A Street Response Team designed to show up on shooting scenes to intervene before tensions escalate and expansion of an existing hospital-based violence intervention program are among community-led efforts backed by Mayor Randall Woodfin to reduce crime in Birmingham.

Woodfin and his office’s Community Safety Initiatives unveiled the proposal last week at a Birmingham City Council Public Safety meeting and Woodfin highlighted those plans Monday on social media.

The mayor said the four new programs represent a bold, community-driven approach to reducing violent crime.

“These initiatives are designed to tackle gun violence at its root, help formerly incarcerated individuals re-enter society, and create safer streets for all of us,’’ Woodfin said.

The proposal will go before the city’s Budget and Finance Committee in two weeks.

The programs would not involve the use of police officers.

– Street Response Team: The team would respond directly to shootings, working in the community to discourage retaliation. The aim is to intervene before tensions escalate, preventing further violence and building trust within neighborhoods.

– OneHood Program: The initiative will engage former violent offenders to help reduce violence in the community. “These individuals have unique insights and can act as credible messengers, showing that there is a path away from violence and toward a better future,’’ Woodfin said.

– Partnership with the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform: City officials are working with national experts to evaluate which programs have been successful in other cities and how to best bring those best practices to Birmingham. The goal is to use evidence-based strategies to tackle gun violence.

– Hospital-Based Violence Intervention Expansion: The existing program launched in February 2023 at UAB Hospital and matches gunshot victims with specially trained workers in the hospital in an effort to break the cycle of violence.

That program would be expanded to UAB’s Emergency Room.

Since it began, the existing program has enrolled 120 victims. Of those, 86 are still active and 98 percent of them have received no new gun violence injuries, Community Safety Initiatives Director Uche Bean told city officials last week.

The program offers immediate intervention to those affected by gun violence, providing them with resources to avoid re-injury and retaliation.

So far, none of the participants have been involved in retaliatory shootings or lost their lives since joining.

Bean told the Public Safety Committee that cities who have taken similar, public health approaches have seen significant reductions in crime.

She cited a 50 percent reduction in crime in Oakland California, a 63 percent reduction in New York, a 56 percent reduction in Baltimore and a 34 percent reduction in Los Angeles.

These initiatives, along with our ongoing investment in community-based violence prevention, are how we turn the tide, Woodfin said. “They reflect a simple truth: we cannot arrest our way out of this problem. We need hope. We need opportunity. That’s how we transform our communities.”