SITE OVERVIEW ♦ CLEVELAND | OHIO
Target Area: Mt. Pleasant • Population: 34,500
Fiscal Agent: City of Cleveland
Research Partner: Case Western Reserve University
Crime Concerns: Gun-related violence, gang-related violence, homicides, robbery, and aggravated assaults
BCJI Funding Year: 2013 Planning & Implementation
Neighborhood Profile
Located in Cleveland, the Mt. Pleasant community has experienced a number of challenges including concentrated poverty, vacant housing, and low levels of educational attainment. In addition to socioeconomic challenges, eleven identified gangs operate within the target area and rates of violent crime and homicides surpass rates for the city as a whole. From 2008 to 2012, the target area accounted for 36 percent of the homicides, 36 percent of the shootings, and 35 percent of the city’s aggravated robberies. These levels of criminal activity in the Mt. Pleasant area are not only limited to adult populations – 30 percent of the juvenile warrants issued, 35 percent of all aggravated murders, and 42 percent of all felony murder charges for juvenile offenders were generated from the target area in the years leading up to the launch of the BCJI effort.
Planning Process
The BCJI planning and implementation team is comprised of a diverse group of partners including members of the Cleveland business community, court personnel, faith-based leaders, personnel from local and federal government agencies, university faculty and research staff, Cleveland law enforcement, and residents. Early in the planning process, key informants from among these partners indicated that the Mt. Pleasant community was “over surveyed and underserved”. Thus the planning process capitalized on extant data such as population surveys, housing surveys and school performance data. Additional data sources included local non-profit annual reports, plans for a new Civic Commons area and fire station, and performance data submitted by cross sector team members, notably the Juvenile Court. Several focus group sessions also helped explore residents’ perceptions of the neighborhood crime and their vision for the community’s future.
Beginning in October 2013, the initiative sponsored over 30 planning meetings among diverse partners to shape the analysis, examine findings and discuss potential evidence-informed solutions. The process highlighted concerns about violent crime and abandoned properties, as well as a consistent call among both youth and adults in the community for more policing.and community-police relationship-building. The overall process reflected the BCJI team’s view that community involvement is an ongoing process, requiring many opportunities for people to share their input and be part of decision-making for implementation.
Implementation Strategies
The BCJI team moved into the implementation phase in early 2015. In order to address community violence, promote safety, and foster community efficacy, the team established four complementary intervention strategies:
- Strategic enforcement, including implementation of the Cleveland Police Department’s intelligence-led policing strategy “V-GRIP” to address violent crime.
- Community-police collaboration, with a particular focusing on problem-solving around abandoned properties given that this was a priority among residents.
- Neighborhood revitalization, organized around small grants for resident-led community improvement projects.
- Community engagement, education, and empowerment, including a revamped approach to block club organizing to support inclusion of homeowners, renters, youth and seniors.
One of the more notable elements of the plan is an effort to provide customized training to patrol officers in the BCJI area on police-youth interactions. ‘Policing the Teen Brain’ is a training program produced by the Strategies for Youth organization that provides officers with the information and skills they need to effectively interact with youth, using scientific and evidence-based information and practical strategies. Additionally, BCJI leaders have contributed to the development of Cleveland’s Community Police Commission, a group that will recommend policies and practices that can help strengthen relations between officers and the communities they protect. This strives to be an exemplary amalgamation of community and law enforcement cooperation and partnership, consistent with the values and process of the BCJI team.
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