Three Things To Read This Week
1. Helpful Tool: A Detailed Guide To Help Cities Budget For and Implement Summer Youth Employment Programs That Prevent Gun Violence.
A new report and guide from Everytown For Gun Safety, provides a roadmap for city leaders interested in acting on “a growing body of evidence [which] shows that summer youth employment programs aimed at the young people most at risk for or with histories of violence are a promising intervention to reduce violent crime in cities.”
The Everytown report contains “a costing tool that can be tailored to specific needs and budgets.” [Here’s a sample worksheet that your jurisdiction can use]. In general, though, Everytown estimates that “a three-year program that serves 3,000 youth, works with six program providers, and pays youth a stipend of $12.50 per hour for 24 hours per week and six weeks per summer will cost $10 million each year—a total of $3,338 per youth participant.”
Why implement a summer jobs program? As economist Jennifer Doleac has explained, “It’s not just giving teens something to do during the summer. [The] effects last long after summer jobs end…Giving teens a glimpse of a different path, giving them something different to aspire to…” And, again, there is strong evidence that these programs reduce gun violence:
In Chicago: Researchers found that a summer job program “dramatically reduces violent-crime arrests, even after the summer”, dropping violent crime arrests by 33-42%.
In Boston: Researchers found that “those in the [summer job program] treatment group exhibited significant reductions in the number of arraignments for violent crimes (-35 percent) and property crimes (-57 percent) during the 17 months after program participation.”
In NYC: Researchers found evidence that “participation [in a summer job program] decreases arrests and convictions during the program summer… [and an important benefit of the program is] that the effect is concentrated among individuals with prior contact with the criminal justice system.”
2. Spotlight On Excellent Television News On Mobile Crisis Response Teams.
As part of a multi-edition effort (here, here and here) to highlight compelling, fair, and informative local television news reporting, here are two must-watch segments on mobile crisis response teams:
For Louisville, Kentucky’s local CBS affiliate WLKY, Mark Vanderhoff reported on the case of Robert Curran, a local man who was in the throes of a mental health crisis when his apartment flooded. Louisville police officers arrived on the scene, but “despite the flood damage and Curran’s obviously poor mental state, officers left him at the apartment over the protest of the building manager.”
The building manager told the officer who responded that he was concerned about Curran’s mental state and that “he could catch the place on fire.” Tragically, that’s just what happened: “Hours later, police say Curran did set his apartment on fire, damaging nearby units while other tenants slept” and faced charges and jail time.
Curran’s son told Vanderhoff that he wished the city’s Crisis Call Diversion Program—a mobile crisis response team composed of trained crisis triage workers and mental health professionals—would have been dispatched instead: “[That team] could have come in and prevented all of this from happening, there would have never been any fire, no charges brought against him.”
Following the incident with Curran, Mayor Craig Greenberg announced an expansion of the crisis response program to cover the entire city, which “in turn, frees up officers to respond to actual crimes,” Vanderhoff reported.
Here’s Mayor Greenberg from the announcement: “Sometimes when police officers respond to these calls, it becomes clear that what those individuals really need isn't a police officer… They need a trained mental health professional who can help with problem-solving.”
For Denver’s local NBC affiliate 9News, Kelly Reinke detailed the findings of a recent study on the STAR program, which sends mental health professionals, instead of police, to some 911 calls. Reinke reports:
“In neighborhoods that STAR focused on … low level crimes fell by 34 percent, there were fewer citations, and people were less likely to reoffend because they got the help they needed… [the study estimates that] there were 1,400 fewer criminal offenses in Denver because of this pilot program.”
Kyle Clark, anchor for 9News, added:
“The study also found that the STAR program has saved taxpayers money… [the study] estimates that if people were placed in the criminal justice system instead, it would have cost the city four-times more.”
3. Growing Momentum For Crisis Response Programs Around The Country:
Indianapolis, Indiana. City leaders unveiled the Clinician-Led Community Response program this week, a new mobile crisis response team—composed of a clinician, licensed social worker, and a peer specialist—that “will respond to mental health-related calls in the city in lieu of law enforcement,” Sarah Nelson reported for the Indianapolis Star. Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett lauded the launch of the new program: “A health crisis is best dealt within the healthcare system, rather than the legal system.” The CLCR teams will begin responding to mental health-related 911 calls for service in July.
South Carolina. South Carolina’s successful statewide mobile crisis response team—composed of clinicians working from 16 mental health centers across the state, responding to mental health calls for service 24/7—received $3 million in grant funding to help expand the effort by adding peer support specialists to the team of first responders, Tara Jabour reported for Charlston’s local ABC affiliate, WCIV. “Evidence has shown that incorporating these peers with expertise, that have gone through a crisis, are really able to connect with someone in crisis and build that rapport…” and makes the team effort even more effective, the state’s Mobile Crisis Program Manager, Stacee Rowell, told the news station.
