AUSTIN (KXAN) — County, city and community leaders met for a summit Thursday to discuss ways to reduce gun violence.

One year ago this week, the same group met for its first summit on gun violence, vowing to create a roadmap to building an “ecosystem” to combat the issue.

“Sometimes it can be hard to stop the violence, and sometimes it can be easy, you just have to be creative,” said Jaleel Hursekin, who’s an ATX Peace participant. ATX Peace is a local community violence intervention program that connects community leaders with people who have experienced violence.

“The county and city are listening, and we’re doing everything we can to build out the ecosystem and infrastructure that can support [survivors and victims] and their loved ones and help keep them safe,” said District Attorney Jose Garza. “We’ve made great progress, but we still have work to do.”

Below are updates from the county on the progress of this process over the last year, per the DA’s office and county judge’s office:

  • Proposal written in conjunction with sheriff’s office to acquire National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN) technology,  which utilizes a pooled database to help law enforcement more efficiently analyze ballistic evidence, which can streamline investigations.
  • DA’s office is about 6 months away from a formal proposal for to connect community-based partners with resources for people who are at-risk of committing acts of gun violence.
  • $500,000 of county money allocated to create a pilot program for a hospital-based intervention program. This program would help connect victims of violent crime with people who can help them get access to legal help, mental health assistance and other resources. County leaders are currently meeting with area hospitals to plan out logistics.

“We passed the Safer Travis County Resolution last year, and all of the things on that resolution we’ve made progress towards,” said Travis County Judge Andy Brown. “Some we’re treating as pilots to learn from. And assuming they do well, we’ll want to invest more in that. The problem with all this on the local investments is the state caps us on this 3.5% revenue increase each year in Travis County. So it’s difficult to find ongoing dollars for anything – including this.”

Below are updates from Austin’s Office of Violence Prevention regarding its progress:

  • The Trauma Recovery Center’s (TRC) contract is set to start Sept. 1. The project secured both city and county funding. The TRC provides similar resources as the aforementioned hospital-based intervention program and will ultimately work in conjunction with that program.
  • Community Violence Intervention program ATX Peace is active in the Georgian Acres/Rundberg and Riverside/Oltorf communities.
  • The Office of Violence Prevention, police, academics and community leaders came together for a multi-disciplinary approach to combat crime at Givens Park in east Austin, which we have covered in-depth.

Michelle Myles, manager of the Office of Violence Prevention, said individual community advocacy groups have been conducting work like these around the city for years, and while they serve as the backbone for anti-violence efforts – Myles said in a panel discussion Thursday she hopes to secure more funding so these programs can work together and expand their outreach.

“We’re still looking to learn, we’re looking to invest,” said Myles, adding that she has requested $4 million of federal funding for more efforts like this.

“Doing things like working with youth, working with people returning from being incarcerated,” said Council Member Allison Alter, who has been working closely with the Office of Violence Prevention.