In the New York Times, Tina Rosenberg writes about the READI Chicago Program to help young men caught up in criminal activity find legal work. It’s run by Heartland Alliance and is one of the four core strategies to reduce gun violence funded by the Partnership for Safe and Peaceful Communities.

Rosenberg, who founded Solutions Journalism Network, which reports on responses to social problems, writes:

The conventional wisdom is that a young man who is part of the gang life in a violent community, standing on a corner, perhaps selling drugs, does so out of choice. On the corner he makes money. He’s respected and feared. A minimum-wage job picking up trash in the park? That’s for chumps and losers.

That conventional wisdom might be wrong. The reasons the young man stays on the corner might be completely different from what we imagine. He might, after all, want that park job, and want to get off the corner, but not know how.

Baten Phillips’s job is to show him how.

Rosenberg also wrote an earlier piece in the Times about Cure Violence, an ongoing effort to “interrupt” street violence. It’s currently in 21 cities across America, including Chicago.

Read more.

This is a story about the Community Safety and Peace and Street Outreach, Support Services and Jobs strategies of the Partnership for Safe and Peaceful Communities.