Wells Fargo, GreenLight Fund donate $1.2 million to new violence interrupter program
A $1.2 million donation from Wells Fargo and the GreenLight Fund will pay for, and help build, the city and Mecklenburg County’s new violence interrupter program.
Wells Fargo’s $1 million donation will fund the Alternatives to Violence program for the next three years, while the GreenLight Fund’s $200,000 gift will “support capacity building and on-going program evaluation,” the city announced Tuesday.
ATV is an interrupter program led by community members from violence-stricken neighborhoods that trains them to intercede before violence happens and to help prevent recurrences.
“Everyone in Charlotte — young and older — deserves a community free from violence,” Michelle Lee, head of regional banking for Wells Fargo, said in a news release. “Wells Fargo is committed to supporting efforts and organizations like Alternatives to Violence that lift marginalized communities and communities of color, and that restore justice and advance racial equity.”
Demond Richardson, a social impact and sustainability consultant with Wells Fargo, said the ATV program is “meaningful” to him because he was born and raised in the communities of Beatties Ford Road. Richardson leads the project team responsible for identifying scalable community violence reduction program pilots, like ATV.
In partnership with Cure Violence Global and Youth Advocate Programs, the city and Mecklenburg County will launch ATV in the Beatties Ford area on Saturday.
This grant is part of a larger $10 million commitment by Wells Fargo to support unbiased research on violence prevention in Charlotte communities and fund initiatives that promote school safety.
GreenLight Fund Charlotte has been exploring effective models to address violence prevention, Carrie Cook, the nonprofit’s executive director, said. It focuses on helping low-income communities by identifying critical needs, importing innovative and entrepreneurial programs and gathering local support for programs like ATV.
“We believe solutions co-created with residents can be most effective and have seen the proven, measurable benefits of this program which directs resources to neighborhood residents to be their own agents of change,” Cook said.
A community festival called QC Fest will signal the launch of the program. The free event on Saturday will allow residents in the Beatties Ford Road corridor, and the general public, to learn more about the program and its goals and meet members of the ATV team.
“The city is working closely with the community to develop this bold new program to stop violence before it happens,” Mayor Vi Lyles said in a statement. “I am grateful to Wells Fargo and the GreenLight Fund for their contributions to help make some of our most challenged neighborhoods safer.”
