WELL WE’RE WORKING TO FIND MORE ANSWERS WHEN. IT COMES TO GUN VIOLENCE, ESPECIALLY WHEN CHILDREN ARE HURT AND WLWT NEW SIGNS. LACEY ROBERTS BROUGHT SOME TOUGH QUESTION TO THE WOMAN WHO CONNECTS COMMUNITY, COMMUNITY DIRECTLY TO CINCINNATI. CITY LEADERS. I SPOKE WITH COMMUNITY IRIS ROWLEY, WHO WAS HIRED AS A COLLABORATIVE AGREEMENT CONSULTANT LAST A MAJOR OVERALL GOAL OF THAT 2001 AGREEMENT IS COMMUNITY BASED SOLVING. BUT IT’S IMAGES LIKE THESE ONE WEEK AGO WHEN BULLETS FLEW ACROSS A CROWDED OVER-THE-RHINE STREET, BROAD DAYLIGHT, AND FOUR PEOPLE, INCLUDING THREE CHILDREN. NOW, ALTHOUGH THE NUMBERS ON GUN VIOLENCE MAY TECHNICALLY BE DOWN THIS YEAR, YOUTH VIOLENCE IS UP COMPARED TO YEARS PAST. DURING THIS SAME TIME. NOW, CITY DATA SHOWS THAT THE HIGHEST IMPACT IN NEIGHBORHOODS LIKE OVER-THE-RHINE AT LEAST 14 SHOOTINGS HAVE BEEN REPORTED JUST THIS YEAR. AND WE’RE ONLY IN JUNE IN NEARBY WEST END. THAT NUMBER IS AT LEAST. BOND HILL, AVONDALE AND ROSELAND ARE ALL JUST SHY OF THOSE DOUBLE DIGITS. BUT THE BIG QUESTION THAT WE ALL KEEP ASKING IS WHAT CAN WE DO AS A COMMUNITY HELP THESE AREAS THAT ARE IMPACTED THE MOST? I ASKED IRIS, ROLLIE, WHAT SPECIFICALLY IS BEING DONE RIGHT NOW AND HOW YOU CAN GET INVOLVED. MOST OUR RECREATION CENTERS SHOULD BE OPEN WITH TRADITIONAL PROGRAMING INSIDE, AND IF IT DOESN’T HAVE THE PROGRAMING THAT YOU BELIEVE THAT IN YOUR COMMUNITY NEED TO HAVE COME TO THEM, COME TO THE CITY, SAY THAT. SO THAT’S ONE THING THAT PEOPLE CAN DO. SAY WHAT YOU BELIEVE THE NEEDS TO BE HAD. THEN SAY IT IN A WAY THAT YOU WILL LEAD THAT EFFORT. NOW SHE SAYS, IF YOU KNOW WHAT’S GOING ON IN YOUR COMMUNITY, MAKE IT AVAILABLE FOR OTHERS. PUT IT OUT THERE. SOCIAL MEDIA, A FLIER. THAT’S THE BEGINNING TO CREATING LASTING CHANGE FOR THESE COMMUNITIES. RILEY ALSO FELT STRONGLY THAT A RESPONSE IS LIKE POLICING. OUR WAY OUT OF THIS IS NOT THE SOLUTION
Discussing solutions to gun violence: What can you do?
WLWT talked with city leader Iris Roley asking the tough questions of what can the community do now to help stop the violence.
Updated: 5:07 PM EDT Jun 7, 2023
In a wave of gun violence that WLWT has been constantly reporting on in our city the past week, much of that violence has involved children. It's something the city's consultant for Cincinnati's Collaborative Agreement, Iris Roley, sat and talked with us about.Discussing solutions besides police accountability is a major goal of that agreement, as well as community-based solutions. Just a week ago in Over the Rhine, shots were fired in the middle of the day, injuring four people, including three children. That situation alone put a major refocus on gun violence. Although the numbers on gun violence technically are down this year, it's still having an impact on certain neighborhoods. "Let's be very clear about the numbers. Youth violence has gone up. Adult violence has gone down. And I think that there are opportunities to help figure out why those numbers are going up," said Roley. "What we do have is the process of the collaborative that instructs to problem solve, to really pull in everybody, to see what is juvenile court, seeing, what a community scene, what the parents know, what the teachers know, what rec centers know and what are the opportunities for children to become productive citizens in this society."City data shows the highest impacted neighborhoods, like OTR, have had 14 shootings just this year. In the nearby West End, that number is at least 15 leaving Bond Hill, Avondale and Roeselawn just shy of double digits. Which brings us back to the tough question, "What can we do?"We're talking about systematic indoctrination into violence. And if we don't have a real adult conversation with researchers, with mental health advocates, where people who understand trauma and conditioning, we're just going to continue to spin our wheels. And I think that we can do that in the city. We just have to have the will from everyone, meaning everyone don't just rely on City Hall," Roley said. She says we need the communities' help."We need community people. Whatever it is that they believe that they need in order to raise children and a better society, we need to hear from them," Roley said.While city leaders and community advocates say programs are our youth's best bet at getting off the street, the opportunities are not there. Not only is there a worker shorter for lifeguards but also recreation center workers. If there are no workers, rec centers get shut down. "A career path initiative that the city kicked off around entrepreneurship working in the city...different departments. And then the 18-24-year-olds working with city links..getting training...getting paid to get trained, and then finding opportunities for jobs. That is there... there's the recreation department that are still trying to hire for recreation centers..not just lifeguards but people to actually work in the recreational centers. Centers can't be open if people are not there to work . There are private businesses that are willing to hire also," she said.Roley says while finding solutions to help our youth, parents can take a deeper look at what their kids are exposed to. That includes violence in music, video games and movies, posing the question, "If this is what is available for them to consume, what do we think is going to come out?"
In a wave of gun violence that WLWT has been constantly reporting on in our city the past week, much of that violence has involved children. It's something the city's consultant for Cincinnati's Collaborative Agreement, Iris Roley, sat and talked with us about.
Discussing solutions besides police accountability is a major goal of that agreement, as well as community-based solutions. Just a week ago in Over the Rhine, shots were fired in the middle of the day, injuring four people, including three children. That situation alone put a major refocus on gun violence. Although the numbers on gun violence technically are down this year, it's still having an impact on certain neighborhoods.
"Let's be very clear about the numbers. Youth violence has gone up. Adult violence has gone down. And I think that there are opportunities to help figure out why those numbers are going up," said Roley. "What we do have is the process of the collaborative that instructs to problem solve, to really pull in everybody, to see what is juvenile court, seeing, what a community scene, what the parents know, what the teachers know, what rec centers know and what are the opportunities for children to become productive citizens in this society."
City data shows the highest impacted neighborhoods, like OTR, have had 14 shootings just this year. In the nearby West End, that number is at least 15 leaving Bond Hill, Avondale and Roeselawn just shy of double digits. Which brings us back to the tough question, "What can we do?
"We're talking about systematic indoctrination into violence. And if we don't have a real adult conversation with researchers, with mental health advocates, where people who understand trauma and conditioning, we're just going to continue to spin our wheels. And I think that we can do that in the city. We just have to have the will from everyone, meaning everyone don't just rely on City Hall," Roley said.
She says we need the communities' help.
"We need community people. Whatever it is that they believe that they need in order to raise children and a better society, we need to hear from them," Roley said.
While city leaders and community advocates say programs are our youth's best bet at getting off the street, the opportunities are not there. Not only is there a worker shorter for lifeguards but also recreation center workers. If there are no workers, rec centers get shut down.
"A career path initiative that the city kicked off around entrepreneurship working in the city...different departments. And then the 18-24-year-olds working with city links..getting training...getting paid to get trained, and then finding opportunities for jobs. That is there... there's the recreation department that are still trying to hire for recreation centers..not just lifeguards but people to actually work in the recreational centers. Centers can't be open if people are not there to work . There are private businesses that are willing to hire also," she said.
Roley says while finding solutions to help our youth, parents can take a deeper look at what their kids are exposed to. That includes violence in music, video games and movies, posing the question, "If this is what is available for them to consume, what do we think is going to come out?"
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