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How a Newark Program Is Pushing Police and Community Members to Heal Old Wounds Together

J. Brian Charles

January 11, 2022 |

The Trace |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Newark, New Jersey

To address deep divisions and mistrust between the community and police, Newark launched Trauma to Trust, a conflict resolution program that brings officers and residents together for mediation and discussion. Participants receive two days of training around trauma, critical race theory, and implicit bias, and more than 500 people have taken part since the initiative began.

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Inside One Baltimore Group's Effort to Stop Youth Violence Before It Starts

J. Brian Charles

June 10, 2021 |

The Trace |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Baltimore, Maryland

Baltimore's Roca program uses cognitive behavioral therapy, and patience and persistence, to work at changing the thinking of young people at high risk of committing or suffering gun violence. Counselors help their clients examine the trauma in their lives, learn to change their reactions to stress and conflict, and to choose legitimate jobs over the street economy. Unlike violence interruption programs that seek to mediate crises just as they threaten to turn deadly, Roca does its work further upstream, seeking to shape interactions before they turn critical.

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‘I Want Them to See That Someone Cares About Them'

J. Brian Charles

November 14, 2020 |

The Trace |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Baltimore, Maryland

The Violence Intervention Program at the University of Maryland Medical Center's Shock Trauma Center helps people meet basic needs after they have suffered a gunshot injury. Along with clothing, transportation vouchers, and toothbrushes, the program's social workers also provide talk therapy. The goal is to keep victims of violence from becoming victims again, and the approach is to build trust by giving the help without strings attached. Many people return for the help, and the therapy.

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Baltimore Hits Pause on Gun Violence Command Centers

J. Brian Charles

July 06, 2020 |

The Trace |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Baltimore, Maryland

A strategy to improve the intelligence that steers policing and violence-intervention efforts has worked in Chicago and shown promising early signs in Baltimore. But plans to expand Strategic Decision Support Centers in Baltimore ran into political opposition, based on sentiment in favor of diverting police resources to other strategies. Chicago’s SDSC program is credited with a much greater reduction in shootings than in untargeted areas of the city. Baltimore likewise has seen homicides decline where SDSCs help police and violence interrupters decide where and on whom to focus their interventions.

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Treating Mothers' Trauma as a Way to Prevent Youth Violence

J. Brian Charles

February 04, 2020 |

The Trace |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Ann Arbor, Michigan

In Ann Arbor, Michigan, the program Sisters United Resilient and Empowered, also called SURE Moms, offers counseling to mothers in an effort to address their trauma, and thus have an effect on their entire families. With research showing the connection between home life and criminal behavior, SURE Moms gives women the opportunity to provide their children with emotional support by giving them that same emotional support. What started as an informal bible study group is now funded by the city and offers regular, twice per week classes.

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A Simple Change That Can Reduce Student Absenteeism

J. Brian Charles

June 06, 2019 |

Governing |

Text |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States

During the 2013-2014 school year, about 14 percent of students in the U.S. were chronically absent. In San Mateo County, the school district changed the language on letters sent home to parents about truancy, deemphasizing legal jargon and warnings about possible punishments and instead encouraging collaboration. The district saw a 15 percent reduction in chronic absenteeism.

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To Fight Blight, One City Turned to Courts

J. Brian Charles

December 21, 2018 |

Governing |

Text |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States, St. Petersburg, Florida

An initiative in St. Petersburg has reduced the number of vacant houses while increasing access to affordable housing. The city takes ownership of vacant lots and abandoned homes, then sells the properties to affordable housing developers or auctions them off. The initiative helps make land cheap enough to build affordable housing.

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Los Angeles Will Be the First City to Use Body Scanners on Subways. Which Could Be Next?

J. Brian Charles

August 16, 2018 |

Governing |

Text |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States, Los Angeles, California

The Transportation Security Administration has partnered with cities across the country to bring body scanners to metro stops and rail stations. While heralded as an efficient way to check crowds for weapons, body scanners have raised concern among privacy advocates.

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The Downsides of Property Tax Caps

J. Brian Charles

July 26, 2018 |

Governing |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States

Property tax caps have been found to exacerbate economic inequality. They restrict funding for basic services and push municipalities to increase sales taxes and fees instead.

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One Woman's Quest to Fight Gentrification by Asking Residents How

J. Brian Charles

July 05, 2018 |

Governing |

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Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States, Portland, Oregon

Even as cities fight gentrification, residents are often consulted late in urban planning, if at all. Cat Goughnour is pushing for change in Portland. Her consulting group ran a series of workshops, resulting in community-generated ideas for improving the Albina neighborhood that wouldn’t displace longtime residents.

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