Gun Violence Intervention - Lexington, KY.
ONE Lexington
Background:
Lexington has seen a rise in violent crime, especially among its youth and young adults. This created a need for increased intervention and coordination to verify where gaps in our services may exist. In 2017, we created the ONE Lexington initiative to coordinate activities addressing violent crime – inside city government, and outside, with public and private partners. We understand that the city cannot solve these problems alone. To make a difference, this work calls for our faith and non-profit communities, schools, and neighborhood leaders to join city government partners in wrapping our arms, hearts, and resources around these issues.
To effectively address youth and young adult gun violence within Lexington, ONE Lexington leadership, in collaboration with the Community Innovation Lab at the University of Kentucky, Cities United and community partners, established a four-year strategic plan. While ONE Lexington provides city-wide leadership to reduce youth and young adult gun violence, its leadership fully understands that to effectively reduce gun violence in Lexington there needs to be strong collaboration among community partners.
The trategic plan includes a city-wide plan that incorporates the collaborative goals of community stakeholders and is guided by the P.I.E.R. framework. The acronym stands for the gun violence prevention strategies: Prevention; Intervention; Enforcement; and Re-entry. It is through this framework that the Lexington community will address gun violence over the next four years.
2023 Symposium to address youth & young adult gun violence
Faculty and students from the Community Innovation lab partnered with ONE Lexington and its community partners to convene the first Symposium to Address Youth and Young Adult Gun Violence. The symposium honored community members and organizations who are on the front lines working to keep Lexington, KY. safe. Hundreds of participants convened to network, enhance their professional capacity and community solidarity to reduce community gun violence.
