiative, a place-based violence prevention program in which community members have been hired and trained in conflict resolution, de-escalation, communication, community mapping and counter-human trafficking and are available in troubled neighborhood “safe zones” to intervene in potentially violent situations and counteract the root causes of violence, such as poverty and educational disparity; and
Whereas, Any lessons learned from a thorough evaluation of the Safe Zones initiative should be used to focus and improve how a Cure Violence program could be implemented in Milwaukee; and
Whereas, The Common Council desires the opportunity to review and consider the appropriateness of any Health Department-sponsored Cure Violence initiative, including how a Cure Violence program would be implemented, the timeline for implementation, and the relationship between a Cure Violence initiative and the Milwaukee Police Department; now, therefore, be it
Resolved, By the Common Council of the City of Milwaukee, that the Health Department is directed to seek Common Council approval prior to implementing a Cure Violence initiative; and, be it
Further Resolved, That any plan presented to the Common Council for implementing a Cure Violence initiative shall include a description of how the initiative will be implemented, a timeline for implementation, and a description of the proposed relationship between the Cure Violence initiative and the Milwaukee Police Department.
Requestor
Drafter
LRB169554-2
Dana J. Zelazny
September 6, 2017