WASHINGTON — D.C. is moving into the next phase of its "Building Blocks" program after completing a community action plan for its first targeted neighborhood.
Building Blocks D.C. is a first-of-its-kind gun violence prevention initiative that uses a public health approach, and city leaders hope it will play a big part in reducing crime this summer.
“We know that we’re seeing levels we haven’t seen in years,” Linda Harllee Harper, D.C.’s Gun Violence Prevention Director, said.
There is no shying away from the spike in gun violence and the increasing number of people being killed in D.C. in recent years.
“We know that we have people here in the District of Columbia who are hurting very badly. We know they need some services and supports,” Harllee Harper told WUSA9.
That is where the Building Blocks D.C. program steps in.
It is a new initiative, announced in February, that uses an emergency operations center (EOC) to pull recourses across city government to address the needs of communities most impacted by gun violence.
The model was based on the success the city saw with navigating the COVID-19 response using an EOC model.
The program focuses on 151 blocks deemed to be the most violent and started with those in Anacostia.
“We really talked to the residents about what they wanted to see for their community and developed a neighborhood action plan with them that they thought identified how the government could help,” Harllee Harper explained.
In some cases, the plan addressed public safety concerns, such as adding speed bumps along streets gunmen use to quickly getaway after a shooting, for example.
Building Blocks D.C. also engages with people who are known to bring violence into the communities by addressing their needs too. This is accomplished by connecting those folks to job opportunities, helping them get licenses/IDs reinstated, etc.
“What we do know is that we have some residents who have some needs that have been overlooked for a really long time that we are working with and wanting to invest in by providing programs and services and supports and opportunities to those persons and also addressing the environmental needs in those communities,” Harllee Harper said
Building Blocks D.C. is partnering with the Department of Parks and Recreation to push out mobile recreation centers into communities most affected by gun violence. It hopes the mobile recreation centers will keep kids engaged and provide another option for families who may not feel safe going to their local rec centers.
It is also planning to announce grant opportunities to help bolster some of the community-based programs and organizations that already exist in many neighborhoods.
“It is a first of its kind in the country. No one has ever done it before, but across the country, everyone is scrambling to figure out what will work,” Harllee Harper said.