Renée Branch Canady, PhD, MPA Chief Executive Officer at Michigan Public Health Institute | Official website
Renée Branch Canady, PhD, MPA Chief Executive Officer at Michigan Public Health Institute | Official website
MPHI’s Advance Peace Initiative has been in the news, as Dr. Paul Elam, Chief Strategy Officer, spoke with the media about recent gun violence in Lansing over the Memorial Day weekend. Advance Peace Lansing focuses on reducing cyclical and retaliatory gun violence.
Dr. Elam discussed gun violence as a public health issue. “We are looking at gun violence as a preventable epidemic. We believe if we do this work right, then we will begin to see reductions in gun violence.”
Since its inception in 2022, Advance Peace Lansing has seen city-wide gun fatalities decrease by 65%, exceeding their goal of a 40% decrease. The organization plans to continue expanding its impact in 2024, extending outreach to southeast Lansing and the city of East Lansing.
“We can’t wait until we have another shooting for us to wake up and start focusing on this,” Elam said. “We have to focus on this every day to make sure that we don’t have another shooting. More prevention and less intervention.”
For more information on Advance Peace Lansing and their efforts to decrease gun violence, see the following:
- Advance Peace Lansing/Ingham – Working to end Gun Violence and Heal Communities
- Advance Peace Lansing urges proactive approach to address gun violence – WKAR
- Lansing police to enforce curfew to curb youth violence – WLNS
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