After threatening legal action, FOX45 News received hundreds of pages detailing the contractual agreements between the City of Baltimore and community groups operating the Safe Streets Program, shedding new light on how the community-based violence intervention program operates.

Safe Streets is a program that has operated in Baltimore for more than a decade. Mayor Brandon Scott often touts the program as the city’s “flagship violence prevention” program, but it’s often shrouded in secrecy when the city is asked for details.

For more than a year, FOX45 News has been investigating the Safe Streets program, how the community-based organizations, CBOs, utilizing the grant funding to run the program, and what the employees are doing to prevent gun violence.

The Safe Streets workers, either known as Site Directors, Site Supervisors, or Violence Interrupters, are required by contracts to meet weekly to discuss the program and ongoing efforts to thwart gun violence. Whether that happens remains unclear, given the secrecy surrounding the program. The Safe Streets employees are not city employees, rather on the payroll of whatever CBO operates their location. In the contracts provided by the city, employee names are redacted.

According to the contract as well, employees who are charged with felonies or more serious misdemeanors are subject to suspension, and a conviction results in termination. However, given the fact that the public doesn’t know who the employees are, it’s difficult for the public to account for that policy being followed.

The structure of the management of Safe Streets has changed since FOX45 News first launched an investigation into the program. According to Mayor Scott’s new outline, instead of the patchwork of CBOs managing the 10 different Safe Streets locations, LifeBridge Center for Hope and Catholic Charities will assume responsibility of all the locations; that migration was slated to be finalized by the end of January 2023.

The contracts raise more questions about accountability for the Safe Streets program and FOX45 News will continue demanding answers.

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