Unpacking the Complexities of Community-led Violence Prevention Work

Abstract

With increased public scrutiny of policing and growing calls for community-based violence prevention, street outreach programs that hire residents to mediate conflicts in their neighborhoods are gaining support. To understand how street outreach workers (SOWs) use information and communication technologies (ICTs) and how they envision future ICTs that better support their work, we interviewed 25 SOWs across three organizations. Results suggest that SOWs leverage ICTs to: 1) identify and mediate conflict; 2) support collaboration and teamwork; and 3) invoke community connections and trust. SOWs posit that new ICTs could provide a seamless infrastructure for communication among SOWs and between community members, assist with training to sharpen conflict negotiation skills, and provide insight on effective conflict mediation strategies.