Our Partnership

Summary

The 2019 violence statistics were stark. There were more than 200 killings, representing the worst homicide total in Dallas since 2007. In addition, aggravated assaults were up by more than 1,000 when compared to the previous year.

This disheartening information represents more than just statistical data. These deaths represent the senseless murders of mothers, fathers, sons and daughters. They represent the loss of valuable members of our collective community. A 13-year-old killed walking home from a corner store. A toddler fatally shot while sleeping at home. A transgender woman murdered after previously surviving a brutal attack.

As has been historically the case, communities of color bore the brunt of this violence. But people throughout the city want to know how this violence is going to be addressed.

Mayor Johnson said it best: “We can’t ask or expect law enforcement to do it all. When we’re faced with a problem, we come together as a city and we solve it.” That’s why Urban Specialists, their partners and the philanthropic community are answering the call and offering a solution that we believe will help stem the violence.

"Hire and train credible messengers from within high-violence neighborhoods as ‘violence interrupters’ to keep resolvable conflicts from escalating into gun violence."

Recommendation
Mayor’s Task Force on Safe Communities

Violence Interrupters

The Mayor’s Task Force on Safe Communities Report highlights how fragile the peace can be in affected neighborhoods and how minor disputes can set off a chain of retaliatory attacks. Many experts now advocate for interventions to stop the violence from spreading, treating it like a contagious disease.

The task force recommends a crime prevention strategy known as Cure Violence, which deploys credible neighborhood residents to contain disputes before they turn deadly. The model doesn’t rely on professional social workers or law enforcement, but hires and trains people from the target neighborhoods, many of them former gang members and ex-offenders, to be “violence interrupters” and “outreach workers.”

As a result, a collaboration was born in the launching of the Dallas Violence Interrupters Partners.

Our Work

Our Partners

Dallas Violence Interrupters Partners (DVIP) is a community lead initiative and a collaboration between residents, neighborhoods, grassroots and municipal organizations as well as the business and philanthropic communities. Urban Specialists is leading the ground efforts and has trained and equipped a group of African American and Hispanic ‘mentorventionalists’ to mentor and intervene with local youth. Allyn Media leads communications and development efforts for the partnership, which has established a fund at the Communities Foundation of Texas. Child Poverty Action Lab will help DVIP analyze data and measure effectiveness. The initial donors for the project are the Mark Cuban Foundation and AT&T.