Mayor LaToya Cantrell Creates Office to Focus on Gun Violence Prevention
Mayor LaToya Cantrell recently announced the launch by executive order of the Office of Gun Violence Prevention.
“Establishing this office is part of our commitment to a holistic long-term strategy to prevent gun violence over time. This work started with recommendations from our Forward Together Transition Team; and in one of my first acts as Mayor, I established the Gun Violence Reduction Taskforce. This in turn led to the August 2019 Generational Gun Violence Reduction Plan. This new office will coordinate, fund and evaluate public health gun violence reduction interventions and their outcomes,” said Mayor Cantrell.
“Even though New Orleans has had over 100 murders annually since the 1970s, no other administration has invested in the infrastructure to focus on this problem over the long term,” said Joshua Cox, Director of Strategic Initiatives.
Patrick Young will serve as director for the Office of Gun Violence Prevention, which will feature three core functions:
• Implement Public Health Interventions through Cure Violence, a community-based intervention that interrupts conflicts before they turn violent by using culturally competent messengers as violence interrupters and mediators; CEO Works a program to provide transitional employment for residents returning home from incarceration. Participants do blight reduction and grass cutting four days a week and attend professional development one day a week, which includes soft skills training and resume development; the Jumpstart Program, an eight-week program to connect young people who are disconnected from work and school with soft-skills training and employment opportunities through the City’s Office of Workforce Development; and the Barber and Beautician Collective, a program that mines the roles barbers and beauticians play as community leaders who interface with hundreds of people a week. These volunteers will take part in a seven-week program in conflict resolution and mediation skills so that they can de-escalate conflicts that might arise.
• Manage the Gun Violence Policy Lab – This is a partnership with Tulane’s Schools of Public Health and Professional Advancement to rigorously study gun violence in the city and to evaluate the effectiveness of our interventions.
• Develop funding for public health interventions and research – The City continues to work to attract government and philanthropic dollars and how to engage the private sector – insurance companies and payers – to make investments in public health interventions that will ultimately reduce costs associated with bad outcomes.
Liberty Bank Announces Additions to Executive Team
Liberty Bank recently announced two new members of its executive staff.
Jaimme A Collins will serve as general counsel and vice president strategic initiatives. She is a former partner at the law firm of Adams and Reese, specializing in corporate litigation and education law. She has served as law clerk for former Judge Madeline Landrieu and special assistant to former U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu. Collins has also served as a White House associate director of political affairs, following an internship there in the early 2000s. In addition to managing legal and regulatory matters, Collins will advise and direct the bank’s strategic positioning and key initiatives.
Charles R. Gurley, Jr., will be the director of commercial lending. Liberty’s commercial lending division is looking to expand its extensive portfolio with a special focus on enhancing and empowering small businesses throughout Liberty’s nine-state footprint. Gurley has 19 years of experience in commercial lending, having served at several banking operations in Texas and Missouri, including First Bank of Saint Louis, Wells Fargo Bank, and Sterling and Prosperity Bank in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Gurley has extensive experience managing all aspects of small business lending products regulatory requirements and small business process.
