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.
“True healing really requires vulnerability, which is next to impossible in situations of fear or intimidation.” Our researchers Basaime Spate and Rachel Swaner join Sheilah Kast about the findings in our youth gun-carrying report, adding to the timely discussion on gun violence in Baltimore. The relationships between fear, vulnerability, and the security of street networks are key themes on this episode of On the Record.
A new blueprint from the Mayor’s Office outlines a holistic, citywide strategy to curb gun violence in New York, one that works to address some of the underlying social factors—like education and economic opportunity—behind the crisis. This op-ed from the New York Daily News cites our recent study’s finding that young people in Brooklyn overwhelmingly carry guns for protection, making the case for more community investment and less reliance on law enforcement in the struggle to reduce gun violence.
Center researchers Rachel Swaner and Basaime Spate meet with Brittany Aubain of BronxNet to discuss our recent study on why young people in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, carry guns. They talk through what they gleaned from in-depth conversations with more than 100 young gun-carriers—from widespread fear of dying to economic insecurity and distrust of police—and why our policies and programs need to take these young people’s perspectives to heart in order to succeed.