In an Effort to Reduce Violence in Hartford’s Most Dangerous Neighborhoods, Five Community Organizations form the Hartford Community Safety Coalition

Since 2013, Hartford has experienced 644 gun shootings and a 24 percent increase in 2018 shootings over 2017.  The majority of these incidents have been concentrated in poorer city neighborhoods. In the midst of this violence, a number of community-based organizations have been providing a variety of response efforts to prevent further violence and to save lives. If these efforts are to be successful in reducing violent crime in the city, additional support and effective collaboration will be necessary.

Five local nonprofit agencies have created the Hartford Community Safety Coalition (CSC) as an organic response to the rising incidence of violent crime in Hartford. This past summer, these five organizations and advisors came together to respond to and address the rising incidence of gun violence in Hartford. The coalition’s mission is to create healthy communities through a reduction of urban violence and trauma in Hartford. With a $160,000 grant from the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, the Coalition is preparing to conduct a variety of community activities to address and reduce violent crime in Hartford.

Member organizations of the Coalition include COMPASS Youth Collaborative, Hartford Communities That Care, Mothers United Against Violence, Peace Center of Connecticut and the Wilson-Gray YMCA.

“These agencies have important relationships with local communities and unique histories with violence and trauma prevention and intervention,” said Hartford Foundation President Jay Williams. “Working collaboratively will facilitate coordination and positive collective impact on violent crime in Hartford. This partnership will provide much-needed, neighborhood-based efforts beyond the work currently being done by the City of Hartford and the Hartford Police Department. This work supports the Foundation’s interests in addressing community safety and we are proud to support this grassroots effort to develop joint program strategies to reduce crime and host community safety activities.”

Over the next twelve months, the agencies collectively intend to conduct the following activities:

• Youth anti-violence conference
• City-wide town hall on violent crime
• Travel outings for at-risk youth and known offenders
• “Mothers dialogues”
• Parent engagement activities

The Hartford Community Safety Coalition is an organic and community-based response to the increasing incidence of urban violent crime and the need to create safer communities for all Hartford residents.. The agencies comprising the coalition provide real-time crisis response, victim support and counseling, youth intervention strategies, community organizing, and a variety of other responsive strategies in the aftermath of violent crime in the City of Hartford. 

For more information on the Community Safety Coalition, contact: Rev. James Lane (pastorlane18@gmail.com), Deborah Davis (davisdeb@ymail.com) or Jacquelyn Santiago (jaquelynsantiago@compassyc.org).