CINCINNATI — We asked for your help in searching for solutions to help curb gun violence, and you stepped up. After our first ever Search for Solutions town hall, we're highlighting one group we met there that has a track record of success.
They are Community Outreach Advocates: A group of community safety advocates working together on the streets of Avondale.
The coalition of activists will walk the streets twice a week to connect with residents, sharing links to resources and having important conversations in the community.
“The number one goal is about really showing a presence,” said Ozie Davis, an Avondale resident and activist.
The group gathered Monday in Avondale to walk down Reading Road.
They wore shirts representing different organizations but had the same goal: addressing violence across the city.
“One group, one entity,” Michelle Robinson, a community outreach advocate with the Urban League, said. “Hopefully everybody will follow suit.”
“If they need a job, we'll have job resources,” Davis said. “If they need mental health services, we'll have trauma ambassadors.”
Davis said the group utilized this same approach for two years starting in 2015, with the help of Cincinnati police.
“We were attacking crime hotspots, and we saw a decrease in those hotspots,” he said.
We first learned about the effort after our Search for Solutions town hall on teen violence Downtown.
“It's affecting everyone, from the babies all the way up to the elderly,” Robinson said.
The group plans to walk twice a week on neighborhood streets.
“If you just sit on your living room couch and see all the stuff happening in our city right now, shame on you,” said Mitch Morris with Save Our Youth Kings & Queens. “You need to get up and get out and try to do something with just a handshake a hug or smile — get involved in some kind of way.”
