Mayor Sheffield announces Detroit’s first-ever neighborhood and community safety office

Detroit Mayor Mary Sheffield is delivering on a promise she committed to completing in her first 100 days: the city’s first Office of Neighborhood and Community Safety.

Neighbors in Detroit already look out for one another through community violence intervention groups, and this new office makes those efforts officially part of the city’s strategy.

The office’s executive director, Teferi Brent, is now bringing the work he’s already been doing for decades in-house.

“We will remove the silos that have historically prevented neighborhood-based organizations from accessing the resources and tools they need to effectively service communities in which they operate,” Brent said.

He says this office will focus on preventing crimes from happening in the first place.

“We have to address the social determinants of violence at its core with every resource we can muster. To put it in my grandmama’s terms, an ounce of prevention is always better than a pound of cure,” he said.

Organizations working to create change from inside their communities say an office like this is pivotal to making a bigger impact.

“We play our role in intervening in violent conflicts, but one of the most important parts in having support from the mayor is community transformation,” said Force Detroit Executive Director Dujuan Zoe Kennedy.

“We are coming from boots on the ground to the city. Those who would have been arrested before, those who would have been prosecuted, we are asking you to come into it. They have now flipped the script and let us be a part of this thing,” said Live In Peace Movement founder Pastor Maurice Hardwick.   

The new office will also be a hub for programs focused on survivor advocacy, group violence intervention, conflict resolution, re-entry from incarceration, and the reduction of domestic violence.