Over the past few years, Newport News has taken significant steps to curb youth violence. The city hired it’s first community violence prevention manager, distributed more than $3 million to community groups working on violence intervention and formed a youth council to give young residents a voice.
A new public safety plan outlines what’s next and how the city plans to measure success in reducing violence further.
The city’s ‘Momentum for Peace’ plan was released earlier this month. It uses data and local input to build a framework for violence prevention, early intervention and community healing.
Synethia White, who was hired as the city’s first community violence prevention manager in November 2024, leads the city’s public safety plan. She said this year, she intends to build on what’s been working by ensuring anyone impacted by violence can easily find resources.
“We are going to finish out this process to make sure that we put things in place to continue to get better,” White said. “The result of that is the goals that you see listed in the plan.”
The plan focuses on seven main pillars: conflict resolution, healthy families, economic prosperity, gun control and safety, a caring community, mental wellness, and effective deterrence and adjudication. Each pillar is evaluated through different metrics. For instance, gun safety is assessed through the rate of gun deaths per 100,000 residents and the number of gun locks distributed. While economic prosperity is assessed by the number of participants in wealth building programs and on-time high school graduation rates.
Ultimately, the plan’s goals include connecting residents to resources, fostering community empowerment and creating safe neighborhoods and spaces.
Newport News has invested $3.1 million in organizations to address the root causes of violence since fiscal year 2023 through its Community Violence Prevention Grant program.
One of those organizations is THRIVE Peninsula, which received more than $23,000 from Newport News’ gun violence grant program and has received funding every year since, according to executive director Angela York. She said last year, the funding went toward THRIVE’s Level Up program, which held classes on topics like debt management and financial literacy to enhance financial stability.
“There’s a large portion of families in Newport News and on the Peninsula who are living paycheck to paycheck,” York said. “If they feel no hope that things will get better, they could act out of desperation, and I think the answer can be providing stability.”
And the city has seen results reducing violent crime. Mayor Phillip Jones pledged in March 2024 to reduce gun violence and homicides in Newport News by 15% over the next 18 months. In 2025, Newport News police reported 18 homicides — the fewest in one year in more than a decade. Overall, the city saw a combined 47% reduction in homicides and non-fatal shootings since Jones made that promise.
Community input has been key to the city’s work developing strategies for violence reduction, especially its young people. White said when she was younger, she avoided getting in trouble because she worried about facing consequences from her grandmother. A Youth Public Safety Council formed this summer that White said provides a support measure by connecting young people with peers who have been in their shoes, but chose a more positive path.
“The difference with the Youth Public Safety Council is the intentionality to engage with young people who, in their history, may not have been on the same side as us, but made a conscious decision to use their influence for positivity,” White said. “The people that we have to engage are the young people who have the most experience for what we’re trying to prevent others from getting involved in.”
White added she’s not surprised, but “pleasantly pleased” at the level of engagement she’s seen from Newport News’ teenagers and young adults to create an ecosystem of community partners. She said many of of today’s leaders started as teenagers trying to reduce violence in their communities, and have trained in public health approaches to reducing violence and consistently engage with young people.
It’s a more personable approach to combatting gun violence compared to solely relying on community meetings, White said. When local organizations show up for Newport News residents and hold them accountable, it gives the city a more informed outlook on how to make Newport News safer.
“It speaks to the strength of the smaller organizations who show up in neighborhoods when things are good, and when they’re bad, they don’t disappear,” White said. “It speaks to the community advocates who are promoting positive investment and positive change and community amongst young people.”
Devlin Epding, 757-510-4037, devlin.epding@virginiamedia.com
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