Photo: Aristide Economopoulos | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
The Newark Community Street Team hires and trains people who were incarcerated or have survived violence to reach out to those at the greatest risk of becoming victims or perpetrators of violence. Community-based violence prevention programs could be part of the strategy to divert money from police departments to social services. Last summer Newark said it would divert 5 percent or $11 million of the public safety department's funds to build a social services headquarters called the Office of Violence Prevention. Homicides have decreased in the city's South Ward, where the Newark Community Street Team has worked. Community violence prevention focuses on intervening to interrupt the chain of retaliation.
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