Since 2007, Safe Streets has been Baltimore’s flagship gun violence reduction program. Founded in 2000 by epidemiologist Dr. Gary Slutkin, Cure Violence is a public health approach that uses trusted messengers in the community to interrupt the transmission of violence. Violence interrupters spread anti-violence messages and encourage positive changes in individual behavior as well as community norms around violence. In 2007, the Cure Violence model pioneered in Chicago came to McElderry Park in East Baltimore.
Our Partners Who Administer Safe Streets Sites
Who does it serve?
Safe Streets serves the residents of 10 target areas across Baltimore City, totaling 2.6 square miles.
How have Safe Streets contributed to crime reduction?
Past evaluations of the program from Johns Hopkins have found that Safe Streets sites are associated with decreases in fatal and nonfatal shootings, both in the sites' target areas and the area immediately surrounding the sites.
Additional information about the program and evaluations can be found here:
- Evaluation of Baltimore’s Safe Streets Program: Effects on Attitudes, Participants’ Experiences, and Gun Violence
- Changes in Attitudes toward Guns and Shootings following Implementation of the Baltimore Safe Streets Intervention
- Safe Streets celebrates a year with no homicides in the South Baltimore area they serve, with hope for the rest of the city
- Using synthetic control methodology to estimate effects of a Cure Violence intervention in Baltimore, Maryland
How are communities responding to these programs?
A core piece of Safe Streets' model is community mobilization. Sites host events and conduct daily outreach to share information, build trust with community members, and spread the Safe Streets message via credible messengers. Safe Streets sites are regarded as trusted community hubs to access resources and conflict mediation services.
Safe Streets Safe Summer 2024 Schedule
During the summer months, Safe Streets sites host events, activities, and resources for Baltimore residents to promote peace and public safety across neighborhoods.
September 2024
- September 7: Sandtown Safe Summer Grab & Go | 1-4pm at 1300 Presstman St (corner of Gilmor and Presstman St) Baltimore, 21217
- September 7: Brooklyn Safe Summer Community Clean Up | 4th St & Patapsco Ave through 10th St & Patapsco Ave Baltimore, 21225
- September 13: Woodbourne McCabe Summer Fun Flicks | 5-7:30pm at 5200 Alhambra Park Baltimore, 21212
- September 18: Cherry Hill Safe Summer | 4-7pm at 638 Cherry Hill Rd Baltimore, 21225
- September 20: Penn North Safe Summer Resource Fair | 3-6pm at 1690 Mount St (corner of Mount & Presbury) Baltimore, 21217
- September 21: Sandtown Goes to Hershey Park | 9am-8pm at Hershey Park 100 Hersheypark Dr. Hershey, PA 17033
- September 28: Woodbourne McCabe Fun Fest | 1-5pm at 5313 York Rd Baltimore, 21212
- September 28: Brooklyn Kids Field Day | 1-5pm at 3560 3rd St Baltimore, 21225
Follow MONSE