Life Camp Inc

The elevate prize will support the critical expansion of the VIP model. Our people need a solution for public safety and wellness. Communities across the nation who are over policed, disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, and experience elevated violence have a few things in common: the absence of opportunities, increased trauma, and disproportionate numbers of people who are incarcerated, unemployed, and demoralized. I see this as the problem. This has led to rampant gun violence and trauma in urban communities across the US. As I write this, last month alone NYC saw over 130 shootings.This year, over 1,600 people have been shot in Chicago. These numbers are increasing. The trauma our communities face is increasing. 

There are already solutions running in communities to address these roots to violence, the elevate prize will allow my organization, Life Camp much needed funding and will support me as I evaluate and share the VIP model. Our communities have the solutions, and we need to be resourced so we can measure impact and properly scale and grow our work. 

My daily work is my biography. I have a proven track record of establishing successful systems and organizations against all odds. I have been doing this work for the past 32 years and learned and taught a lot in that time. This is mirrored by my own personal growth. I transformed from the angry peacemaker to being a resource to movement leaders nationwide. I’ve co-created the Code Foundation, LIFE Camp, and the NYC Crisis Management System (CMS) from visions in my head, to organizations and systems on the ground.

My visions sound bold, and I know they are possible because of the impact of my life’s work. For the past 32 years, I’ve helped to transform young people from outcasts into leaders shaping the future in countries all over the world. At 54 years old, I’ve defied all odds of being a young black woman from Jamaica, Queens. And I’m excited for what’s next.

Policing does not work. Police reform will not work. To address violence, we need to understand it from its roots; we need to understand both the perpetrator and the victim; and we need to understand peace. I created  Life Camp and the Violence Intervention and Prevention System as a community led, peace-centric, public health alternative to policing over a decade ago. I was tired of seeing the police militarize my community; tired of the police beating on me and my friends; and I was tired of my people dying. This system was adopted by the City of New York in 2009, and has now grown to incorporate 26 community safe-zone sites and over 80 community based organizations working with 6 City agencies. This work has led to a 15% reduction in violence citywide. Yet, it still lacks critical infrastructure, evaluation and growth. Life Camp's VIP System  is set up to be a true community led alternative to policing nationally, and the Elevate Prize is the investment that can make this possible.   

The Violence Intervention and Prevention (VIP) Model decreases violence and accelerates leadership development in New York City’s highest risk communities. We work directly with community stakeholders and national anti-violence leaders to address the underlying causes of violence: the absence of opportunities and a traumatized community with disproportionate numbers of people who are incarcerated, unemployed, and demoralized. 

VIP is an innovative approach adapted from the United States Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), incorporating a public health prescription for violence prevention. 

The VIP Model network is a collaborative array of experts, credible messengers, community-based and faith-based organizations, and public and private sector stakeholders. With roots in New York City neighborhoods in all five boroughs, this network is creating safer environments for NYC youth and community members. The work falls into six categories: Coalition Building, Holistic Wraparound Supports, Emergency Management System Response to Violence Interruption, Community Engagement and Education Events, Media and Public Awareness Campaigns, and Training and Development for Staff and Volunteers. 

Since the deployment of the VIP Model in Queens, we have documented 562 days without shootings in our focus areas. The last year saw an 85% reduction in the number of shootings in our sphere of influence. 

The VIP System is community founded and led: it directly serves the community that powers it.This model hires and works directly with the people who influence, cause and have been impacted by violence in a specific neighborhood. Our programming meets our communities where they’re at. As part of our VIP System model, our staff are also our program participants. The majority of our staff are formerly incarcerated women and men who are back in the streets with the mission of changing the streets. This is important. 

At its core, the VIP model provides jobs to high risk individuals to prevent and interrupt violent activities, while helping them transform their lives -- in turn modeling that change for others. These individuals build credible inroads into our communities, providing opportunities for jobs, therapeutic and wellness services to heal from the traumas of violence and poverty, and allow our young people to radically reimagine what is possible (and clear paths to do so).  

Life Camp serves over 600 people through regular engagement and direct programs and services. We support thousands of individuals through distributing PPE and groceries. Our online platforms reach tens of thousands of individuals, encouraging them to live safer, responsible, peaceful lives.

The goal of Life Camp is to develop youth and community leaders to work with the private and public sectors to create safe and healthy neighborhoods. Through it’s programming Life Camp will:

1. Reduce Violence by developing teens and young adults into peer leaders by providing positive alternatives to violence. Life Camp does this through youth development programming. Specific goals to reduce violence included:

   1. Safe corridors- where our staff works with school safety agents to mitigate violence. 

   2. Safe Surrender & Gun recovery- where we support individuals with legal counsel and turn over weapons to law enforcement. 

2. Create Connections through building partnerships between community stakeholders to address youth violence as a public health issue. Specific goals to Create Connections include.

   1. Youth Entrepreneur programs

3. Build Healthy Families with Therapeutic Wellness by providing an array of services that address the mental, physical and emotional wellness needs of parents and families impacted by the trauma of gun violence. Specific goals to Build Healthy Families Include:

   1. Immediate emergency response at the site of a violent incident

   2. Funeral services and support

   3. Grief counseling 

1. Develop Leaders by utilizing an evidence based service model that will provide community stakeholders with the necessary skills and resources to effectively implement positive change within themselves and within their own communities. Specific goals to develop leaders include:

   1. Building the peaceforce, a volunteer led neighborhood watch group, directly responsible for a reduction of shootings in NYC hotspots. 

2. Scale results through creating replicable violence intervention models that can be implemented nationwide. Specific goals to Scale results include:

   1. Creating a training and technical assistance program to be shared with national and local partners. 

A number of barriers exist that may impede us from meeting all of our goals chief among them is the impact that the pandemic has had on the rise in violence throughout the nation. The COVID 19 pandemic destabilized many low income and under resourced communities. This destabilization was felt across all facets, there was an increase in food insecurity, joblessness, worse physical health outcomes for non COVID related ailments and more. As we begin to recover as a nation, Life Camp will need to scale it’s operations and deepen the work to meet the increased need. 

The platform provided to an Elevate Prize winner would be crucial to expanding our reach and scaling out impact. While we do have some brand recognition given that our prior work has been successful, becoming an Elevate Prize winner would provide Life Camp’s vision and more specifically our violence prevention models an additional measure of authority which we believe will in turn bolster future outreach for funding in the private and public sector. Additionally, Life Camp would be looking to tap into the network of other Elevate Prize winners and explore any synergies that might support our work further expanding the reach of our work. 

At LIFE Camp we’re community led, and core to our values we hire those that have deep roots in the communities we serve because we believe in the potential and magic of our people. 100% of our staff is from New York City, 80% from Jamaica, NY where our I Love My LIFE Center is located. Finally, our staff is entirely composed of people of color and woman led. 

LIFE Camp was founded and is led by internationally-recognized and widely-respected peacemaker, Erica Ford who has been at the forefront of reducing youth and community violence in New York City and beyond for over 30 years. Believing in the power of partnership, Erica has championed personal and systemic approaches to conflict resolution worldwide. Through LIFE Camp, Inc.’s groundbreaking programs, Erica has empowered thousands of individuals and families to break the cycle of violence and promote peace. Erica’s concept for increasing safety has been adopted and implemented by New York City resulting in a 10% reduction in violence citywide.

In addition to Erica, LIFE Camp has a diverse staff that are equally dedicated to peace in the communities LIFE Camp serves because this staff is from and deeply connected to those communities. LIFE Camp also intentionally hires returning members of the community understanding the complete cycle of life.

Life Camp has played a key role in developing leaders and coalitions.When faced with the risk of reduced funding at a city level, we joined and help build out the fund peace coalition. This national coalition united gun violence prevention organizations across many levels, to advocate together at the state level. Together, this coalition advocated for 8 billion in federal funds to be directed to community violence prevention programs. We did this after experiencing overwhelming death, violence and lack of resources due to COVID. Our community was hit harder than most communities in NYC and we were at the core of the the comeback, distributing PPE and groceries. We are not done recovering from COVID, we see the increase of violence and domestic issues, and our team is working on it each day. 

All Life Camp videos and films are shared here: https://www.youtube.com/channe...

Life Camp videos

Goals: 

• Build the community’s competency of holistic wellness practices that are proven, to strengthen immunity, fight disease and reduce stress & trauma from the dual pandemics of COVID & Gun violence

• Help combat these social determinants of health by providing resources to strengthen baseline immunity 

Immediate Objectives Met with This Award:

• Wellness Programming

• Wellness Relief  Activations during Community Events:

  • Develop and Distribute Wellness kits (immune building nutritional supplies,  aromatherapy, instructional materials, etc.)

  • PPE Distribution

  • Nutrition & Food Prep Demos

• Therapeutic Counseling:

  • One on One Therapeutic Counseling

  • Group Peer Support Sessions

  • Grief Support

• PeaceMobile (Mobile Wellness Unit) Activations

  • Stock and outfit the PeaceMobile with wellness equipment, products and supplies 

• Marketing:

  • Design of online, mobile and in-market messaging campaigns with wellness information, tutorials etc

Long Term Objectives Met with Additional and Sustained Funding:

• Professional Development

  • Certificate Trainings for Credible Clinicians in Trauma Response, Grief Counseling and other Cognitive Behavioral Therapies, to continue to sharpen their skills with this high risk population

• Staff Support

  • Hire additional Credible Clinician staff  to assist in the hands on Trauma Prevention, Response and Recovery work

  • Hire consultants to assist in facilitating wellness programming (mobile massages, wellness checks, therapeutic counseling)

  • Seasonal uniforms for Credible Clinicians and volunteer staff

The Fund Peace Coalition has over 50 partners, they are listed here https://www.fundpeacenow.com/partners this coalition is working together on grasstops advocacy for gun safety regulations, and federal programmatic funding for community organizations.