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

Reflecting an emerging 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

Audio
Violence, Trauma, and Healing in Crown Heights, Brooklyn

by Matthew 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
Book
Start Here: A Road Map to Reducing Mass Incarceration

by Greg Berman and Julian Adler

Written by Greg Berman, director of the Center for Court Innovation, and Julian Adler, director of policy and research, Start Here from The New Press offers a road map of concrete actions to reduce the number of people sent to jail and prison, highlighting key lessons from successful programs across the country.

Bail Reform, Community Justice, Diversion, Reducing Violence, Risk Assessment
Publication
Responding to Trauma Among Young Men of Color

by Katie Crank and Kenton Kirby

This planning toolkit is a blueprint for communities, violence interrupter programs, and traditional victim service providers that want to improve their responses to young men of color who have experienced trauma.

Reducing Violence, Reducing Trauma

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News

In New York, the Fight to End Gun Violence is Student-Led

July 9, 2018
The Nation

A look at Youth Organizing to Save Our Streets (YO S.O.S.), the youth leadership arm of our neighborhood-based anti-violence initiative Save Our Streets.
Community-Based 'Interrupters' Help Cut Crime

March 21, 2018
Al Jazeera

A profile of our Save Our Streets (S.O.S.) Bronx program, highlighting its work to create safer streets and the credit it's receiving from anti-violence researchers and the New York City Police Department.
These Brooklyn Teens are Battling Gun Violence—And Now They're Headed to D.C.

March 15, 2018
Chalkbeat

In the context of the recent advocacy on gun violence, a profile of our Youth Organizing to Save Our Streets (YO S.O.S.) program in Crown Heights, Brooklyn—working to combat violence, strengthen youth leadership and their community, and now preparing for a march on Washington.

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