Courtesy of Serving Our Streets
Trained mediators, working to prevent gun violence in some of St. Louis’ most impoverished, highest-crime neighborhoods, field calls from residents of the city and surrounding communities concerned that friends and family are involved in disputes that could turn violent, even deadly.
The violence prevention efforts are part of the 1-year-old Serving Our Streets program that the St. Louis Metropolitan Urban League, aided by a $1 million state grant to reduce urban violence, started in 2020. Community engagement specialists and case managers meet people in their “neighborhoods, on their front porches, and in their living rooms to see what they need,” explains James Clark, vice president of public safety and community response for the local Urban League. “People are tired of the crime and violence.”
Mediators give themselves 72 hours to help feuding sides reach non-violent resolutions, says LaDon Weathers, a St. Louis native and lead mediator. If resolutions aren’t reached in 72 hours, Weathers notes, individuals are provided opportunities to re-locate to other communities.
The summer of 2021 has seen a drop in homicides compared to a year ago, according to Major Shawn Dace, deputy commander of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department’s Bureau of Investigative Services. Dace says the city, like others across the country in 2020, experienced spikes in numbers of homicides amid COVID-19 quarantines, business closings, and resulting job losses.
As of mid-July, St. Louis police reported 102 homicides, compared to 134 that time a year ago. In 2020, police statistics show 263 homicides for the entire year. Citing data for Serving Our Streets, Clark says he believes Serving Our Streets played a role in the decline of homicides in 2021, noting mediators successfully de-escalated 54 cases and helped re-locate 17 individuals.
Asked about St. Louis’ still proportionately high murder rate compared to other cities its size, Dace says, “We have work to do.”
Nick Dunne, public information officer for St. Louis Mayor Tishaura O. Jones, says federal stimulus money from the American Rescue Plan Act will bolster existing city programs and pay for new programs in violence intervention, public health and safety, housing, and other areas, More than $2.5 million, Dunne says, will go toward year-round employment programs for youth, $247,000 for summer jobs, and more than $1.7 million for learning labs, a nighttime basketball league, youth soccer, and behavioral health recreation programs.
Serving Our Streets outreach is varied and aimed at “helping neighborhoods be more livable,” Clark says, adding, “I believe that one family can make a difference in a block, and one block can make a difference in a neighborhood.”
Neighborhood events that are part of the Serving Our Streets’ Pulpit to Porches Initiative include Grill to Glory, which has grown to include more than 100 St. Louis churches and finds church volunteers grilling hotdogs most every Saturday throughout the year for neighborhood residents and other passers-by. The fare is free. Church and business donations support the purchase of grills and food.
To assist families and individuals suffering from opioid addiction, Serving Our Streets holds what it calls “opioid triages” typically twice a week in areas of the city known for illicit drug sales. The triages offer food, toiletries, health screenings, and NARCAN, a medicine used to treat opioid overdoses.
Looking ahead, Clark sees Serving Our Streets empowering more families and their neighborhoods as word-of-mouth spreads about the St. Louis Metropolitan Urban League’s programs. “I think Serving Our Streets can become a model for other cities,” he says.
