The Cure Violence model exists to help change the community norms around violence. These changes are being made through community engagement—helping people understand that there is more to community than just violence. Through journalism, storytelling, public education, and trusted community voices, we provoke change through the Roots of Peace.
These roots are built on five pillars:
1. Interruption: Identifying and Redirecting Risk
Interruption is about identifying and documenting risk. It’s also about having trained mentors who teach youth to resolve conflicts peacefully. By redirecting them away from violence through creative outlets, we give them alternatives—ways to express themselves, process their emotions, and envision a future beyond conflict.
2. Stabilization: Building Safety Through Unity
Stabilization is about creating safety through community resources. It’s about organizations coming together to create bigger voices, advocate for those who need it most, and ensure no one is left behind. Stability isn’t just about preventing harm—it’s about building a foundation where healing can begin.
3. Call of Action: Taking Ownership of Change
The Call of Action pillar is about volunteering, donating, and educating ourselves. It’s about showing up—whether through community-led workshops, following leaders who inspire us, or staying informed about what’s happening in our neighborhoods. Change doesn’t happen passively. It requires each of us to take ownership.
4. Healing: Rebuilding and Coming Together
Once stability is achieved, Healing becomes possible. This is about addressing past traumas, creating new outlets for expression, and fostering shared experiences that remind people they’re not alone. Healing isn’t linear—it’s a journey, but it’s one we take together.
5. Leadership: Stepping Up When It Matters Most
Leadership is about those who step up to the plate. It’s the voices that refuse to stay silent, the organizations that show up when their community needs them most, and the individuals who inspire others to do the same. Leadership isn’t just about titles—it’s about action.
Change in Action
Over the past weeks, we’ve seen these principles come to life. Resource fairs, art exhibitions, and organizations stepping up when their community needed them most—these aren’t just events. They’re proof that when people unite, resilience follows.
And as these pillars take root, something beautiful happens: change becomes inevitable. Leaders emerge. Stories are shared. Healing begins.
The Power of Belief in Change
These pillars might seem impossible when viewed as a whole, but real change is already happening. Leaders are stepping up. Stories are being told. Healing is underway.
Yet, none of this matters if we don’t embrace it individually. Violence remains the default when we accept it as such. But through these outlets, we see that the greatest way to plant change is to first expect that change is needed.
Change is needed—not because there hasn’t been progress already, but because we’ve been comfortable with what has been given instead of what could be possible. And the thing about possibilities? They are endless—if there is effort and there is community.
The future we want isn’t a distant dream. It’s being built right now, one action, one voice, one story at a time.