Aurora Youth Violence Program Receives $2M Federal Grant | Aurora

Aurora’s Youth Violence Program has received a nearly $2 million federal grant that will go toward outreach and support.

Aurora’s SAVE program, which stands for Standing Up to Violence Every Day, is a violence reduction program launched in 2023. The program targets groups at high risk of violence, especially those aged 13 to 25 years.

SAVE is a collaboration between the Aurora Youth Violence Prevention Program, the Aurora Police Department and community partners.

Aurora officials announced in a press release Thursday that the program received a grant of nearly $2 million from the Department of Justice’s Community Violence Prevention and Prevention Initiative.

According to a city press release, the initiative creates an investment opportunity for community-based anti-violence programs like SAVE.

According to the release, money from the grant will go toward community support and victim services, assistance with content creation and marketing, funding for a crime analyst and program administrator, and support for SAVE research partners at the University of Colorado Boulder.

The money will support SAVE over the next three years, during which SAVE leaders plan to develop a gang violence prevention strategy and evaluate the success of that strategy.

Gang Violence Intervention is a strategy of the National Network of Safe Communities, which has implemented successful violence reduction strategies in more than 60 cities.

Lisa Battan, program manager for Aurora SAVE, said program leaders meet with youth they believe are at risk of violence and offer services based on the needs of the individual and their family.

“We know that focusing solely on incarceration and arrest is not the answer,” Capt. Mike Hanifin, SAVE’s chief of law enforcement, said in a news release. “Our goal is to try to get ahead of the situation and intervene at the forefront, because this whole strategy is about a two-fold message: empathy: we will help you if you let us; and responsibility – we will stop you if you create us.”

In Aurora, fatal and group shooting statistics are high per capita and have been increasing in recent years, according to the press release. The mission of the program is to reduce the number of such incidents.

Since its inception, SAVE has connected with 90 recipients who receive personalized notifications with contacts to access the service. The average age of recipients is from 17 to 18 years.

The announcement came less than a week after Aurora police shot and killed an 18-year-old who beat his mother “profusely” and then fired at a group of officers trying to defuse the situation, according to Police Chief Todd Chamberlain at a news conference. Monday.

Aurora Councilwoman Angela Lawson often hears from her constituents that youth violence is a serious problem in the community, she said in a news release.

“Public safety continues to be a top priority for our City Council,” she said. “I’m thrilled that we were able to secure additional funding to move forward, and we need everyone on board—law enforcement, service providers and community partners—to make this work.”

More information about SAVE can be found at AuroraGov.org/SAVE.