Safe Streets McElderry Park Catchment Zone
BALTIMORE, MD (Monday, July 27, 2026) - Today, Mayor Brandon M. Scott, the Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (MONSE) and LifeBridge Health Center for Hope announced that the Safe Streets Baltimore's McElderry Park site has reached a major milestone of over 365 days with no homicides in the site's catchment area.
The last homicide within the site's catchment zone was on June 19, 2025, in the 500 block of N Port Street. As of Monday, July 27, 2026, the site has continued to have zero homicides within the catchment area's boundaries for 403 days.
"Safe Streets McElderry Park going over 365 days without a homicide is a testament to what is possible when we put those closest to the pain in our communities at the heart of our solutions to prevent and intervene in violence," said Mayor Brandon M. Scott. "Safe Streets and our community violence intervention ecosystem are undoubtedly helping to drive the historic reductions in homicides and nonfatal shootings that we have seen over the past three plus years, alongside the efforts of law enforcement, prosecutors, and other partners across Baltimore's broader public safety apparatus."
In order to help achieve this milestone, the McElderry Park site has conducted over 358 successful mediations and held 29 community events to bring resources into the community and spread anti-violence messaging during this time period. In 2025, Safe Streets violence interrupters mediated over 1,752 potentially violent conflicts across all 10 sites. So far this year, there have been 780 successful mediations across all sites.
"As we reach this important milestone for the McElderry Park neighborhood, I'm grateful for the lives that have been kept safe over the past year. We've made significant progress, but we must continue partnering together to improve public safety in our city, as our work is far from over. That's why I've fought to deliver federal public safety resources, and I will continue working to do so in order to support our city," said U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen.
"A full year without a homicide in McElderry Park is proof that violence interruption works when a community commits to it fully," said City Council President Zeke Cohen. "I want to thank the outreach workers at Safe Streets who built trust block by block, the residents who chose to engage with their work and the trauma informed care providers who advocated for healing in their neighborhood."
As part of Baltimore's community violence intervention (CVI) ecosystem, Safe Streets relies on credible messengers with rapport amongst the communities they serve to mediate conflicts, oftentimes risking their own life to save those of their neighbors, and shift community norms around the acceptability of gun violence. This program is derived from the Cure Violence model for violence intervention.
"MONSE is proud to join Mayor Scott and our partners at LifeBridge Health Center for Hope in recognizing this incredible accomplishment," said Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement Director Stefanie Mavronis. "We know that when we treat violence as a public health issue and invest in community-based prevention and intervention, we can achieve real, long-term public safety. As part of Baltimore's Comprehensive Violence Prevention Plan, we remain committed to continuing to support this work and our frontline staff as we work toward a new normal for safer, stronger communities across Baltimore."
McElderry Park is one of ten Safe Streets Baltimore locations across Baltimore and was the first Safe Streets site in Baltimore when it was opened under the oversight of the Baltimore City Health Department and the Living Classrooms Foundation in 2007. Today, the Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (MONSE) is responsible for oversight of the Safe Streets Baltimore program and contracts with community-based organizations - Associated Catholic Charities and Lifebridge Health Center for Hope - (CBOs) to serve as site administrators. Catholic Charities operates the Penn North site as well as the Sandtown-Winchester, Brooklyn, and Cherry Hill locations. LifeBridge Health's Center for Hope serves as the operator for the Belvedere, Park Heights, Woodbourne-McCabe, Belair-Edison, McElderry Park, and Franklin Square locations.
"Reaching more than 365 days without a homicide in the McElderry Park catchment area reinforces what research and our experience have shown for years - that community violence intervention saves lives," said Adam Rosenberg, Vice President for Violence Intervention & Prevention at LifeBridge Health and Executive Director of the LifeBridge Health Center for Hope. "Behind this milestone are hundreds of successful mediations and countless moments where trained, trusted professionals helped interrupt violence before it escalated. We are incredibly proud of our team and remain committed to building on this progress alongside our community and city partners."
This is the second time in the site's history that Safe Streets McElderry Park has gone over 365 days without a homicide.
Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health published a report in 2024 that found that Safe Streets has reduced homicides and nonfatal shootings in neighborhoods where it is present. A more recent study published in May 2026, found that Safe Streets was associated with a 42% drop in homicides involving people ages 15 to 24 and a 21% reduction in nonfatal shootings among the same age group at the neighborhood level.
As outlined in the Mayor's Comprehensive Violence Prevention Plan, the Scott Administration has committed to supporting and strengthening Safe Streets. Mayor Brandon M. Scott and MONSE are engaging the public in the process to develop the City's second Comprehensive Violence Prevention Plan (CVPP), which will be a new five-year roadmap to build on the historic progress of the last five years and deepen the City's commitment to a holistic, community- and trauma-centered public safety approach. This plan will guide the city's violence prevention approach from 2026-2031 (Fiscal Year '27-Fiscal Year '31). This next plan will be finalized and officially released by the early Fall of 2026. Residents are encouraged to attend upcoming listening sessions and share feedback on the plan through the public survey or directly via email to monse@baltimorecity.gov. Additional session dates and locations will be announced in the coming weeks.
Residents can learn more about Safe Streets and the results, outcomes, and impacts of work on MONSE's website: Safe Streets | Baltimore City.