Reducing Violence

We seek to prevent disorder and violence by working directly in and with the communities that are most affected by crime.

In the South Bronx and central Brooklyn, we’re mobilizing local voices, including former gang members, and training them to end gun violence. Our community justice centers in Brownsville, Red Hook, and Harlem seek to ameliorate the causes of violence through employment and reentry programs. Our youth programs provide educational and leadership opportunities for at-risk young people. Our work on placemaking engages communities to revitalize public spaces, promoting neighborhood resilience and safety. We help coordinate the Minority Youth Violence Prevention initiative, a program of the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services and the Office of Minority Health, bringing together public health organizations, law enforcement agencies, and community-based groups to curb violence and reduce disparities in access to public health among at-risk minority youth across the U.S. And, we work to combat domestic violence, seeking to reduce harm, enhance victim safety, and hold offenders accountable.

Initiatives

Brownsville Community Justice Center

The Brownsville Community Justice Center works to reduce crime and incarceration, and strengthen community trust in justice in central Brooklyn.
Make It Happen

Make It Happen helps young men between the ages of 16 and 24 who have experienced violence acquire the tools necessary to overcome traumatic experiences.
Minority Youth Violence Prevention Initiative

With a focus on treating violence as a disease, this initiative links public health agencies, community groups, and law enforcement in an effort to curb violence.
Red Hook Community Justice Center

The nation's first multi-jurisdictional community court, the Red Hook Community Justice Center seeks to solve neighborhood problems in southwest Brooklyn.
Save Our Streets (S.O.S.)

Save Our Streets (S.O.S.) seeks to end gun violence at the neighborhood level by changing local norms.

Publications & Digital Media

Publication
Neighbors in Action: Creating Safer and Healthier Communities

by Amy Ellenbogen

On the occasion of its twentieth anniversary, an introduction to the origins, programming, and community impact of Neighbors in Action, formerly known as the Crown Heights Community Mediation Center. Neighbors in Action works to make the central Brooklyn neighborhoods of Crown Heights and Bedford-Stuyvesant safer and healthier for all.

Access to Justice, Addressing Racial Disparities, Reducing Trauma, Reducing Violence
Audio
Violence, Trauma, and Healing in Crown Heights, Brooklyn

by Matt Watkins

On our New Thinking podcast, an audio portrait of Make It Happen, our program working with young men of color in Crown Heights, Brooklyn affected by violence. Through interviews with participants and practitioners, the episode explores the intersections of trauma, involvement with the justice system, and the lived experience of race.

Addressing Racial Disparities, Reducing Trauma, Reducing Violence
Audio
Cages Don't Help Us Heal

by Matt Watkins

Hurt people hurt people. That's not an excuse for harm, but it fuels much of the criminal justice system. At 19, Marlon Peterson was the unarmed lookout on a robbery where two people were killed. Peterson spent a decade behind bars. He writes about those years, and the childhood in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, that preceded them, in his new memoir. I made my own choices, Peterson says, “but I also did not choose to experience the type of things I experienced.”

Reducing Trauma, Reducing Violence, Youth Initiatives

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News

New York Is Pushing Homeless People Off the Streets. Where Will They Go?

August 2, 2021
The New York Times

Expounding on the many challenges when addressing housing insecurity, this New York Times article features the work of Community First, an initiative of our Midtown Community Court. The goal of Community First is to build trust with homeless populations in order to get them into longer-term housing and support. As program director Lauren Curatolo states, “We want to support you so that you eventually want to have a bed in a space.”
The Reasons for Youth Gun Use

July 7, 2021
WNYC

With shootings on the rise in cities across the U.S., our staff spoke with Brian Lehrer about the reasons young people carry guns, based on their report "Guns, Safety, and the Edge of Adulthood in New York City." Lehrer interviews Research Director, Rachel Swaner Deputy Research Director Elise White, and community-based Research Coordinator Basaime Spate, about the year-long study in NYC.
‘Harlem Garden Ladies’ Creating Green Space In Their NYCHA Development

June 29, 2021
Pix11

In an effort to bring the community together, over a dozen mothers, grandmothers, and other family members are creating more green space at their NYCHA development. Thanks to funding from the Mayor’s Action Plan and working along with Neighborhood Safety Initiatives, the “Harlem Garden Ladies” are expanding and adding more green space to the Polo Grounds Towers in Harlem. If you were to ask them, these women say "they are planting seeds and then watching the good in the community grow."

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Initiatives

Publications & Digital Media

News

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