Artwork stating 'Education Destroys Barriers', 'We Demand Treatment', and 'I Need A Chance'

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  • A Program Gives Jobs To Those Most At Risk For Violence; Can Chicago Afford It?

    An anti-violence program in Chicago called the Rapid Employment and Development Initiative, or READI, identifies and engages with those most vulnerable to partake or be a victim of gun violence, and provides them with the support they need to avoid it. Born out of a collaboration between the University of Chicago’s Crime and Education Lab and various philanthropical efforts, READI gives participants job counseling and therapy to cope with current and past traumas. While it’s seen demonstrable success, it hopes to expand with the financial support from the city.

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  • California: Epicenter of Mass Incarceration Reform

    Following a Supreme Court mandate requiring California to address prison overcrowding, the state has taken numerous initiatives to reduce sentences, relocate inmates, set higher accountability measures for law enforcement, and allocate more funding for re-entry programs. While these measures have been implemented across the state, the city of Stockton has been a leader after electing the nation’s youngest – and Stockton’s first African American – mayor, Michael Tubbs. Since then, the city has adopted reforms such as universal basic income and mentorship programs and has witnessed a 40% drop in homicides.

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  • The Indigenous Guardians of the Amazon Rainforest

    The Guardians of the Forest is an indigenous volunteer group who patrols protected areas of the Amazon rainforest being destroyed by illegal logging. Volunteers seek out and destroy logging camps, chase loggers off the land, educate locals about the harms, and advocate for government resources. The loggers use violence, but the Guardians use non-violent techniques to protect uncontacted tribes, stop deforestation and species extinction, and protect indigenous culture. Despite federal obstacles, some local officials express a desire to integrate the work of the Guardians into official conservation efforts.

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  • From Gunshots to Galleries: Wraparound Violence Prevention Program Helps Victims Restart their Lives

    The Wraparound Project at Zuckerman San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center turns gunshot victims' hospital stays into "a teachable moment," by providing them with services aimed at helping them avoid a repeat injury. Getting shot once is a key risk factor for a second injury, particularly for gun violence's most common victims, young Black men. Wraparound is one of the nation's oldest hospital-based violence intervention programs. It has helped about 850 clients, mostly with mental health counseling, housing, and jobs. The program is associated with a decreased reinjury rate in San Francisco.

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  • Interruption: A fix for Flint's gun violence

    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.

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  • A night with Philly's ‘violence interrupters' teams as they offer services to curb bloodshed

    In Philadelphia, where the homicide rate recently hit a ten-year high, teams known as violence interrupters are stepping in to employ crisis intervention in high-risk areas. By using several different tactics including social media monitoring and embedding in neighborhoods, the program partners with communities rather than intruding which fosters better trust and leads to more positive results.

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  • Hospitals Are Trying To Do What Politicians Haven't: Stop Gun Violence

    The Capital Region Violence Intervention Program uses the "golden moment" when gunshot victims are receptive to guidance, in the initial hours of their hospitalization, to steer them away from retaliatory violence and enroll them in mental health and job counseling. About 30 hospital-based violence intervention programs around the country provide such services, which have been shown to reduce violent injury and death, though such studies have been small in scale. The capital region program's first 100 patients avoided further harm, a far better than average result.

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  • What is the public health approach to violence — and does it work?

    Public health approaches to violence, in which different sectors and agencies treat it as a contagious disease, has gained support across the world and has taken many forms. This approach relies on data collection to inform policy and devise services, as well as routine checks on the effectiveness of interventions and scaling the ones that work. While the public health approach to violence has saved costs and reduced police-recorded violence, there are ethical concerns about the widespread data gathering.

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  • Cities are getting more crowded: better design could stop violence

    Researchers found that more greenery in urban spaces reduces crime and this idea of combatting crime with good design is part of a discipline called Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design, or CPTED. It spread around the world, but there also downsides. A new generation of CPTED advocates are expanding the field to consider social factors underlying crime and engage with local communities when designing projects because just discouraging crime is not enough to make spaces inviting.

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  • Want to Quit the Gang Life? Try This Job On

    Being in a gang or selling drugs is risky and often poorly paid, but many people caught up in it see too many obstacles in alternate paths to change. Readi Chicago addresses these barriers with cognitive behavioral therapy and subsidized jobs that allow participants to gradually build up skills and move into better positions. But the most important people are the outreach workers, many of whom came out of incarceration or gang life, and can build relationships to convince people to sign up.

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