ONE AREA, ZERO GANG-RELATED DEATHS IN 2017

After a spring shooting death in the Curtis Park neighborhood, the Rev. Leon Kelly feared gang violence in northeast Denver would escalate as it did in 2015. So Kelly focused on one high-crime area, and, after rallying police, business leaders, churches and schools, he has announced a small victory: no gang-related homicides this summer in that area.

Sometimes, it is the smaller victories that need to be celebrated.

So the Rev. Leon Kelly held his arms aloft Wednesday as he announced that a goal to have zero gang-related homicides during the summer in one Denver neighborhood had been achieved.

“For me, not burying nobody from our neighborhood is price less ,” said Kelly, executive director of Open Door Youth Gang Alternative.

After a spring shooting death in the Curtis Park neighborhood, Kelly feared gang violence in northeast Denver would escalate as it did in 2015, when the city’s homicides reached a nine-year high. Kelly knew he could not prevent deaths in every neighborhood in the city, so he focused on the one area that had experienced the most violence in 2015.

Police typically see a spike in violence during summers because schools are not in session and more people are out and about during warmer temperatures and longer daylight.

“I was sort of raw in the beginning,” Kelly said. “I was upset and letting my emotions get to me.”

Kelly wanted to avoid gang-related homicides in June, July and August. And although he made his announcement two days before August ended, he said he would take it as a success.

Kelly rallied his supporters — Denver police officers, business leaders, churches and schools — and he pledged that he would be the one to hold “the ’hood accountable.” He asked for their help as he focused on the neighborhoods between Downing Street and Colorado Boulevard between East 23rd Avenue and East 40th Avenue.

“There’s problems going on all over the place, but we wanted to pick a small area,” Kelly said. “This is the little bit we did with the little bit that we had.”

Paul Callanan, director of the city’s Gang Reduction Initiative Denver, said the effort showed how cooperation on different levels can be effective. The various groups held activities every weekend to bring people together.

People read books, played ball, rode bicycles and held cookouts. Long-time residents, many of whom are minorities, mingled with younger, white newcomers, who are changing the neighborhood, Kelly said.

The Rev. Patrick Demmer of the

Greater Metro Denver Ministerial Alliance said a lot of prayer and a lot of work from diverse community groups went into the effort.

“When I first heard of Rev. Kelly’s goal, I thought it would be tremendous if it was just a reduction in homicides,” Demmer said. “I’ve had to do no funeral services this summer.”

According to data from the Denver Police Department, there were zero gang-related homicides between Jan. 1 and Aug. 14 in the zone targeted by Kelly’s initiative. There were five in 2015; that year 23 of the city’s 50 homicides were gang-related.

Gang-related aggravated assaults also dropped between 2015 and 2017, although the 42 reported thus farin2017exceedsthenumber reported during the sameperiodlastyearforthe neighborhood,accordingto Denver police statistics.

The city as a whole cannot celebrate, however.

There were 45 homicides reported in Denver as of Monday, which means the city is on track to surpass the 56 recorded in 2016, which was a 10-year high.