6 hours ago
2
By Javacia Harris Bowser | The Birmingham Times
The City of Birmingham’s Office of Community Safety Initiatives (CSI) and Mayor Randall L. Woodfin announced on Monday a five-year plan designed to reduce gun violence, improve community safety, and disrupt cycles of violence.
The Birmingham Violence Reduction Strategic Plan, with strategies implemented through July 31, 2031, aims to reduce homicides and nonfatal shootings by 10 percent each year. The plan establishes a unified framework for the City of Birmingham, law enforcement, community organizations, businesses, residents and other partners to work together toward this goal.
“Safety is more than policing,” Woodfin said at a press conference to announce the new plan. “It’s about people. It’s embracing and uplifting our youth, and…breaking generational curses.”
City leaders say CSI’s mission is to foster safer communities across Birmingham by empowering residents and building collaborative partnerships to implement innovative, data-driven violence reduction strategies.
“Birmingham has always been my home, and that deep connection drives my vision of a city where opportunity is not confined to one ZIP Code and every resident has the chance to achieve their dreams,” Woodfin said. “For far too long, violence has limited that opportunity. This work is deeply personal to me and my family, and I know it is personal to countless families across our city. This strategic plan recognizes that lasting safety requires urgency, honesty, intervention and sustained investment in our people and communities.”
The Birmingham Violence Reduction Strategic Plan is organized around four pillars that will serve as a roadmap for the city’s violence reduction work over the next five years: supporting safety and wellness, engaging and empowering the community, strengthening policy and oversight and increasing youth safety.
“We are confident in this plan,” Woodfin said.
Uche Bean. (File)Established in April 2024 and led by Director Uche Bean, CSI was created to build community trust and coordinate a holistic approach to public safety that treats gun violence as both an urgent public safety challenge and a public health crisis.
During Monday’s press conference, Bean echoed Woodfin’s confidence in the strategy and said what sets this five-year plan apart is that it builds on work already underway, such as CSI’s Immediate Response Action Plan, the RESTORE program for high-risk youth, hospital-linked violence intervention and additional community violence intervention partnerships, the Birmingham Crime Commission’s recommendations and the Birmingham Police Department’s 8-Point Crime Reduction Plan.
“This is not something that we’re going to shelve and say it looks good and we want to do it. We’re already doing it,” Bean said. “This plan is just to hold us accountable.”
The plan seeks to move beyond fragmented responses and toward a coordinated, citywide strategy for safety.
“We know there is no single solution to violence,” Bean said. “It requires immediate intervention for those at greatest risk, prevention for young people and families, and long-term investments that transform the conditions in which violence takes root.”
Bean explained that the plan focuses on residents most impacted by gun violence, specifically high-risk youth and young adults between the ages of 15 and 35. The plan’s strategy uses trusted community partners with relevant lived experience to step in and help steer young people away from committing violence.
One of those trusted community partners is Deborah Daniels, executive director of the Offender Alumni Association (OAA), an organization of formerly incarcerated individuals helping others rebuild their lives through mentorship, reentry navigation, and community-based support. OAA focuses on immediate hospital interventions, meeting gun violence survivors at their bedside to offer wraparound services including trauma support, employment pathways, and long-term case management. In 2025, OAA served 147 justice-impacted adults, 110 victims of violence, and over 200 at-risk youths.
Daniels, who is formerly incarcerated, also noted the importance of the plan’s focus on conflict resolution, intervention, life coaching, mentorship and caregiver engagement.
“We must reach our young people before violence becomes their identity,” Daniels said. “Public safety doesn’t stop at prison gates.”
Birmingham City Councilor LaTonya A. Tate participated in a program by the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform, which helped with the local plan. (Javacia Harris Bowser, The Birmingham Times)Birmingham City Councilor LaTonya A. Tate, who serves as chair of the Public Safety committee, played a vital role in the plan’s development by participating in a program by the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform. That program, along with strategic planning sessions, public meetings, neighborhood engagement, surveys and feedback from community partners and city agencies, informed the strategies of the five-year plan.
Councilor Tate said her colleagues, Councilors Crystal Smitherman and Clinton Woods, laid much of the groundwork for developing a citywide strategy and trusted her to continue what they started, in part because she’s the mother of a formerly incarcerated son and brings 10 years of law enforcement experience to the table.
“I believe in fighting for people,” Tate said at Monday’s meeting. “I have a heart for people, so this right here means a lot to me.”
CSI will oversee implementation of the plan and report progress annually using key performance indicators established for each strategic pillar. City leaders say the plan’s success will depend on sustained collaboration among city and county agencies, law enforcement, healthcare providers, nonprofit organizations, faith leaders, businesses, and residents.
“This work requires all of us,” Bean said.
The full Birmingham Violence Reduction Strategic Plan can be reviewed at www.birminghamal.gov/csi.
The City of Birmingham’s Office of Community Safety Initiative’s mission is to foster safer communities across Birmingham by empowering residents and building collaborative partnerships. (Javacia Harris Bowser, The Birmingham Times)
