GREENSBORO, N.C. - City and county leaders are considering a program to address gun violence, looking to implement a national mode called Cure Violence.
The model looks at the violence as a disease or epidemic through a public health lens. By using a system of "interrupters," people who once were a part of problem become the solution, by stopping the "transmission" of violence, and preventing further spread.
On Tuesday, public health officials from Durham County's Public Health Department visited Greensboro City Council members, to explain how the program has worked for their community. The visitors explained over almost two years, the specific communities targeted by the Cure Violence program have seen real decreases in violent crime, although data shows a general uptick across the city as a whole.
Since 2000, the national organization's mission has been "to reduce violence globally using disease control and behavior change methods," by using the model and shifting "the thinking, policy, and practice as it relates to violence such that it is seen primarily as health issue."
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