Baltimore City and Prince George''s County''s Safe Streets Initiative

OJJDP's State and Community Development Awards program was established to provide grants and cooperative agreements to organizations that OJJDP has selected for funds in prior years. This program has been authorized by an Act appropriating funds for the Department of Justice. The Community-Based Violence Prevention Program provides funding for localities to support federal, state, and local partnerships to replicate proven multi-disciplinary, community-based strategies to reduce violence.

Safe Streets, currently in four sites Baltimore, is an implementation of Cure Violence, an outreach and community mobilization initiative that works with community organizations to develop and implement strategies to reduce and prevent violence. Through this funding Safe
Streets will expand to Prince George's County, and will transition its two longest running sites in Baltimore to Cure Violence's Maintenance Model. Both initiatives will serve highest risk
persons -- those most likely to become victims and/or perpetrators of gun violence-based on the behavioral change theory. In this model of multidisciplinary violence prevention, multiple messengers change behavioral norms through street outreach, clergy participation, law enforcement efforts, distribution of public education materials and interrupters, persons who
directly intervene to stop the cycle of violence. Safe Streets currently has four community sites throughout Baltimore. This model will focus on what has shown to be most effective in reducing shootings and homicides in Baltimore mediations. CA/NCF