Latest news with #Shak
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Yahoo
Columbus continues fight to slow violence in the city
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — The City of Columbus' Office of Violence Prevention will be investing nearly $4 million throughout the rest of the year in key areas helping to slow violence. Leaders said the focus is on intervening in the violence cycle before it happens. Office of Violence Prevention Director Rena Shak said the office picked where to make these investments through research and community feedback, with the biggest chunks of money going toward fighting domestic violence and making more grant opportunities for community-based organizations. Poisonous plant rapidly spreading across Ohio: what to do if you see it Shak said the organization wants to make sure people are aware of the domestic violence resources available to help. She said research shows that domestic violence has increased recently in Columbus. 'What I think a lot of people find surprising is that the majority of the victims are not female and the majority is not intimate partner violence,' Shak said. 'We do have those instances and of course they are very high lethality. I think when we generally think about domestic violence, that's where our minds immediately go to is a female victim and it being intimate partner, so meaning spousal or boyfriend, girlfriend, things like that. But what we're finding is that, actually, the majority of our homicides in 2025 are more familial violence, so I know that there was a tragic situation with a father and son.' Shak said the office will also be launching a new violence prevention education campaign in June called Safer Together 614. She said this focuses on conversations between youth and adults about conflict resolution and healthy relationships. The last area of investment is under the Columbus Violence Reduction strategy and it is about intervention. They are expanding their intervention program to add more life coaches and mentors. 'Right now, that program is doing an amazing job at stabilizing individuals with their emergency needs, so when we're asking individuals to trust us to take on the resources that we're providing in order to make a change for the better in their lives and step away from gang violence, step away from gun violence,' Shak said. 'We're looking at that program and how we can expand, so this life coaching and mentoring piece will be a 12-to-18-month program where we will be providing trained professionals to walk alongside our participants.' Columbus principal's confrontation with officer did not violate policy, district says Sean Smith is the intervention manager for Columbus Violence Reduction, which was moved under the Office of Violence Prevention this year from the Department of Public Safety. Smith runs a program that works with people who are involved in crime or who have gang ties. 'I think, at the end of the day, these are people who care about their community, who they identify to be their community, and sometimes circumstance and life situations cause them to engage in behaviors that aren't always accepted,' Smith said. Smith said that when he was a teenager, he got in some trouble but made the choice to turn his life around, as did the other intervention specialists. 'They five, ten, 15 years ago could have been a participant in CVR had the program been around, so they have what we call lived experience,' Smith said. He said the funding will really help their mission. Bexley Library patrons compete for limited digital access amid increased demand 'I think the immediate way in which you can kind of see some of the benefits are in the opportunities, the resources that are being provided to the participants,' Smith said. 'One of the bigger things that I know director Shak has really been pushing lately is trying to assist with getting some of our participants who are qualified and who are prepared, maybe opportunities working with the city or some, you know, some good paying opportunities for them.' Shak said the city's year-to-date homicide rate is the lowest it's been since 2013. She hopes these investments will keep the downward trend going. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Miami Herald
28-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Miami Herald
Shakira bonds with her son courtside at the Miami Heat's playoff game. See the pic
Milan Pique's father may be an international soccer star, but on Saturday it was all about basketball. The 12-year-old was seen sitting courtside at the Kaseya Center downtown Saturday watching the Miami Heat take on the Cleveland Cavaliers. The next seat over? Mom Shakira, who split with Milan's father Gerard Piqué in June 2022. They exes also coparent younger son, Sasha, 10. In footage taken at the arena by onlookers, Milan looks thrilled to be at Game 3 of the NBA Playoffs, even though the Heat lost yet again. At one point, the preteen smiles widely when he's caught with his mom on the Jumbotron. The final score? A crushing 124 to 87. 'Clearly a very disappointing day,' Heat coach Erik Spoelstra later said. 'It was embarrassing, flat-out,' center/captain Bam Adebayo added. No team in NBA history has ever rallied from a 0-3 hole to win a best-of-7 playoff series, notes Herald sports writer Anthony Chiang. The guys will make the attempt at Game 4 in Miami on Monday to avoid the series sweep and we hope that Milan can see a W. This isn't the first time Shak's been spotted at Kaseya watching hoops, but we haven't seen her with just Milan before. The tween wasn't the only one who looked happy; after a few rocky years since her split from Pique, mom was glowing too. Shak has revealed many times how hard it's been to parent in the wake of her breakup in June 2022. The 48-year-old has said raising two kids is even harder than performing in front of millions of people (hello, Super Bowl LIV), and even more so without a partner. The Miami Beach resident touched on the many challenges of balancing work and family life in an interview with Zane Lowe last year. 'No one plans on going through so many difficulties and the complex life experiences that I had to go through,' she told the Kiwi TV personality. 'It's the first time I actually [had to] deal with so much as a single mother. I just did what I thought was necessary for me. I had to pick up the pieces of myself and put them all back together... music was the glue.' Shak is picking up the pieces during her 'Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran World Tour,' which is currently playing U.S. dates before it heads to Mexico and Peru. She'll be home in South Florida June 6 and 7 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens.
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Despite federal moves, Columbus continues to treat gun violence as public health crisis
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Despite certain webpages related to gun violence no longer existing on the United States Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) website, city leaders in Columbus said their approach to combatting gun violence is not changing. It's been about three years since gun violence was declared a public health crisis in Columbus. 'What we are doing through the public health lens in public safety is to really look at all of those underlying social determinants of health that might predispose someone or that might affect someone into going into criminal activity,' Columbus Office of Violence Prevention Director Rena Shak said. Last summer, the former surgeon general declared gun violence a national public health crisis. That announcement came with a 40-page report on the issue and called for a ban on assault weapons. It was criticized at the time by the National Rifle Association (NRA). Now, when one tries to find that report or a web page about firearm violence in America on the HHS website, a 'Page Not Found' screen appears. 'I'd like to tell you I'm surprised but I'm not,' Shak said. 'I think this was an expected step especially given the fact the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention was dismantled not too long ago.' NBC4 reached out to HHS. 'HHS and the Office of the Surgeon General are complying with President Trump's Executive Order on Protecting Second Amendment Rights,' HHS wrote in a statement. Shak said what's happened will not affect Columbus' work. 'Regardless of whether the surgeon general was forced to take down the gun violence declaration as a public health crisis, that doesn't change our dedication to doing the work here,' she said. 'The public health crisis of gun violence still is in effect here in the city of Columbus and the mayor and Office of Violence Prevention, we are dedicated to doing everything we can through that lens.' Mayor Andrew Ginther's office also shared the following statement: 'Our gun problem isn't going away. Of the 12 homicides that have occurred this year, 11 involved the use of a firearm. We will treat gun violence as a public health crisis as long as this issue continues to impact our community.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
