Can Community Programs Help Slow the Rise in Violence?

The Mural Movement uses the power of art as a tool to help Black and brown communities heal when grappling with gun violence and racism. The group works with artists who create murals of victims of gun violence and now has 186 murals nationwide.

The Blueprint for Peace is a community-driven gun violence prevention plan aimed to reduce gun violence and fatal shootings. The Blueprint works by creating partnerships within the community, from police officers and first responders to individuals and those working in public city offices to become educated on the importance of trauma-informed care.

Survivors of gangs and gun violence, April Roby-Bell, Terra Jenkins, and Larita Rice-Barnes work to support people in the community grieving loved ones lost due to gun violence. They have formed nonprofits like the Metro East Organizing Coalition, and churches like the Restoration Outreach Center and host rallies and help organize funerals for families in need.

Nonviolence Chicago uses street-outreach workers to mediate disputes and connect residents of violence-prone neighborhoods to needed services. Its work, amounting to tens of thousands of contacts per year with people involved in violence, has contributed to efforts that reduced homicides and nonfatal shootings in the Austin neighborhood by nearly half from 2016 to 2019. By replacing the police with former gang members and others with street credibility, and working with both victims and shooters, Nonviolence Chicago wins the trust of residents.

New Haven's Project Longevity has measurably reduced gang violence through an approach brings law enforcement, social service groups, and community leaders together to offer teenagers and young men incentives to stop the violence, and a way out for those who need help. It's a model that may provide a solution for other cities facing gang violence.

East Harlem’s Cornerstone youth programming at community centers brings together community nonprofits, police, residents, and other local agencies to address gun violence in the public housing. Through community outreach, more strategic gang enforcement policies, and other programming, the approach has led to a 30% reduction in shootings in the area.

Mobile crisis response teams, like CAHOOTS and the Ulster County mobile teams, deploy crisis workers and medics instead of police to situations like mental health crises and welfare checks, to avoid unnecessary escalation. Counties with mobile teams say the quality of care they receive has dramatically improved. In Ulster county alone, they receive about 4,000 diverted 911 calls annually and only five to 10% of them require police backup.

The Victim of Violence Program uses hospital social workers to connect with youth in the hospital for cases of interpersonal violence by helping them cope with trauma, and any other psychosocial concerns that may arise as a result within the year that youth and their families are required to participate in the program. An individualized, holistic treatment plan is developed for each patient, whether that be helping them graduate high school, learn how to communicate better with family or manage the symptoms of their trauma. In 2021, the program had 11 patients and a 100% completion rate.

Philadelphia’s city-funded Group Violence Intervention program identifies people who commit crimes together and offers them help to get a job, GED, or whatever assistance they need. The program brings together a variety of community members to conduct outreach, offer social services, and warn them of the consequences of continuing to participate in crimes.

Amidst gun violence and mass shootings, 19 states and D.C. have enacted red flag laws, or extreme risk protection orders, that allow law enforcement to mitigate threats of gun violence by removing guns from a person’s possession. Studies in states that have adopted red flag laws, specifically Connecticut and Indiana, have found that for every 10 to 20 people who had guns taken away, one life was saved.