City leaders introduce community to pilot program that could reduce violence in District

Tyreese McAllister’s daughter Ayana was hit by a stray bullet last March in Northeast.

“Every single day since Ayana has died there is a new story about somebody getting killed by a gun, whether it’s in Maryland, D.C., or Virginia,” said McAllister.

On Wednesday night, she joined dozens of others impacted by violence, to hear about the pilot program known as Cure Violence.

The program will be funded through $360,000 provided by the D.C. Council. The main goal is to address violence from a public health perspective.

The idea came from the Office of the Attorney General.

“Really we need a different strategy in our community,” said McAllister.

“Cure Violence is a violence reduction strategy that has been proven to work in cities across the country,” said Seema Gajwani, who is the Special Counsel for Juvenile Justice Reform. “This past memorial weekend, we had an extreme number of shootings, killings, we can no longer tolerate more of that.”

The program is still in its early stages. Once they are on the ground, they will setup sites in two areas with the highest rates of homicides and shootings.

Click here to read more about Cure Violence