Report: Violence interruptor programs are growing, results elusive

Violence interruption programs have become more common in the last year thanks to hundreds of millions of dollars of federal pandemic funding, according to a report published this week by ProPublica and The New Yorker.

• Des Moines has allocated about $800K into its own program.

Why it matters: The money has created an opportunity for intervention to become a significant part of public safety, but the programs have immense challenges, ProPublica reports.

Catch up fast: Interrupters are people with neighborhood know-how paid to reach at-risk youth and help diffuse possible violence.

• Des Moines' program started a year ago and is in partnership with Creative Visions, a local nonprofit, as well as Chicago-based Cure Violence.

Driving the news: Cities across the country are discovering that evidence for the effectiveness of these programs is elusive, ProPublica found.

• DSM's first annual report calls for better metrics to substantiate the efforts.