Violence Interrupters and the Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement

Julia Irving, Deputy Director of the Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (ONSE)

Violence Interrupters and the Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement

by Larry Janezich

Posted July 28, 2023

Last Monday night, Julia Irving, Deputy Director of the Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (ONSE), delivered a presentation to the ANC6A Community Outreach Committee’s public safety meeting.  She explained how her office works to head off violence in the communities where it is most likely to occur.  The programs offered are under scrutiny during a time when violent crimes are seeing a regional and national increase.  After DC homicides declined 11% at the end of 2022, MPD statistics show a 15% increase through July 28 of this year. 

Irving said that a very small subset of individuals commit a large number of violent offenses in DC (fewer than 300, according to press reports) and her office focuses on those individuals: they identify individuals who are likely to become victims or perpetrators of violent crime who could benefit from additional services. 

ONSE has three programs:  the Violence Interventions Initiative (Violence Interrupters), the Pathways Program, and the Family Survivor Support Program. 

ONSE calls the individuals they try to engage “People of Promise” and their first point of contact is often the “violence interrupters” – whose primary goal is to take the temperature of a community, anticipate conflict, and bring resources to head off trouble.  Violence interrupters attempt to interact with People of Promise (which so far have turned out to be male) and connect them to city services and share with them the different opportunities available.

Those opportunities come through the Pathways Program and include helping participants to find gainful – not transitional – employment related to a goal the individual had in life, as well as stable housing. 

Irving says that The Pathways Program is a nine week cognitive behavioral therapy transformational program.  To illustrate the challenge, she notes, “For most of us, when we have an emergency we pick up a cellphone.  When People of Promise have an emergency – because of the trauma they’ve experienced – they pick up a gun, and that’s how they resolve it.  We’re able to take them from picking up a gun to picking up a cell phone to call somebody in their support network to help them navigate a potential conflict in their community.” 

If someone in the program is in imminent danger, she said, we have the ability to place them in emergency housing and work with the family unit to identify housing conducive to the safety of the individual or family. 

Initially, the Pathways Program participant enters into a subsidized employment opportunity through the Department of Employment Services.  According to Irving, in the most recent cohort of 14 which graduated three weeks ago, 8 have moved into unsubsidized employment opportunities averaging $23 an hour – one in a public school.  Of the 14, 3 have found transitional or permanent housing.  After graduation, the Pathway Program continues to provide support through life coaches and a Brotherhood Circle. 

The Family Survivor Support Program provides support to survivors of the victims of violence; victims without support may become victims again or become perpetrators.  Irving says the office engages with survivors of violence within 24 – 72 hours.  They assist with funeral arrangements (including protection from inflated costs in funeral homes), behavioral health services that are culturally sensitive to victims, candlelight vigils, and emergency moves to safe housing.  If in an individual is in a Pathways Program, ONSE has resources to help relocate victims for 30 days – or sometimes out of state through the Office of Victim Services in the Justice Grant Administration.”

Summing up, Irving emphasized, “We respond to every single shooting in DC.”  Every Tuesday, there is a partnership meeting with the Violence Interrupters, the Office of Gun Violence and Prevention, the Court’s Social Services and the Department of Youth Rehabilitations Services.  There, decisions are made on staffing shootings and figuring out who knows the individuals attached to them.  In addition the group assesses the likelihood of retaliation and decides what resources are needed for the community and for potential perpetrators, victims, and families.  Irving summed up, adding “Through collaborative efforts we’re able to intervene in the violence.” 

In the most recent budget cycle, Mayor Bowser reduced funding for violence intervention programs in the next fiscal year, questioning their effectiveness. 

Earlier this year, the philanthropy Arnold Ventures funded a four year effort by two Johns Hopkins gun violence experts to study DC’s gun violence prevention programs.  The researchers expect to release preliminary findings in about 12 months.  https://dcist.com/story/23/04/11/dc-violence-interruption-data-effectiveness/

According to Influence Watch, Arnold Ventures is a center-left philanthropy founded by Texas hedge fund billionaires Laura and John Arnold. 

Here are a couple of links related to ONSE. 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/10/04/people-promise-list-missteps-violence/

https://www.axios.com/local/washington-dc/2022/06/08/dc-violence-interruption-audit