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'Cure the Streets': Violence interrupters hold back-to-school community event


Violence interrupters hold back-to-school community event. (7News)
Violence interrupters hold back-to-school community event. (7News)
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Violence interrupters with "Cure the Streets" spent the weekend giving back to the community with a back-to-school community drive in Congress Heights.

There was food, video games and organizers passed out more than 300 backpacks with supplies to neighborhood kids.

"Part of interrupting violence, has a lot to do with trust and how that trust is built is through community engagement," said Program Director Michelle Blackwell.

It was one of the first events held since D.C. Council approved next year's budget which includes funding for four new "Cure the Streets" sites.

"I think it will have a tremendous impact, and I've heard residents who are from other areas that don't have sites come up to us and say, 'We want a site in our community,' so I know we're making an impact to our residents."

The additional funding support comes at a good time.

According to new numbers from the District, D.C. police have reported an eight percent increase in homicides when compared to this time last year.

District Attorney Karl Racine, whose office oversees the program, says "Cure the Streets" by itself, however, won't solve the gun violence program.

“We’re very proud of the work of all the Cure the Streets teams. It’s exciting to see the impact they’ve been able to make in their neighborhoods even amid a global pandemic. Cure the Streets and other community-based violence reduction efforts are one piece of the broad effort needed to increase safety and stop violence—an effort which also includes the work of police and prosecutors and investments in trauma reduction, mental health, education, and workforce development in chronically neglected communities. We are grateful to the Council for funding an expansion of this program, and look forward to seeing Cure the Streets continue working to break cycles of violence in even more neighborhoods," he said in a statement to 7News On Your Side.

The program was established in the District in 2018 and Racine says it takes time to see results.

Even still, Blackwell says there have already been successes.

"There's been a historical beef between two neighborhoods within our target area that spanned decades and there's been a ceasefire for months. That took a long time. It took a lot of talking, a lot of compromising, peace talks, but they are not shooting at one another, which is our goal," she said.

Similar sentiments were echoed by Victor Battle, an outreach worker for the program.

"We helped a lot of people get jobs, and last year we held about 82 mediations that could have spilled into some type of violence," he said.

He is optimistic that the work they're doing will help end gun violence.

"My goal is to cut down on as much gun violence as possible, and the hope is that we can end gun violence and everybody can just be happy," he said.

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