KIB’s research earns national attention

By: Benjamin Shine

Keep Indianapolis Beautiful has been making our city cleaner, greener, and friendlier since 1976. And now, we know our work is helping to make Indianapolis safer too!

A study by the University of Michigan School of Public Health discovered a 12% reduction in gun violence within a half-mile radius of KIB GreenSpaces. This is big news for Indianapolis. Studies like these prove that the KIB work you support really makes a difference—sometimes in more ways than we realize.

Last November, Senior GIS Analyst, Karl Selm, attended the 2023 National Research Conference for the Prevention of Firearm-Related Harms in Chicago to share more about these findings. We caught up with Karl to hear more about his experience.

Hey, Karl! Late last year, you traveled to Chicago to present the findings of a year-long study of KIB’s AES Indiana Project GreenSpace program. Can you tell us more about the conference and your experience? It was amazing to see so many researchers working on such a serious issue. People are approaching the multifarious issue of Firearm-related violence from a broad range of disciplines.

For those that aren’t familiar, can you provide a brief overview of the findings from the study? The findings indicate a statistically significant reduction of 12% in the probability of firearm-related crimes within a half-mile radius of the 32 greenspaces included in the study, when compared to control sites of similar Social Vulnerability.

What other organizations are helping to support this research? What does collaboration look like between these different entities? The Universities that appeared to have the highest attendance at the conference were from University of Michigan, Rutgers, University of Colorado, Johns Hopkins, and University of Wisconsin, and various Chicago-based centers of higher learning, to name just a few. There were also many attendees from the CDC, the VA, state and local governments, and hospital corporations. I think everyone in attendance benefited greatly from seeing others’ research, posing questions and sharing insights. There were a number of representatives from small nonprofits dedicated to reducing gun violence, but KIB was unique as the only Environmental non-profit in attendance.

What were some of the reactions at the conference to the study? We got a lot of visitors during the poster presentation session with some very good insights and questions. I fielded questions about KIB’s GreenSpace Program and the sample selection, while Jiyeon handled queries about the statistics methodology.

Can you tell us about the next phase of this research and how it will help guide strategy for neighborhood investments? The next phase of our research is going to take a few more program details into consideration. The size of the greenspace, the presence of various greenspace features, and the degree of community engagement in a greenspace’s upkeep are factors that we’re working on capturing and folding into our analysis.

If you had to choose, what would be your favorite greenspace in the city? Of all public greenspaces in Indy, the American Legion Mall is the first that comes to mind. But of all KIB greenspaces, I am definitely partial to Watson McCord Park. I always used to walk my dog there when I lived at my sister’s house a few blocks away, and the community does a great job keeping it up.

Categories: Awards & Recognition, Research & Data, Uncategorized