Lessons from an Evaluation of Baltimore's Safe Streets Program: A Community-Based Public Health Approach to Interrupt and Prevent Gun Violence

Introduction: We describe an evaluation of Baltimore’s Safe Streets program, the first attempt to replicate Chicago’s CeaseFire, a community based intervention that employs exoffenders to connect with high-risk youth, steer them toward safer lifestyles, mediate high-risk conflicts, and promote nonviolent social norms.

Methods: We assessed program impacts on gun violence using multiple interrupted time-series data for program areas contrasted with the most violent control areas. Reviews of conflict mediation forms and monthly meetings with program staff provided opportunities to understand the conflicts being mediated and the challenges of program implementation. In one intervention area and 2 control areas, we measured youths’ attitudes through anonymous on-street surveys. Researchers navigated concerns of program staff, community residents, and the IRB to develop safe and effective ways to recruit youth on the street in Baltimore’s most dangerous neighborhoods.

Results: Hiring local data collectors comfortable with interacting with high-risk youth on the street was necessary, yet challenging. Difficulty with direct monitoring of data collection, in one case, compromised the integrity of survey data, requiring recollection of data. Final survey data showed much less acceptance of using guns to settle disputes in the intervention area compared with controls. Pre-publication data indicating program success in reducing homicides and connecting these reductions to conflicts mediated influenced program operations and helped sustain the program. There were significant reductions in gun violence in 3 of 4 intervention neighborhoods studied. An in-depth qualitative study of program implementation aided researchers’ understanding of the profession and art of violence interruption and what is needed to successfully implement a program model that can lead to substantial reductions in violence with proper implementation.

Conclusion: Safe Streets was successful in reducing gun violence in several Baltimore neighborhoods, though has encountered challenges to successful program implementation. Working closely with program staff has yielded important insights which enhance both research and practice.