Police and emergency services typically are the first to respond to violent incidents.
Community turns to peer support to intervene in violence
James Morgan, right, a former inmate who is now a peer support specialist with Madison-area Urban Ministry, meets in his office with client Richard Chapman, 61, who had been long incarcerated. MUM, which has been providing peer support to clients like Chapman for some time, has now also contracted with the city to provide help for African American males age 16 to 35 who are re-entering the community after incarceration. Another nonprofit has contracted with the city to provide peer support to the same demographic in crisis situations. "Without you guys, I'd be out on the street somewhere, maybe back in jail," Chapman told Morgan.
Madison has never had an entity like the Community Safety Intervention Team, created in response to a jump in gun crimes and an alarming new t…
