The PRESS program will provide a multi-agency, whole-systems approach and supportive case management for individuals identified at high risk of involvement with firearms.
NEW HAVEN, CT – Today, Mayor Justin Elicker, Community Service Administrator Mehul Dalal, Department of Community Resilience Acting Director Carlos Sosa-Lombardo and a coalition of community, city, state and federal partners, announced a new gun violence prevention initiative called “PRESS: Program for Reintegration, Engagement, Safety, and Support.” The PRESS program, led by the city’s Office of Violence Prevention, will provide an integrated, multi-agency, whole-systems approach to gun violence prevention with the goal of reducing shooting incidents and increasing collaboration among violence prevention partners through coordinated case management and support services for individuals at a higher risk of being perpetrators or victims of a shooting. The initiative specifically focuses on young adults and adults returning from incarceration with a current or prior conviction of a firearm-related offense as well as gang or group members and individuals who are identified to be at higher risk of involvement with firearms by PRESS partners.
To accomplish this, the city’s Office of Violence Prevention is bringing together city, state and federal law enforcement agencies and other violence prevention organizations and programs, including: the New Haven Police Department, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Connecticut (Project Safe Neighborhoods), the Connecticut Department of Corrections (DOC), the Adult Probation Services of the Court Support Services Division, Project MORE, Connecticut Violence Intervention Program (CT VIP), Project Longevity, Yale New Haven Hospital, New Haven Health Department, among others.
“New Haven has many committed individuals and organizations doing good work to prevent gun violence. The PRESS program will help coordinate those efforts and used a focused approach directed at those who we know are most at risk of being perpetrators or victims of a shooting,” said Mayor Justin Elicker. “We are excited that the creation of the Department of Community Resilience is starting to have an impact in strategies to improve public safety and health in New Haven.”
“This initiative recognizes that fact and creates a multi-faceted network of services far better equipped to prevent future violence than law enforcement alone,” said Dr. Dalal, New Haven Community Services Administrator. “Working together and using evidence-based practices is the only way to address the epidemic of firearms-related violence that is threatening lives and the social fabric of our community. I hope this program will provide a model to cities and towns across Connecticut and throughout the U.S. working like we are to save lives and slow, and perhaps one day stop, the spread of firearms-related violence.”
Through this initiative, the city’s Office of Violence Prevention and a master’s level social worker will coordinate the work of case managers, street outreach and peer support specialists, and will help coordinate service delivery of proven evidenced-based practices. The city will also provide technical support to implement data-driven operations across partner organizations. The New Haven Health Department, through its epidemiology program, will track, monitor and interpret the collected data to enhance data-driven operations and interventions and compile reports.
“By bringing together multiple agencies often disconnected with each other, we are supporting the creation of a whole-systems approach designed to address the needs of individuals at greatest risk of being caught up in or victimized by gun violence,” said Carlos Sosa-Lombardo, Acting Director for the city’s Department of Community Resilience. “It closes the gaps in the post-incarceration safety net and provides strategically-targeted services and support with real potential to save lives and prevent future violence involving firearms.”
Several representatives from city, state and federal partners were on hand for the announcement.
"We all share a common goal of wanting to reduce gun violence in the city and are working within our individual organizations and agencies to address it,” said New Haven Police Assistant Chief Karl Jacobson. “Together we are so much stronger and can do so much more. By joining forces and working proactively to provide the services needed to prevent gun violence from happening in the first place, we can make a much bigger impact."
“Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) is a nationwide initiative that brings together federal, state, and local officials to address the possession and use of illegal firearms and delivers a unifying message of ‘Stop the Violence,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney John Pierpont, Chief of Violent Crimes and Project Safe Neighborhoods Coordinator for the District of Connecticut. “PSN ‘Call-Ins’ in New Haven and other Connecticut cities include presentations by service providers that offer returning citizens a path to success. Holly Wasilewski, our office’s Reentry & Community Outreach Coordinator, has worked closely with members of the City of New Haven’s, Office of Violence Prevention, and this initiative will streamline referrals and manage cases for those seeking services after a Call-In, which will maximize an individual’s needs and monitor for successful outcomes.”
The PRESS program will enhance reentry services by targeting returning residents who are at the highest risk of poor outcomes and may be in danger of being a victim or perpetrator of a shooting. For those on probation and parolees, the PRESS program will enhance supervision for gun offenders by improving their social services support and increasing access to pro-social activities.
“Our presence here today signifies the Department of Correction’s full support for this important public safety initiative,” said New Haven Parole Supervisor Netasia Jones. “We stand together with the City of New Haven as an active partner in this inter-agency collaboration. We are committed to promoting the successful reintegration of those under our supervision.”
“Project MORE Reentry Welcome Center is proud to partner in this venture between the City of New Haven and several organizations with the goal of a substantial reduction in gun violence. Each of the parties involved will collaborate to provide case management, access to services and wider access to risk-reduction activities for identified individuals,” said Keisha S. Gatison, JD, Director of the Project MORE Reentry Welcome Center. “The Reentry Welcome Center staff includes a social worker and peer support specialist to provide in-reach to individuals during incarceration and a warm hand-off to service providers, post-release. We also work directly with individuals within our community who are identified as someone that may benefit from risk-reduction activities. We implement evidence-based practices, which focus on reduction of violent activities. Through collaboration with our partners, we can make a difference.”
“The Connecticut Violence Intervention Program will contribute to the collaboration between our city, state, and federal municipalities to address violent crime- especially those impacting our youth,” said Leonard Jahad, Executive Director of the Connecticut Violence Interruption Program. “Working in silos doesn't help the collective; and leads to overlapping of efforts and wasted resources.”
“Gun violence is a public health crisis that needs to be addressed immediately,” stated Jeremy Stein, Executive Director of CT Against Gun Violence Education Fund. “We applaud the City of New Haven, for taking this innovative and wholistic approach to reducing gun violence, centered around the needs of the community. We look forward to our continuing partnership with the City, as well as speaking directly with impacted community members, gun violence intervention groups, and law enforcement, to work together to form the blueprint for the new Office of Violence Prevention.”
During Phase II of the initiative, a memorandum of understanding will be executed with the State Department of Correction to conduct pre-release case management with individuals sentenced in connection with gun-related crimes. Phase III of the initiative calls the hiring of a Coordinator of the Office of Violence Prevention and additional training for law enforcement staff on social network analysis to improve data-driven services and operations.
The City of New Haven is using federal American Rescue Plan (ARP) dollars to fund this initiative.
