SAN ANTONIO — The city along with several partners including the University of Texas at San Antonio are planning to tackle violence using a public health approach. It is called the Violence Prevention Strategic Plan and is for Bexar County and San Antonio.
District 4 Councilwoman Adriana Rocha Garcia, PhD, discussed her take on what has been presented so far by Metro Health.
"I am happy there is a collective plan that the community is looking at," she said. "We can't have another plan, to plan and not act."
The city leader said this plan will be looking at four main pillars: violence among youth, gun violence, sexual violence and domestic violence.
"We know in San Antonio we have a problem in many of these areas, but specifically when it comes to domestic violence, what is it that we can do to find the root cause," she said.
According to Metro Health the plan is for 2024-2028 and is being done by them, UTSA, faith and community leaders. The following is a statement from Metro Health.
The Violence Prevention Strategic Plan for 2024-2028 aligns with other community and government organizations' efforts to reduce violent crime. Using a public health approach to prevent violence and work collaboratively with stakeholders, this multisectoral strategic plan will combine resources and amplify them to increase positive outcomes in San Antonio and Bexar County. The City of San Antonio Metropolitan Health District is leading a team of project coordinators to organize the planning and monitoring process.
"What can we do to work together to make sure that things like this don't happen," the councilwoman said.
She also added there should be continued investments in different areas like in schools and non-profits. Rocha Garcia said there is one area that needs to be explored more.
"On the gun violence, I think we are missing a mark on how many guns are bought per year," she said. "Who are buying these guns?"
Metro Health did release the following about how it plans to measure these target areas to reduce violent crime.
Each area has its measurement indicators, depending on its objectives. Metro Health and lead stakeholder organizations will collaborate with partners to build support for implementation of the strategies and monitor the outcomes. One of our short-term outcomes is to establish infrastructure to implement and monitor strategies.
Metro Health said this plan will be brought up to the council in January.