INDIANAPOLIS -- The Ten Point Coalition, a faith-based organization focused on stopping crime in Indianapolis, has decided to scale back its city-wide reach in favor of a more focused approach.
In 2015, Indianapolis’ bloodiest year on record, the Ten Point Coalition found itself stretched beyond its considerable reach. No longer will the group spread itself across the city's six most crime-challenged neighborhoods.
It will instead concentrate in Butler-Tarkington and the northwest side.
"We feel with the resources we have and with the full time outreach workers and volunteers, we can very effectively patrol those areas," Rev. Charles Harrison, the president of Ten Point Coalition, said.
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Butler-Tarkington had four homicides last year, including the murder of a 10-year-old during a drive-by shooting. The Ten Point Coalition stepped up patrols in the neighborhood and neighborhood leaders are grateful they decided to stay.
"It's patrolling the streets,” Ted Feeney, who lives in the neighborhood, said. “It's talking about social services, just discussion about trying to deter the underground economy which can lead to violent crime."
Violent crime also hit the mid-northwest side neighborhoods, including four people found shot to death in late spring. It's an economically challenged area with an equal mix of senior citizens and youth.
“They're young kids,” Eddie Owens of Neighbors Helping Neighbors said. “They don't know. If we don't get them, the street will get them. And if the street gets them. It's a mess. We've got to go ahead and get that mess cleaned up."
More than just trying to suppress crime and retaliation shootings, the Ten Point Coalition has upwards of more than 20,000 street contacts per year.
IUPUI will study the success rate of the Ten Point Coalition's outreach on job placements, youth mentoring, after school programs and re-entry services.
"You need someone to tell the story and to really crunch the numbers so that you can measure your effectiveness in the areas where you’re located based on what's happening in other neighborhoods across the city," Harrison said.
The city is working with other organizations to fill the void. But for the Ten Point Coalition, the locations may change, but the mission remains the same.
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