Forsyth County and the City of Winston-Salem have signed on with a national organization to reduce violent crime in the area.
In the last budget cycle, Winston-Salem leaders set aside more than $1 million toward crime prevention. Some of that money is going to things like youth programs and inmate reentry initiatives.
They're also turning to Chicago-based Cure Violence, which provides a public health model to lower crime. The idea is to identify where conflicts are likely to occur, interrupt those disputes, and follow up to make sure they don't recur.
Patrice Toney is an assistant city manager for Winston-Salem. She says Cure Violence will provide a way for decreasing crime, but it will rely on local people who have built trust in their communities to make it work.
“We know our community better than anyone else,” she says. “And we just will utilize the tools and the research and the model, the structure, that Cure Violence provides.”
Cure Violence staff are expected to visit the area in the coming weeks. Toney says the program should be ready to roll out in early 2022.
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