{"id":580,"date":"2023-07-13T17:40:16","date_gmt":"2023-07-13T17:40:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/upliftindy.org\/?p=580"},"modified":"2023-07-13T17:40:27","modified_gmt":"2023-07-13T17:40:27","slug":"as-violence-plagues-the-city-heres-how-shepherd-is-responding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/upliftindy.org\/index.php\/2023\/07\/13\/as-violence-plagues-the-city-heres-how-shepherd-is-responding\/","title":{"rendered":"As violence plagues the city, here\u2019s how Shepherd is responding"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On one June weekend in Indianapolis, 23 people, including four children, were shot in 18 separate incidents<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That same weekend, the number of homicides in Indianapolis surged above 100 for the year, putting 2023 on pace to be among the most violent in the city\u2019s history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSociologists have a name for what we\u2019re seeing in our society. They call it anomie,\u201d Jay Height, executive director of Shepherd Community Center, said. \u201cIt\u2019s about the general feeling that common values and accepted standards have been erased, especially after the pandemic. It helps us understand what\u2019s happening when we see the high level of violence in Indianapolis and other cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Height has witnessed the consequences of violence, both immediate and long term, throughout the 28 years he\u2019s lived and served in ministry on the near Eastside of Indianapolis. One crime in particular \u2013 the 2006 murders<\/a> of Alberto Covarrubias and Emma Valdez and five members of their family in their Hamilton Avenue home \u2013 lingers in Height\u2019s memory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey were a part of Shepherd, a part of our ministry. Alberto and Emma\u2019s two young sons were in our programs,\u201d Height said. \u201cThe murders were devastating for us and our neighbors, and the entire city.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One response in the face of such horrific crimes is to pass tougher laws, to arrest more people, and to lock them away in prison for longer sentences. Yet, Height said that approach on its own ultimately won\u2019t stop the violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have great police officers in our city who are committed to doing all they can to help keep us safe,\u201d Height said. \u201cBut they can only do so much. Violence is rooted in a loss of hope.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fostering hope is at the heart of Shepherd\u2019s services, including the Shalom Project. The project team includes an Indianapolis police officer, whose salary is paid by Shepherd, and a city paramedic,<\/a> whose salary is supported in part by Shepherd. Coordinating with Shepherd staff, they build relationships with neighbors, work to deescalate conflicts, provide medical care and other essential services, and nurture trust in the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They, in short, plant seeds of hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cReducing violence in Indianapolis and elsewhere comes back to our call to love our neighbors,\u201d Height said. \u201cWe reduce violence when we help to feed our neighbors, by mentoring a child, and by walking across the street to offer encouragement.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On one June weekend in Indianapolis, 23 people, including four children, were shot in 18 separate incidents. That same weekend, the number of homicides in Indianapolis surged above 100 for the year, putting 2023 on pace to be among the most violent in the city\u2019s history. \u201cSociologists have a name for what we\u2019re seeing in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":579,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/upliftindy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/upliftindy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/upliftindy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upliftindy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upliftindy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=580"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/upliftindy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upliftindy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/upliftindy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upliftindy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upliftindy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}