An Unusual New Program Seeks to Cut Urban Crime by Pushing Gang Members Into College
βAt a time when increasing attention is being focused on helping prison inmates get degrees, Boston Uncornered is one of hundreds of programs nationwide aiming to break cycles of urban poverty and violence in the first place. Many are targeting high-achieving, low-income clients, giving them the guidance and scholarships they need to leave their troubled communities behind. Efforts that focus on high-risk, off-track youth are rarer, and tend to emphasize high school completion and careers. One of the best known is Cure Violence, which started in Chicago and has spread to 25 cities and nine countries and which treats violence as an epidemic that can be stopped by treating the highest-risk people.β