DES MOINES, Iowa — One year ago today, local nonprofit Creative Visions partnered with the city of Des Moines to help curb violence in the metro.
Founder and State Rep. Ako Abdul-Samad shared how he and his team have offered boots-on-the-ground help and conflict mitigation in the Drake Neighborhood and Evelyn K. Davis Park area since then.
Abdul-Samad said this work is no easy feat, but the group learned a lot.
"In our year, we deal with over 50 mediations to prevent violence in the targeted area that we were assigned," Abdul-Samad said. "We did develop a shooter response."
Abdul-Samad said that he and his team are on call 24/7, and they are setting new goals for this year with the city's help.
"We'll try to work diligently with other agencies ..." he said. "Also, we have a ambassadors program, which we're incorporating businesses in."
In December 2021, Des Moines City Council members set aside over $400,000 to help support Creative Vision's Violence Interruption Project (VIP).
A smaller part of those funds provided by the city were given to Cure Violence Global, a data-driven model of violence interruption used to help shape creative vision's plan for Des Moines.
The organization broke down what they did each month of 2022 and even highlighted what challenges were presented, reading in part:
"We regret that some Council members were uncertain about this program’s expectations, our targeted areas of influence and our targeted demographic. We hope this report has provided a more thorough understanding of what we do and why we do it."
The city has agreed to extend their partnership with Creative Visions in 2023. You can read their full 2022 report here.