LANSING, Mich — Shaquille Brown carries both physical and emotional scars from a New Year's Eve shooting in 2022 that claimed the life of his best friend. Now, a program helping to reduce gun violence in his community faces an uncertain future.
The scars on Brown's body will likely remain with him forever, a permanent reminder of the tragedy that unfolded on December 31, 2022.
"It's something I would live with for the rest of my life… It's something I would never forget," Brown said.
Brown and his best friend, music producer Kaz, were shot inside their music studio on East Michigan Avenue. Brown underwent four surgeries, but Kaz died from his injuries.
"It was almost like, you're missing a part of yourself," Brown said.
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Brown knows he's not alone in experiencing gun violence in Lansing. According to Lansing Police, there have been 13 non-fatal shootings and 2 fatal shootings so far this year.
"It's like we have a recyclable toxic thing going on in our city when it comes to gun violence," Brown said.
One organization working to address this issue is Advance Peace, a community intervention program operating in Lansing since October 2022.
"Advance Peace is a community violence intervention initiative that we lost in October of 2022 to identify and engage the most violent individuals in our community," said Paul Elam, who oversees the program.
Elam says the initiative has shown significant results in its short time operating in Lansing.
"Our reports indicate that gun violence as a whole is down about 19 percent overall… and homicides are down about 50 percent since the implication," Elam said.
Despite these successes, the program now faces a major setback. Elam recently received two letters from the Department of Justice terminating grants for Advance Peace.
"It resulted in us losing just over a million dollars in this community," Elam said.
The loss will significantly impact the program's operations. Currently, Advance Peace receives about $500,000 a year from the city and county, far short of the $3.5 million annually needed to maintain current service levels.
"If we can find ways to reflex those funds, we may have to look at cutting our 22 team staff and cutting back on our intervention programs," Elam said.
The organization is exploring fundraising opportunities and has begun appealing the grant terminations. Meanwhile, community members like Brown hope Advance Peace can continue its work.
"We can't stop that work… we just can't," Brown said.
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