Within the Buckeye-Woodhill Safety Collaborative (BWSC) neighborhood, the demographics, poverty levels, and crime statistics are highly variable. Along the neighborhood’s peaked northern border, there is a subsidized housing estate and several clusters of older, low-cost rental properties, while the eastern edge bumps up against one of the more affluent inner-ring suburbs. Buckeye Road is primarily business, retail, and light industrial properties, with some older apartment buildings. 

The BWSC Neighborhood forges a separate narrative, perceived as being left behind and left out. It is sometimes characterized as gritty and unsafe because it is a liminal space, transitioning between Cleveland and its wealthier suburb of Shaker Heights. It includes poverty, wealth, and gentrified zones and has residential, business, and light industrial uses. The BWSC neighborhood is proximal to several emerging investments in housing and economic development, so this somber narrative is incomplete. Buckeye Woodhill’s potential lies in its historic immigrant and minority neighborhoods, where long-time residents are fighting to age-in-place and young families are attempting to lay down roots. The neighborhood has access to spacious parks, human service agencies, and a main thoroughfare that is home to a network of small businesses (Buckeye Road).  

The BWSC neighborhood is brimming with potential, but without significant and long-term support, bringing the project’s goals to fruition will be nearly impossible. The police need street-level data to respond to changing patterns in crime. The institutional partners must win the trust of marginalized populations to increase civic participation and promote perceptions of safety. Cleveland must also capitalize on and continue the hard work of coordination among intervention and investments to address the social and systematic determinants of crime and violence. Funding needs to be available to amplify the voice of residents in safety, neighborhood planning, and service delivery processes. BCJI has a broad mission that acknowledges the multiple layers of action and intervention needed to reduce crime and increase safety.  

The Buckeye-Woodhill Safety Collaborative aims to meet three overarching goals:  

• to reduce crime in the identified neighborhood.  

• increase mutual trust and authentic engagement between law enforcement and the community.  

• create community collaborations (micro and mezzo level) to improve safety.  

The BWSC intends to use the entire planning period to seek community input, guidance, and collaborative support as they develop appropriate strategies. The aim is to employ BCJI’s four-part operating approach:  

• Place-based through the coordination of targeted and strategic enforcement; the expansion of communication between police and community; the creation of space for residents to interact with police in an authentic and respectful way; the clarification of citizen messaging surrounding police expectations.  

• Community Oriented by promoting shared learning and empowerment of residents (especially resident leaders); connecting residents with revitalization efforts and employment opportunities; building and rebuilding trust to aid engagement with law enforcement and human service interventions; publishing a neighborhood-based magazine; developing hospital-based violence interruption materials for residents of the BWSC neighborhood; promoting a “village model” through resident-led initiatives.  

• Data-driven by working with all community stakeholders to identify and example context-specific crime drivers; seeking resident input on existing and future development projects, making that data broadly available to other community partners; assisting police in analyzing street-level data in real-time to respond to shifts in violence and crime; working collaboratively with the community to identify evidence-informed pilot interventions. 

• Capacity Building by supporting multi-faceted partnership and collaboration; creating balance among prevention, intervention, and enforcement; providing consistent and high-quality community violence interventions that are culturally competent and responsive to multigenerational trauma. 

The City of Cleveland, Cleveland Division of Police, Partnership for a Safer Cleveland, the May Dugan Center, Burten, Bell, Car Development, Standing Together Against Neighborhood Crime Everyday (STANCE), Cleveland Peacemakers Alliance, Change Seekers, Northern Ohio Trauma System, faith-based organizations, human service agencies, government departments, courts