Community Healing Collaborative, Bringing Peace to South Los Angeles

The purpose of this project is to address gang and community violence by training faith leaders and former gang members in violence interruption; to transform neighborhood churches into safety and service hubs for communities in the 37th District; and to host healing sessions for those who survived violence, both as victims and as perpetrators. This model is follows evidence-based and evidence-informed practices that emphasize empowering community members to interrupt the violence in their neighborhoods. Rather than anchor interventions on policing or social services, interventions are focused on training and supporting lay people to both identify and address the upstream drivers of violence and to heal the downstream impacts of violence in all of its forms. What is unique about our approach is that we are engaging black churches, which historically and currently hold position as trusted and accessible institutions in the black community.