“This is an important step to addressing the root causes of violence and building stronger, healthier neighborhoods,” said Sarah Hackenbracht, president and CEO of the Greater Dayton Area Hospital Association.
The Dayton City Commission this week approved a $473,000 agreement with the Greater Dayton Area Hospital Association (GDAHA) to help set up a violence interruption program, based on a model developed by Cure Violence Global.
Quinones Corniel, associate director of strategic partnerships with Cure Violence Global, said the violence interruption model utilizes some of the same strategies to prevent and reduce violence that are used to control epidemic diseases.
“When you talk about curing the violence, you’re talking about putting things in place to interrupt the transmission of violence, you’re talking about putting things in place that are changing the group norms of a particular community, society or culture,” he said.
GDAHA is issuing a request for proposals seeking a community-based organization to administer the program, which will train and deploy “violence interrupters,” outreach workers and other staff who will try to work with people who are at a high risk of being involved in violence.
Workers will try to change behaviors and attitudes about conflict and violence, mediate disputes to prevent conflict from escalating and connect people with resources that can improve their lives and make them less likely to engage in violent activities.
The program’s target area is the North Main Street corridor, which is home to multiple neighborhoods that have been homicide and violent crime hotspots.
Dayton last year had the seventh highest rate of homicide and nonnegligent manslaughter in the nation, according to this newspaper’s analysis of FBI data for cities with at least 100,000 people.
Through the first half of 2025, homicides were up in the city, though violent crime overall declined sharply, initial police data indicated.
“From 2024 to 2025, there have been some significant reductions in terms of the crime elements that we have, as far as the city of Dayton is concerned,” said Dayton Mayor Jeffrey Mims Jr.
GDAHA hopes to select a community-based organization to run the program by Dec. 1. The organization will then build a team that will go through about a month of training before they go out into the community, according to Hackenbracht.
Corniel said it may take 18 to 24 months after implementation of the violence interruption program to see results. But he said programs in other cities have led to significant decreases in homicides, shootings and retaliatory and gang violence. Cure Violence Global will provide training and technical assistance for Dayton’s pilot program.
Dayton City Commissioner Matt Joseph asked the community for patience. But he said he believes this program will work, given time.
“It’s refreshing to see a scientific, methodical approach being taken to solve problems like this,” Joseph said.
Verletta Jackson, chief of staff for the Dayton City Commission, said the program is expect to cost around half a million dollars annually moving forward, though the goal is to raise funding from other sources, like philanthropic organizations.
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