Community Navigator Violence Prevention Planning
Establish a Community Navigator program that will work with neighborhoods across the city to identify community safety needs, establish trustworthy relationships, and create community-centered strategies for public safety without over-relying on law enforcement.
About the program
1 Theory of Change / Goal Alignment
2 Framework
3 Goals
4 The Role of a Community Navigator
5 Program Costs
6 Matrix of Success
Theory of Change / Goal Alignment
1
Theory of Change
Our Community Navigator Violence Prevention Planning program engages all three theory of change targets. Through running a neighborhood consensus program, healing and empowerment in neighborhood relationships will be the first step to creating effective neighborhood plans. After healing and empowerment, all participants will engage in Community Intervention as they identify their neighborhood's needs to build community safety without an overreliance on police enforcement. Lastly we will engage in systems change through identifying service and policy gaps.
Goals
Our Community Navigator Violence Prevention Planning program will meet all of our four goals: Create and identify community-centered alternatives to policing, Transition our city response from an over-reliance on law enforcement to restorative & healing practices, Support communities in creating their own unique public safety solutions, and help communities acquire the resources they need to be safe.
Framework on How to Create Community-Led Public Safety
2
Our Community Navigators will collaborate to understand each neighborhood's unique needs by fostering trust with residents and local organizations. TOCA Colorado has provided a five-step framework for creating a community safety plan.
Community Navigators will meet with active RNOs, PTA/PTOs, Community organizations, and Faith leaders to develop a cohort and create the engagement strategy.
Community Navigators will create a schedule to meet with the larger membership of the RNO, PTA/PTO, Community organizations, and Faith organizations to share the mission, vision, and process strategy.
Community Navigators will form a working group of impacted community members to explore community-centered public safety solutions. The cohort will work in a collective format to:
Define what public safety means to their neighborhood.
Identify public safety concerns for their neighborhood
Explore current resources available to address their safety concerns
Create a success matrix on how to evaluate the cohorts' function and community impact
Create a realistic and flexible timeline for their project
Create a mediation plan for when conflict arises.
Community Navigators will hold regular community listening sessions, training sessions, healing sessions, and continuous community outreach to foster trust. Once trust has been established in the cohort, they will work to:
Explore long-term solutions that address public safety challenges without an overreliance on law enforcement.
Identify needed resources for their specific public safety challenges.
Connect neighbors with pieces of training, organizations, and advocacy tools to help implement their plans.
Connect with existing community resources.
Create an advocacy plan around how to introduce new resources into the neighborhood.
Creating a community education plan
Goals
3
6 Months:
Introduce our program to active RNO, PTA/PTO, Community organizations, and Faith leaders via email
Have visited 5 - 8 active RNO, PTA/PTO, Community organizations, or Faith organizations presenting our program
Have 1 - 3 active cohorts
Identify Storytellers to join meetings
Create a flexible success matrix to use as we launch the program (sample of success matrix provided at bottom)
12 Months:
Continue presenting to 2 RNO, PTA/PTO, Community organizations, and/or Faith organizations per month
Have 3 - 8 active cohorts
Make success videos with organizations and residence
Review and refine the success matrix to ensure it effectively measures key indicators of success.
Yearly Goals thereafter:
Present at 2 - 3 RNOs RNO, PTA/PTO, Community organizations, and/or Faith organizations per month
Work with 8 - 15 cohorts per year in various stages of the program
Continue monitoring, supporting, and adjusting programs that are already in place
The Role of a Community Navigator
4
Community Navigators will be the primary facilitators of our program, with 1-2 Navigators assigned to each neighborhood. Their responsibilities include:
Attending neighborhood meetings, including those hosted by Registered Neighborhood Organizations (RNOs), PTA/PTO groups, local organizations, clubs, faith-based groups, and other community leaders.
Canvassing neighborhoods to engage residents who are not represented in these organizations.
Identifying and building relationships with additional organizations that serve vulnerable populations in the community.
Facilitating regular community meetings, celebration gatherings, and strategy sessions (1-2 per month).
Serving as culturally reflective ambassadors for their neighborhoods.
Supporting reconciliation and relationship-building in communities experiencing division (e.g., between unhoused individuals and business owners).
Promoting community healing and understanding through storytelling, dialogue, and gatherings.
Organizing community training sessions on topics such as mental health first aid, know-your-rights education, and trauma resilience.
Program Costs
5
$142,000 - $182,000/Year
If there is no grant program to help cover various trainings within the community, we will work with the residents to fundraise to get the necessary resources.
Two Community Navigators: $120,000 - $160,000/year depending on experience
Materials: $1,000/year
Events: $1,800/year
Pay for pieces of training in the community and for community navigators: $20,000/year
Matrix of Success
6
Each neighborhood cohort will determine a matrix of Success. It will be reviewed monthly, and all residents will have the opportunity to give anonymous feedback. The results will be presented to the community as a whole to retool and grow together. Matrix reviews will be held at least once per quarter.
Suggested Representational Categories:
Financial: Residents, business owners, non-profit orgs/services
Residential: Homeowners, Renters, and Unhoused
Age: Youth (16 - 24), Young Adult (25-35), Middle (35 - 50), Elder (51-64), Senior (65+)
Gender: the full Gender Spectrum is recognized and has proportional representation in the cohort.
Racial: The neighborhood's racial makeup is reflected in the coalition.
Cultural: The neighborhood’s cultural makeup is reflected in the coalition.
Interested in the Community Navigator Program for your neighborhood?
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