Currently the CEO and Founder of multiple companies and organizations, Mr. Stephens is getting ready to open up the Devyne Stephens Academy, A private performing arts school catered to teach children education through the arts. 

Devyne Intervention is a Non-Profit 501c3 Organization with a mission statement of giving back to our community while planting seeds in our youth through creative arts and entertainment. Devyne Intervention focuses mainly on children who are less fortunate, troubled youth, broken family households, and children heading down a path of violence.

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According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, gun violence is the leading cause of death for young black males, ages 15 to 24. It is an epidemic that disproportionately affects low-income communities and communities of color at an alarming rate. Many neighborhoods continue to experience a disproportionate burden of violence and its corollary effects on investment, civic participation and community development. 

 

Furthermore, many of the residents of these neighborhoods suffer the direct effects of repeated trauma and the indirect effects of unhealed past traumas. Recent months have also seen a disturbing increase in gun violence, including homicides, many minority neighborhoods.

 

Devyne Intervention implements a community-based violence intervention program for neighborhoods that coordinate with the local hospital-based violence intervention program (PIVOT) and would be based . 

 

To address violence, neighborhood residents and organizations have identified a community safety strategy that includes direct violence interruption as a key component. 

Devyne Intervention model was chosen as the evidenced- based intervention for this component. We utilize street and hospital level intervention techniques based on a public health perspective. Having a presence and impact in the community, affect change and disrupt patterns of violence or ‘credible messengers’, with support from local agencies and law enforcement, will enable our 3-tiered approach to be effective. Credible messengers are people who are influential with the individuals at highest risk of committing shootings. They are able to build trusting relationships with the drivers of violence in a community, due to their own past experiences on the street.

 

Devyne Intervention works by interrupting the transmission of retaliatory violence, facilitating behavior change by individuals identified as high-risk for committing violence through connections to resources and ongoing support, and organizing community members to change community norms towards a non-violent culture. Devyne Intervention’s model has been implemented in cities across the United States as well as the world and has been shown effective by multiple studies.

 

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