The Central Neighborhood is directly adjacent to downtown Cleveland and is encapsulated within a network of busy thoroughfares and buffering institutions with large footprints, including Cuyahoga County Juvenile Detention Center, the Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals with their attendant health campuses. Though small, the neighborhood encompasses varied landscapes:

• Light industrial properties: development along Euclid Corridor and the new Opportunity Corridor.
• Commercial or service properties: small businesses and nonprofit human services.
• Recreational properties: city recreational centers and local play areas. 
• Educational properties: charter and Cleveland Metropolitan School District schools, the local community college, and two university campuses.
• Residential properties: private single-family homes, public high-rise and low-rise housing, private mixed-use buildings, and community estate housing.

The Central Connection Initiative's (CCI) crime reduction strategy focuses on the creation of space for residents and police to have their voices heard, reciprocally understand both individual and shared priorities, and find or rediscover innovative ways to partner. CCI believes safety will improve when residents are allowed to find meaningful ways to work together to achieve local, specific revitalization goals.

During the Planning Phase, CCI explored data regarding crime and disorder, while also creating pace to hear from residents and stakeholders regarding their concerns and hopes for the neighborhood. CCI's research partner, the Begun Center, focused on how crime rates have changed over time, identifying possible trends in Part I crime, but also following citations and various other enforcement actions. The listening sessions were helpful in identifying key themes around neighborhood pride, divisions among stakeholder groups, and the need for youth to have their voices heard in community-related conversations.

Focusing on police-community relationships, CCI hosted reverse ride-alongs in the neighborhood as its Early Action Project. Ten police officers from Cleveland Division of Police's 3rd District and over 55 community members participated in this daylong community tour. The reverse ride-alongs facilitated open and authentic perspective-sharing dialogues between police and community members. Highlights included: officers having the opportunity to interact with residents outside of enforcement actions, which was especially impactful for officers who regularly work overnight, as well as officers and community members engaging in discussions around community-identified themes, such as police and youth, police and social media, and police and mental health.

CCI has proposed a slate of interventions for the Implementation Phase to address concerns identified through data analysis. The implementation activities related to violence intervention and outreach include, creating local safety ambassadors, promoting youth voices, establishing a public safety round table, working with police to improve their internal culture, and developing the skills of advocates from the Central Neighborhood to help them engage with policymakers and funders on city, regional, and state levels.

The Central Connection Initiative's (CCI) developed an Action Plan for the Implementation Phase based on the data collected during the Planning Phase. To achieve the goals of this project, the grantee site, and its project partners will implement the following strategies:

• Violence Interruption and Outreach: In partnership with Cleveland Peacemaker's Alliance (CPA), CCI will provide street outreach, case management, and hospital-based violence interruption. CPA focuses on youth ages 15-25 with violence interruption and outreach are their cornerstone services. 
• Safety Ambassadors and Youth Voice Programming: Safety Ambassadors provide CCI with a grounded and authentic connection to individuals and families in the Central Neighborhood. This peer-to-peer model facilitates deeper outreach and information dissemination, builds participation networks of trusted peers, develops professional skills of individuals in the community, and provides a feedback channel for ongoing program management adjustments. 
• Public Safety Roundtable and District Meetings: CCI will host a Public Safety Roundtable, modeled off of the Alliance for Safety and Justice's Shared Safety Initiative. The primary mechanism for police to connect with the community members has been through monthly district meetings with the Cleveland Police Department and resident meetings with the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority Police Department. 
• Police Cultural Transformation: Cultural transformation aims to facilitate organizational improvements that enhance work efficiency and empathy and increase officer hopefulness. 
• STANCE: IMPACT 25 and Local Advocacy: CCI is a component of Cleveland's Stand Together Against Neighborhood Crime Everyday (STANCE) initiative, which began in 2006. STANCE is a collaboration consisting of comprehensive prevention, intervention, enforcement, and reentry efforts to help reduce and prevent violent crime. IMPACT 25 provides an opportunity for agencies within the Central Neighborhood to network and form partnerships with a larger group of prevention-focused organizations.  

Cleveland Division of Police, Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority Police Department, Sisters of Charity, PROMISE Neighborhood, MyCom, Peacemaker's Alliance, Lotus Executive Leadership, The Acho Group, Friendly Inn Settlement House, City of Cleveland's Lonnie Burton Recreation Center, STANCE partners, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, Cleveland Metropolitan School District, Slavic Village P16, Say Yes to Education, The Cleveland Foundation, Northern Ohio Trauma Systems