{"id":6058,"date":"2022-09-01T17:53:16","date_gmt":"2022-09-01T17:53:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/?p=6058"},"modified":"2022-09-01T17:53:16","modified_gmt":"2022-09-01T17:53:16","slug":"david-bush-bringing-a-village-back-to-the-toledo-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/2022\/09\/01\/david-bush-bringing-a-village-back-to-the-toledo-community\/","title":{"rendered":"David Bush: Bringing a Village Back to the Toledo Community"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
David Bush introduces new Violence Interrupters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Asia Nail<\/strong><\/em>
\nThe Truth Reporter<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Violence interruption is effective, but it takes intensive and sustained effort. David Bush is honored to lead the city’s interrupter program, a position that he has spearheaded since May.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a story behind every fired bullet,\u201d explains Commissioner Bush.<\/p>\n

Bush, born and reared here in Toledo, knows all too well the personal stories of many of the city\u2019s underserved. Bush has been serving as a passionate change agent for the City for the past 23 years. For decades he has worked with the Toledo Lucas County Public Library, engaging the community on the importance of lifelong learning and fostering inclusive environments where our city\u2019s youth also have \u2018a seat at the table.\u2019 Bush is now the City of Toledo\u2019s commissioner for Save Our Community, a violence deterrent initiative in the city.<\/p>\n

Bush is also the founder and executive director of MADD Poets Society Inc., sharing \u201cWe teach poetry as a holistic means of healing trauma and the human condition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last year Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz announced plans to heal the city by reducing violence \u2014saying, \u201cThere are a lot of steps involved in treating gun violence as a public health crisis, and we have sought to be aggressive and creative. We have seen gun violence spike across the country, and it is clearly a byproduct of the pandemic. As a part of our multi-component strategy, we have engaged with Cure Violence™️, a global organization dedicated to creating safer communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Violence Interrupters, photo courtesy Amy Voigt<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The City of Toledo initiated its own adaptation of Cure Violence, starting in the Junction-Englewood neighborhood, to tackle the city\u2019s rise in gun violence and to build connections to community resources for high-risk individuals. Toledo\u2019s own, Save Our Community<\/em><\/strong> currently operates under the Mayor\u2019s Initiative to Reduce Gun Violence.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an honor to be chosen as the new commissioner of SOC<\/em>,\u201d says Bush.<\/p>\n

Bush began his new position as commissioner at the end of May, and already he\u2019s making headway into progressively canvassing the Lagrange Street corridor.\u00a0 \u201cResidents dealing with violence call us from all around the city,\u201d explains Bush. \u201cMost are surprised when we explain Lagrange is only the second neighborhood to be recently added to the program.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, Save Our Community<\/em> is making a big impact and planning to expand to East Toledo soon.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur goal is to have a positive effect on any risky behaviors or events for those with a high chance of either being shot or being a shooter in the immediate future,\u201d explains Commissioner Bush.<\/p>\n

The Save Our Community <\/em>program prevents violence through a three-pronged approach: detection and interruption; behavior change and changing community norms concerning violence acceptance.<\/p>\n

Save Our Community\u2019s <\/em>program is a research-based community-centric approach to violence prevention. As an adaptation of the Cure Violence Model, the program maintains that violence is a learned behavior and that it can be prevented using disease control methods.<\/p>\n

High risk individuals in Central Toledo are generally young offenders between the ages of 16 and 25, gang members, or youth with consistent exposure to violence.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn important part of my job is to garner the support and participation of key stakeholders in the community including local politicians, community organizations and police,\u201d explains Bush. \u201cOnce this takes place, the SOC Outreach Workers &<\/em> Interrupters<\/em> can help guide the community in understanding and implementing the program’s resources to services.\u201d<\/p>\n

The fact that so many violence interrupters are former criminals has drawn concern from local law enforcement officials in the past.<\/p>\n

\u201cInterrupters are greeted with hugs and handshakes in neighborhoods now instead of getting side-eyed,\u201d explains Commissioner Bush. \u201cThe community knows we aren\u2019t law enforcement and the cops know we aren\u2019t against them either. Our job is to help those at highest risk before things ever escalate to the police.\u201d<\/p>\n

The core components of daily activities for the Save Our Community <\/em>team consists of:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Outreach workers who work directly with high-risk individuals, gang members and troubled youth to provide direct services and mediate disputes before they become violent events. They mentor and counsel youth, assess their needs, connect them with a broad range of services like educational development programs, anger-management counseling, and drug or alcohol treatment and help them find child-care or employment.<\/li>\n
  2. Interrupters who mediate gang or neighborhood disputes. They work the streets at night, talk to gang leaders, distraught friends and relatives of recent shooting victims, and others who are in a position to initiate or continue cycles of violence, with the goal of establishing a rapport with the at-risk youth.<\/li>\n
  3. Community mobilization efforts are promoted through community-level activism and public education. Activities include: media campaigns, rallies, protests, and town hall meetings. Local churches and community groups participate in marches, rallies, and prayer vigils focused on reinforcing the unacceptability of violence in the Toledo community. Educational materials designed to change normal behavior about violence and enhance knowledge of the risks of engaging in violence are also distributed throughout Central Toledo.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Save Our Community\u2019s<\/em> Junction-Englewood region is housed within the Frederick Douglass Center with Outreach Specialist Eduardo Adams supporting his area’s Interrupters: Ricky Gaines, Matthew Smith Jr. and Brandon Awls.<\/p>\n

    The program’s Lagrange St. Corridor region is housed within the Zablocki Center with Outreach Specialist Issac Miles supporting his area’s Interrupters: Christopher McIntyre, Elizabeth Matthews and Christopher Matthews.<\/p>\n

    Last year there were a total of 75 homicides in Toledo. \u201cLast year was extreme. Homicides are down this year to 34 in the city and if Toledo continues on the same pace of projections, we hope to be under 45,\u201d says Commissioner Bush. \u201cEast Toledo was our logical next choice which is the third big puzzle of the central city area.\u201d<\/p>\n

    In response to residents\u2019 pleas to expand Save Our Community, East Toledo is the next logical choice.<\/p>\n

    \u201cWe are planning on expanding to East Toledo in late September and are excited to welcome Diana Vasquez as East Toledo\u2019s region Outreach Specialist,\u201d shares Bush.<\/p>\n

    Historically, the program has had some interruptions. There\u2019s been high turnover \u2014 the previous director, JoJuan Armour, resigned from his post in March.<\/p>\n

    \u201cFormer Commissioner JoJuan Armour did a great job during his time here. He was very effective,\u201d shares Bush. \u201cWe are full force now with nine on the team and we are determined to break the cycles of violence and poverty in Toledo\u2019s central city.\u201d<\/p>\n

    The Violence Interrupters work Tuesday-Saturday along with the Outreach Specialists. Each area has a team of three Interrupters and one Outreach Specialist.<\/p>\n

    Interrupters canvas from 2 p.m. – 10 p.m. and Outreach Specialists work from 10 a.m. \u2013 6 p.m. due to the front end of their job being reporting, logging paperwork, attending community events, and ensuring SOC participants receive resources. Each Interrupter can take up to five participants and enroll them into SOC\u2019s programming.<\/p>\n

    High-risk participants can be involved as long as they have a need such as housing, food insecurity, clothing, mental health assistance, or even a simple employment resource.<\/p>\n

    \u201cWe are a part of bringing a village back to our Toledo community,\u201d says Bush. \u201cFolks want to know what\u2019s in it for them? Generally, employment is one of the biggest positive gateways to instilling confidence in our participants. We want to interrupt their cycles of poverty, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Any inner city that suffers from poverty, suffers from the ills of gun violence. Save Our Community <\/em>is changing the norms of how people think about violence by providing regular training sessions for staff to enhance their knowledge of the program. This helps workers make appropriate decisions when they encounter situations with community members.<\/p>\n

    \u201cInterrupters have their own triggers and trauma so it\u2019s important that our programming provides training to not only participants but to our own staff,\u201d says Bush.\u00a0 \u201cOur team has received over 70 hours of training, including trauma and force training and stop the bleed training given by Toledo\u2019s own nurses here at Mercy Medical that they can use when they are out canvassing.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Program participants emphasize that Toledo\u2019s Outreach Workers and Interrupters are doing a credible job, describing their work as a combination of trustworthiness and authenticity.<\/p>\n

    Save Our Community would like you to be part of a homegrown solution to our Glass City violence. Amid a historic surge in bloodshed during the pandemic, it has made a huge impact in its very concentrated canvased areas of Junction\/Englewood and Lagrange Street.<\/p>\n

    Follow the work of Save Our Community on the City of Toledo\u2019s social media pages and participating events to help them interrupt violence. You too, can be a very important part of Toledo\u2019s growing village.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    By Asia Nail The Truth Reporter Violence interruption is effective, but it takes intensive and sustained effort. David Bush is honored to lead the city’s interrupter program, a position that he has spearheaded since May. \u201cThere is a story behind every fired bullet,\u201d explains Commissioner Bush. Bush, born and reared here in Toledo, knows all […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,17],"tags":[],"wf_post_folders":[23],"class_list":["post-6058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cover_story","category-local"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6058"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6058\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6061,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6058\/revisions\/6061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6058"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=6058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}