cure violence cure violence cure violence is a public health approach to violence prevention and reduction. it aims to stop the spread of violence in communities by using the methods and strategies associated with epidemic disease control: detecting and interrupting conflicts, identifying and treating the highest risk individuals, and changing social norms. cure violence globalpredecessorceasefire chicagofounded2000foundergary slutkintypengopurposeto reduce violence globally using disease control and behavior change methodsheadquarterschicago, illinoislocationglobalarea served us/internationalmethod violence interruption outreach work community building executive directormonique williams, phdkey people brent decker, chief program officer charles ransford, director of science and policy websitewww.cvg.org history originally developed under the name "ceasefire" in 2000, u.s. epidemiologist gary slutkin launched the model in west garfield, the most violent community in chicago at the time. during ceasefire's first year, shootings dropped by 67 percent. due to perceived success in chicago, federal funding for the approach was made available in 2008 and new programs were started in baltimore and new york city. the us state department also funded a pilot program in basr and sadr city, iraq, which was operational from 2008 to 2013 and conducted nearly 1,000 conflict mediations. ceasefire was reorganized and changed its name to cure violence in september 2012. cure violence now refers to the larger organization and overall health approach, while local program partner sites often operate under other names. in december, 2015, cure violence has 23 cities implementing the cure violence health approach in over 50 sites in the u.s. international program partner sites are operating in trinidad, honduras, mexico, south africa, canada and colombia. model cure violence, as the name implies, draws an analogy between the way diseases are transmitted between individuals and the way that violence spreads through communities. their work can be compared to the work that antibiotics or vaccinations do in preventing a disease from damaging its host and spreading to others. as gary slutkin (the founder of cure violence) told the chicago tribune, "violence follows usual epidemiological patterns, when you look at charts, graphs and maps, it follows exactly like all epidemics. you can think of an epidemic of a flu or tuberculosis, where there are very few cases, then there are more and more. violence has a contagious nature. the requirement for intervention becomes obvious, you have to interact with the people who have been 'infected.'" cure violence identifies metaphorically infected individuals by assessing whether they meet certain conditions, such as being a prominent member of a gang or being a recent victim of violence. if a worker suspects that their client is going to commit violence soon, they will try to talk them out of it in a practice known as violence interruption. additionally, they will keep in touch with their clients in order to gather information and help guide them towards more constructive activities, referred to as outreach work. finally, the organization as a whole uses community building to build a strong culture of anti-violence. violence interruption violence interruption is an immediate response to imminent violence; people who perform this work are referred to as interrupters. they work with their clients to find peaceful alternatives to potentially violent situations. the way they approach this is personalized to the client and the situation. for example, if they are facing cyclical gang violence then the worker might talk to their client about the perpetual harm this causes and attempt to broker peace through talks. in either case, cure violence emphasizes that the interrupter should be seen as a credible messenger by the client. in the case of cyclical gang violence, they employ workers with a history of violence, with an emphasis on former gang members, so that they can genuinely relate to the clients they work with. in either case, they avoid acting as informants or agents of law enforcement, as they claim that this would undermine the goal of being a credible messenger. they also try to employ interrupters who live in the area that they work in order to facilitate organic information gathering and obtain a natural path for approaching potential clients. workers will also sometimes reach out to potential victims in order to give them advice on how to stay safe and connect them with third-party resources that specialize in helping victims. some people, particularly law enforcement officials, criticize the credible messenger aspect because it means that the people employed by cure violence are frequently convicted offenders. preceding a collaborative agreement between cure violence and the chicago police department, then-superintendent garry mccarthy told wbez that he disliked their methods because cure violence workers "tell people, ‘well, don’t talk to the police. we understand you can’t trust the police, but look at us, you can trust us’ - they’re undercutting that legitimacy that we’re trying to create in the community”. the executive director of cure violence, tio hardiman, responded to this by stating that their workers do not actively discourage people from reporting or otherwise cooperating with police. however, he did acknowledge that some tension exists when he told wbez that "f the young guys that we work with feel that we’re … being informants, or whatever, there’s a chance some of our staff will lose their lives.". behavior change outreach workers (who are often the same people as interrupters) help clients find jobs, educational opportunities, or social services. when working with gang members who typically restrict themselves to a certain territory, outreach workers will invite them to events outside of their territory in order to expand their horizons. workers also help clients avoid parole violations; additionally, workers advocate for leniency in sentencing if the client has been actively engaged with the outreach worker. community and group norm change cure violence organizes community activities and distributes educational material, which they claim shifts the norms towards non-violence. after a public shooting, they might organize a march against violence or a vigil for the deceased. when relevant, they might invite the people they are working with to the vigils under the belief that witnessing the effects of shootings will make them less likely to commit violence in the future. additionally, when the clients are people who are connected to a recent victim, workers believe that attending a respectful funeral can give their clients a healthy outlet for their grief, distracting them from thoughts of revenge. community norm change can go beyond publicly visible events. in baltimore, workers claim to have negotiated a long-lasting peace treaty between rival groups. additionally, they persuaded gang members to avoid wearing flags advertising their gang affiliations. their goal is to build a culture of non-violence even within organizations that are otherwise engaged in criminal activity. funding funding for cure violence and their implementing sites programs typically comes from government sources, private foundations, and charitable donations. for the first 7 years of operation in illinois, when they were still called ceasefire, their work was primarily supported through money from local, state, and federal grants as well as contributions from private foundations. however, at the end of 2007, the state stopped providing direct funding to ceasefire. this led to the program shutting down completely in some cities, such as decatur. however, other cities were able to sustain their programs; for instance, cicero allocated $400,000 of grant money to ceasefire. ceasefire also benefited from community fundraising. for instance, basketball star dwyane wade included ceasefire in the list of organizations to benefit from his "young, fly, and flashy" fundraising events. state funding was restored in 2009 after the governor, who previously vetoed funding, was removed from office due to an unrelated scandal. chicago murder rates fell in 2009, which the chicago tribune attributed both to ceasefire's expanded activities and evolving police strategies. however, state funding halted again in 2015. cure violence has received funding from the robert wood johnson foundation, the macarthur foundation, and the united states department of justice. evaluation evidence in may 2008, professor wesley g. skogan, an expert on crime and policing at northwestern university, completed a three-year, independent, department of justice-funded report on ceasefire, which found that the program successfully reduced shootings and killings by 41% to 73%. shootings were reduced by up to 28% in four of the seven communities examined in the report. a three-year evaluation of the chicago implementation by the u.s. department of justice in 2009 found shootings and killings were reduced by 41 percent to 73 percent, shooting hot spots were reduced in size and intensity, and retaliatory murders were eliminated. "a striking finding was how important ceasefire loomed in their lives", the researchers stated in the report. "clients noted the importance of being able to reach their outreach worker at critical moments—when they were tempted to resume taking drugs, were involved in illegal activities, or when they felt that violence was imminent." the lead evaluator commented that, "i found the statistical results to be as strong as you could hope for." in an independent evaluation of the cure violence model at the baltimore partner program site commissioned by the centers for disease control and conducted by johns hopkins university, baltimore's safe streets program, the cure violence partner site, is credited with reducing shootings and killings by up to 34–56%. community norm changes occurred, even with non-clients and reductions spread to surrounding communities. in 2010, the united states department of justice contracted with the center for court innovation to evaluate the cure violence new york city program partner site, and found the gun violence rate in the program site to be 20% lower than what it would have been had its change mirrored the average change in comparison precincts. the john jay college of criminal justice was contracted by several funders to conduct an extensive, independent evaluation on the cure violence approach in new york city, which found a reduction in violence, a shift in norms, and an improvement in police-community relations. the evaluation found a 37% to 50% reduction in gun injuries in the two communities examined. additionally, the study found a 14% reduction in attitudes supporting violence (with no change in controls) and an increased confidence in police and increased willingness to contact police. a 2015 report found that the average homicide rate in nyc program neighborhoods fell by 18% while increasing an average 69% in comparison neighborhoods. an evaluation of the program in port of spain, trinidad conducted by arizona state university and funded by the inter-american development bank found a 45% reduction in violent crime in the service area. notable endorsements the chicago tribune has published multiple editorials expressing support for the program. in 2005, then-first lady laura bush visited ceasefire headquarters in chicago and praised their achievements. daniel webster, co-director of the johns hopkins center for gun policy and research, advocates for ceasefire's approach to violent crime, believing the benefits of intercession are many. on cnn.com, webster said, "violence is reciprocal. stopping one homicide through mediation could buy you peace for months down the road." in 2021, cure violence was listed as the 9th top ngo by ngo advisor (now thedotgood) in its "top 20 ngo's world" list. in 2021, the national gang center graded cure violence model as promising. partners national sites baltimore safe streets in baltimore, maryland aim 4 peace in kansas city, missouri cure for camden, camden, new jersey (inactive) ceasefire illinois, chicago (inactive) ceasefire new orleans, louisiana brooklyn/crown heights, new york city cure violence/nyc mission society, harlem, new york city stand against violence, east harlem, new york city 49 strong saving lives, staten island save our streets, bronx, new york city cure violence, south jamaica, new york city cure violence philadelphia philadelphia ceasefire city of san antonio- stand up sa cease violence, wilmington, delaware (inactive) taller de salud, inc., loiza puerto rico international sites ceasefire hanover park (2 sites), in hanover park, cape town, south africa project reason in laventille, port of spain, trinidad & tobago cristo de la roca in san pedro sula, honduras cure violence plus peacetxt messaging to reduce election violence, sisi ni amani-kenya american islamic congress, 3 sites in basrah and 2 sites in sadr city-baghdad, iraq ciudad juarez, mexico barrio positivo, honduras ceasefire halifax, canada programs influenced by the cure violence approach advance peace in richmond, california readi in chicago, illinois operation snug in new york cyo, inc. in oakland, california the chaos theory (the safety box) in london, uk in the media the interrupters, a