Community Navigator Violence Prevention Planning

Our Community Navigators Program serves as the flagship program for TOCA, empowering residents to co-create community violence prevention plans while reducing reliance on law enforcement.

Led by trained Community Navigators working directly within neighborhoods, the program aims to:

-Identify community safety needs and build trustworthy relationships.

-Meet with active RNOs, PTA/PTOs, Community organizations, and Faith leaders to develop a cohort to identify community needs around public safety.

-Develop customized violence prevention plans that align with community values and lived experiences.

-Form a collective working group of impacted community members. The cohort will explore community-centered public safety solutions.

-Interrupt the cycle of carceral responses by strengthening non-police pathways to community safety and care.

-Hold regular community listening sessions, training sessions, healing sessions, and continuous community outreach to foster trust.

-Connect neighbors with pieces of training, organizations, and advocacy tools to help implement their plans.

This initiative centers community safety as a public health priority, focusing on violence prevention, trauma recovery, upstream housing stability, and non-police response systems. This first-year implementation will build a model for long-term, scalable change — rooted in measurable outcomes such as:

-Reductions in 911 calls,

-Increased access to supportive services, and

-Improved youth and adult well-being as well as neighborhood cohesion.