Reducing Violence News Archive

Healing and accountability took center stage at our RISE team's Domestic Violence Awareness Month rally and resource fair in Harlem.

To achieve true justice, we must build safety. And for communities to feel truly safe, there must be justice.

As our work has evolved, our mission has only become stronger and clearer. That’s why we’re updating our mission statement to reflect the approach at the heart of all of our work: Community Justice.

"To finally end gun violence in our communities, we need to invest in our kids and give them the support they need to thrive." That was Anthony Rowe, project director of our Neighbors in Action program in Brooklyn, after the team partnered with Launch Charter School in Crown Heights to support a walkout of more than 100 middle school students for National Gun Violence Awareness Month. In Our Time Press, hear from teachers, community activists, and lawmakers on the tragic toll of gun violence in Brooklyn and the important work being done to prevent it.

NBC profiles our Save Our Streets (S.O.S.) program, which works in Brooklyn and the Bronx to stop shootings by building community relationships and connecting young people to support. Hear from Rahson Johnson, a violence interrupter and youth advocate with our S.O.S. team, who uses his lived experience with gun violence and the prison system to help guide children towards a better path. “The challenge for me was going back to the community that I wanted to destroy, that I was hurt by, and being able to make change,” Johnson tells NBC’s Maya Brown.

Robert Abruzzese recaps the official launch of our Street Action Network at the Brooklyn Public Library. The Street Action Network is a community research initiative that draws on the expertise of people with firsthand experience and high social capital in the streets to end gun violence. Hear from Co-Directors Basaime Spate and Javonte Alexander, as well as NYC Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and our executive director, Courtney Bryan. Spate and Alexander take us through their experience with street networks, community research, and growing up as Black men in New York City while exploring the mission behind this new initiative.

Our RISE team joined residents, New York City Council Member Farah Louis, and other community organizations like Sports United to rally for a violence-free summer with a basketball tournament and youth resource fair in Flatbush, Brooklyn. The event, in recognition of Gun Violence Awareness Month, brought the community together for a day of fun, performance, and urgent calls for an end to gun violence from respected leaders in the community.

Dozens of middle school students from Launch Charter School in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, joined up with our Save Our Streets team, school staff, and other members of the community to stage a walkout against gun violence to kick off Gun Violence Awareness Month. The walkout came after the young people spent months learning about the impacts of gun violence on their communities and many others. “They want the community to know that they're here and they're making noise to show that enough is enough. Gun violence needs to stop,” said Anthony Rowe, project director of our Neighbors in Action program.

More than 100 students in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, took a bold stand against gun violence in their own communities by participating in a walkout to mark the beginning of Gun Violence Awareness Month. The walkout was planned with support from the Launch Expeditionary Learning Charter School in collaboration with our Save Our Streets Brooklyn team, which works to prevent shootings and bring positive resources to young people at risk of getting involved in gun violence. Read more about the walkout, and the months of study and reflection that went into it, in the New York Times.

Summer is here, and that means our RISE team is out in the community, addressing intimate partner and gun violence by creating safe spaces for healing and wellness.