Safe Streets, Baltimore's gun reduction program, rally for community violence intervention

BALTIMORE - Safe Streets, Baltimore's flagship gun violence reduction program, held a rally on Tuesday to spread the word about community violence intervention.

"This is something we're hoping to do a few times a year really to allow people to interact with Safe Streets one-on-one who may not have a site in their community and continue to spread that message into the summer," said Stefanie Mavronis, the Director of the Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (MONSE).

Members from all 10 sites across Baltimore started the rally with a 1.5-mile walk along West Baltimore Street, wound down South Carey Street and eventually came to a close at Carroll Park.

There, a community event was held to offer residents resources.

"We need credible messengers who can reach the highest risk for gun violence, and we need to have ways that go beyond policing, prisons and prosecution," Mavronis said.

One of those messengers was Belvedere site director Emmanuel Tarrantbey.

"Coming from them environments, coming from them conditions, them situations, understanding them, making my own transition... I don't see nothing else better to do," Tarrantbey said.

The Safe Streets program has come under criticism over the past year about transparency with funds and a former employee who was investigated by the FBI.

Earlier this year, certain Baltimore City Council members called for an oversight committee hearing to better understand the placement of funding and the hiring process for members.

The event came ahead of Mayor Brandon Scott's administration announcing plans to enact a summer youth curfew and was a lead-up to the 4th annual "Safe Summer," which is this Saturday from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Druid Hill Park.