GREEN BAY, Wis. — The work of making an impact on violence prevention in Green Bay starts with meetings.
Leaders of the Green Bay Office of Violence Prevention (OVP) are spending the summer meeting with the community to find out what needs to be done to make Green Bay safer for everyone. The office was announced in March 2023 and recently announced a first draft of its community safety plan.
“We are getting out into the community over the summer and we’re really trying to talk with community members — and community organizations who are serving those community members — to make sure that when we put plans together, that it reflects what our community actually wants and needs,” said Andrea Kressin, the operations and data officer with OVP.
OVP's top priorities include addressing the root causes of violence, gun violence reduction, engaging with communities likely to be impacted by violence and making sure the office has a long-term impact.
The effort includes working with community members who are trained as violence interruptors (VIs), who have a ear to what’s happening around them.
“Our VIs are going to be having some honest conversations, more courageous conversations. They’ll hopefully be able to bridge and prevent that retaliation from happening,” said director Jerry Overstreet. “They’re getting that training process right now and I’m excited to have them out there. Most importantly, they’re excited to be able to give back to the community.”
Green Bay police chief Chris Davis said these types of programs bring another tool to the community.
“The change that we’re looking for is to have a more holistic approach to what is, in reality, a very complex problem,” he said. “Yes, there’s a place for policing in it and, at the same time, you can get a lot of value out of that trusted person who can go out into the community and stop something from happening before it starts.”
While the office and police department work together, they’re very much separate entities.
“We’re not going to ask OVP to provide us with intelligence information or anything like that,” Davis said. “They have to be genuinely trusted partners in the community.”
The plan is taking a long view of change with intervention, prevention and transformation goals set out from one to 15 years. The office looks at community violence through the prism of public health.
“Using a public health approach means looking at some of those root causes of why violence is happening n our community and making sure folks have what they need in order to be healthy, safe and connected with other community members,” Kressin said. “It’s bigger than just enforcement. It’s about prevention and about basic needs being met.”