A Model for Stopping Violence in the Schools & Creating Peace in the Community

The Center for Neighborhood Enterprise was founded in 1981 by Robert L. Woodson, Sr. to help the residents of low-income neighborhoods address the problems of their communities. CNE has a major focus on the problem of youth violence.

HISTORY

A major initiative of the Center for Neighborhood Enterprise is the Violence Free Zone project, the roots of which were in a program in Philadelphia, PA known as the House of Umoja, which stopped gang violence throughout Philadelphia in the early 1980's. In January, 1997, when a 12-year-old boy was shot and killed in violence between rival youth factions in a crime-ridden Washington, DC public housing development, CNE coached and supported a local grassroots group as they brought the leaders of the two warring factions to CNE's offices to negotiate a truce.

Using strategies learned from the Philadelphia experience, Woodson and CNE helped craft a peace agreement among warring factions in Washington, D.C.'s Benning Terrace public housing development that had led to more than 50 youth deaths in recent years. Once peace was achieved, the youths were provided with life skills and jobs as an alternative to the drug and crime-filled lifestyle they had agreed to leave. Further, many of the young people once involved in the violence used their influence to become ambassadors of peace and motivate neighborhood children toward positive activities. At the end of ten years, there were no crew-related homicides in the area. The principles of this program have been adapted at six sites throughout the country to create CNE Violence Free Zone projects in Atlanta, Baltimore, Dallas, Milwaukee, and Richmond, VA.

HOW IT WORKS

The Center identifies grassroots organizations that have the goal of stopping violence in their neighborhoods and that have the trust and confidence of young people. CNE then provides technical assistance and guidance that enables the neighborhood based groups to serve in a specific geographic area. The Violence-Free Zone initiative is being implemented in 27 schools at seven sites. Central to the school VFZ program are the Youth Advisor's--mature young adults who are from the same neighborhoods as students in the schools they serve. The Youth Advisor's command trust and respect because they have faced and overcome the same challenges as the youths. They act as hall monitors, mentors, counselors, conflict resolvers, and role models. The result has been significant reductions in disruptive or violent incidents, truancy and suspensions, and increases in school attendance.

SITES AND LEAD ORGANIZATIONS

Atlanta, GA - Visions Unlimited
Baltimore, MD - New Vision Youth Services
Dallas, TX - Vision/Regeneration, Inc.
Milwaukee, WI - The Latino Community Center and Running Rebels Community Organization
Richmond, VA - Richmond Outreach Center


CNE's ROLE

• Identify neighborhood leaders that are effective in youth outreach;
• Provide guidance and technical support;
• Link grassroots organizations to sources of public and private-sector support;
• Document and evaluate their effectiveness, and disseminate the information so that others  can adapt the principles of success.

VFZ SUPPORTERS

Supporters of the Violence-Free Zone initiative have included the Marcus Foundation; Chevron; the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation; the Annie E. Casey Foundation; the William H. Donner Foundation, the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention; the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Dallas Independent School District, the Prince George’s County School System, the District of Columbia Metropolitan Police, and Milwaukee Public Schools.


Click here to view VFZ most recent media coverage

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

Contact: Kwame Toure Johnson - National Violence Free Zone Project Director
The Center For Neighborhood Enterprise
1625 K Street NW Suite 1200
Washington, DC 20006
Phone: 202-518-6500 ext: 249
Email: kjohnson@cneonline.org