Danville Named a 2024 All-America City

In the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd by the Minneapolis police in May 2020, cities across the nation faced the thorny challenges of policing, poverty, and race. Danville was not immune.

Two years earlier, upon becoming police chief, Scott Booth recognized the need to engage the community, build trust, and develop a personal relationship with the citizens they served. So, he organized monthly community walks in neighborhoods, with officers – ranging from command staff to patrol – going door to door. Officers handed out cards with direct contact information.

“What I want is for people to understand the role of the Police Department, which is that we are here to help them,” Booth said. “And I want to talk with folks who normally would not call the police and tell us what their problems are. We can look at an area and say their issue is violent crime or speeding, but sometimes a neighborhood’s perception of crime is different than the way we look at it. So, I want to know what is important to them and how we can solve those problems.”

However, the killing of George Floyd added a new dynamic, one that called for a deeper understanding of the city’s most diverse and economically challenged neighborhoods. In particular, Booth wanted to immerse new officers into the community.

GREAT is born

With that goal in mind, Booth approached neighborhood leaders, including pastors and residents in these neighborhoods. Baptist pastor Joshua Hearne was one of those leaders.

“Oftentimes we think of peacemaking as something that is reactive after a conflict, but it’s easier and more effective to make peace prior to conflict,” Hearne says.

Led by Hearne, a diverse coalition of grassroots activists and clergy, developed a holistic approach with training modules that applied what Hearne calls asset-based community development principles to the complex intersection of policing, poverty, and racial dynamics.

With training modules established, the Police Department launched a pioneering initiative initially known as the Community-based Leadership and Immersion Program but since renamed Grass Roots Empowerment and Action Training. At its core, the program seeks to cultivate authentic relationships between rookie officers and community leaders, transcending boundaries of race, income, and identity.

“The heart of this is building relationships, because relationships are the foundation from which change is made,” Hearne says.

The program, which is four weeks of classroom and workshops that take place in between police academy graduation and field training, allows officers to hear directly from community leaders and residents about what matters most in their community. This creates familiarity between the officers and the citizens, and it reminds officers to treat each person as a human and not a problem.

Developing a holistic understanding

By empowering residents to identify and harness the inherent strengths within their neighborhoods, the program endeavors to shift the narrative away from deficit-based perspectives toward recognizing the potential and resilience of every community member.

And through immersive experiences and training modules, officers are equipped to perceive the positives within the areas they patrol, fostering a deeper understanding of the systemic issues underpinning societal challenges.

“We’re hoping officers will not tell deficit-based stories but will change the way they think about the neighborhoods and people they see in those neighborhoods,” Hearne explains.

The curriculum for the training modules not only delves into Danville's civil rights history but also facilitates meaningful dialogue within marginalized communities, addressing issues of race, gender, sexual orientation, and income disparity.

Program co-designer Ebony Guy, a community activist, emphasizes the importance of a holistic understanding, exposing officers to broader systemic issues such as food insecurity, domestic violence, and mental health support systems.

“A better understanding of these issues and support systems can help law enforcement de-escalate many situations,” she says.

The community perspective

The program's impact has reverberated throughout neighborhoods, fostering partnerships and mutual respect between law enforcement and residents. By fostering a culture of proactive engagement and problem-solving, officers gain valuable insights into the communities they serve, fostering a sense of shared responsibility and trust.

For Pastor Emmett S. Young III, one of the program's architects, the initiative symbolizes a shift toward inclusive collaboration, where community members and police officers work together toward a common goal of peace and prosperity.

“It certainly helps because community people want to be part of this, and they want the visibility of police, and they want to see who is on the police force,” Young says.

GREAT’s success has been aided by local businesses such as Sam’s Club, Target, Walmart, and Danville Toyota, who have become partners in the program through generous donations of money and supplies, underscoring the collective commitment to building a more equitable and harmonious community.

The policing perspective

In Danville, the program represents more than just a training initiative—it embodies a collective vision for a future where trust, understanding, and collaboration serve as the cornerstones of community policing, ensuring a safer, more inclusive environment for all.

“It boils down to recognizing the needs of our community, and it gives officers an opportunity to hear from community members,” said former Police Capt. Richard Chivvis, who supervised the first classes in 2020 and 2021. “Police work is all about problem-solving and community service.”

Four classes of new officers have now completed the program. Officers in each cycle of the training have taken to it with an enthusiastic level of engagement and have been eager to be out in neighborhoods meeting people and learning how best to serve the community.

Officer Sheila Hughes explains, "If you don’t live the culture, you don’t know the culture. I feel like it’s going to help me on the street, because now I understand why people do the things they do, or what has happened to make them react this way. For someone like me who doesn’t understand it, because I haven't lived it, that's what I'm taking out of this the most."

Familiarizing officers with the needs and assets of communities inspired the requirement that each class develop a service project. For example, the first class provided Thanksgiving dinners to residents of a housing complex. Another class established a system of school resource stations providing students with toiletries, shoes, clothing, and other items.

Adds another graduate, Officer Michael Cagle, "One thing that makes us different from a lot of other cities is that a lot of people here don’t have the mentality of 'us versus them.' I feel like as a whole, here at Danville PD, we have the mentality of, 'We're all just one.'”

One of nearly 40 community engagement programs

Since the first community walks in 2018, the Police Department has expanded its community engagement programs. Today, nearly 40 programs operate, ranging from GREAT to Lunch Buddies, in which officers enjoy a meal with school students during their lunch period.

Here is a sample of the programs:

Buses and Buddies – Throughout the school year, officers visit the schools to greet students as they depart their buses. Students enjoy giving fist bumps and high-fives to officers and receiving stickers and supplies. It is a great way to get the day started for officers and students.

Community Overwatch – This program gets officers into housing complexes once or twice a month to reach people who would not normally want to be around law enforcement. The visits allow officers to bridge the gap. Teaming up with a local food pantry, officers bring fresh fruits and vegetables. The program has experienced a high reach, with up to 75 people attending.

Convenient Conversations – The purpose of this program is to quickly engage with shoppers at convenience stores. Officers answer questions and offer resources when available. This is a wonderful opportunity to meet with people who may have questions, but otherwise may not take the time to approach an officer or visit the police department to have them answered.

H.E.A.R.T. walks – This acronym stands for Healing and Engagement After Recent Trauma. With this program, command staff and officers, along with partnering agencies and organizations, go door-to-door in areas within hours of where a traumatic event has occurred. The purpose is to provide information and address concerns that residents may have stemming from the event.

Lunch Buddies – Throughout the school year, officers go and enjoy a meal with students during their lunch period, where they talk about the school day, favorite subjects, sports, and more. It is an excellent opportunity to address concerns that students may have.

Pass the Perspective – The program involves group meetings during which officers show their perspective while hearing the perspectives of the citizens. This includes educating citizens about personal safety, knowing their rights, what to do if police stop them, and more. An open forum discussion allows citizens to express their concerns regarding police. Citizens 18 years and older can participate in the MILO firearm simulation training to show how quickly officers need to act and make decisions on a regular basis.

P.E.A.C.E. Community Center – The acronym stands for Police Embrace Active Community Engagement. This is a police-operated youth and community center that provides a safe, fun space for young people to interact with officers and build relationships. The Police Department partners with a local agency to provide tutoring. The building once served as a police precinct.

Positively Pretty – This program was created to teach middle and high school aged females health and hygiene awareness while providing activities that focus on self-esteem and confidence building. The females attend once per month for six months before they graduate.

Youth Police Academy – The goal is to provide awareness of what officers experience in their day-to-day tasks. In a three-week period, each summer, children of ages 9-17 are introduced to each division within the department and activities associated with each.

Violent crime rates fall dramatically

Before Booth started as police chief in 2018, Danville’s violent crime rates were the highest in the state per capita. For homicides alone, there were 17 in 2016.

In 2020, however, Danville hit a 35-year low in violent crime. Those numbers have remained at a low level since then.

Booth credits the turnaround to the implementation of community policing, which includes his introduction of three elements: a stratified model of policing in which crime trends are studied weekly and strategy adjusted as needed, neighborhood-oriented policing in which supervisors are assigned to specific geographic areas, and community engagement.

“When we do things out in the community on almost a daily basis, it’s about building trust and legitimacy in the community, so people will talk to you after an incident occurs, so we can solve crime together, and bring offenders to justice,” Booth told members of the City Council last year.

Police also focus on the children in the community to foster that trust at an early age through programs like the Youth Police Academy.

“It’s about relationship building in pretty much every type of engagement event we do,” he explains. “It shouldn’t be a photo op. It should be police officers and the community coming together to build those relationships, and I don’t think there’s ever a time that that is more important than with young people.”

Booth resigned as police chief in October 2023 to become police chief in another city. However, the commitment remains to community engagement with the promotion of Chris Wiles from deputy chief to police chief.

Community engagement “is something you will unquestionably see continue,” Wiles says. “That is something that has become a fundamental part of how we police.”

MEET THE TEAM

Tia Yancey	Officer Kayla Robinson	Ashtyn Foddrell

Student voices on School Board poised to make a lasting impact on policy matters

Neil Shroff is a promising student-athlete at Galileo Magnet High School, one of two high schools in the Danville Public School System. He aspires to one day enter the medical field. In preparation for his career and to best serve the needs of the more than 5,500 students in the school system, he believes student voices and leadership matter as policy decisions are made.

“Our perspectives need to be heard in order for effective policy to be enacted,” Shroff says.

Today, Shroff is making his voice – and the voices of other students – heard as one of four students serving as student representatives on the School Board, thanks to a landmark moment last fall when the School Board ushered in a new era by appointing Shroff and three other teenagers as student representatives.

The move, spearheaded by School Board Chair Ty’Quan Graves, marked a significant step toward amplifying student voices within the district.

“It’s been a dream of mine, since I’ve been on the board, to have student reps to give our students a voice,” Graves says. “I didn’t have it when I was here, that’s why I wanted it.”

School Superintendent Dr. Angela Hairston applauded Graves’ vision for the engagement of youths.

“Student leadership and voice matter most because it promotes engagement, builds trust, and leads to equity as well as improved student achievement,” Hairston says. “Our youth have tremendously important thoughts about how we can improve their experience as students.”

She adds, “Policies, regulations, and practices impact the lives of students and their classroom experience. Having them at the table as school board representatives was a vision realized.”

The student representatives

The Danville Public School System has two high schools: George Washington High and Galileo Magnet High. As established by the School Board, the principal of each high school nominates two students from the school to serve on the School Board.

From these nominations, the school superintendent selects a student representative and an alternate from each high school, subject to final approval by the School Board. The student representatives serve a one-year term and must be a rising senior.

For Galileo Magnet High School, Shroff was selected as the representative, with Darrien Saunders as the alternate.

George Washington High, Kyra Alexander, a distinguished member of the school's color guard and a member of the National Honor Society, was chosen as the primary representative, while Jurnee Mitchell was chosen as the alternate.

As representatives, these teenagers act as liaisons, bridging the gap between the student body and the board, offering insights and perspectives crucial for informed decision-making. Their responsibilities include attending regular open meetings and undertaking assignments, such as research and data collection, as directed by the board.

It’s a role that Saunders, who serves as an alternate, sees as important.

“I do believe that it's very important when you're making these polices to keep in mind who they're being made for and, you know, what better way to do that than to ask the people themselves,” Saunders says.

And as student representatives, Saunders sees, as equally important, their role in sharing the decisions of the school with the general student populace.

Their roles

The student representatives serve in an advisory capacity and do not vote. Also, they do not attend closed meetings. The school division provides the meeting agenda and other public materials to the student representatives in advance of each open meeting. The student representatives do not have access to confidential information, including student or personnel records.

One student representative is expected to attend the regular, open meetings and complete assignments for research and data collection when scheduled by the School Board.

Since Shroff and Saunders from Galileo Magnet High and Alexander and Mitchell from George Washington High, began serving in their roles, Graves, the school board chair, has commended them for their positive energy and dedication.

For Danville, this moment signifies not only a step toward greater inclusivity, but also a recognition of the invaluable perspectives that students bring to the table. As these teenagers continue in their roles, they carry with them the hopes and aspirations of their peers, poised to make a lasting impact on the educational landscape of their community.

MEET THE TEAM

Dr. Stephanie Haynsworth	Deborah Harris	Darrien Saunders

Maggie Richardson knows the value of parks and spaces to play in a city. She is the regional director of The Health Collaborative, which is a cross-sector coalition of residents and organizations that works together to make sure that everyone in Danville and the surrounding communities has everything they need to thrive.

“We know that parks are so essential to health and wellbeing,” Richardson says.

Neighborhood parks offer multiple benefits. Consider the following:

• They enable and encourage people to exercise.
• They provide exposure to nature, which improves psychological and social health.
• They provide opportunities for play, which is critical for child development.
• They help build healthy, stable communities.

Two years ago, however, the City of Danville’s Parks and Recreation Department recognized that the amenities at the 21 neighborhood parks in the city vary from park to park, and they may not meet the needs of residents in a neighborhood. For example, parks located in neighborhoods with older residents may need the addition of a walking area or walking trail. Residents in neighborhoods with young children cite the need for play areas or activities for different age groups.

To create park spaces that are more useful, meet neighborhood needs, and produce more community usage, the Parks and Recreation staff launched a “Heart the Park” campaign that brings residents into the park planning process.

The campaign ensures that the department better understands the amenities needed in the neighborhood, and that neighborhood residents will be satisfied with the end results long before ground is broken.

The campaign begins

On Feb. 12, 2022, the Parks and Recreation Department hosted its first “Heart the Park” community event. Doyle Thomas Park, located in a low-income neighborhood a few blocks from the downtown area, served as the site of the first event.

“We looked at each of our parks, and we felt we could make the most impact at this park,” Parks and Recreation Director Bill Sgrinia said. “This park is surrounded by a community with energy for renovation.”

To draw neighborhood residents, the event featured a scavenger hunt for hearts in the park, prizes, tennis demonstrations, participatory art display, music, s’mores, and a firepit. These activities were not meant only for play, but also to inspire visions for how community recreation spaces can be used to promote health, physical activity, community integration and family friendly fun.

Parks and Recreation staff showed residents illustrated examples of park additions or improvements that work toward goals that community members have already identified for the parks. Participants gave feedback and signed up to be a part of future planning activities.

City partners and local organizations co-hosted the event and showcased how they are available with support and resources for healthy living and community building. The organizations included the City of Danville’s Police and Community Development departments, as well as the community organizations such as The Health Collaborative and the Danville Museum of Fine Arts and History.

The Police Department’s officers assigned to that section of the city introduced themselves to residents in the park neighborhood, and members of the Police youth and community engagement team presented information on their services.

The Community Development Department presented information on various housing programs and services available to residents.

Representatives from the Danville Museum of Fine Arts and History constructed a living art project that literally created a “heart in the park” using stakes, yarn, and mathematics. Museum officials hoped that by collaborating with the parks planning initiative, they would inspire residents to envision more ways in which public spaces can be utilized for community art installations.

Two more “Heart the Park” events took place later in the month at neighborhood parks located in the western (Coates Park) and southern (Pumpkin Creek Park) sections of the city.

Engineering and design

Following the kickoff events in the three neighborhoods, Parks and Recreation staff continued throughout the year to share information and seek input on park improvements.

“People told us they wanted a place for their community to come together,” Sgrinia said.  “They want to have a place for a neighborhood festival. They want a multi-generational place where they can gather with their families.”

In the Doyle Thomas Park neighborhood, for example, residents proposed new swings, sidewalks, basketball court renovations, event lawn, bike racks, and picnic shelters.

With new information in hand, the Parks and Recreation Department worked with teams from the landscape architecture program at Virginia Tech, a public land-grant research university, to produce park renderings and cost estimates of the resident-proposed amenities. The Virginia Tech group created three visuals per facility to stimulate the public imagination about what possible renovation plans will look like.

In a presentation to the City Council, Sgrinia said, “We are excited about this process and the designs that are coming out of it. Community members have put a lot of time and thought into their parks, and we certainly appreciate their involvement.”

The projects are awaiting funding.

Adapting the project for use in other cities

Parks and Recreation staff say the key to replicating this campaign is to connect city departments and local and regional organizations for park planning.

What brought the “Heart the Park” groups together initially was a common goal of building an active citizen advisory network and reaching residents with resources through unconventional means. A series of events was organized and publicized to recruit residents to give feedback and attend meetings that would shape the future of their community green space.

Over the course of 3-4 months after that recruitment, resident meetings were held in and around the parks. As trust was built with residents and community leaders, the meetings became a meaningful space for residents to better know one another and talk about their community and the ways their neighborhood park fit into its function.

Initially, the important steps as organizers were to publicize the opportunities to be involved, build trust by showing up for communities, and have patience and perseverance in recruiting participants.

Internally, the process was documented to make sure it had support from leadership so that staff could be confident it could follow through on commitments to park designs and could respond to residents’ needs related to the parks but fell outside its jurisdiction.

Park meetings were designed in a way that partners could listen to residents for understanding and, at the same time, transparently communicate the abilities and limitations of the department.

Neighborhood park meetings are powerful because they connect individuals and resident groups with one another and with outside resources. Also, they act as a crash course in civic processes and resident advocacy. Residents truly lead the design process, and Parks and Recreation staff are there with professional knowledge to support them.

“We just want to be completely transparent about the process and invite people to be a part of it,” says Sgrinia. “We know that parks are so, so important to community members and that the things that make them really come alive and be loved is when they reflect the communities around them.”

MEET THE TEAM

Sam Howarth