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Created: May 04, 2021 11:06 AM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren and other city leaders plan to launch a new Office of Neighborhood Safety, which the mayor says will bring a unified strategy to reduce violence in the city.
In a news conference at the Father Tracey Advocacy Center Tuesday on North Clinton Avenue, leaders said the office would use strategies ranging from coordinating a non-police response to transformative mentoring, job readiness programs, peacekeeping fellowships, and trust-building, among other efforts.
The city specified the fellowship would identify people with a high likelihood of becoming gun violence victims and enroll them in a program that includes peer-to-peer mentorships and earning. Warren said it mirrors similar programs in Newark, New Jersey, and Richmond, California.
Mayor Lovely Warren. When Mayor Lovely Warren submits her budget proposal to Rochester City Council later this month, the spending plan will include funding for a new Office of Neighborhood Safety, which officials intend to serve as a hub for the city’s violence reduction initiatives.
How much the city will invest in the office remains an open question, however. Much like other cities across the country, Rochester has seen a spike in violence over the past year. There have been 22 homicides in the city this year, with nearly three-quarters of those deaths the result of gun violence, according to the Rochester Police Department. The average age of victims is 32 years old and 13 of the 22 cases remain open.