Gang & Community Violence Prevention, Intervention, and Suppression

Community violence includes a wide range of crimes, such as murder, gun violence, interpersonal, domestic, sexual violence, robbery, and aggravated or simple assault and battery. While any type of violence in communities is cause for concern and important to recognize and address, We Are 1's strategy focuses on how to address a narrower set of offenses, sometimes referred to as street-level violent crimes. 

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Street-level violent crimes include murders and aggravated assaults and batteries that occur within communities often involving firearms and are not domestic incidents. Experiencing or witnessing this type of violence can be traumatic and increase fear and distrust among community members and feelings that communities are unsafe. Exposure to violent crime also may result in short- and long-term adverse outcomes for individuals and communities.

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Our prevention, intervention, and suppression tactics strengthen, empower, and engage communities to keep them safe and healthy. Our applications include approaches aimed at reducing factors associated with at-risk, problematic behaviors and strengthening protective factors. Our Intervention programs aggressively targets individuals already engaged in at-risk behavior, such as active gang members.

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Here is a brief outline of  a few of our 10 point  Violence Prevention, Intervention, and Suppression strategies. 

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Youth Development.

Through our Player 1 Academy, we focus on engaging young people to develop their emotional, physical, social, and intellectual selves. Our Player 1 Academy provides opportunities for youth to learn and practice conflict resolution and prosocial life skills. 

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Street Intervention / Interruption, Active Outreach, and Engagement.

Our gang suppression specialists target at-risk youth and engage them on their turf to provide crisis intervention and de-escalation of high-stress situations. Our strategy eleminates the threats or perceived threats that can increase the risk for violent occurrences. 

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Counseling and Therapy.

We provide developmentally appropriate therapeutic services provided by mental health professionals that incorporate cognitive-behavioral therapy and contingency management approaches. 

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Community Engagement.

Our Community Engagement system supports youth and their families in identifying and accessing resources. Our up close and personal community engagement approach actively engages youth and families (i.e., active outreach, in-home meetings with youth/families, community engagement) and is more effective at long-term community retention and developing trust, than more passive approaches.