CPS and the Cincinnati City Council are meeting to discuss options

CINCINNATI (WXIX) – Cincinnati Public Schools and the board’s Healthy Neighborhoods Committee discussed ways to curb youth violence, especially in centers like Government Square, Thursday night.

The goal is to reduce the number of arrests that occur at transit hubs like Government Square and divert teenagers away from violence. Iris Raleigh is a consultant to the city manager, and she says she volunteers her time at Government Square throughout

“You will see homelessness. You will see hunger. You’re going to see frustration,” Raleigh said. “You’re going to see an inability to take in everything they’ve learned at school that day because potentially going home is going to be a bigger challenge than going to school.”

Raleigh believes that these questions are at the root of the problem.

“We had 98 arrests between February and the end of the school year,” Raleigh said. “80% of these arrests were for the first time. Why?”

Community partners have helped provide food and jobs, and Raleigh says that has helped reduce arrests, but the problem runs deeper and the underlying issues need to be addressed.

“What is not there (is) a reduction in hunger. What’s not there, (is) a reduction, is housing,” Raleigh said. “What is not diminishing is access to mental health, calming ways to deal with problems, so we still have a long way to go.”

More help could come as Emergency Communications Center Director Bill Vedra says his team is working to expand the Alternative Crisis Response model. Vedra says they are currently hiring 12 new responders to help teens and their families get services.

“We want them to re-engage with services, or to re-engage with services they’ve never been involved with before, so they don’t end up in the criminal justice system,” Vedra said. “To provide them with housing, food, and we want to take the same approach to places like transit centers.”

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