Community Violence

Community Violence

Meet the Young Activists Fighting Chicago’s Gun Violence, With Lobbying and Group Hugs

In a city where safety is not equally felt, GoodKids MadCity is creating a space for young people “to feel free,” and refusing to wait for grownups to act.

Community Violence

With America’s Focus on Gun Violence, Activists Fight to Ensure Victims of Color Aren’t Ignored

This summer’s mass shootings have Congress searching for solutions to gun violence. Organizers in America’s hardest-hit communities say what they need is funding for programs already saving lives.

Community Violence

When 12 People Are Shot in Your Neighborhood, and America Shrugs

National newspapers and cable news channels had little interest in last weekend’s mass shooting in Brownsville, Brooklyn, where residents didn't receive many thoughts or prayers from the public.

How We Fix This

We Can’t End Inequality Until We Stop Urban Gun Violence 

Here’s a blueprint for cities ready to get started.

How We Fix This

Inside the Ambitious Campaign to Push Chicago Homicides Below 400

The private funders and outreach groups behind the “<399” plan are bringing unprecedented coordination to gun violence prevention in the city. But without more public dollars, they say, the effort may fall short.

How We Fix This

What Gun Violence Prevention Looks Like When It Focuses on the Communities Hurt the Most

Activists have long fought to make urban violence a priority for the movement. Now they are slowly securing more dollars for programs proven capable of saving lives.

How We Fix This

Legal Weed Could Send Millions of Dollars to Illinois’s Violence Prevention Groups

Organizations working to reduce shootings in the state have long struggled to secure steady sources of funding. “We’re on the cusp of something really spectacular,” said one prevention worker.

Community Violence

Ghost Guns Are Everywhere in California

Feds say nearly a third of firearms recovered in the state are homemade, unserialized, and untraceable.

Community Violence

Artifacts

Chicago father George Spivey lost his freedom to illegal firearm possession. Then a bullet took the son he was just getting to really know again. An excerpt from Alex Kotlowitz's An American Summer.

Community Violence

A New Book Tells the Stories of Strength Amid Chicago’s Relentless Shootings

We talked to author Alex Kotlowitz about what’s changed, and what hasn’t, in his city over the past 30 years.

Community Violence

What Can We Learn From Chicago’s Declining Gun Violence?

Shootings fell again in 2018. An expert unpacks the possible causes, and explains why the city still has a long way to go.

How We Fix This

‘Scoop and Run’ Can Save Lives. Why Don’t More Police Departments Try It?

Last year, a third of Philadelphia's shooting victims arrived at a trauma center in the back of a cop car. We asked other cities why they haven't embraced the practice.

How We Fix This

Where Cop Cars Double as Ambulances

In Philadelphia, police often race shooting victims to the hospital rather than wait for paramedics. Experts in trauma and policing say more cities should consider it.

Community Violence

In Flint, Gunfire is Killing Kids at a Devastating Rate

Tapped out by its battles over lead-tainted water, the Michigan city is grappling with another public health crisis: It’s losing kids to guns at nearly twice the rate of Chicago and Detroit.

Community Violence

How and Why Chicago’s At-Risk Youth Carry Guns

Young people in the city’s violent neighborhoods arm themselves for protection, new research shows, knowing that few shooters are caught by the police.