Great Lakes Wire

MPHI’s Advance Peace Initiative recently gave presentations at two local city council meetings. On June 18, Charles Richardson, Strategy Manager for Advance Peace, and Dr. Paul Elam, Chief Strategy Officer, presented on behalf of Advance Peace at the East Lansing City Council meeting. This presentation aimed to persuade the city to grant funding to expand Advance Peace’s efforts into East Lansing.

On June 24, Dr. Shondra Marshall, Director of the Center for Racial and Social Justice, and Charles Richardson presented at the Lansing City Council meeting. This presentation included updates on the program’s progress and plans for growth.

“Staff do street outreach daily,” said Dr. Paul Elam. “We respond to every shooting in the community to identify victims, perpetrators and to determine if there is going to be a response to that shooting. We develop relationships with the family members of victims and we provide ongoing case management, mentoring, cognitive behavioral therapy.”

“I think one of the most important things that we would want to highlight is that our fellows are still alive, and 93% of them have indicated that they are no longer engaging in conflicts that would result in using a weapon,” Richardson said.

For more information on the meetings and the Advance Peace Initiative, visit: Council Sets Guidelines for Charter Review Committee Selection; Partners with Gun Violence Reduction Program – East Lansing Info; Lansing City Council June 24th, 2024 Committee of the Whole Meeting (youtube.com); Advance Peace Lansing/Ingham – Working to end Gun Violence and Heal Communities (advancepeacelansingingham.org).