KALAMAZOO (WKZO-AM) — Kalamazoo Public Safety says it has found the money it needs to fund a program that would attempt to cut off violence in the city at its roots.
They have been working for over a year to bring the nationally-recognized Group Violence Intervention program to Kalamazoo. This week, they got the green light from the Kalamazoo City Commission to accept foundation funding to underwrite the effort.
Dep. Chief Donald Webster said the goal is to identify gang members and youthful offenders who seem headed toward a life of violence and offer them an alternative.
Capt. David Boysen said the program works with the courts, probation officers, existing social service agencies and the help of former gang members and ex-felons to give youthful offenders a choice they may not have thought was available.
The program, which was developed by David Kennedy at John Jay College in New York City, has worked successfully in other cities across the country.
