In Philadelphia, Beautified Blocks Build Community and Safety

Richmond's Office of Neighborhood Safety and Oakland's Department of Violence Prevention use credible messengers, targeted intervention, and coordinated city infrastructure to interrupt cyclical gun violence. These tactics helped both cities achieve record-low homicides in 2025, with Richmond so successful it may no longer qualify for state violence-reduction grants.

Researchers have found that cleaning up and making repairs to homes is leading to reduced gun violence. The city’s Basic Systems Repair Program facilitates these interventions by providing free repairs for low-income households and abandoned buildings that can often become hubs for illegal activity and gun storage. These improvements help address stigma, boost local moral and improve the overall look and feel of the city by cleaning up vacant lots and business storefronts.

A violence prevention program in Baton Rouge is working to reduce gun violence and help mothers and those affected cope and move forward in a healthy way. The street team with the non-profit C.H.A.N.G.E supports grieving families, provides targeted interventions and community engagement efforts around gun violence, and collects data to measure their work’s impact over time.

A University of Pennsylvania project cleaned up vacant lots and planted greenery, and it made community members feel safer, decreased gun violence, and decreased nuisance calls.

The Hattiesburg Alliance for Public Art has designated the city as a public art city, with as many as 46 public art installations across the city, including 35 murals. It intends to grow to 100 public art murals. The city hopes that the public art will attract tourists and economic development, but the primary goal is to develop and beautify communities for the people who live there. Public art raises morale and connects people to one another. It also creates a shared sense of pride in the city and rises the collective mood.

The Shared Spaces program is a pandemic-driven initiative that increases outdoor dining space in commercial areas. The initiative made the permit process more user friendly and less expensive. Over 1,200 outdoor dining applications were approved in three months, which is more than the city approved in 2018 and 2019 combined. The increased capacity of outdoor dining seating takes away other public spaces, usually parking and driving space, but the program’s success has helped businesses survive pandemic-related restrictions and officials are assessing the program to maintain it moving forward.

Since 2016, Chicago has seen a 37% decrease in homicides with a comprehensive, targeted approach toward violence. The city developed a multi-pronged approach, including a collaboration between foundations and funders, a partnership that analyzed police decision-making, resource allocation toward a new gun-violence-focused prosecution unit, and targeted investment in high-risk individuals. With such success, cities like Philadelphia – also experiencing an increase in homicides – look to Chicago for lessons learned.

Across the country, mental health professionals, city officials, and community leaders have been developing grassroots responses to curb gun violence. From mediation to education, a driving factor behind these efforts has been prevention. As Flint, Michigan witnesses a striking increase in violent crime, they look to these responses as possible interventions for their own community.

Certain cities in the United States are facing startlingly high rates of homicide and violence that haven't been seen since the height of gang activity in the 1990s. But certain cities, including Los Angeles, have continued to see declines in or stable crime rates, thanks to a community-based policing approach that uses tactics such as working with former drug dealers, hosting neighborhood events, cleaning litter from the streets, and mediating sit-downs between formal gang rivals.

Students are paving the path for a more sustainable and environmentally conscious future in Azerbaijan. In a state that doesn't sort its garbage, this group of student-volunteers started "Papillon," a project aimed at up-cycling discarded waste into useful and aesthetic interior decorations and accessories.