Baltimore Safe Streets
Launched in 2007 through the Baltimore City Health Department. The longest-running CVI program in the United States, with Johns Hopkins University tracking outcomes from 2007 through 2022.
The Program
Safe Streets deploys credible messengers across multiple sites in Baltimore’s highest-violence neighborhoods. Mayor Brandon Scott uses the term “trusted messengers” to describe the workforce, per WMAR reporting. The program operates through the Health Department, a placement that has provided institutional stability across multiple mayoral administrations, per city government data.
The Penn North site went 478 consecutive days without a single homicide in a neighborhood that the Baltimore Banner described as historically one of the city’s most violent. Pastor Rodney Hudson called Safe Streets “the special forces of crime reduction in Baltimore.” Rob Wilcox from the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention called Baltimore’s success “the greatest success story in the country,” per the Baltimore Banner.
Safe Streets has expanded into schools with what the city described as “five intervention strategies” including “restorative practices to combat violent behavior.” The model has been replicated in suburban Anne Arundel County’s Annapolis Eastport neighborhood, per Baltimore Banner reporting.
The Evidence
Johns Hopkins tracked the program from 2007 through 2022. Daniel Webster, then director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions, concluded that there is “clearly less gun violence” when programs like Safe Streets are properly implemented and adequately funded. The finding: 22% fewer homicides than predicted in Safe Streets program areas, and 23% fewer nonfatal shootings. The evaluation also produced a cost-benefit estimate: $7.20 to $19.20 in economic benefits for every dollar invested.
The 15-year timeframe includes periods of both strong and weak implementation — site closures, management problems, and funding disruptions. The 22% finding averages across varying levels of fidelity.
In 2024, Baltimore recorded 201 homicides — a 23% decline, per city government data. Nonfatal shootings dropped 34%. In 2025, the city recorded 133 homicides — a 31% decline over 2024, and the fewest in nearly 50 years, per the Baltimore Banner and CNN. Safe Streets violence interrupters mediated more than 1,011 potentially violent conflicts through August 2025 alone, per city government data. Mayor Brandon Scott described the results as the product of “an all-of-the-above approach” combining enforcement, community violence intervention, and targeted prosecution, per Baltimore City Mayor’s Office, October 25, 2022. https://mayor.baltimorecity.gov/news/press-releases/2022-10-25-mayor-scott-announces-school-based-violence-intervention-pilot
Three Safe Streets sites achieved 365 or more consecutive days without a homicide, per city government press releases.
The Federal Contraction
In April 2025, LifeBridge Health Center for Hope, which operates six Safe Streets sites, lost $1.2 million in federal CVI funding, per Baltimore Banner reporting. Baltimore’s ROCA program lost $1 million overnight, per Baltimore Sun reporting. The cuts also threatened a planned Johns Hopkins efficacy study, per WYPR.
ROCA Baltimore continues operating, having served more than 350 young men in 2025 and nearly 750 since 2018, sustained by approximately $938,647 from Baltimore City, nearly $3 million from Maryland, and diversified sources, per Baltimore Banner reporting. In February 2026, ROCA received a $1.66 million congressional earmark via Massachusetts legislators, per The Reminder.
Funding
Maryland is one of nine states (along with California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, and Oregon) that has obtained Medicaid reimbursement for CVI services, per HAVI tracking. The pathway provides a recurring revenue floor that federal grants do not. But as Dr. Kyle Fischer cautioned, Medicaid is “not a panacea” — it covers only Medicaid-eligible individuals and billable clinical encounters, not the relationship maintenance, community canvassing, and organizational capacity that make Safe Streets function.
The Health Department provides budget-line funding. City general fund allocations provided continuity when federal grants were terminated. State support from Maryland supplements both.
How the Work Operates
The Penn North site illustrates the model. Credible messengers canvass the neighborhood, maintain relationships with highest-risk individuals, and mediate conflicts before they produce shootings. As one violence interrupter told ProPublica: “We were able to resolve it. That’s what we do out here… We squashed it. But nobody knows about those kinds of stories.”
The scope of Baltimore’s CVI ecosystem extends beyond Safe Streets. LifeBridge Health Center for Hope, which operated six Safe Streets sites before the April 2025 federal cuts, lost $1.2 million, per Baltimore Banner reporting — but continues operating with diversified funding. ROCA Baltimore served more than 350 young men in 2025 and nearly 750 since 2018, per the Baltimore Banner, sustained by approximately $938,647 from the city, nearly $3 million from Maryland, and additional sources. In February 2026, ROCA received a $1.66 million congressional earmark, per The Reminder.
Three Safe Streets sites achieved 365 or more consecutive days without a homicide in 2024-2025, per city government press releases. Mayor Brandon Scott described the results as “an all-of-the-above approach” combining enforcement, community violence intervention, and targeted prosecution. Safe Streets violence interrupters mediated more than 1,011 potentially violent conflicts through August 2025 alone, per city data.
Workers identify risk through street intelligence, social media monitoring, and hospital notifications. The work operates 24/7. The field describes the workforce as “certified violence prevention professionals” who work “nights, weekends, and holidays — whenever violence spikes.”
**Evidence:** Johns Hopkins longitudinal study (2007-2022) — 22% fewer homicides, 23% fewer nonfatal shootings; $7.20-$19.20 ROI per dollar invested (Tier 1 independent evaluation)
**2024-2025 Results:** 201 homicides in 2024 (-23%); 133 homicides in 2025 (-31%), fewest in ~50 years; nonfatal shootings -34% in 2024; 3 sites achieved 365+ days zero homicides (Tier 2, citywide, multiple factors)
**Team:** Credible messengers deployed through Baltimore City Health Department
**Funding:** Health department budget, state support, Medicaid (Maryland is 1 of 9 CVI Medicaid states), federal grants (terminated April 2025: LifeBridge -$1.2M, ROCA -$1M)
**Key Vulnerability:** Federal funding contraction; LifeBridge lost $1.2M; ROCA lost $1M despite demonstrated effectiveness. Johns Hopkins efficacy study threatened.
The Anne Arundel County expansion, per Baltimore Banner reporting, documents suburban replication of the urban Safe Streets model — an important test of whether the credible messenger workforce concept transfers outside the high-density urban neighborhoods where it originated. The school-based expansion, with “five intervention strategies” including “restorative practices to combat violent behavior,” per city government reporting, documents a second adaptation: applying the CVI approach to an institutional setting (schools) rather than street-based operations alone.
The Political and Institutional Context
Baltimore’s Safe Streets has survived multiple mayoral administrations — a durability that most CVI programs have not achieved. The program launched in 2007 under Mayor Sheila Dixon, continued through Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, Mayor Catherine Pugh, and now operates under Mayor Brandon Scott. The Health Department placement provided institutional stability independent of individual political leadership, per city government data.
Professor Daniel Webster of Johns Hopkins described the pattern: “clearly less gun violence” when programs like Safe Streets are “properly implemented and adequately funded.” The conditional — “properly implemented and adequately funded” — reflects Baltimore’s own history. Safe Streets has experienced site closures, management problems, and periods of insufficient funding within its 18-year history. The 22% finding from the Johns Hopkins longitudinal study averages across periods of both strong and weak implementation.
The Penn North success (478 consecutive days without a homicide, per the Baltimore Banner) occurred during a period of strong implementation, adequate staffing, and sustained organizational support. Replicating that level of performance across all Safe Streets sites — and sustaining it over time — requires the organizational capacity infrastructure that Angela Kimball of Inseparable described as the unfunded gap in CVI: training, supervision, trauma support for workers, and staff availability during periods without active encounters.
Baltimore’s 2025 result — 133 homicides, the fewest in nearly 50 years, per the Baltimore Banner and CNN — represents the cumulative effect of an 18-year institutional investment. As Mayor Scott described, the result reflects “an all-of-the-above approach” combining enforcement, CVI, and targeted prosecution. No single element of that approach claims sole credit.
Source Appendix
1. Johns Hopkins 2007-2022 evaluation — 22% fewer homicides, 23% fewer nonfatal, $7.20-$19.20 ROI. Webster: “clearly less gun violence.” Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Baltimore Banner. https://www.thebanner.com/community/criminal-justice/safe-streets-penn-north-JLZH6TGFJFAYHCIIMMTT4J4OD4/
2. Penn North — 478 days. Baltimore Banner, March 2024.
3. 2024 stats — 201 homicides, -23%, nonfatal -34%. Baltimore city government. Baltimore Banner.
4. 2025 stats — 133 homicides, -31%, fewest in ~50 years, 1,011 mediations. Baltimore Banner. CNN, November 2025. https://us.cnn.com/2025/11/24/us/baltimore-crime-safe-streets-rochelle-johnson-hdy Baltimore city government, February 2026.
5. Mayor Scott — “all-of-the-above approach.” Baltimore City Mayor’s Office, October 25, 2022. https://mayor.baltimorecity.gov/news/press-releases/2022-10-25-mayor-scott-announces-school-based-violence-intervention-pilot
6. 365+ days at 3 sites. Baltimore city government press releases, February 2026.
7. LifeBridge -$1.2M, ROCA -$1M. Baltimore Banner. Baltimore Sun. WYPR, April 2025. https://www.wypr.org/wypr-news/2025-04-24/as-baltimore-city-homicides-plummet-trump-administration-terminates-some-local-violence-prevention-grants
8. ROCA Baltimore — 350+ in 2025, ~750 since 2018, $938K city, ~$3M state, $1.66M earmark. Baltimore Banner. https://www.thebanner.com/community/local-news/roca-baltimore-violence-prevention-program-PGSLEJE4ONHT5FYINMYZQVSLVI/ The Reminder, February 2026.
9. Medicaid — 9 states. HAVI. https://www.thehavi.org/
10. Fischer — “stability” and “not a panacea.” Health Affairs Forefront (Fischer, Morris, Piening). https://www.healthaffairs.org/content/forefront/expand-medicaid-s-investment-community-violence-intervention Also: The Guardian, Sonya Singh, June 7, 2023. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jun/07/gun-violence-medicaid-california-intervention-program
11. Pastor Hudson — “special forces.” Health Affairs Forefront (Fischer, Morris, Piening). https://www.healthaffairs.org/content/forefront/expand-medicaid-s-investment-community-violence-intervention Also: The Guardian, Sonya Singh, June 7, 2023. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jun/07/gun-violence-medicaid-california-intervention-program
12. Wilcox — “greatest success story.” Health Affairs Forefront (Fischer, Morris, Piening). https://www.healthaffairs.org/content/forefront/expand-medicaid-s-investment-community-violence-intervention Also: The Guardian, Sonya Singh, June 7, 2023. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jun/07/gun-violence-medicaid-california-intervention-program
13. Anne Arundel expansion. Baltimore Banner.
14. ProPublica — “We squashed it.” Alec MacGillis, May 2023. https://www.propublica.org/article/are-community-violence-interruption-programs-effective
15. CVI program descriptions — workforce descriptions. 2024.