By Cassidy Beek

Somerville’s Anti-Violence Working Group held a webinar on Thursday, May 25, to discuss the work that it will be doing in collaboration with the Urban Peace Institute (UPI). Denise Molina Capers, the Director of Racial and Social Justice (RSJ), hosted the informational session alongside two representatives from UPI, Eric Lam, the Program Director, and Saul Garcia, the Technical Assistance Coordinator.

The mission of the newly formed working group is to bring together the broad voices and lived experiences of the city of Somerville to develop a socially equitable community by implementing policies that promote peace. “In all the work that the Anti-Violence Working Group will do, they will value peace, collaboration, empathy, dignity and respect,” said Capers.

The UPI representatives shared an overview of their work and how they will support the Anti-Violence group in addressing violence in Somerville. UPI is a nonprofit organization based in Los Angeles that seeks to develop policy focused on violence reduction, public safety, and justice reform. They utilize community organizing strategies, litigation, policy advocacy, technical assistance and research training.

UPI works to reduce violence and promote community health and safety through three primary program areas. Training in technical assistance involves violence response strategy development, community safety assessments, and violence prevention reduction training in gun violence for intervention workers, residents and law enforcement. In the past, UPI has created a crisis response system and has examined quantitative data from surveys and qualitative data that included interviews with law enforcement. Their place-based initiatives invest in building and strengthening community capacity and voice through local campaign development. Lastly, the smart justice program builds, develops and coordinates coalitions to advocate for systems reform centering those most impacted by violence.

Capers opened a community Q&A for constituents with questions regarding UPI’s approach to working with communities.

When asked to offer insight into UPI’s approach to addressing the root causes of violence, Lam explained how the causes manifest violence differently and emphasized the need to examine what violence looks like in varying communities. “We are not here to impose a strategy on any community, instead, we are here to partner with you all, taking a seat at your table. We are here to listen, to learn and to share and recommend the best practices, and to support your thinking about violence reduction and prevention. It is our intention that all voices are uplifted in the process,” said Lam.

Lam explained the specific training resources UPI offers to communities. Their recommendations are tailored to the community depending on what the need is. In the past, UPI has trained teachers on mental health and the impact of violence in communities. Stakeholder meetings were also held to develop a community-led gun response system to combat gun violence in gang-involved populations.

When asked about the importance of working directly with community members, especially those most influenced by violent acts, Garcia pointed to the residents as being most familiar with community dynamics. “The point of bringing them in is so the experts aren’t working on them but with them. As we’ve seen in the past when community members are not involved, it’s not done the right way, and the community members are the ones that suffer,” said Garcia.

UPI aims to create a safe space where people feel it is okay to be vulnerable and discuss the violence within their city. Gaining the trust of the community gradually and not forcing people to share for the greater objective is something they value. For future meetings centered around difficult conversations, they will send out a survey at the end of each meeting if members feel uncomfortable sharing in that specific space.

The representatives closed out the Q&A by communicating their excitement for future work with Somerville.

They expressed their eagerness to see the growth that Somerville wishes to achieve and view the new collaboration as an opportunity for both parties to learn from one another while working toward a shared goal of peace.

Capers also looks forward to the collaboration as she wishes to alleviate the concerns of the community in regard to violence within Somerville. “This is a pinnacle moment for us because we are going to put action to an issue that our constituents have highlighted as one of their public safety concerns,” said Capers.

The Anti-Violence working group will be hosting future webinars with UPI as well as listening sessions within the coming months.

For more information about the collaboration between Somerville’s Anti-Violence working group and UPI please visit their websites at https://www.somervillema.gov/rsj and https://www.urbanpeaceinstitute.org.