Swope Health announces a new edition of its podcast, One on One with Swope Health, featuring Sammie Arnold, community engagement specialist with SAVE KC.
Eric Wesson, founder and publisher of The Next Page KC, a newspaper focused on the Black community, hosts the show’s conversations with Kansas Citians about issues of importance to the community’s health and wellbeing.
SAVE KC – the name is short for Stand Against Violence Everyone Everywhere Everyday – is a community coalition of Kansas City agencies, nonprofit organizations, service providers and law enforcement. The coalition is sponsored by the Community Capital Fund, a nonprofit, and uses a strategy known as focused deterrence to reduce violent crime. The initiative was founded in February 2024 and staffed in 2025.
Arnold, a Kansas City native, graduated from the University of Missouri and worked in community organizing before joining SAVE KC. He explains the focused deterrence model: SAVE KC works with individuals at risk of committing violence or being a victim of violence by offering them opportunities to choose a different path. These individuals are referred to SAVE KC by the Kansas City Police Department or probation and parole authorities.
The SAVE KC call-in event, a hallmark of focused deterrence, gives the clients an opportunity to change the trajectory of their life, with assistance from the SAVE KC team. The clients are encouraged to consider change rather than continue on a path likely to lead to arrest and prosecution.
Addressing violence requires an understanding of the root causes, which Arnold describes as those factors that aid someone’s willingness to do violence. He lists poverty, mental health, substance abuse or homelessness as examples of root causes. SAVE KC provides access to resources to address each client’s situation, whether the need is skills training or job placement, mental health assessment and counseling, sober living skills, or transitional housing.
The conversation explores how SAVE KC is different from other violence prevention initiatives like Aim4Peace, KC 360 and the Ad Hoc Group Against Crime. Arnold describes the specifics that differentiate SAVE KC, and says solving the issue of violence is larger than any one agency or group.
“Violence in our city is a huge task,” he said, noting that it appears many organizations do the same thing, but actually operate in different populations, with different lanes and niches of service. “I would say it is necessary – the more the merrier.”
Arnold also discusses the varying measures of success and challenges of tracking effectiveness of efforts. While homicides are down in 2026, non-fatal shootings are up, according to the Kansas City Police Department. Arnold invites the community to learn more about SAVE KC, the call-in process, and the team dedicated to helping clients make positive changes in their lives.
Hear the conversation in full: https://youtu.be/D-QEXTubVHg
