Peace Institute partners with Philadelphia-based violence prevention organization to implement response protocols that address the homicide epidemic
Boston – Over the past 25 years, the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute has provided resources to the City of Boston and communities of color to heal from murder, trauma, grief and loss. With Boston’s homicide rate up 27%, the Peace Institute’s work is vital in supporting Survivors of Homicide Victims. The Institute is now expanding its services and access to its resources to cities nationwide in an effort to address the homicide epidemic.
The Peace Institute has partnered with the Anti-Violence Partnership of Philadelphia (AVP), to establish new homicide response protocols. Homicides in Philadelphia have increased 23% from last year, impacting many of the same Black and brown communities that are bearing the disproportionate impact from the spread of COVID-19. Pain and anger from generations of disregard for Black lives are prompting unrest across the nation.
Within this partnership, the Peace Institute and AVP are implementing protocols following a murder that will stop retaliation, spread peace, and promote healing for those impacted. The strategy is rooted in the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s social-ecological framework that interventions are needed at multiple levels to interrupt cycles of violence. The Survivors’ Burial and Resource Guide: A Step-by-Step Guide for Regaining Control, written by the Peace Institute’s Chaplain Clementine Chéry, will be provided as a first step by AVP to entities across the City that come in contact with family members of someone who was murdered.
“Without a space and the resources for learning and healing, cycles of violence are perpetuated,” said Chaplain Chéry. “I’m looking forward to working with the City and the Anti-Violence Partnership of Philadelphia to incorporate the Peace Institute’s decades of experience to AVP’s protocols. Only by working together – community advocates, police, educators, faith leaders, funders, legislators and those impacted – will we truly transform the City’s response and create a peaceful community for the next generation.”
Kendra Van de Water of the AVP remarked, “Our inner-city and Black and brown communities that experience systemic discrimination, racism, and poverty, are also dealing with a disproportionate impact from COVID-19. With the Peace Institute’s resources, we are able to support families who are experiencing grief from a murder during this time of isolation. Our partnership will help us support families through their healing.”
The Peace Institute’s efforts in Philadelphia reach beyond responders and families. This year, Chéry held a training with Harcum College students in the Criminal Justice Program. The Program is for students who plan to pursue a career as a police officer, FBI/CIA agent, or detective, or to go into similar fields in the criminal justice system. Anthony Berry, a student who attended the Peace Institute’s training in March of 2020, said he “felt inspired.”
“We need to become a stronger whole,” said Berry. “And we need to work together to improve the City, so that communities thrive and the streets are safer for everyone to live, work and play.”
“We need to start education around cycles of violence and the response to homicide to the students who will enter jobs in criminal justice, and that’s why I invited Tina to speak to my class,” said Jaclyn Mason, the director of the Criminal Justice Program at Harcum College. “I saw the impact firsthand that hearing from someone like Tina can have on students who want to enter this field.”
The Peace Institute’s new Philadelphia partnership is one of the multiple partnerships across the country to help support a city’s ability to respond to homicide in a way that is effective and equitable. Due to recent racial injustices, Massachusetts’ legislature has passed a new bill that will create a police standards board, ban chokeholds, prohibit officers from shooting into moving vehicles, and create uniform standards for training officers across the state. The Peace Institute looks forward to working with AVP to see similar progress occur in Philadelphia. The Peace Institute’s resources are a critical step toward making Philadelphia a safer community, and ensuring that all families impacted by murder are treated with dignity and compassion, starting with the death notification, regardless of the circumstances.
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About the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute
Chaplain Chéry founded the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute, based in Dorchester, MA, in 1994 after the murder of her 15-year-old son Louis. She is an internationally recognized expert in the field of homicide response and has served families of murder victims for more than 25 years. Through her leadership at the Peace Institute, she has trained thousands of public health professionals, law enforcement officials, and religious leaders in the best practices for supporting survivors and interrupting cycles of retaliatory violence through the “Survivors Burial and Resource Guide” and “Always in My Heart” children’s workbook.