BY MICHELLE KEY
PUBLISHER
OPELIKA — State Rep. Jeremy Gray and Paula Wilson, a coordinator for the initiative and volunteer with Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, addressed the Opelika City Council during its July 21 work session to provide an update on the East Alabama Conflict Resolution and Violence Prevention Initiative, a regional effort aimed at preventing violence before it starts through conflict resolution, mediation, early intervention and community partnerships.
According to information provided to council members, the initiative seeks to unite community organizations, advocacy groups and local leaders across East Alabama to reduce retaliatory incidents, build community trust and create safer spaces for residents.
Gray said the initiative began after a shooting and murder last year prompted local stakeholders to meet in Opelika to discuss ways to reduce violence in Opelika, Auburn and Lee County. Since then, he said the effort has expanded into a regional initiative involving Lee, Macon, Russell and Chambers counties.
“Last year around this time, we had a shooting that ended up in a murder,” Gray said. “And in this same room, we met with stakeholders all across Opelika and Lee County, [regarding] what we could do to decrease violence in [not only] the city of Opelika, but Auburn as well as Lee County.”
Gray said the initiative is designed to take a regional approach because smaller municipalities often do not have the same public safety budgets as larger cities such as Montgomery, Birmingham and Mobile.
“When I looked at it and talked to Paula, I thought more of a regional approach across multi-jurisdictions would work because it would encompass the same kind of population of a Montgomery, Birmingham and Mobile,” Gray said. “And it would allow me as a lawmaker to kind of request funding and start having the conversation.”
The information provided to council members identified several challenges facing East Alabama, including cross-county violence patterns, rural-urban dynamics and limited mediation resources. The packet stated that many violent incidents begin as personal disputes that escalate because timely intervention is not available.
The initiative’s proposed approach includes multi-jurisdictional coordination among Opelika, Auburn, Phenix City, Tuskegee, Lanett, Lee County, Macon County, Russell County, Chambers County and bordering Georgia municipalities. The packet also outlined goals to deploy trained violence interrupters and mediators to identified hotspots before conflicts escalate, launch peer mediation and youth leadership programs in schools, athletic programs, after-school centers and foster trust through culturally relevant, community-led strategies.
Gray said violence in rural communities often crosses city and county lines, making a coordinated regional response important.
“I talked about the crossover of violence that happens in rural communities,” Gray said. “This is like violence that travels. Sometimes people are here from Union Springs, sometimes they [are] here from Tuskegee. And so, how do you keep up with that?”
Gray said the goal is for the effort to be community-led, with law enforcement working in partnership with residents and local organizations.
“The goal is really to have this to be community-led,” Gray said. “Not me leading it, not necessarily law enforcement leading. They’re working in partnership to help the community as far as them being trained in mediation, being able to deescalate situations in the community before they get to the point of violence or shooting.”
Gray said the first major focus is implementing the ECHO curriculum, which stands for Every Choice Has Opportunity. He said the curriculum is based out of the University of Chicago and is designed to help people ages 13 to 21 with decision-making, conflict resolution and mediation.
“When we talk about conflict resolution, this is more of curriculum based,” Gray said. “This is more of teaching social emotional intelligence, deescalation, mediation, mindfulness and all those things.”
Gray said he set aside between $17,000 and $18,000 from community service funds to help pay for the program’s training component. He said the training quote came in at $15,000 and would allow at least 50 people from across the region to participate.
“This ECHO program that we’re trying to implement sometime in August or September, we’re not sure, is going to be able to cover at least 50 people or more throughout the region,” Gray said. “It’ll be a two-day program, I think about five hours. It’ll cover different topics and at the end of the two-day course, everybody will get a certificate to be certified in conflict resolution and mediation.”
Gray said the long-term goal includes eventually creating a multi-jurisdictional community “street team” made up of trained residents who can work in areas where conflicts may arise. He said the group is also looking for support from city and county governments, including data-sharing, participation in the consortium and future conversations about funding.
“Without the data, it doesn’t really map,” Gray said. “Without the data you can’t get funding. Without the data, you’re kind of shooting blind.”
Gray said data from law enforcement and schools could help the group measure whether the program is effective. He said school data could include fights, acts of violence, in-school suspension, out-of-school suspension and other disciplinary information. Police data could help identify hotspots and trends.
Council members expressed support for the initiative and asked questions about whether Gray and the group had spoken with the Opelika school system. Gray said they had not yet spoken with the schools but planned to do so.
“We do plan on talking to every school system, every county, every city to try to get this down,” Gray said.
The initiative also seeks partnerships for grant applications, training programs, data-sharing and legislative support. According to the packet, anticipated impacts include reducing retaliatory shootings by up to 30% to 60% based on national Community Violence Intervention program results, strengthening community trust and lowering costs through shared regional resources.
Opelika Mayor Eddie Smith said the mayor’s office supports the effort.
“Well, I can tell you that from the mayor’s office, you got our support,” Smith said.
Ward 2 Council Member Janataka Hughley-Holmes also thanked Gray, Wilson and others involved with the effort for continuing the work after the initial community concern following the shooting.
“When this incident first happened, this room was full with so many concerned individuals and day by day and month by month, well, week by week, month by month, everybody kind of fell off the bandwagon when they didn’t see any immediate things going,” Hughley-Holmes said. “So, thank you all for your hard work, Dr. Wilson, Chief, Jeremy and everyone else who’s involved in this because we definitely need it.”
Wilson is also one of the coordinators for the initiative, and she spoke about the ECHO curriculum and its focus on behavioral science, behavioral health and cognitive behavioral interventions.
“The curriculum is designed to help young people develop skills to make thoughtful decisions in difficult, high-stakes and emotionally-driven situations,” Wilson said.
She said the curriculum is intended for young people ages 13 to 21 who may have limited connection to school or work or may be at risk of involvement in gun violence, but many of the skills are also transferable to other groups.
She said the group is planning a two-day, in-person training totaling about 10 hours. The location has not been finalized, but Opelika is being considered. She said curriculum developer Christopher Jaffy and another senior curriculum staff member would lead the training and develop customized materials tailored to East Alabama.
Opelika Police Chief Jonathan Clifton also spoke in support of the initiative.
“I love anything we can do to lower violent crime,” Clifton said. “Whatever we can do to support the community to help us lower violent crime, that’s what I want to do.”
Clifton said he likes that the ECHO program can be tailored to smaller communities such as Opelika and surrounding cities and counties.
“I think it’s a great endeavor, and I fully support it,” Clifton said.
Smith thanked the speakers and said the city is willing to do its part. He said the council would make sure someone is selected to participate in the initiative’s consortium.
“Whatever we can do once you get your budget together, let us know,” Smith said.
