Inside City Hall
Architect and key coordinator of Baltimore’s violence reduction strategy resigns
Terence Nash was credited with building the structure of community involvement and peer intervention that led to Baltimore’s sharp reduction in violent crime. Now he’s gone.
Above: Terence Nash was named MONSE Employee of the Month last October. (Instagram)
The founding architect and coordinating chief of Mayor Brandon Scott’s Group Violence Reduction Strategy has left city government, the administration confirmed to The Brew this afternoon.
A former prosecutor at the state’s attorney’s office, Terence C. Nash was tapped by Scott in 2021 to develop the GVRS intervention strategy, which debuted as a pilot in the Western Police District in 2022.
The joint effort by police, nonprofits and others was credited with a 33% reduction in homicides and non-fatal shootings in the city’s historically most violent area and became the capstone of the mayor’s “holistic” efforts to lower violence through community involvement and peer intervention.
His departure comes at a time when the administration is expanding the GVRS strategy to engage individuals most likely to be perpetrators or victims of crime across a majority of city neighborhoods.
Late last week, Nash informed associates that he was no longer part of GVRS and directed all queries to Stefanie Mavronis, director of the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (MONSE).
According to agency spokesman Jack French, Nash informed the city of his pending resignation last month and has since worked with Mavronis on a transition plan. “While MONSE recruits for his replacement, Director Mavronis will take on management responsibilities,” French said.
Terence Nash (at upper left) with Mayor Scott (in blue suit) at a July 25 celebratory brunch at the Avenue Kitchen and Bar in Hampden with participants in Youth Advocacy Programs funded by GVRS. (Keystone Productions)
The spokesman did not say why Nash left his job.
He was hired by the state’s attorney’s office in 2004, was appointed head of the criminal strategies unit in 2016 by former State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby, and joined the violence prevention team in November 2021.
As part of his duties, he was involved with SideStep, a youth diversion pilot program that first came under criticism by current State’s Attorney Ivan Bates.
Correction: Nash was not directly involved in the SideStep program, according to city sources who contacted The Brew after publication.
According to an “employee of the month” citation last October, Nash was praised for playing “a pivotal role in streamlining and strengthening MONSE’s interagency role and partnerships” that the mayor has credited for the lowest number of homicides last year in nearly a half century.
Asked if his resignation would set back violence reduction efforts, French replied, “Because of the structure of GVRS that he helped build, the strategy is not dependent on a single staff member or mayoral administration, but is baked into the way we operate as a city to reduce violence.”
Nash could not be reached for comment.
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