Providence Community Safety Advisory Committee Meeting – July 30, 2025
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Providence Community Safety Advisory Committee Meeting – July 30, 2025
The Providence Community Safety Advisory Committee met on July 30, 2025, from approximately 5:13 PM onward. Only six of 13 members were present, so the meeting lacked a quorum and was held as an information session. Discussions focused on three main areas: a proposed tax on guns, ammunition, and shooting ranges to fund violence prevention; development of a youth programming resource directory and data dashboard; and the creation of a dedicated city Office of Violence Prevention.
Discussion Items
- Item 1 – Revenue Proposal for Violence Prevention: Corey Jones introduced a revived proposal from Gina Romondo's 2019 budget to place a tax on firearms, ammunition, and shooting ranges. The revenue would provide a consistent funding stream for community violence intervention (CVI). Jones noted that state representatives are willing to sponsor the bill if a supporting alliance is formed. The committee discussed similar taxes in California (11%), Colorado (4.5%), and Connecticut, and the importance of building a broad coalition. A memo projected that a 12% tax could generate approximately $1.4 million in revenue. No formal action was taken due to lack of quorum.
- Item 2 – Youth Programming Resource Guide and Dashboard: The committee reviewed a draft resource guide listing youth programs, rec centers, and community partners. Corey Jones reported that he had used AI to build a prototype data dashboard that could ingest police data in real time and also scrape nonprofit annual reports to create a searchable resource directory. Members suggested adding organizations focused on workforce development, sports leagues, arts, re-entry programs, and specific protective factors based on research. The group agreed to gather more suggestions and then launch a public website with an admin panel for updates, possibly hosted by a nonprofit or city agency. They also discussed providing printed copies for distribution at rec centers and schools.
- Creation of an Office of Violence Prevention: A lengthy discussion centered on the need for a dedicated city office to coordinate CVI efforts, access data, and secure funding. Members argued that despite Providence being considered safe overall, gun violence remains concentrated in certain neighborhoods and that a focused office could drive a comprehensive strategy. They noted that most major cities (e.g., Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Atlanta) have such offices. The committee estimated that a small office with three staff could cost $300,000–$400,000 annually, and that political will from both the mayor and city council is essential. Council member Jones committed to raising the idea with council leadership and the mayor’s office, and to exploring interim steps such as repurposing existing staff at Public Safety or FARA.
Key Outcomes
- No formal votes were taken because the meeting lacked a quorum.
- The committee agreed to continue building the youth resource directory and to gather additional input from members.
- Corey Jones will approach city council leadership and the mayor’s office to discuss creating an Office of Violence Prevention, including potential funding and structure.
- The committee will explore engaging national organizations (e.g., the Milton Institute, Everytown) to help with messaging, coalition building, and securing grants.
- The group plans to invite state agency directors to a future meeting to align resources and identify discretionary funding streams for CVI.
Meeting Transcript
Hi down there, everyone. Thank you so much. Uh to everyone that is here today. Um big shout out to our mom plan action team. Uh we're providing uh subtricious meals for the committee. Um thank you to our solicitors office uh for being here. Um and we'll take all uh did the lack of corn is gonna only be uh information meeting. Thank you. So um unfortunately we do not have uh quorum today. Uh we have six out of uh 13 members here. Um this has been uh a little bit of challenge in the past, so maybe we'll reconvene approve and see if a weather time works better or what might be ideal. But thank you so much to everyone that is here today. Um we will pick off our agenda item number one. What was that? Uh can I take roll call, please? Present coach and Corey Jones, present coach Diana Gallanton, Didi Woman of Aren present Alan Williams, Detective David Perez, I don't know if he has uh actually Michael Stevens absent Laura Bailey, James Montero's absent, Lisa Pino Warren, that's one part is absent, Michael Wogan. BJ Fox present six present, seven absolute. You don't have a quorum. Thank you. Um so we'll move in to item number one, uh, which we're also gonna probably continue for uh further discussion. But if uh Corey wants to just quit give a quick overview of what that item entails, yeah. So we had a hard time um scheduling the representatives, but they gave us a few dates so we can uh try to step those up for the next meeting. Um but we started a conversation around um you know revitalizing a proposal that Jenna Romondo submitted in her budget in 2019 um that would uh create a tax on guns, ammunition, and shooting ranges and be able to use that as a consistent revenue uh for the type of work that we're talking about at this table. Um there's conversations about how ambitious that proposal is if we restructure an office like Mike's the public safety brand administrative office and make it something like the non violence um office, like you know, Biden uh was pushing for uh states to do. Um, or if you want to just try to take the you know the small win and just try to get that revenue source um to put together the most viable bill that we can get through so we can have that consistent funding stream. So the representatives uh said they would be happy to carry this bill. They just want to be sure that there's an alliance that is going to um help them advocate to make it happen, and that is designed in a way that makes sense for the work that we're doing. Anyone have any additional thoughts or comments on uh that item are you guys aware of uh any other uh similar legislation? Um we technically ignore our public comment at the time okay. If you could save the question at least not a question, just to answer the word question, right? Are you aware of any other similarities? Uh similar states or similar legislation and other places. Um I know that there was the what is uh what was it, Mike and he did the um the victim services money bill um I don't know what the potential of funding I don't know if any funding was attached for creation box that just that it should they should do that they should fund it for 30 million dollars but not how that 30 million dollars was gonna get so I think that's one of the challenges is finding the actual revenue source and tax and something to find some of the emissions that we want to see like the victim services bill. just to answer the more question what else uh are you aware of any other similarities uh similar states or similar legislation and other places um i know that there was the the what is uh what was it like in he did the um the victim services money bill um i don't know what the potential of funding i don't know if any funding was attached recreation box yeah just that it should they should do that they should fund it for 30 million dollars but not how that 30 million dollars was going to get so i think that's one of the challenges is finding the actual revenue source and tax and something to find you know some of the emissions that we want to see like the victim services bill and i know for other uh states that have done this i know connecticut recently passed this um california recently passed as well california will really creative when they passed it uh because they mixed a bunch of different things in it in order to get it over the finish line and they called it like the school safety um act because like half of the money went to uh uh school safety models so there's you can look at a lot of other states for inspiration of how we're able to build coalition that were able to get over the bench line being rhode island maybe a small state you know our revenue isn't the same um in in you know that tax formula as it would be somewhere like California so it's a little different so um just the last question element is are you aware so our guns and innovation just of the regular shows time so it's really that is my understanding being then this is an access tax so this is just a tax over top and since this technically isn't like a formal meeting I think we can open it up uh for comment in the public uh well i was just gonna say that um california as mentioned that and also color asset so like california their taxes 11 percent i think in colorado this point like four and a half percent and you can tax more or less than saying just done to fund an education or shooting ranges um but there are five other states that are currently um maryland massachusetts that they're also considering it because you know the home state bad time um sources of income for city guy um incrementally not just yeah you know how to be connected to that all kinds of you know all kinds of uh finances to me other nonprofits um but to your point what would be most important is building the coalition of getting the hospital getting i mean that's saying there's a couple of GD organizations by really getting as big revolutions possible you know to to be up at state hospital so I'm gonna be making for it um especially when there's so much conversation but uh it's definitely possible yeah I believe Gina Romondos was six percent okay um but the memo I put together was aiming for like 12 percent um and I think my projection was that would be like 1.4 million revenue so almost have anything else they would like to add to item number one well all right then moving on to item number two review of available youth programming opportunities or any job of it um so our council office put together uh this uh document um does anyone have a copy of it um this was really just to start the framework and foundation to what would some call a resource guide i know we've had past conversations um regarding uh something like this in the past i think um was it you bj that i brought up the united ways to do something similar what was that called use opportunity guide you public tools uh uh it's really you know it's hard to to do something like this because so many programs especially right now the power defender all money is uh a little unstable uh some programs you know might be open this summer but not next summer or so time frames are different or different eligibility requirements uh but I think you know having something so to work with and be able to provide uh to the youth and other uh community partners it is uh important thing that the city really uh needs or needs to spend a little bit more time on uh so this is something that we can definitely add and or remove if needed um so obviously all the rec centers are on here uh different uh community partner boards are on here city air voice and growth club federal billhouse um and then of course uh more like cd i focused organizations are also included here um so yeah we can have a discussion of this and kind of where we want to see this go i actually um Um so obviously all the rec centers are on here, uh different uh community partner boards are on here, city air board as a roads club, where house. Um, and then of course uh more like CDI focused organizations are also included here. Um yeah, we can have a discussion of this and kind of where we want to see this go. So I actually um after our last meeting, I use um AI to start coding uh data five database dashboard. Um, and so I still have to go through with a professional and kind of finalize the code, but um the idea is that it'll be able to take all of the data in real time that the police upload as soon as they upload it, it'll add it to the database, and then you'll be able to analyze it and see you know where the crime's going, the time of day, you know, any of the information that they give us, we'd be able to analyze it. Um, and so you know, the amount of um infractions certain officers may be having all that um is kind of organized and parsed through on this platform. I also added to it a resource directory. Um, and what it does is it's using AI to scrape annual reports from nonprofit organizations in Rhode Island. Um, and so I'm hoping once I kind of finalize and tweak some of the um last parts of it and get it pretty updated. I could pass it off to a maybe a nonprofit or someone to kind of maintain it and keep it updated. Um, but I think that that can be a huge resource and also something that can come out of this committee um as the kind of actionable you know, item um that not only you know CBOs can use to better have data on the people that they're serving, uh, but also community members can use to find resources um in a way that's you know in real time updating those resources that are being posted. Anyone else have any thoughts or comments on this topic? Um go ahead. Okay, um, so for the next center is we have a have summer camps through July. They also have the floor and after skill programming too. Um, which probably thought I've funny through, but this is going to be the start of a larger research.
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