Aurora Youth Violence Program Receives $2 Million Federal Grant | Aurora

An Aurora program to combat youth violence has received a federal grant of nearly $2 million that will go toward outreach and support.

The Aurora SAVE program, which stands for Standing Against Violence Every Day, is a violence reduction program that began in 2023. The program targets groups at high risk of violence, particularly targeting 13- to 25-year-olds.

SAVE is a collaboration between Aurora’s Youth Violence Prevention Program, the Aurora Police Department and community partners.

Aurora officials announced in a news release Thursday that the program was awarded a nearly $2 million grant from the Department of Justice’s Community-Based Violence Prevention and Intervention Initiative.

The initiative creates an investment opportunity for community violence intervention programs like SAVE, according to a city news release.

The grant money will go toward community support and victim services, help with content creation and marketing, fund a crime analyst and program administrator, and support SAVE’s research partners at the University of Colorado Boulder, according to the communiqué.

The money will support SAVE for the next three years, during which time SAVE leaders plan to develop the gang violence intervention strategy and measure the success of that strategy.

Group Violence Intervention is a strategy of the National Safe Communities Network, which has successfully implemented violence reduction strategies in over 60 cities.

Aurora SAVE program manager Lisa Battan said program leaders meet with youth they identify as at risk of violence and provide services based on the needs of the individual and their family.

“We know that focusing only on incarceration and arrest is not the answer,” Capt. Mike Hanifin, law enforcement officer for SAVE, said in the release. “Our goal is to try to step forward and intervene on the front lines because this strategy is about the dual message of empathy, we will help you if you let us; and accountability, we’ll stop you if you do us.”

In Aurora, statistics for non-fatal and fatal gang-involved shootings are high per capita and have increased in recent years, according to the release. The mission of the program is to reduce these incidents.

Since its inception, SAVE has contacted 90 recipients, who receive personalized notifications with contacts to access the service. The average age of the beneficiaries is 17 to 18 years.

The announcement comes less than a week after Aurora police shot and killed an 18-year-old man who beat his mother “severely” and then fired into a group of officers trying to defuse the situation, the police chief said , Todd Chamberlain, in a press conference. Monday.

Aurora Councilwoman Angela Lawson frequently hears from her constituents that youth violence is a major concern in the community, she said in the release.

“Public safety remains a top priority for the City Council,” she said. “I’m glad we were able to secure additional funding to move us forward, and we need everyone — law enforcement, service providers and community partners — on board to make this work.”

More information about SAVE is available at AuroraGov.org/SAVE.