High Point Community Against Violence
Making High Point safer for everyone
HPCAV congratulates Curtis Cheeks on his new role as High Point’s Chief of Police. We are fortunate to have an already good working relationship with our new chief, as he has been a part of High Point’s long standing efforts to reduce violent crime through focused deterrence. We appreciate his dedication to his city and to working WITH the community to make High Point safer for everyone. We also appreciate his sense of humor. Best wishes for great success, Chief Cheeks.
HPCAV was honored to be selected to be in the FOX8 News community spotlight in December. It was a great opportunity for viewers to learn more about HPCAV and the work we do in High Point. Here’s a link to the video and story:
https://myfox8.com/spotlight/community-foundation/high-point-group-works-to-stop-violence-in-the-community/
High Point continues to grow and HPCAV participates in a variety of community events, consistently presenting our message and inviting everyone to be a part of making High Point safer.
This fall, we had the privilege of talking with Representative Kathy Manning, U.S. House, about gun violence in our area. Chief Stroud, HPCAV members and representatives of other youth-serving organizations participated.
The City’s annual Trunk or Treat event and High Point Police Department’s Community Day brought hundreds of families by our booth, enabling us to share our message with lots of new people.
Most recently we were honored to be a part of a gun violence panel held by the student chapter of the NAACP on High Point University’s campus. It was an evening of thoughtful and hopeful conversation with some of our future leaders.
This summer, HPCAV was very fortunate to have Peak Adventure Ministries’ High Point area youth in our building. These middle and high school youth scraped and painted our big meeting room. And it is a really big room. They did great work and it was wonderful to have young people around. For several (maybe most) it was their first real experience with a paint brush. Extra thanks to George Steele, Jr. who shepherds this team. (top photo below, far left)
We look forward to more partnering with Peak Adventure Ministries as we collaborate to reach youth throughout High Point. The goal? Reduce violent crime committed by young people. It’s a great group with a great mission: PEAK Adventure Ministries
Supporters of HPCAV and Tiny Houses Community Development gathered Saturday morning, May 13, to dedicate a garden shed in memory of HPCAV’s much loved board member and active supporter, Linda Faircloth. The dedication was part of the celebration of the opening of this Tiny House community in High Point, designed to provide safe housing for some of our veterans and homeless neighbors.
Linda was a much-loved and respected realtor in High Point. She was a long time member of HPCAV, serving on our board and participating in call-ins, neighborhood responses and other programs. When Ed Kimsey started the Life Construction Program, Linda was one of the first clients to hire our team to do some work at her home.
Over 10 years later, it was a Life Construction Program team that built this garden shed in her honor, painting it in some of her favorite colors. We are grateful to Scott Jones, the Tiny Houses Executive Director, and the City of High Point for working with us to make this possible. And we are grateful to Linda’s family, husband John and daughters Tammy, Laura and Catherine, for sharing her with us for so many years.
The shed already houses garden tools and the beds are full of strawberries, tomatoes, peppers and squash, ready for the residents who live here and their neighbors.
Each month, the High Point Police Department updates the community on the past month’s activities at the open meeting of High Point Community Against Violence. This information includes overall crime rates as well as activity in specific types of crimes, such as aggravated assaults and burglaries. Key arrests and any federal or state convictions are shared. This meeting allows anyone in attendance to ask questions as well.
These statistics are then shared on the Numbers page of this website.
If you are interested in attending, the open meetings are held the second Wednesday of every month, beginning at 8:30 a.m. at the High Point Police Department, 1730 Westchester Drive, High Point.
Rhonda has joined HPCAV as our first Assistant Executive Director. She is responsible for helping us build capacity around employment. Rhonda has years of experience as a Work First Employment and Community Engagement Specialist in Davidson County. In that role, she also coordinated Davidson County’s Business Advisory Council. She volunteered with Project Safe Neighborhood and the Domestic Violence Intervention Program so she is well acquainted with the mission of HPCAV.
Rhonda will also be heavily involved in our work with other youth service providers as we move our focus into prevention and intervention in violence by youth ages 24 and under. The hope is to improve High Point’s capacity to engage and encourage all of our young people toward a life of purpose and non-violence.
Rhonda is married to Byron and they have an adult daughter, Kayla. They live in Lexington.
We’re excited to take another step forward in making High Point a safer place for everyone.
We’re excited about the new year and our new Executive Director: Robert Martin. Robert is probably best known to his friends as a rabid Appalachian State fan (he’s a graduate). To HPCAV, he’s known as one of our founding members.
Robert was employed as a Community Corrections Officer (adult probation and parole) with the NC Department of Public Safety from 1989 to 2017. He began working in Guilford County. When High Point Regional Hospital (now Atrium Health Wake Forest) completed a needs assessment in the mid-1990’s, Robert joined the task force looking at and working to address violence. Officially representing the county’s Community Corrections office, Robert was a part of the creation of High Point Community Against Violence, Inc. and an active part of the implementation of focused deterrence here.
Robert spent the last nine years of his career in Davidson County and retired from NCDPS in 2017. He was hired as the Project Safe Neighborhoods Coordinator for Davidson County, doing essentially the same work for our neighboring county as he had done as a volunteer with HPCAV. He remained a member of the HPCAV Executive Board and continued to work with us.
When Jim Summey submitted his resignation, Robert was the natural and best choice to be our next Executive Director. He resigned from our Board in November, 2022 and officially began his new position on January 1, 2023. Robert has already laid the groundwork to build on what has been a great partnership
with our police department and our community. He is looking forward to moving us towards
more work with youth, our new focus area. He is a supporter of EKG2, a promising educational program on guns and gang violence for seventh graders, and hopes to see it implemented here.
Robert is as dedicated to his high school, High Point Andrews, as he is to App State. He has been an active HPAHS volunteer and supporter. He is a long time Lions Club member and an active part of the local Fraternal Order of Police. He participates in the High Point Senior Games and you can see him at HPU basketball games. He is truly dedicated to High Point and making it safer for everyone.
Join us in welcoming Robert to his new role with HPCAV!
Jim Summey retired on December 31, 2022 after 13 years as High Point Community Against Violence, Inc.’s Executive Director.
Since the early 2000’s, Jim worked tirelessly to reduce violence and improve life for the residents of High Point. He was a co-founder of West End Ministries, Inc. and Leslie’s House, both of which continue providing needed services to individuals and families. As a volunteer, he was willing to work side by side with the High Point Police Department and our very young organization to implement something new called focused deterrence. This strategy was used in the West End neighborhood to address the problem of open air drug sales. The effort was so successful it was repeated in other neighborhoods in town and then applied to other crime problems, such as robbery.
Jim was instrumental in that success and we hired him as our first Executive Director. In that role, Jim trained countless communities around our nation in what has been called the High Point Model of focused deterrence. He worked with federal, state and local law enforcement. He testified before Congress. He worked with researchers and reporters and students. Since 1998, the focused deterrence strategy has helped reduce High Point’s overall violent crime by 67%. Jim had a major role in the successful execution of this strategy in our city.
Locally, Jim led our organization through lots of new territory as we have grown in size and scope. Through stumbles and successes, the basis for all his work and ours has been the sign he kept on his desk that reads “Veritas“. He continues to pastor English Road Baptist Church, where you can hear him preach on any given Sunday morning.
In December, Jim was recognized with a Hometown Heroes Award from the NC Automobile Dealers Association, nominated by Tim Ilderton. It’s a fitting tribute for who he is and all that he has done.
While we’ll miss him at HPCAV, we’re excited about his plans to continue working for the good of all people in our city and county. He’s left HPCAV in good shape and in good hands. We’re grateful and look forward to building on that foundation of truth as we move into 2023.
Best wishes for many years of happiness and success in all you do, Jim!
HPCAV participated in our first Trunk or Treat at the Halloween Spooky Hoopla on Saturday, October 15 at the High Point Athletic Complex. Tim Ilderton of Ilderton Dodge loaned us a pickup truck to display our sign. Comfortable chairs, handouts and plenty of candy were all we needed to engage with everyone who stopped by. We ran out of candy, but not out of words! Working together, community partners and individuals, we can reduce violence in High Point.
