Dayton city leaders are taking the next step to make a new violence intervention program a reality. It begins by looking at violence as a public health issue.
Police data show violence is on the rise. In 2022, Dayton Police responded to 25 murders or non-negligent manslaughters. The following year, police records show that numbers stayed the same; then 2024 saw an increase in incidents to 31.
This year, between Jan. 1 and Sept. 24, police records indicate 30 murders or non-negligent manslaughters in the Gem City.
On Wednesday, Dayton City Commissioners unanimously agreed to team up with Cure Violence Global (CVG) to launch the city’s violence interruption program.
At the commissioners meeting, Quinones Corniel, CVG's associate director for strategic partnerships, said violence is a public health issue. "When we talk about 'curing' the violence, we're talking about putting things in place to interrupt the transmission of violence," explained Corniel. He said the group’s model is successful because it focuses on one person at a time.
"It really takes intense work one-on-one with the individuals who [are] being deemed as high risk. To really address what barriers are in their life that are keeping them in the cycle of violence," said Corniel.
"As you remove each barrier, they can start to get out of that [violence] cycle and go towards a healthier lifestyle."
Commissioner Shenise Turner-Sloss intensely questioned Corniel about who will be eligible for training. Commissioner Darryl Fairchild followed up with a few concerns.
Initially, efforts will focus on the Main Street Corridor, specifically the North Riverdale and the Westwood areas. People in the age range of 15 to 25 who have a record of committing violence or who have been a victim will be identified.
This one-year agreement will cost the city $472,999.20. Dayton Mayor Jeffrey Mims emphasizes the violence interruption program is part of other city initiatives already underway.
"The other two legs to that stool are the youth development piece, trying to grow citizens that we need to have to carry out the whole peace initiative for the rest of their lives," said Mims.
"Then of course the community engagement piece, whether it be business, church, et cetera, all those individuals who engage in helping us to move this initiative forward."
The city is now accepting requests for proposals, or RFPs, from community-based organizations that want to learn the Cure Violence Global outreach model, a training Corniel describes as robust.
"We're gonna provide them training on how to formally conduct mediations, how to conduct assessments of individuals, their risks, their needs, their resilience levels, so that they can have all the tools they need so they can be successful," Corniel told city commissioners.
Dayton Police report that aggravated assaults have also risen since 2022. In that year, there were 384. In the following year, police handled 416 incidents. That number rose to 480 last year. Since Jan. 1, 2025, police have responded to 357 aggravated assaults. These numbers include shootings.
The Greater Dayton Area Hospital Association is the oversight agency for this program. President and CEO Sarah Hackenbracht said this violence reduction initiative may also curtail violence in area emergency room.
"The wounded show up at the emergency department, sometimes the violence then trickles in because family follow that individual or the perpetrators are still seeking that individual, and then there are punitive retaliations that continue," said Hackenbracht.
The deadline for RFP applications is Oct. 30 at 11:59 p.m. Groups can find the forms at gdaha.org. Once the community groups are chosen, training will begin next year.
According to Cure Violence Global, it’ll take 18 to 20 months before Dayton residents see whether or not this initiative is working. Before that time, city leaders will have to launch a fundraiser to pay another half million dollars to continue the violence reduction program into 2027.
Cure Violence Global operates in more than 20 communities nationwide. Overseas, teams are working with more than a dozen countries including Canada and parts of Africa and Latin America.
