SHARE Foundation unveils new Violence Intervention Plan

Foundation awards more than $280K to 10 area nonprofits

Looking to tackle growing crime rates and increasing violence, the SHARE Foundation unveiled a new plan Wednesday to partner with local nonprofit groups and provided more than $280,000 to get several programs off the ground.

The SHARE Foundation hosted its 31st annual grant awards Wednesday at the South Arkansas Community College Library Auditorium and gave those in attendance the first official look at the new Union County Violence Intervention Plan aimed at starting a proactive process to address crime and violence in the community.

Debbie Watts, vice president of community impact, said the group began researching programs and services that have helped address crime and violence in other communities in late 2016. That research grew into focus groups and small working groups that sought ways to convert what was a vision into a practical plan, incorporating a variety of voices from the community, including clergy, law enforcement, parents, teachers, students and mental health professionals, among a host of others.

The new plan, Watts said, focuses on six categories that fall into two areas: community involvement and family support. Watts said each category provides keys to addressing crime and violence in the community. She also said the foundation has put a new reporting system in place to help monitor both the progress and results of the programs implemented as part of the plan, which will help provide evidence of the effect each program has in the community.

For its first year, the SHARE Foundation selected 10 nonprofits as new partners in the Violence Intervention Plan. The organizations that received grant funding are:

• Literacy Council of Union County, which received $10,000 to continue their adult literacy program. SHARE Foundation board member Michael Donnella said low-skilled adults are eight times as likely to be incarcerated and the Literacy Council will use the program to reach adults who are classified as a low literate to help them find work, get a driver’s license and increase their potential.

South Arkansas Children’s Coalition, which received $13,500 to offset the cost of hiring a part-time mental health professional certified in trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy, the most well-supported and effective treatment for children who have been sexually or physically abused, Donnella said.

Hannah Prevention Resource Center, which received $16,125 for a new evidence-based parenting education program that seeks to strengthen families and reduce the risk of maltreatment. The program will work in conjunction with the Union County Sheriff’s Office, as the grant will allow the program to go into the jail system and reach at-risk parents, said Kristyn Bryan, client education coordinator for the center.

South Arkansas Arts Center,

which received $20,000 to bring at-risk children into the center for arts classes. Laura Allen, executive director of SAAC, said the funding will help provide more than 100 scholarships to children who normally don’t benefit from SAAC programs. Allen said 40 children are already enrolled for the spring semester and they are hoping to expand that for summer and fall.

• Turning Point, which received $20,000 to continue providing violence prevention education to families in the Turning Point shelter and to teenagers through schoolbased curriculum. Donna Beck, executive director of Turning Point, said they plan to focus on re-entry for victims who enter shelter programs and on reaching children as early as possible to focus on prevention. “The only way to beat this … is if we work together,” Beck said during the awards presentation Wednesday.

• El Dorado Police Department, which received $25,750 to hold the C.A.T.S. Academy for a second year. The academy connects police officers and students about to start fifth grade for one week of summer day camp and each student continues to receive mentoring throughout the school year from the officer they were connected with.

• Boys & Girls Club, which received $26,225 to update the David Wetherington unit and convert it into a new teen center to give local teenagers a safe, productive place for after school and on weekends. David Lee, executive director of the Boys & Girls Club, said they will look for a teen center director and they hope to build and grow the center. “We want to serve teens,” Lee said.

• Eagle Foundation, which received $35,000 to develop a new program for high-impact mentoring. The foundation will help recruit mentors and provide training, as well as match them with mentees. While the program will start out focused on at-risk children, they hope to expand it to other youth, college age students, parents and grandparents.

• Wyatt Baptist Church, which received $52,400 to expand its adopt-a-school program and employ a program coordinator who will work with area churches to train members as mentors to students in Union County elementary schools. The program goal is to have at least one church involved in each of the five school districts in Union County. National trainers will be in El Dorado on April 6 to train a new group of mentors for the program.

• The Salvation Army, which received $63,000 to continue implementing its Pathway to Hope program, which has been in the community for six months and seeks to help families break the cycle of poverty and become self-sufficient.

Robert Holt, executive director of L.O.V.E (Let Our Violence End) Inc. of Little Rock, who was hired as facilitator and consultant for development of the SHARE Foundation plan, said Wednesday that it took a lot of work to come up with the Violence Intervention Plan, but the next steps will take a lot more.

“There is much work moving forward that must be done to implement the plan,” Holt said. “These nonprofits have stepped up now and it’s time for Union County as a whole to step up and be a part of the solution.”

Brian Jones, president and CEO of the SHARE

Foundation, said Union County is unique in how the various nonprofit groups in the area frequently collaborate to serve the needs of the community. Now, he said, the community needs everyone to take part to help move the community forward.

“The challenge has been issued, ” Jones said. “The work that can be done here … in the years to come could be a model for small communities throughout the United States.”

To view the entire plan, visit the SHARE Foundation website at sharefoundation.com. For more information on the plan or to get involved, contact Debbie Watts at 870-8819015 or dwatts@sharefoundation.com.

Madeleine Leroux can be reached at 870-862-6611 or mleroux@eldoradonews.com.