e [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] w [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] for [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] on [Music] go [Music] [Music] e [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] good morning my name is Henry Santana at Large counselor I am the chair of the Boston city council Committee on Public Safety and criminal justice today is Friday April 12th 2024 this hearing is being recorded it is also being live streamed at boston.gov city-council DTV and broadcast on exfinity Channel 8 RCN channel 82 files Channel 964 written comments may be sent to the committee email at cccp boston.gov and will be made part of the record and available to all counselors public testimony will be taken at the end of this hearing individuals will be called on an order in which they signed up and will have 2 minutes to testify if you are interested in testifying in person please add your name to the sign up sheet near the entrance of the chamber if you are looking to testify virtually please email our Central staff liaison Kora Monon at k. montron boston.gov for the link and your name will be added to the list today's hearing is on three Grant dockets the first of which is docket number 0342 message and Order authorizing the city of Boston to accept and expand the amount of one sorry of 1, 75475 in the form of a grant for the FY 24 Senator Charles E Shannon Junior Community safety initiative awarded by Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security to be administered by the police department the grant will fund Regional and multi-disciplinary approaches to combat gang violence through coordinated prevention and intervention law enforcement prosecution and reintegration programs this matter was sponsored by the administration and referred to the committee on February 14 2024 just to give a little context this is the largest of the grants that we'll be discussing today as a little bit of an overview this grant aims to reduce gun gang and youth violence in Boston by providing services and intervention interventions to at risk and gang affiliated youth Affiliated youth since 2015 the city of Boston has used a competitive RFP process opening applications to nonprofits nonprofits with a vested Community interest in addressing and responding to youth violence this process is now part of the annual funding cycle which receives around 50 applications per year I believe this grant currently benefits approximately 18 Community nonprofits three BPD BPD programs a suff district courts and Department of Youth service program and provides funding towards staff salaries and benefits specifically a program director and data analyst we'll hear more details on this Grand today from um demon bills project coordinator at BPD the second matter on today's agenda is docket number 0504 message and Order authorizing the city of Boston to accept and expand the amount of $44,100 in the form of a grant for the Boston violence intervention and intervention initiative um awarded by the United States Department of Justice passed through the Boston Public Health commission to be administered by the police department the grant will fund bpd's ability to support the project with relevant crime data reporting if available assign a BPD representative to a to participate with cvpi planning um/ advisory committee this matter was sponsored by the administration and referred to the committee on March 13 2024 excuse me the second Grant also seeks to reduce Community violence spe specifically in Roxberry doorchester and matapan by engaging um returning citizens in programming that addresses their needs and strengthens strengthens any available support they have from their family caregivers and the community the grant was awarded to support bpc's violence intervention and prevention program which uses restorative justice and Trauma informed practices and Community Building efforts and activities we'll hear today about these programs and this Grant from Lieutenant Brian M mcmanis BPD Mark Scott program director and Trauma response and recovery from the Boston Public Health commission Tanya melis director violence intervention and prevention initiative from the Boston Public Health commission our third and final Grant docket today is docket number 0577 message and Order authorized in the city of Boston to accept and expand the amount of $84,000 in the form of a grant for fy4 cism Grant awarded by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security to be administered by the police department the grant will fund access to critical incidents Stress Management and peer support programs to address mental wellness and suicide prevention for BPD officers this matter was sponsored by the administration and referred to the committee on March 27 2024 as chair of Public Safety and criminal justice I just want to say that we know that police officers have a demanding and difficult job and it's one that often goes with too few things and a job well done serving our community the strains and stresses of working as a police officer can be damaging to mental health which is a serious danger for both our officers and our community we need to ensure we have programs in place to support our officers with tools to manage stress address addiction and prevent suicide this grant is planned to help address these critical issues by implementing a two-fold strategy the first component will utilize an app-based training program for officers to learn the struggle well wellp traumatic growth program and then train other officers the second part of the strategy will provide training certified by the international critical incident incident stress Foundation which cover a range of issues including Suicide Prevention addressing addiction trauma and prevention and intervention for stress we'll hear today about these strategies and this gram from Sergeant Joseph King director of BPD peer support and family assist unit I also like to recognize um that today I'm joined by my colleagues in order of arrival counselor Aon Murphy at large city counselor counselor um Ed Flynn District truth city counselor and councelor Ben Weber district 6 city counselor we all received the letter of we also received the letter of absence from councelor president Newen which I will now read into the record dear chairman Santana I will be unable to attend the city council Committee on Public Safety and criminal justice hearing on dockets number 0342 054 and 0577 adhering to this various Public Safety grants I know the committee will conduct a comprehensive and thorough review of all the grants and awards and these fundings opportunities are vital specifically for the stress and management and peer support programs to address the mental Wellness of our BPD officers and for the Boston Public Health commission's work on violence intervention and prevention furthermore I have full confidence in my federal committee members ability to carry forward with the discussions and deliberations in my absence with the utmost attention and consideration I look forward to reviewing the outcomes of the hearing and to contributing further discussions should you or the administration have any other questions or comments please do not hesitate to reach out to my office directly at 617635 4376 or at ry. Len boston.gov sincerely ruy Luan Boston city council president with that I'd like to give the panelist an opportunity to provide a brief overview of each of these grants and then I'll I'll open up the discussion um for my colleagues we'll go in the order of the grant dockets so will the panelist speaking on the Shannon Grant docket number 0342 please begin counselor um funded by the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security um The Charles E Shannon Community safety initiative is modeled after the office of Juvenile Justice and delinquency prevention comprehensive gang model um each Comm Comm Community receiving the Shannon funding um in Massachusetts demonstrates the presence of risk factors for Youth and gang violence um Shannon participants must be between the ages of 10 and 24 years old um in 2024 Shannon will support 19 city-based and local nonprofits um 63% which are led by women and 73% led by persons of color um the following organizations are receiving Shannon funding for this year um it's not a fiscal year it's a calendar year so it goes from January 1st to December 31st um it's a little bit different than other grants um so the organizations receiving funding are Boston centers for Youth and families um the GLC program um Boston Medical Center viap um BPD departments which will be Community engagement Bureau of field services and Bureau of Investigative Services um Boston Public Health commission um edic to Y Boston future chefs father's uplift highight Square task force jri mlmc strive um Le D Brown peace Institute Maverick Landing mission Safe mothers for justice and equality project right St Stevens youth programs Sportsman's tennis Enrichment Center the center for teen empowerment youth build Boston and youth connect Boys and Girls Club um Shannon funds um focus on the following strategies through a violence prevention lens um I'm going to list a couple of stats from 2023 um but the the strategies are case management Street Outreach and intervention programming Community mobilization programming education and employment programming um and positive Youth Development and Recreation so through this lens the Shannon has over the last 15 years now um supported various um nonprofits in the city of Boston um as well as um programs that are specifically targeting the young people who are committing violence and or targeting the families that are affected within that that realm um last year we case management and Street Outreach and intervention programming serviced 1,471 clients through case management 221 receiving Street Outreach Services um through Community mobilization 800 I mean sorry 8,687 community members attended events U meetings and presentations 348 Community meetings and presentations were held for education employment 978 individuals participated in employment programming that's full and part-time PR programming um 1,437 participated in education-based programming that will be your after school tutoring and those sorts of things um for positive Youth Development and Recreation about 1,400 participants in recreational program that would be Sportsman's tennis and um sports-based programs in the like um and then 1,712 participants in Youth Development programming that would be a lot more after school program that has a very specific thing that as in teen empowerment um and programs like mothers for justice that has summer programming specifically um in 2015 again like you said counselor we we introduced a competitive R RFP process for the Shannon Grant um opening the gr up to nonprofits and allowed to be funded for new organizations with a vested Community interest in addressing responding to youth violence through a variety of methods um the processes are in annual part of the Shannon funding um usually occurs in August um we get we apply to the state in October so we'll we'll start ours for the city and then we'll apply to the state for for Boston funding um annually we usually try to take on about five new organizations um because the Shannon Grant is a reimbursable grant is a little bit different you have to be able to be fiscally sound beforehand um a lot of times we are we're asking people to build like quarterly or twice a year um so it's not a it's not a grant as in here's here's the cash and then you can do whatever you want I would love it for it to be that way but that's not how the Shannon Works um in this manner um so we believe that the neighborhood based program has had impact on youth's violence Citywide since 20 since 2006 the Inception of the Shannon Grant um we've seen a 16% decrease in homicide 9% decrease in aggravated results in a 10% decrease in total violent crimes um through an initial investment of about $350 per young person served um again this this has been my 11th year doing it um supporting all the people that are here specifically um shouting out Boston Public Health commission and shouting out BCF um and our city partners that are very engaged in the Shannon and rely on the funds to help the programming um we also would like to shout out for in the city there has been a lot more efforts LED in funding these nonprofit organizations through different sources of funding um we always championing uh the city council to help find more sources for funding for for our nonprofits that do a Lon share of the work to reducing violence for young people in our city thank you thank you so much appreciate that and um we'll now go um to uh with with the panelists for the um cvpi Grant docket number 0504 please proceed now thank Youk um good morning chairman Santana counselors Flynn Murphy and Weber um my name is Tanya Morales I'm the director of the violence intervention and prevention initiative at the Boston Public Health commission um so I'm going to talk about the community violence uh intervention and prevention Grant cvpi if that's okay um at uh from the Boston Public Health commission um on which BPD is a partner um in so just a little background of the Grant in fiscal year 22 uh the Department of Justice launched the community based violence intervention and prevention initiative which marked a historical Federal investment um in community violence intervention um programs this initiative seeks to prevent and reduce violent crime in communities by supporting comprehensive evidencebased violence intervention and prevention programs based on Partnerships among community members residents local government agencies victim service providers community- based organizations law enforcement hospitals researchers and other community stakeholders the Boston Public Health commission was awarded the 2023 cvpi Grant um which is $2 million over the course of three years excuse me to support returning citizens and their caregivers the grant will be led by bpc's VIP initiative our key Partners on the grant are the We Are Better Together Daniel hariston project and the transformational prison project in addition to supporting the services and programming of we're better together and transformational prison project over the course of the grant we will increase the engagement of those populations in the VIP neighborhood engagement community building and placemaking activities in order to support their productive reintegration into the communities and support desistence the Boston Police Department is also a smaller partner on the grant providing required crime data for planning and implemen ation as well as Grant reporting Boston Police Department um will hire an intern at about 10 hours a week to attend meetings um with our planning team and later advisory team and compile and provide data needed to support the grant um so thank you for the opportunity to participate in this hearing this morning I look forward to answering any questions you might have thank you so much um and will the panelist for um for the cism grant docket number 0577 please proceed now thank you thank you good morning Council thank you for here for the time my name is Officer actually check that Sergeant Joseph King I'm the director of the peer support and family assistance units for the police department of the Boston Police Department also falls underneath those units is the critical incident stress management team that team is a uh recognized team by the international critical incident stress foundation and the Massachusetts state peer support network the um the grant we're looking for is for the critical incident trust Management program and the the target the main target of the grant is under the terminology that's often used which is Officer Wellness for the purpose of of my of the unit of the peer support unit and the uh family assistance units and the critical incident teams we go with the term officer Wellness to be the physiological mental emotional and spiritual health of the IND individual officer and of themselves and I say that the fact of to defeat the um the terminology used of the police and recognizing the fact that the police are actual individual human beings out there working every day in the city of Boston who works chronically exposed to trauma of All Sorts usually the first ones to respond in a bat scene at multiple scenes of trauma and asked and demanded that they act in a professional and responsible manner what we're looking to get is more fuel that we use for our team for the Technologies we use to to minim mitigate and minimize the The Chronic TR trauma to exposure which can end up in post-traumatic stress injuries post-traumatic stress disorder depression anxiety and the ultimate goal of the unit has always been suicide prevention of the officers the national stats are that a police officer is three times more likely to die by his or her own hand than that of a a suspect and that's across the country um the the main tool we use is out of the critical incident stress Foundation it's through the critical incident stress management uh debriefings that we do part of that is also comes with training training for the Personnel that do these debriefings that training would be group Crisis Intervention prevention intervention and postvention for suicide and from trauma to addiction we also do at times a uh a training called battlefield the street but that is tapered off as the um the deployments in Afghanistan Iraq have dropped we have a great number of veterans that are police officers have had multiple deployments and that's also a Target of of our work uh the other the the thing we're also the other program we use is also called The Struggle well first responder initiative and the the basis of that is is more proactive than it is reactive which has been a great program it's we've had trainings in it already have checked it out and inv vented it it's been a very good positive reaction throughout the country it's run by this uh an organization called Boulder Crest which is an uh a nonprofit country City Countrywide organization and the the goal with that is to teach officers that they are going to struggle they are going to have trauma they are going to have issues it's how do they it's how to struggle well through these through these these issues and how do like I like to describe it bring up their Baseline resiliency our officers are resilient people in the first place most of them if they weren't would have been good for about a year on the street and they would resign or quit if they weren't uh that's just how it works so the the idea behind these programs is to increase the resiliency of the officers make them healthier make them more sustainable and make them better police officers overall that can serve with a clear State of Mind purpose and health thank you thank you tant um I um thank you for that I'd like to acknowledge at this time that we also have been joined by um councelor Sharon Durkin from from District 8 um at this time I'd also like to turn the floor over to my colleagues in order of arrival for the first round of questions to begin discussion um I'd like to ask my colleagues to limit the time for your initial um questions and responses from our panelist to 4 minutes per counselor including panelist responses um that way we have the opportunity to follow up on the information shared in this initial round with more um interactive discussion um City councel at large Erin Murphy you have the floor thank you thank you chair um thank you for being here I know we've been here before when these grants come before us and it's it's great to be educated for me and to be reminded that there's so much need out there and there's so much that our city departments are doing but we need to lean on our nonprofits or the work won't get done so thank you to um you know the organizations in this handout is very helpful I appreciate that thank you um you know we're listing our city departments you know like the Boston police and BCF shout out to Erica and all I know you do for our youth and um the Public Health commission but also you know these nonprofits the the city would not be um able to deliver on these quality of life issues if we didn't have these grants so thank you to the grant writers right like we're here because there are people working really hard to make sure that we fill out these grants that we find these grants and that um we we get the services out onto the streets I also um want to thank you for just reminding us that police offices are humans right and that there's a lot of trauma that they go through on a daily bases also do our teachers and our BC like all of our city workers and I'll give a shout out to my colleague here um councelor Durkin I know my maiden speech a couple years ago was about making sure that we were addressing the mental health of our youth and our young adults and hers was related to city workers so it's something that we care about a lot on this Council but when we're adding this needed um Services we don't want to be taking away from others so we have to make sure that we're putting that money into the budget to make sure that we can deliver um no real questions directly because it's obviously something I will happily support just a question I guess um I think last year we talked about the list of nonprofits and how do they get back on a list and what type of um you know checklist do you you do I know they are doing wonderful things but there's others out there that probably wish they made the list one of these years and how long have some of these been on like is there still talk about if we can expand like how do we give others a chance not that I want to at all say that these ones shouldn't be fully funded but yeah it is a um annual application that comes out we listed on BPD news as well as the city's website um so it's it's an open it's an open application um again it's any more than the current amount of nonprofits would be a a seriously heavy load um about 20 is really pushing it for us um I would love to get more but we're even from the funding from eops it's a it's pretty level it's going to it's been about 1.6 to 1.7 every year and at some point if you have too many then you're not able to give enough to them what they need to be amount I feel that to to have a successful program and to be able to do the admin for the Shannon Grant because it's not like again it's not a straight up funding source it's a it's a reimbursable um about the average is about $40,000 for our grants um unless you're doing case work or you're City Affiliated so you you that those organizations will receive more um we could do a lot more um I think it would be a lot more work and then administratively it's it's very topheavy um so we do kind of rely on other sources of funding like the youth development funds to to push our organizations who did may not have received the funding like hey apply for this um these are the other sour sources of fundings that are out here um that may not have as much paperwork as the Shannon Grant does because it does require a lot of paperwork we hear that with housing and lots of things right a lot of paperwork but when we're getting money from the federal government we have to obviously fill it all out um no thank you thank you for coming in every year and presenting this and I'll obviously be in full support and any other ways we can on the council help you expand or get other grants please let me know thank you chair thank you councelor I I'll turn over um to District 2 city councelor adlin thank you Mr chair and want to say thank you to the panelists for being here for the important work that you're doing throughout the city on violence prevention on public health challenges supporting our police officers and their families and so many other issues Boston works well because of your dedication and your team's dedication to addressing these critical issues one issue I did want to highlight I had the opportunity to have been involved in this issue for a long period of time as is the mental health and counseling and peer services for our Boston police offices and and I'm glad you mentioned uh sergeant offic of Wellness is a critical term but a critical part of ensuring our police officers and their families get the care services support that they that they need we did not opportunity to talk before the hearing as well but Sergeant I wanted to ask you first of all I want to say thank you to your for you for your job of working closely with police officers and their families and as you mentioned a lot of police officers have been in the military and returned home and when they're re when they're responding to a call an incidents or a difficult challenging in incident often violent or even even tragedy that has a significant impact on people's um mental health and counseling um but how are we supporting police offices and their families after a tragic event that they experience the police officer experien while conducting their duties as a police officer what what what are we doing to help the families as well right now primarily for the unit we the best support we can give to the families without getting into family counseling because it would overstep our mission our boundaries even our uh the professional limits of our clinicians that we have working with us in into an area that would almost expose the the unit to to collapse from the weight of the work it would take on which is we don't do family counseling is what I'm getting down to the primary what we do it and it's and it's a it's a statement it's a it's a a message we send to the officers is how we're keeping them healthy and how they can function with things at homes one of the biggest things I have done since taking over the unit four years ago is and this is when I talk to other units that are trying to people other communities are trying to build units Boston Boston places units been in place since 1974 we're probably one of the oldest and most established ones in the country we found that out at 9/11 when our when they responded to the to the pile and the only other full-time unit there was from San Francisco and we saw it again after the Marathon bombing the way we were able to roll out large scale debriefings and respond to the officers here and so the point is we what we've realized to do is is keeping the officers in of themselves healthy but also I've realized that the size of the unit and and what we're able in the scope of our mission is limited to the officers so what we've done is become I call it a resource broker which is I I I constantly repeat to my people you need to be a resource broker so we're constantly looking at and vetting different companies or agencies or nonprofits or even just individual clinicians that are able to take on families take on especially during Co the officers were working all the time the there was a lot going on with their families being basically bullied on in the internet because of the the outfall from the Floyd incident and there head officers families being directly physically assaulted and like how do I deal with this cuz the problem is the officers are okay with it the families AR with what happens and so the the issue was trying to get families resources that can handle their specific situation I'm not saying that the police family is any more special or less than any other family but there's certain unique things that come with it similar to like a firefighter or corrections officer or even an RN that works in an ER BMC which is the crazy shift hours of chronic exposure to um work the being ordered to work and having to stay home so they're the family dynamic changes posed to somebody who works in a private sector job this Monday through Friday 9: to 5: so we try to find clinicians and programs that we call them culturally competent to our families that we and a big thing we do is vet them out and if they're willing to take on our officers and their families we do that we have great connections with mlan hospital that we're able to make uh it can make direct resources through phone calls at times if you have to for family members same with the one of the best things has been the vet center down at Black Falcon my first question is are you a veteran and they yes the FED Center will do marriage counseling they'll do family counseling they'll do things of that nature so the mission of the unit of s is still centered on the officer um and a healthy officer which we hope will make a healthy family but for the families we have a resource list that we constantly are building in grooming in in and pruning at times and and and to to give out to the families so it's a lot of it's networking thank you sergeant can I am I you want one more question time is you can go one more yeah um well thank you Sergeant I'll I'll come back after the the next round but just wanted to acknowledge the the important work your team is doing responding helping police officers and you're exactly right during during the pandemic a lot of people were working from home but our police officers and and and other First Responders weren't in in in their families were maybe the families were home or their spouses were home but the police officers were in hm's way were protecting our city protecting our residents and it does have a significant toll on on a particular family and the least we can do as a city is is acknowledge that but more importantly it's important for us to support our police officers and First Responders because you've you've been there for the city the residents of Boston during good times and bad times and you always in my opinion you always conduct yourselves in a in a professional manner thank you Mr chair thank you counselor um I don't pass it over to um district 6 City councilor Ben Weber uh thank you chair uh and uh you know thank you panelists for all the services you're providing for our police officers uh for returning Citi you know and for for Youth and and people in the community I guess Mr bills I I represent Jackson Square egleson square you know uh in the 16 years I've lived in the neighborhood there have been you know kind of seems like swells of of gang violence activity I guess and uh in my conversations with police officers who I represented M Leo uh in in some cases uh and they they said well you know you get kids who kind of come up and they there there's stuff that happens and then we get them into programs uh and they age out and then there's like you know a couple years later you get the Next Generation but I I don't know if you can just tell me a little bit more about what's going on you know in my in my district uh what you're seeing um well I I could tell you the program that we support in the district would be um High Square task force um as far as like the the the scope of violence currently I couldn't I couldn't tell you it's right now without going back and confronting to our data analyst but I know there is as in those waves it's always that's always one of the issues um for Shannon and then for our sister program um SS Yi it's it's a it's kind of a graduation of young people um Shannon is not every not every person a young young person in Shannon is involved in gang they might be affected by it because of the neighborhood that they're living in um um and we make sure that we kind of keep that in our minds because you you might not be involved in gangs at all but if you live there and those people are your brothers and those people are your sisters it still affects you um but you don't see it in the same in within the same lens um you don't think that your brother or sister is is involved in violence you don't see them as a gang member or involved in those things so we kind of make sure that we're addressing that as well um through through Shan fun just kind of normalizing the young people that are living in the neighborhood um it's not a in a lot of our minds if we're only looking through the violence lens we're seeing it as a oh this neighborhood is tragic um it's the young people are suffering all the time but they don't see it that way they just this is where they live um so we have to make sure that we're balancing that as well when we're when we're supporting youth violence prevention we're talking about like how we're how we're going to support a young person who just they just live there there it's not a it's it's not a it's not a war zone for them if they live in there um it's also their place to go it's also the place that they shop it's also the places that they are socializing in so um I know that's a long way around your question no I just thank you for you know the work and uh you know uh I look forward to you know working with high Square task force and you know helping people and see what else I mean this year I think there's we we do have um we're trying to do this summer for the Shannon Grant um very small grants that are absolutely on the ground things so we have um eops gave us $50,000 to do um $55,000 grants um that are right just in the neighborhoods very very localized and so we're going to be trying to lean on our partners to see what they can fund within the neighborhood that just violence prevention based um but even just more networking with young people more opportunities to for them to just be and not um be parts of programming because a lot of times I think we are in the last 20 years we have really focused on young people and saying you got to do this be in this thing and just not giving him a space to just be young people there's no opening and Gathering spots for them that's just nonprogram um so we have to think about that we we've kept our kids kind of inside and in in programming they just don't have the ability to just be outside so that's I'm sorry no no yeah thank you and hopefully so I so for with when I meet with he score task force we can communicate with you talk about proposals you absolutely okay that'll be great um uh so I have a large group of elementary school students uh that are waiting for me so I'm thank you chair I I I'm going to run out but uh thank you all the work you do you count of my support you know for these grants uh thank you for being here thank you thank you counselor um I pass it over for um to District 8 City councelor Sharon Durkin thank you so much chair and thank you for convening this hearing I love hearing more about these grants um and have had the opportunity to attend a lot of Grant hearings and I think um it just kind of uncovers some of the work that often goes unnoticed um so thank you so much and um hearing uh you talk about uh the the interf family life of police officers my sister and my grandmother were both police officers and um and I know what impact my grandmother was a police officer um at a time when there were no guns so it was a very different time um she she carried a stick so um but and my but my sister was a police officer for almost four years um in Alabama and I can tell you what toll that took on her and now she's in the social work field so um very much loved the work and loved that part of police work um but ended up finding a different path but um so I really appreciate all of the work that goes into everything you do and everything that the police department um and our commissioner is trying to trying to do and happy that our um that our police officers are and our detectives are under contract now I think that's great um so thank you for that I you know regarding these dockets I love to know the history of the dockets and sort of how long we've applied for them and whether we get them every year so in terms of docket 0342 the Shannon Grant how long has that been um something that we've since 2006 2006 okay and so we um we have gotten it since that time since they that was the Inception so we've we've received the funds every year since then great and what what impact do you think that's had on our City's Youth and youth violence um we have seen about since 2006 probably about 16% decrease in homicides um and that's just through the the the Shannon areas or the the places that are the most affected by guns and youth violence um a 9% decrease in aggravated assaults um 10% decrease in total violent crimes um what like I said before there's an investment of about $350 per young person um through the funds that we get so through that investment we've seen this kind of long Trend downtrend evolence um down to the Holland side but that's that's Nationwide as well like we Bost we're very very lucky um that we have had this this decrease in this time period um other places have had rises in violence but we've been pretty lucky and I've attributed to all the programming that we're we're able to do um all the work that we're doing across departments and across the city and I've been very um active even before I was a counselor on um BCF um and youth summer jobs and I think that program is so important but we find um that you know everything kind of has to be working in Synergy so excited to hear how this doet um is complimentary to everything else we're doing as a city to curb youth violence um uh and then in terms of um 0504 um the public health uh commission Grant um can you tell me more a little more about the cvii planning advisory committee yes the um it's a three-year Grant but it starts with a um it's supposed to be a six-month planning process we are just um gearing up to start that we just set our date actually for the first meeting so there is a planning committee convened that includes you know bphc staff um it'll include the person from BPD who's funded through this um it includes Isaac yalo who is the mayor's senior advisor he's incredible yeah yeah um and then it'll include staff from both of our kind of key partner organizations as well as three to five clients that they serve because we want to have those people who are most impacted by this and who are most involved in it we want their voices to be part of the planning process there's a couple other um VIP partners that will be part of that planning committee we will me meeting every two weeks for approximately six months to develop you know really assess to do a a broader assessment determine what the specific needs are and what we will do to address those and also how we will strengthen not just having these different institutions doing their project but how are we going to create those synergies so that we're working um and collaborating together to to support each other's programming um after the planning process that um uh planning committee will be converted to an advisory committee um and as part of the planning committee we'll determine how often that planning or the advisory will meet I'm guessing it's going to be every couple months maybe monthly um it just depends on what happens during the planning process um there's also while we have our key Partners there is a small amount of funding that has been reserved to be able to fund um either other trainings or other programs that kind of arise needs that arise during the planning process thank you chair and I know I can I ask one more question um so on docket thank you so much that was a really helpful um description um on docket 0577 um as councelor Murphy said um I've had a huge focus on Mental Health um particularly given my family's experience with mental health and substance abuse I was just curious um regarding 0577 what other grants um you know are is this being used in collaboration with any other grants for mental health care for for officers or is there um you know are there other applications that are out there to to fund these similar initiatives yes but some of them we're using for other programs so the there's the the law enforcement health awareness that's through the Department of Justice the DGA the just Department of Justice assistance programs that have some of these classes in them there's also another uh but this this grant in particular came out of the eops out of out of the state house and it's it's only in its second year being that it's part of the uh the post progam the post that was set up the peace officer standard commission that was set up and it's part of is part of that was that that each department has to have some type of off officer wellness program in place so this this grant in and of itself is only in its second year and it comes out a little tardy at times so it's the the program we have this training that we're putting in is training that we've been using pretty regularly I'd say since I've been there for at least four years and a lot of it's just for me is building up the numbers and getting as many officers exposed to it as possible we 2,000 member apartment so it's these classes running an average the biggest 30 30 officers at a whack to be to be effective there's got to be a lot of interaction between the officer and the instructor for these classes to work so a lot of this has just been a slow roll out and a repeat of some of these same programs but like I said these are these are vetted proven programs that we keep getting positive feedback from the Personnel on thank you so much thank you all for your work um I'll um I don't have any more time to yield but thank you chair thank you counselor um and uh we now go to our second round of of questions um counselor Flynn you you have the floor thank you Mr chair and Sergeant I just want to continue the conversation on support that we're offering our police offices in response to tragic and difficult calls that they're answering um when a police officer does respond to a difficult call a a tragic incident after so many calls that that office receives in his or her career certainly it has a significant impact on on that police officer in their families is there are we are we capturing that data in terms of the the difficult and horrific calls they're receiving but do we capture that data so it's documented to ensure that we are providing the the the support for the officer in in and maybe their families but it it's not going unnoticed by data collection is it that we have a significant challenge when police offices respond to tragic situations and it is properly properly documented the documentation it's it's a good question thank you um part of the big issue that we have with the work we down there is is protecting the confidentiality of the officers and the information provided otherwise they they wouldn't utilize us is the bottom line they and they're under such scrutiny and rightfully so they their their police officers are tasked with important jobs in society that that carries a heavy burden and this is they're under that scrutinies we try to ensure that what they what they talk about a big thing it's kind of cliche but we say who you see down here what you hear down here it stays down here being being at at the unit when we do the briefings that being said we do have um in place uh and it's through the international curricul inance trust Foundation it's through the protocols we operate under there is a list of certain events that if an officer is exposed or particip Ates in this event they're brought down or a group of them will be brought down to be debriefed and participate in what's called a critical incident stress debriefing it's a structured process this isn't an ad hoc group that gets together and and um kicks it around how how the incident went it's a structured seven phased uh process that we go through with the clinician and trained peers to De properly debrief in process the event they went through examples of these would be their partner was killed in the light of Duty they're shot on the line of duty an officer suicides the the dead children calls we've had last year we had a rash of jumpers for whatever reason um there was are super traumatic uh messy calls to respond to severe motor vehicle accidents with with with the result in death example unfortunately be the child over uh just that happened the other day they respond to that calls like this that we know that are on our list they're going to be brought in to be debriefed that is chronic that is there's a roster kept the district Captain knows that they're coming down we put it on the record that they have been debriefed that they were down there last year I think we did I want to say 20 about 28 critical incident of briefings and that's usually groups of officers five six sometimes 10 officers depending on the incidents between officer suicides shootings you know young children being shot that's a big one too you know you respond you see a lot of the times a 14-year-old shot 10-year-old shot well the officers are going there and looking at someone that's the same age as their kid when they're responding to these calls so we're capturing those what's happened is the awareness in the districts has increased tremendously um I'm going to pick on Lieutenant mcmanis he's a duty supervisor at District 2 in rockbury times we'll get calls from people like Lieutenant McManus and say Hey listen heads up we just had this call down here was pretty bad can you guys and I'll say send me a list of officers who need to be debriefed so that record keeping is being kept we are tracking who is down there when they come down but we are not tracking is what they say and whether how much they participated in that process so as far as that goes yes it's hard quantifying to say what differences are we making in reducing PTSD or um anxiety depression or even suicide I know we've I can say for a fact that we've I don't say interrupted but we deterred some suicides already um but due to the confidential nature it's hard to say like what we actually um are doing I do know I feel that the impact is there because we're getting tasked more and more often we're being asked which before the culture will prevent it I'm all set that's fine don't talk to me I don't need to talk about it it's part of the JW would be the attitude the same with the fire same with EMS same with the the sheriffs down in South Bay and Nashville Street same with the irns in in in the EMTs in Boston Medical Center emergency room they'll just take it and stride it's an really what the issue is it's an accumulative effect I I I call it personally I call it emotional erosion you know you look at these officers and see what they looked like when they came to the police academy go take a look what they look like 15 years from now you know and and it's the weight and the effect on the job like I said them it should affect you if it doesn't then you're just not a human being with a conscious M if this stuff doesn't affect you at some level that's okay and that's the message we're getting out to them I think if anything we can quantify that message is being more accepted they are coming in they are accepting help they're calling on their friends saying hey this person is struggling don't let them know I called and we don't know we keep it confidential and that you take those 28 de briefings in groups you could probably multiply it by 10 the amount of one andone contacts we're having on a regular basis and everything is not a crisis that they're dealing with these people aren't broken it's just a matter of keeping their resilience level healthy and functionable and that's really the main mission of what we're doing down there you I think what happens is everyone starts focing on the focusing on The Fringe events of doing nothing to suicide and there's a whole group of work that's going on in the middle that's that's harder to track well thank you Sant I just want to ackn again want to acknowledge the work you're doing your team's doing you mentioned the vet center I'm familiar with the vet center Center um down at the um Black Falcon terminal um Flyn cruise port area um they do incredible work I don't I I don't go there but I I I I do support them and I know the critical work the vet center plays also the Veterans Administration in Boston plays a key role throughout throughout the region supporting returning vet veterans supporting military families and supporting First Responders as well when I when I finished my military career finished active duty I had the opportunity to enroll in VA Medical Care VA Med medical health and it it it really supported me it supported my family and when I became a city councelor I I was saying to my wife I was saying to my wife um you know I was I was engaged in ongoing counseling with the VA and I said to my wife I don't I I'm not going to go through counseling anymore as a city counsel I don't want anyone to know I'm in um I'm in counseling and my wife said well you know what you're doing continue with the counseling continue what you're doing you become a better city counselor you become a better husband or a better father but also it's an example to other veterans or other military families that it's also okay for for them to engage in ongoing counseling so nothing nothing I'm proud of or nothing I'm embarrassed about but if it is is enabling it if it's enabling um and another veteran to get into counseling that's what that's what I support um thank you Mr chair thank you counselor um you have any other questions no okay um well great and I just want to you know really thank our panelists for for being here um and thank my my colleagues um I do have one quick question and regards to um you know our youth I know you mentioned and talked about um kind of the impacts in terms of percentages um is that just like was that data that you you provided was that like city-wide data just from 2006 or the data is specific for the Shannon um funded area so that'll be wherever our nonprofits are that's kind of what we have as cment Zone um It's usually the same areas where the nonprofits are in the city of Boston great but that would be that area um the Citywide would have been the the 10% total violent crime um reduction but the 16 is definitely from the areas of sh oh thank you thank you for clarifying and um how do you define youth in terms of age um uh 10 to 24 is is the is the Shannon catchment age um but we really our our nonprofits probably sticking not to the 8 to 18 group is the youth but it has been extended for for the state they they kind of go push all the way to the limits so awesome awesome and we there's also other program that are trying to catch that older catchment of Youth so when we're talking about youth I'm saying 24 to 30 year olds or 24 to 28 year olds because that's where we'll see more of the violence happening now it's aging of for people to for homicides and for shootings so we're trying to figure out how to do programing for that group as well but not through Shannon but just through through other methods great no thank you appreciate it again thank you to to our to our panelists for being here today and um we'll now move to um public testimony we have um we have one um incredible member um here testifying Erica um if you complet please um um state your name neighborhood organization affiliation um speak into the microphone um and please keep your comments um to two minutes thank you absolutely good morning Erica Butler BCF girls initiative I just wanted to say publicly thank you to the Shannon Grant they funded us for quite a long time now and it's been amazing um to be able to do the work that we do through the Shannon Grant um last year we probably servest over 200 girls in terms of girls nights events um and then the Girls Leadership core program that that we service throughout the school year as well as in the summer so I'm very excited for this next cycle um and would love to see any of you out at any of the girls nights or any of the youth nights I actually expanded a little bit and you know host a few events for the boys to come out too you know it's important for them to also have positive experiences and I also work a lot with Boston police ladies I have them come out and do mentorship with the girls often um currently we'll be in a few different community centers doing some workshops in self-defense class classes as well as leadership development so anytime you see anything about Girls Leadership or the girls initiative please feel free to reach out to me and come out would love to see you and Ed you've definitely been to the Condon a few times for some of our girls Bingo nights remember and you had to do the you had to do the raffle yep okay I'm sorry to put you out there like that but it was good so thank you guys so much great thank you Erica thank you for being here um with that I mean I want to give the opportunity for any any closing remarks um if any um to you as well counselor yeah oh yeah um if do you want to want to give a testimony apologize for being L I don't know come on and right up I'll blame it on the weather thank you folks for being here I'm sorry that I missed your uh comments um mainly there was a couple of issues that I was concerned about one of them safety on our streets and wherever you can pass this on um we're we're in big trouble in the city and we need all the help we can get especially Police Department um I know there's a paragraph in here about the police and what they what they need or what they uh are looking for I just want to let you know how much uh I will give as far as my my efforts to help out and whatever whatever concerns are going on my main thing right now I went to a meeting not too long ago with councilor Flynn and they were talking about uh bicycle bicycle paths and stuff we've got a serious problem in this city with car and what they're doing to our community uh between speeding uh people getting killed and it has to be brought to the attention we need a lot more publicity on what's going on in the city it's an old city it's small and we've just gone too far with what with with the Automobiles and how they're driving and whatever I can do and I'm sorry I missed your opening comments and stuff so I might be talking a little bit off of what you guys were talking about but I wanted I I had the opportunity to get here and I wanted to let that be put on the record whatever meetings we're having on safety I just want to be here and and add to it and do whatever I can to help out got a lot of things to accomplish and I'm on your side with the housing too so can you and thank you for being here can you just can you just put your name into the record to um can you just identify yourself for the record John provenzano South Boston resident grandchildren children great grandchildren I want them all to stay the only way they're going to stay is we start doing some stuff for the city in regard to safety it really is to me it's the number one issue and when we have meetings here and I'm they're not here so maybe they're listening but when we have discussions and I realize the councilors are busy they all have they're all going in 18 different directions but it's very obvious when we're talking about the police and the fire and the EMTs what I call the Heart of the City we have councilors that deliberately walk out and do not vote on these so very important issues and because I'm not not a politician I can say what I want as far as whoever I understand they all have to get along or whatever but when there's an issue to do with safety in this city with the police and the fire and and and not to vote in the affirmative of what they need whether it's a $40,000 uh budget piece or an $18 million budget piece we have to start looking at it differently the way some of our counselors are looking at the police and the people that protect us thank the fire have protected me in my lifetime the police have protected me in my lifetime and the entes have protected me in my lifetime due to illnesses and stuff like that they're very important and I just want to pass that on to you if it doesn't relate to what you were here for I really apologize but I wanted to be here to get it on the record so thank you uh CC santena Flynn cor appreciate it thank you thank you for thank you for being here um and um again just wanted to thank again our our panelists for being here today and and dedicating your time um answering our questions and I really want to thank my colleagues um for also um for for being here um um the hearing on docket number oh any final okay the hearing on docket number 0342 number 0504 and number 0577 is a journ thank you [Music] [Music] [Music]