The multi–million dollar effort, Seattle Youth Violence Initiative, will be officially launched July 7. Its aim is to stop young men and women from turning to guns to resolve disputes. In Chicago, the CeaseFire Program is stopping shootings. Like many cities, it uses outreach
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workers, but it also has "violence interrupters," a group of former gang members and released inmates who go looking for trouble. When they find it, they mitigate the situation. They might encourage an angry man to beat someone rather than shoot them, or convince gang members that gun violence will only bring unwanted police attention. It's unconventional — but it's working. Shooting deaths are way down in some neighborhoods. Could this program work in Washington's major cities? The Seattle Youth Violence Prevention Initiative is incorporating some of the CeaseFire operations in its approach.
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