in large cities like newark community

activists say they're not waiting for

tougher gun laws to improve public

safety instead groups are turning to

community-based interventions to reduce

violence and provide services to

neighborhoods hit hardest by gun crimes

newark's community street team also

known as violence interrupters are doing

just that and being touted now as a

national model melissa rose cooper

reports as part of our ongoing series

chasing the dream focusing on justice

poverty and economic opportunity

all your levels of engagement in the

community matter whether you're breaking

up a child's fight whether you're giving

a child something to eat whether you're

helping um an individual that's

suffering from od

from overdose on whether you're breaking

up a domestic violence dispute all of it

matters community advocates and leaders

from all across the country gathered in

newark with one goal in mind improving

the quality of life in their

neighborhood we have three organizations

three cities multiple organizations in

those cities that are meeting us here

today king county from seattle

washington

rapid city south dakota

and baton rouge louisiana the meeting is

part of the white house's community

intervention collaborative to develop

public safety strategies through

peer-to-peer learning akilah cherelles

president and board chair of the newark

community street team serves as the

collaborative senior advisor the byte

administration is making an

unprecedented investment in community

violence intervention

you know the president proposed 5.2

billion dollars over eight years um in

you know like in you know opening up the

administration

he's advised like you know federal

agencies to look at regulatory issues

to be able to move more dollars to

community violence intervention you know

through

the

through their formula their 26 formula

programs newark was once known as one of

the most dangerous cities in america and

now it's being used as a model to help

other cities across the country tackle

crime newark actually

has one of the most successful community

violence intervention initiatives in the

country

ncst and this partnership with the

mayor's office with municipal government

with law enforcement has been

instrumental in having six consecutive

years in a row of decreases of homicide

and overall violence in the city so for

us to be able to really turn the corner

you know starting in the south ward in

the west ward and then you know having

just an impact on violence overall is

monumental the newark community street

team shared their model with others

highlighting services such as counseling

mentoring and student outreach they

showed violence prevention teams from

around the country that their formula

works because it encourages people from

the community to use their personal

experiences to help make a difference i

was

a

perpetrator at one time you know and i

reflected and did a lot of reflection

while i was incarcerated and learned

that you know i'd hurt my my community

so much i was trying to figure out a way

where i can give back to the community

we believe that we're a complementary

strategy to law enforcement not an

alternative to law enforcement we know

there's a great need for law enforcement

out there but there's also a need for a

community-based approach as well i lost

my mom i lost my father

i've been shot

and i was just in the street just doing

whatever selling drugs whatever

um i met damon i met um brother bug at a

point in time and i wanted you know i

didn't know what the work consists of

but i knew i wanted to change you know

and i was just tired of doing the things

that i was doing before and then by my

friends seeing me change the community

has seen me change as well community

advocates will now take what they've

learned at this strategy session back to

their respective homes where they hope

to create a positive change for nj

spotlight news i'm melissa rose cooper

major funding for chasing the dream is

provided by the jpb foundation with

additional funding from the peter g

peterson and joan ganz cooney fund

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