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.
The Bronx Community Justice Center works to create a safer, more equitable Bronx through community-driven public safety initiatives, youth opportunity, and economic mobility efforts focused in the South Bronx. Our vision is to support the South Bronx community to become a safe and thriving place where local ownership, community-led investment, and youth opportunity can flourish. The Bronx Community Justice Center works toward this vision by focusing on community safety, restorative practices, and youth and economic development.
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.
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.
In a groundbreaking study on gun possession among youth in New York City, the Center for Court Innovation found that young people's decisions to carry a firearm overwhelmingly stemmed from concerns for their physical safety. The report surveyed up to 330 young people, ages 16 to 24, who expressed fears of being harmed both by violent crime and by interactions with law enforcement. The researchers concluded that strategies to reduce gun violence at the community level must be informed by the perspectives of affected young people themselves.
With gun violence on the rise, researchers are turning to those most impacted for solutions. The Center is currently conducting a multi-city gun study that speaks directly with young people's attitudes towards guns, including their reasons for carrying. Speaking to these sentiments in Philadelphia, Center part-time researcher involved in the study, Jonathan Wilson, says. "Everybody is armed. Nobody’s without a gun in these ZIP codes, because they’ve always been dangerous."
Prevention: one solution to gun violence that is able to save lives. Shootings disproportionately affect Black communities, and some community members are taking matters into their own hands. “Beyond Black History” podcast host Femi Redwood takes a look at SOS BedStuy’s work to use the power of credible messengers and positive change agents to mediate conflict and prevent violence.