Governor Tony Evers speaks during announcement of a $1 million grant to start an Office of Violence Prevention. March 30, 2023.
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) — With a $1 million grant from the Medical College of Wisconsin, the City of Green Bay will be creating an Office of Violence Prevention.
The office is expected to be located in the old Community Policing Center on Irwin Ave. They will focus on deterrence, tracking underlying contributing factors, researching incidents with high likelihood of retaliation, developing reduction strategies, identifying at-risk individuals, conducting street outreach, and increasing resiliency in residents.
Governor Tony Evers made the trip to the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Green Bay on University Avenue on Thursday to help make the announcement.
“We want to make to make sure that we’re building safe, strong communities,” said Governor Evers. “So we need to invest on the folks at the local level who are doing the work on the ground and know what’s best for their communities.”
Green Bay Police Chief, Chris Davis, says police response to most violence issues is reactive…
“Now it’s time for us to get upstream of this problem, and take action in people’s lives in a way that will get them off that path to begin with, so we don’t have the gun violence issue in the first place.” said Chief Davis.
Going forward, the grant needs to be approved by the finance committee and city council.
“If approved, we will work closely with our consultant to set up the Office of Violence Prevention,” said Green Bay Deputy Development Director, Cheryl Renier-Wigg. “We will start with goal setting, creation of standard operating procedures, and job descriptions.”
The office will include a director and violence interrupters.
It’s expected that the Office of Violence Prevention will open this summer; the grant will fund the program for its first three years.
Comments