Core Competencies
Among all the competencies of Ceasefire, the two most critical for changing the norms of community towards violence are:
Standardized Delivery of Technical Assistance and Training
The Chicago project utilizes ex-offenders in their training program for the local community. These staff members are able to reach out to the current youth in terms of their past experiences and mistakes. Their outreach worker training program guides employees to learn about helping others in the community who might be following the path of violence and could end up as convicted felons. The Ceasefire team’s efforts to uniquely prepare reformed ex-offenders as the guides for the youth is a powerful method that can help reduce violence.
These ex-offenders provide the technical assistance from their own experiences and help Ceasefire to facilitate better community relations and curb violent behaviour. The unique training provided to ex-offenders provides them a cause to help youth avoid the mistakes they made (Institute of Design 11).
Transferability
The Chicago project has proven to be highly successful in terms of transferability of their model for reducing violence. Other cities struggling with street violence can also implement the same Chicago Project and witness the benefits of reduced killing and shootings performed by youth. The Chicago project has proven by highly successful in Baltimore, where targeted youth who were considered high risk were mediated with several monthly contacts. The end result was similar to the past experiences as youth responded by learning from other’s experiences. In Baltimore, the Chicago project successful implementation helped to deliver results in the form of youth looking for dispute resolution rather than conducting violence in the name of a dispute. Above all, the transferability to other cities outside and their success is a high competency for the Chicago Project as the same can now be implemented in other cities with problems of youth violence (Institute of Design 11).
Critical Participants
The most critical participants in the Ceasefire are the staff and the youth targeted through the Chicago Project. Using the ex-offenders as the staff members is a strategy that has worked well for the Chicago project and their success in reducing violence. Ex-offenders have the technical expertise to help out the youth who are utilizing the same tools that ex-offenders used in the past. Ex-offenders can help and guide the youth in avoiding the same mistakes and ensure they are informed the correct path.
Youth who at high risk of getting involved in shooting and killings should be participants in the Project Ceasefire. Without their involvement, Ceasefire would not be able to reduce shooting and killing incidents from the streets. With youth participating in the program and getting the opportunity to learn from other’s mistakes, it is possible that violent activities can be eliminated from the streets. Chicago project has proven in several cities that intervention and contacts from ex-offenders working for Project Chicago has been helpful in reducing violence (Ritter N.pag).
Agencies such as the city police department, state department of probation and parole; the US Attorney and the District Attorney; and other social services organizations are also important participants in Ceasefire. Without their support and participation, Ceasefire cannot have a proven impact without the support of law enforcement, justice department and social services. These institutions, organization and individuals provide the evidence of decreased crime rates and the impact Ceasefire has in reducing youth violence.
Works Cited
“CeaseFire Community Campaign for Violence Prevention”. Institute of Design. iit.edu. March 2009. Web. 17 February 2016.
Ritter., N. CeaseFire: A Public Health Approach to Reduce Shootings and Killings. NCJRS. ncjrs.gov. n.d. Web. 17 February 2016.
Ceasefire. Homepage. Ceasefire. cureviolence.org. n.d. Web. 17 February 2016.
