Lorain County Urban League looks to start violence interrupter program in January

The Lorain County Urban League is set to start its violence intervention work in January. The nonprofit gave a brief update on its program at this year's final Serving Our Streets meeting Friday afternoon at Elyria's South Recreation Center. Angela Lee, with the Lorain County Urban League, said they have hired three violence interrupters and a social outreach worker, with plans to start training soon and be out in the community in January. Elyria Police Lt. Brandon Pool said decreasing violent crime in the city takes a community effort – something the department has started to see this year. In 2023, there have been three homicides, compared to seven in 2022. Weapons offenses are also down about 37 percent, and violent crimes have decreased about 14 percent overall compared to 2022, Pool said. Elyria's Serving Our Streets community meetings started in April 2021, to get ahead of summer violence and issues in the city, Mayor Frank Whitfield said. The Urban League's upcoming violence interrupters program was born in part of discussions at the monthly sessions, alongside purchasing body cameras for Elyria Police and increasing youth programming with the city's parks and recreation department. "The purpose of this is to really be a think tank and a place of accountability," Whitfield said, adding he hoped that accountability will continue no matter whose administration is in charge. Ahead of Mayor-elect Kevin Brubaker taking office in January, Whitfield is working with the Urban League and other partners to plan a midnight basketball game on Dec. 30 — another idea to engage the city's youth born of the monthly roundtable talks. The midnight basketball game will target teens and young adults ages 16-25 and is tentatively planned for 10 p.m. Dec. 30 to 2 a.m. at East Rec. Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.