With a $1.7 million boost in funding, Mayor Sheila Dixon's administration is expanding an anti-violence campaign with roots in Chicago to two high-crime neighborhoods in Baltimore.
The Health Department program, Operation Safe Streets, hires ex-offenders to reach out to youth and mediate disputes before they turn violent. The program will expand to Cherry Hill and to several sites in East Baltimore later this year.
"This is an investment that will produce returns more valuable than any amount of money," Dixon said. "This program works."
Safe Streets, modeled on a Chicago program called CeaseFire, began in Baltimore last June in McElderry Park, blocks from the Johns Hopkins medical campus. With the new money, the program will be active at five sites.
Health Department statistics show there has been a reduction in homicides and nonfatal shootings in McElderry Park. The average number of nonfatal shootings and homicides dropped to 0.7 a month from 1.2 a month after the program started.
Dr. Joshua M. Sharfstein, the city's health commissioner, said his department is still reviewing those statistics. The city is anticipating the results of a Johns Hopkins study of Safe Streets in December.
"This is a public health approach that looks at violence as a behavior that needs to be changed," Sharfstein said. "People are hearing from ... people they look up to in their community that they don't have to pull out a gun to settle a dispute."
Initially, Safe Streets was funded through a federal grant. As the money dried up earlier this summer, the city sought other sources to pay for the program.
The Dixon administration dedicated $1 million this year and raised an additional $655,000 from private sources, including the Greater Baltimore Committee Foundation and the Abell Foundation. Sharfstein said the city needs to raise $2 million - an additional $345,000 - to keep the program alive through next June.
The Living Classrooms Foundation manages the East Baltimore locations. The program hires ex-offenders to canvass the community, mediate conflicts and mentor young men at risk of being the victims or perpetrators of shootings.
"We want to be a messenger [to] stop violence, stop homicides, stop the shootings," said Leon Faruq, director of Safe Streets for Living Classrooms. "Our people get them to pause and think. Our people get them to reflect because of the respect they have."
