Volunteer Violence Interrupters in Fort Greene Go It Alone
The members of Switching Lifestylez didn’t wait for a city contract to do the work.
This article was originally published on by THE CITY
A group of six violence interrupters in Fort Greene have been responding to shootings, holding vigils, and de-escalating conflicts between youth in the neighborhood’s two public housing complexes for over a year.
The work is similar to what other interrupter groups do in gun violence hotspots, from The Bronx to Coney Island to Far Rockaway. But in Fort Greene, there’s one major difference: They’re not getting paid.