Advancing Urban Peace: Preventing Gun Violence and Healing Traumatized Youth

Abstract

This descriptive article highlights the inner-practices of a trauma-informed, healing-centered, urban gun violence reduction program called Advance Peace. We find that the Advance Peace model uses a unique curriculum called the Peacemaker Fellowship, that offers intensive mentorship, caring, and ‘street love’ to youth at the center of gun violence. The Advance Peace approach is one public safety model that may help young people of color heal from the traumas that contribute to gun violence while also reducing gun crime in urban neighborhoods.

Heterogeneous effects of spatially proximate firearm homicide exposure on anxiety and depression symptoms among U.S. youth

“…This finding suggests that the accumulation of stressors associated with structural disadvantage, coupled with exposure to firearm violence, may make boys and young men uniquely vulnerable to the mental health impacts of such exposure. When considered alongside research showing that youth experiencing more complex adversity histories may be more susceptible to indirect firearm violence exposure, and that youth with a higher sense of safety are less likely to experience extreme sadness following exposure ( Mitchell et al, 2021 ), our findings underscore the urgent need to implement and adequately fund community-based violence interventions, including but not limited to Advance Peace ( Corburn et al, 2021 ; Corburn et al, 2022 ), Becoming a Man ( Prochaska, 2013 ), and hospital-based violence interventions ( Wical et al, 2020 ) that simultaneously offer young people access to mental health and coping support while also notably reducing all forms of community firearm violence. Our findings also point to the need for tailored interventions aimed at identifying and engaging youth at greatest risk of firearm violence exposure in affordable, accessible, and culturally-responsive mental health support services in their schools and communities.…”

Curbing the Epidemic of Community Firearm Violence after the Bruen Decision

“…Some CVI models, such as Advance Peace, center on mentorship. 21 Others, including hospital-based violence intervention programs (HVIP), aim to meet clients’ basic needs through trauma-informed, wraparound services. 22 Another common approach, known as the Cure Violence or “violence interrupter” model, focuses on mediating disputes in the short term and changing norms in the long term.…”