St. Louis’ steadfast support of non-profit organizations serving urban areas has continued into 2023, and the efforts are saving lives.
The Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis created its Serving Our Streets program [SOS] in 2020 with the goals of intervention and prevention of violent gun confrontations. The urban League responds to information given by neighborhood residents, or who call a hotline with knowledge of gun violence confrontations – and it is a success.
Since its inception, SOS has intervened to de-escalate 207 conflicts, all within 72 hours. On average, 98% of participants did not engage in violent crimes while in the program during a six month follow up period.
The program also provides education, employment, health, legal, safety, and social services.
Area Resources for Community and Human Services (ARCHS) announced this week that it has issued $1 million to the program. This is the third grant cycle ARCHS has provided funding and strategic support for the program that has served more than 8,500 participants.
The SOS program centers on three north St. Louis neighborhoods.
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-Hyde Park: A historic North St. Louis neighborhood, bound by Ferry to the North, I-70 to the east, Palm Street and Natural Bridge Avenue to the south, and Glasgow to the west.
-Jeff-Vander-Lou: Situated between North Vandeventer Avenue on the northwest, Natural Bridge Avenue on the northeast, North Jefferson Avenue on the east, Delmar Boulevard on the south, and North Compton Avenue and Martin Luther King Drive on the southwest.
-Kingsway East: Defined by Natural Bridge on the north, Martin Luther King on the south, Marcus Avenue on the east, and Kingshighway on the west.
“As opposed to running away from the neighborhoods that need us the most, we should be running to them,” Mike McMillan, Urban League president and CEO when the program was founded.
James Clark, Urban League public safety vice president, recently told KSDK “The neighborhood approach is gaining momentum. We’ve got to double and triple down on this because it works. We have analyzed this, we have come up with evidence-based practices, that have marginal success.”
St. Louis can become a national model because we have the will to do it. We just now have to be willing to do it,” he said.
Through the SOS program, Clark says “the pieces are in place to be successful.”
“We have a mountain of data. We understand the social determinants now, we understand, and we’ve watched young people go from being at risk to now being immersed in risk, so our response has been too slow,” he said.
In addition to the gun violence intervention initiative, SOS has also established The Neighborhood Healing Network.
It supports an individual or family who has been impacted by crime or violence. Community resource specialists connect residents of St. Louis City or County to victim services, social services, trauma workshops, and support groups for both the general public and professionals in different sectors.Â
Its goals are to:
-Develop a deeper understanding of trauma and its impact.
– Gain trauma-sensitive practices and strategies to avoid re-traumatizing individuals who have experienced trauma and/or victimization.
-Learn to navigate community resources and networks to support the immediate and long-term needs of individuals who experience trauma.
A third initiative of the SOS program is its Urban Opioid Triage, which provides street level outreach for people suffering from addiction and congregating in open air drugs markets.
Open-air drug markets are areas in neighborhoods, where drug sales and prostitution happen daily.
Through weekly engagement efforts, resources are offered to encourage and empower individuals suffering with addictions. This includes food, toiletries, health screening, NARCAN, access to inpatient drug treatment.
