A multipronged approach to reducing gun violence in McKees Rocks and Stowe is paying major dividends, according to several partners playing key roles in the ongoing effort.
Focus On Renewal, a McKees Rocks-based nonprofit that provides programming for children and families and various other social services, announced what it termed “historic reductions” in homicides and gun violence in the Sto-Rox community last year.
For 2025, the community did not see a single gun-related homicide, marking its first year without a reported homicide since 2010.
Just four years ago, 11 homicides were reported in the Sto-Rox area and eight occurred in 2024, according to Allegheny County police data. All but one of the homicides that have occurred in the Sto-Rox area since 2021 have involved the use of a gun, a county police spokesman said.
Kevin Platz, FOR’s executive director, said the decline is a testament to a major focus to reduce gun violence, known as the Sto-Rox Community Violence Reduction Initiative (CVRI), a public health-driven strategy supported by the county Department of Human Services.
The Sto-Rox community was one of five designated as CVRI priority areas, and FOR was named to oversee the local effort. Playing significant roles in the initiative are the McKees Rocks Community Development Corp., Pittsburgh Area Community Schools, Zellous Hope and FOR.
The Sto-Rox School District also has been supporting the efforts of those groups, said Sonya Coleman, the district superintendent.
“We involve them in any events that we have when there’s an opportunity for them to provide information to the community,” Coleman said. “Our community and family engagement coordinator meets and talks with them regularly.”
Coleman said she and the entire school district are thrilled to see the data for 2025 because it can help disprove the belief that the entire area, including the schools, is not safe.
“Until people see it in numbers, they won’t believe it,” she said. “This will help change the narrative.
“A lot of people are working really hard in the (community) to improve what folks believe about the area. This impacts so many things, not just schools but property values go up when people feel safe. People feel that this is a community they can live in and there are great schools they can go to.
“It’s all connected, whether people believe it or not.”
Erin Dalton, the county’s Human Services Department director, said it’s encouraging to see gun violence decreasing throughout the county, especially in the communities that her department has invested in through the CVRI.
“The collaborative work happening in McKees Rocks, between FOR, Pittsburgh Area Community Schools and others is a promising example of how coordinating across credible messengers, relentless engagement of those at highest risk of gun violence involvement and making connections to wrap around social services can make our communities safer.”
The drop from 11 homicides in 2021 to zero in 2025 represents what Platz called a “profound shift for Sto-Rox.” Platz said the decline “demonstrates what is possible when communities are supported with the right resources, strong partnerships and proven prevention strategies.”
The CVRI includes several key components:
- ACTES (Achieving Change Through Transitional Employment Services), implemented by Focus On Renewal, includes cognitive behavioral interventions, providing paid transitional employment and supportive services for individuals at greatest risk.
- CURE Violence Sto-Rox, implemented by Pittsburgh Area Community Schools (PACS), deploys trained outreach workers to interrupt conflicts and engage individuals at highest risk.
- Becoming a Man (BAM), implemented by Youth Guidance, serves students at Sto-Rox Junior/ Senior High School through social-emotional skill development.
- Local homicide and shooting review meetings, convening service providers, public safety partners, and community leaders to strengthen prevention and response strategies.
Taris Vrcek, the McKees Rocks Community Development Corp.’s executive director, said the CURE program utilizes what he calls “violence interrupters” to cultivate street-level relationships with residents that can help defuse situations before they escalate to violence.
“They know the ones who are at risk, and they’re able to talk with them in a way that police and others cannot,” Vrcek said. “And they do it discreetly.”
Vrcek said the trained violence interrupters act as boots on the ground, catching wind that something might be going down and then reacting accordingly.
“They might see a comment on Facebook that might antagonize or escalate violence,” he said. “They’ll say, ‘Hey, you have to pull that off social media.’ They’ve had an incredible impact.”
Vrcek described the Becoming a Man program as a character-building program that helps generate positive male role models and influences. He noted that one of the leading causes of gun violence is toxic masculinity and that young men historically have learned the wrong way to address conflict in their neighborhoods.
Too often, Vrcek said, if someone feels disrespected, they’ll reach for a gun and escalate the situation.
“That needs to be retaught and broken down in a healthier way,” he said, “to help develop healthy masculinity.”
Platz said those involved with ACTES work with individuals in the 18- to 32-year-old age range who have experienced trauma, homelessness and/or involvement with the legal system. Platz said workers utilize cognitive behavioral therapy to help clients learn to deal with their emotions in a better way than getting upset or angry and then causing harm to someone.
“We’re working with them on how to better their mental health conditions by changing negative thought patterns and behaviors,” Platz said.
One of the goals of that four-step program is to help clients find jobs – and Platz admitted that’s not always easy because some participants haven’t had much experience with resume building or even interviewing for a job. As a result, they don’t always ace those interviews.
Platz said one participant recently interviewed for a job opening at UPMC and when he didn’t get the job, he got upset. So he took a step back and “reworked some things,” as Platz put it.
“You can’t just show up at an interview and say whatever you want to say and you get the job,” Platz said. “So we went through the whole process and later UPMC was hiring for another position, (the participant) interviewed and got the job.
“No one is handing anyone anything. People have to put in the work and the time and do the things they’re supposed to be doing to get the job. The hope is they continue to be productive, caring members of society.”
Vrcek said he can’t say enough about the workers who are involved in all phases of the CVRI effort.
“They’re incredible – they are absolutely angels who’ve come to this community,” he said. “What they’ve been able to do in this town is so transformative. A lot of them have their own personal history with gun violence – they’ve been there. They have credibility. They can talk to young people and tell them, ‘This is where you are headed if you don’t do something different. This is what’s going to happen.’”
Platz said the ACTES program that FOR “quarterbacks” has proven to be so effective that it’s outgrowing its current quarters. He said that currently the program has a cohort of 15 individuals who generally need about six months to complete their work, but he’d like to double the number of participants.
The problem, he said, is a lack of space. To that end, Platz said he has identified a new building that could accommodate several other social service organizations under one roof, including two key prongs of the CVRI effort – ACTES and CURE. However, funding is not currently available.
“One thing we’re finding with ACTES is that people who are working with individuals in the program don’t have full access and understanding to what the people on the ground are hearing and seeing,” he said. “If CURE interrupts some type of violence with someone in the ACTES program, that’s getting muddy in getting the information back to everyone.”
If they were in the same building, Platz said, more information could be exchanged quicker and more efficiently.
“It would be a whole lot tighter of a circle,” he said.
Some skeptics have suggested that the positive numbers from 2025 merely reflect the closure of Hays Manor, a public housing complex. But Mike Vogel, chief of police and chief government affairs officer of the county Housing Authority, said the last homicide that occurred at Hays came in 2018 and before that it was in 2013.
While those involved in the CVRI are proud of the data that showed zero run-related homicides in 2025, Vrcek said those numbers are just one positive result of the ongoing effort.
“The bigger result is that people working in these areas can shift the path that a young person is headed on,” he said. “That’s the biggest need we have – getting people to change their outlook and behavior so they can think about a different future for themselves.
“That’s the hardest thing to accomplish in this community, and CVRI is doing this.”
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