Safety committee discusses how to expand Youngstown CIRV program

YOUNGSTOWN — City council's safety committee discussed Thursday the possibility for additional funding for Community Initiative to Reduce Violence (CIRV) program.

Guy Burney, executive director of CIRV, said the program needs to expand to help reach more people to do more intervention and prevention in Youngstown.

"It's like filling potholes," Burney said. "We could fill potholes, but we have one truck that's trying to go around the city and fill every pothole."

CIRV is a partnership with law enforcement social service agencies and the community to reduce gun violence in the city. The mission is to offer young people support to help them to choose a non-violent path.

In 2020, crime has increased in the city and across the country. There have been 26 homicides reported in the city in 2020 so far.

Burney said the COVID-19 pandemic created a lot of problems for the program. When the pandemic is over, he wants the program to have the tools in place to reach as many young people as possible.

"Police officers and law enforcement are there to stop behaviors, but you only change behaviors through education and relationships and mentoring and connecting to people," Burney said.

Burney said CIRV would need between $60,000 to $125,000 to help with expansion. The program would use the money to hire part-time employees, create more program opportunities and partner with other agencies and programs.

"We can expand our reach of people, and we can reach more people and that's the goal," Burney said.

Council member Anita Davis, 6th Ward, a retired Youngstown police officer, said if the city council can find the money to purchase snowplows, lawnmowers and trucks, they can find the money to help save a life.

"I don't know how we dare to sit and say we can't find that money," Davis said. "I put it on us. This is my challenge. We need to have the [means] to do it."

Mayor Jamael Tito Brown said the city needs to be serious about expanding the program to help reach youth of all ages as well as hold people accountable who are responsible for the violence in the city.

Brown said he looks forward to seeing what can be done in the budget to help CIRV.

"It's a community issue," Brown said. "It's all of our issues."

This story was originally published November 20, 2020 at 4:52 AM with the headline "Safety committee discusses how to expand Youngstown CIRV program."