Can this News Jersey program help Wilmington reduce gun violence? Here's how it works.
We've watched gun violence plague Wilmington for far too long as officials look at ways to combat the surge.
Other cities have had more success and Wilmington is looking to a program in Newark, New Jersey to bring down the number of shootings.
Earlier this year, Delaware’s largest city began working with the Community Based Public Safety Collective – the Street Team’s parent organization – in the hopes of tackling Wilmington’s gun violence. In 2021, 39 people were killed by gunfire in the city, making it Wilmington’s deadliest year on record.
Reporters Isabel Hughes and Amanda Fries, and photographer Jerry Habraken went to Newark to learn about the program they're using.
Here's how part of the program played out following a shooting.
Back on Newark’s West Side, outreach workers with the Street Team’s Hospital Violence Intervention Program prepared to speak with the man who had been shot earlier in the day. He’d been rushed to University Hospital – just a couple blocks from the high school – after the shooting.
Embedded in the hospital’s trauma center, the outreach workers connect victims and their families to the Street Team’s support services, which include counseling, legal support and health care services, among others. The workers also often brings in the High Risk Intervention Team to try to prevent retaliation.
READ THE FULL STORY: This New Jersey program has taken on gun violence. Is there a future for it in Wilmington?
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This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Wilmington gun violence: Can a program from Newark, NJ help?
