2024 Annual Report

2024 Summary

Here is a brief overview of our goals and accomplishments this year.
Some of these points are discussed more thoroughly below.

 

Expanding Impact

2024 was about cultivating relationships with community partners. Halt Violence is about saving lives and changing minds. We mediate in the hopes of squashing beef among black teens, young adults and adults. Halt Violence steers youth, young adults, and adults away from violence through Squashing Beef. Columbus had a disturbing, unacceptable and horrific 2024. 31% of victims were under 21 years old, along with 50% of suspects.

Specifically, in 2024, Halt Violence obtained the remaining funds of $141,222.76 from The Ohio Department of Public Safety, $25,000 from the Wolfe Foundation, $3,000 from Rhema Family for gun violence reduction, $2,000 sponsorship from board member Todd Kaufman and $12,500 donation from Jeff Dickson. Halt Violence is proud to have Franklin County Children Services as a funder for the Moral Therapy Initiative.

Halt Violence performed 52 conflict mediations in 2024. Thanks to our team, we were able to squash 34 beefs that stopped murders, shootings and fights among black youth, black teens and black adults. However, we had 18 that we couldn't prevent. With our help, disputes were ceased among individuals, squads, gangs and even families! Our Street Mentors, through tireless efforts, are still pursuing the beefs that are still on going. These disputes are not simply forgotten.

​Halt Violence enrolled 130 participants. 70% males, 30% females, 15% of our clients were white, 2% other and 83% black.

  • 23% of our clients received trauma counseling

  • 35% of our clients received mentorship

  • 9% of our clients received domestic violence classes

  • 13% of our clients received tutoring

  • 33% of our clients received anger management

  • 58% of our clients received employment opportunities

  • 16% of our clients received residential assistance to find a place, despite having a felon

Partnerships

Halt Violence has positioned itself for success by creating and establishing strong working partnerships. Here are some of our partners for 2024. The Adult Probation, Juvenile Probation, Columbus Metropolitan (Parsons, Linden, Driving Park, MLK and Barnett branches), The Buckeye Ranch and The Juvenile Public Defender’s Office.

 

Donations, Grant Awards & Fundraising

Halt Violence raised $240,177.22 for 2024. We are grateful for the impact that we had in 2024 with 124 murders.
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Violence Interventions and Meditations
It is an all-to-harsh reality that in Columbus, Ohio, there are countless teens and young adults for whom violence has become a part of life. Columbus has a serious need for violence intervention services and for programming that works with at-risk violent youth, young adults and adults. HALT VIOLENCE employs a fairly simple strategy to combat violence. First, we place great emphasis on building trust through responsiveness, compassion, and confidentiality.

At HALT VIOLENCE, we understand that trust is the keystone to creating strong social bonds. We have built significant trust in many of the communities in and around Columbus. One of the key elements in preserving this trust is our confidentiality policy. We do not share personally identifiable information with any other organizations. For our participants, our confidentiality policy is an important buffer. It facilitates open dialogue and makes our job easier.

Second, we will employ our most promising clients as Street Mentors—HALT VIOLENCE’s field workers whose primary function is to respond to calls, conduct meditations, and otherwise respond to needs within the community and build networks within the neighborhoods served.

Below is a list of the zip codes where violence interventions and mediation that HALT VIOLENCE conducted in 2024:

30% of the disputes were on the north side, 78% successful, 15% on the south side, 71% successful, 26% on the west side, 83% successful and 29% on the east side, 61% successful.
The beefs ranged from fights, shootings, murders and arguments.

Conclusion

If you have any further questions or concerns please contact a representative of our organization by telephone at (614) 302-1640 Cell or by email at info@haltviolence.org.