RESOLUTION NO. 090280

Recognizing youth and young adult violence as a public health and safety problem and supporting Aim4Peaces efforts to seek creative funding and grant opportunities needed for the continuation of the initiative.

WHEREAS, in August 2007, the City Council established five priorities to help attain the vision for our city in which Kansas Citys communities are safe, well-maintained and environmentally responsible supporting people, neighborhoods, businesses, arts and education prosper, and leadership which inspires confidence and promotes unity; and

WHEREAS, crime and violence prevention is one of the five priority foundations supporting the vision for our city, as violence results in the tragic loss of life and serious injury, undermines families and neighborhoods, threatens the overall well-being of the City including the ability of children and adults to safely be outside their homes, and affects an overall sense of community connectedness and hope; and

WHEREAS, the United States Surgeon General, the World Health Organization, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have all identified violence as a priority public health issue challenging local, national, and global communities by its negative influence on morbidity, mortality, and quality of life; and

WHEREAS, violence takes a disproportionate toll on people of color (especially African American males) and low-income neighborhoods with 76.4% of homicides occurring in only 9% or 30 square miles of the Citys 320 square mile land mass; and

WHEREAS, violence exacts a financial burden by increasing health care and public safety costs, with the average public criminal justice costs for a single incident of homicide estimated at 3 million dollars, and the costs for one non-fatal paralyzing injury resulting from gun violence may total 2-5 million dollars over the victims lifetime for health care, living expenses, and lost productivity; and

WHEREAS, the World Medical Association reports that for every young person killed by homicide, at least 20-40 other youth receive hospital treatment for violence-related injuries and that no single factor drives violence as it arises out of a complex interplay of individual, relationship, community, societal and political factors; and

WHEREAS, the risk for violence among youth and young adults is increased by their developmental stage which is characterized by impulsiveness and inability to anticipate long term consequences, yet it is not an inevitable occurrence but is a learned behavior that is the result of preventable and controllable factors in the life of youth, such as poverty, family instability, domestic abuse, mental or physical illness, educational failure, a lack of engagement in productive and affirming activities, and diminished relationships with supportive adults; and

WHEREAS, the risk for youth and adult violence can be reduced by increasing connectedness to family and other supportive adults and institutions; by increasing commitment to academic achievement, through connection to a positive value system; and by being able to contribute to community wellbeing; and

WHEREAS, by adopting the Mayors Commission on Violent Crime Report, the City Council worked to find real solutions to address this challenge through the implementation of Aim4Peace, a public health approach to violence prevention designed to reduce volatile situations to build a safer community; and

WHEREAS, the City Council acknowledges that a public safety approach alone is insufficient and inadequate to address violence in the community and that the Aim4Peace initiative is an evidence-based approach that has been independently measured, proving its growing effectiveness as a prevention model addressing racial and socioeconomic factors related to violence; and

WHEREAS, the Citys FY 2009-2010 balanced budget required significant reductions in the workforce and funding to programs, including Aim4Peace which was reduced to three months of leveraged funding or $150,492 in the 2009-10 fiscal year; and

WHEREAS, the City Council stated in Resolution No. 090252 its intent to work collaboratively with all entities impacted by these budget reductions to identify creative funding solutions to insure that the City meets its commitments now and in the future; NOW, THEREFORE,

BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF KANSAS CITY:

That the City Council recognizes youth and young adult violence as a public health and safety problem and supports Aim4Peace, endorsing the organization; encouraging it to seek creative funding and grant opportunities needed for the continuation of the initiative; thereby supporting the creation of public-private partnerships to insure that the services provide by Aim4Peace, which are important to City residents are continued in the community.

_______________________________________________