Streetworker Program: Nonviolence Streetworker Outreach

Streetworker Program
Nonviolence Streetworker Outreach

https://nonviolenceinstitute.org/index.php/streetworkers/

Our Streetworker Outreach Team build relationships, gather information and mediate conflicts to prevent violence. They respond 24:7 to every shooting and stabbing brought to Rhode Island Hospital. Our team works with the families affected by the violence, to understand the community dynamics that cause violence, and to prevent retaliations.

We have 8 Streetworkers to cover the core cities: Providence, Pawtucket, and Central Falls. In partnership with the Providence School Department, we have two Streetworkers dedicated to middle schools to work with at-risk youth. We have two Streetworkers dedicated to Pawtucket, and the remaining team works together to cover Providence and Central Falls.
You Can Find Our Streetworkers At:

School dismissals
After school youth programs
Community events
Midnight Basketball League
In “hot spots” where violence is known to occur

The Streetworkers, many of whom are former offenders, provide one-to-one advocacy and mentoring, and are a positive presence in the streets and in the lives of high-risk youth. In 2016, our Streetworker Outreach Team responded to Rhode Island Hospital and Hasbro Children’s Hospital 70 times for shooting and stabbing victims, and outreached to 116 victims of violence. They work closely with the Providence Police Department and other community partners to mediate conflicts.

For more information, please contact Juan Carter, Director of the Nonviolence Streetworker Outreach Program at juan@nonviolenceinstitute.org.

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About Us

Mission & Vision

Choose Peace

The Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence’s (ISPN) mission is to teach, by word and example, the principles and practices of nonviolence, and to foster a community that addresses potentially violent situations with nonviolent solutions. We work to build Dr. King’s ideal of the nonviolent Beloved Community.


About ISPN

ISPN was founded by Sister Ann Keefe and Father Ray Malm in 2001 in the rectory of St. Michael’s Church in South Providence. They were angry about the overwhelming amount of young people they had to bury because of gang violence and knew they had to act. Based on the principles and practices of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s theory of nonviolence, The Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence was born. Their dream was to teach nonviolence to everyone, to increase a person’s ability to see alternate solutions to potentially violent solutions.

Sister Ann and Father Ray wanted to build Dr. King’s ideal Beloved Community, where no one is excluded and everyone is welcome and treated with dignity and respect. That dream has since grown into offering comprehensive and holistic programs and services to support violence prone communities and countless victims of violence: Employment and Education, Victim Support, Nonviolence Streetworker Outreach and Re-Entry, and Nonviolence Training and Nonviolent Conflict Resolution Workshops. Together, these services provide our clients with a continuum of care to ensure they stay alive, feel a sense of purpose and are able to be productive members of the community.


The Need for Nonviolence

ISPN’s nationally recognized model of violence reduction using nonviolence is being deployed in cities throughout the state and country, in places such as Providence, RI, Pawtucket, RI, Central Falls, RI, New Bedford, MA, Fall River, MA, Brockton, MA, Wyandanch, NY and Chicago, IL. Teny Gross, ISPN’s former Executive Director, is currently the Executive Director for the Institute for Nonviolence- Chicago, and using our Violence Reduction model in the Austin Neighborhood of Chicago.