The University of Virginia Community Safety Working Group released its report aimed at improving community security following an uptick in gun violence in and around Charlottesville.
Formed in the aftermath of the November 13, 2022, fatal shooting on Grounds and a wave of area shootings, the CSWG is a collaborative effort between UVA, Charlottesville City, and Albemarle County leaders. Experts consulted by the group include local law enforcement departments, UVA’s Crisis Intervention Team, city and county public school officials, and nonprofit organizations such as the Uhuru Foundation.
“The Community Safety Working Group took up their charge during a difficult time, with violence hitting close to home on Grounds and in our community,” said President Jim Ryan to UVA Today. “Their comprehensive recommendations provide tangible steps toward a safe, thriving community, and I look forward to working with our partners to implement their proposed actions.”
While the CSWG report was released to the public on January 25, community leaders first reviewed the document and its recommendations in September, according to UVA Deputy Spokesperson Bethanie Glover.
“All of the working groups that operate under the auspices of the President’s Council on UVA-Community Partnerships … submit their reports to the President’s Council for review before they are finalized and moved forward. That process took place in October and November,” says Glover. “Once reviews were completed and the county, city, and UVA agreed that the report offered a comprehensive view of opportunities to decrease gun violence, the report was made available for public view.”
In its report, the CSWG breaks down its recommendations into four major goals: creating protective community environments, enhancing place-based programming and access to care, improving coordination and information flow among the Charlottesville community, and connecting youth to caring adults and activities.
The January 25 report includes several short- and medium-term recommendations, and Glover says that “many of the report’s recommendations are already being implemented through established programs, activities, resources, and courses.”
While the CSWG lists improving coordination and information flow as one of its main goals in strengthening community safety, UVA has not moved on its position to withhold the independent report on the 2022 shooting on Grounds that killed Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr., and D’Sean Perry, and injured two other students. Recommendations from the working group to advance this goal are limited to “center resident input” and the creation of an information hub, caregiver support network, data-sharing system, and community resource app. The CSWG kicked off work in this area with the launch of the Charlottesville Albemarle Youth Opportunity Center in spring 2023, and is currently developing other information coordination efforts, such as hiring “a data scientist to integrate data sets pertaining to youth violence.”
“The university is delaying the release of final reports from the external review due to concerns that doing so now may impact the pending criminal trial of the accused,” Glover says about UVA’s decision to withhold the independent incident report. “We are committed to providing the external review as soon as we can do so without interfering with the criminal proceedings in any way.”
To advance the group’s goal of creating protective community environments, the CSWG recommendations include gun education programs, strengthening community relationships, establishing crisis response teams, and creating a coordinated crisis response plan. Many of the short-term recommendations to support these efforts are still in early development, but coordinated efforts to obtain funding and considerations towards the creation of Crisis Response Teams are reportedly underway. Other initiatives recommended by the CSWG are broadly described as “launch public awareness campaigns” and “offer support and Community-Engaged coursework,” which included a fall 2023 class on “The Wicked Problem of Gun Violence” at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy.
The work group’s suggestions for improving place-based programming and access to care are equally ambitious, including investing in access to care, bridging university and community resources, and investing in community resources. Short-term recommendations to advance these efforts are relatively specific, including a new clinic operated by UVA Health and Sentara Martha Jefferson Hospital focused on “pediatric neurodevelopmental and behavioral health” that is slated to open this fall.
The CSWG’s steps toward strengthening support networks for local youth include supporting existing community mentorship programs, investigating violence interrupter models, advancing school-based recommendations, and strengthening academic support, youth programming, and reentry programs. Short-term efforts toward advancing these goals include “trauma-informed” and “research-based” training for mentors and uplifting the Comprehensive Care Coordination Program and One-Stop Shop efforts.
According to Glover, next steps following the CSWG report release include sharing the recommendations “with the groups and organizations who have the skills and resources to bring them to life (whether within UVA or across the broader community) so that they can be implemented in the coming months and years.”
Read the full CSWG report at prescouncil.president.virginia.edu/community-safety
Ed. note: This story has been updated from its original January 31, 2024, publishing date to reflect additional information provided by the University of Virginia in regards to improving community security. The date of the Community Safety Working Group report’s release has also been corrected.