Operation CeaseFire

Cure Violence, originally founded as CeaseFire, Inc., is an anti-violence program and initiative of the Chicago Project for Violence Prevention aimed at reducing street violence by using outreach workers to interrupt potentially violent situations. These violence interrupters work on the street, mediating conflicts between gangs and intervening to prevent retaliatory shootings and killings. The project was founded in 1995 by Dr. Gary Slutkin, an American epidemiologist who maintains that violence is a public health issue that can be prevented by changing behavioral norms.