The first time Justin Fowlkes got shot, he was standing at a bus stop when a stray bullet meant for someone else struck his ankle. The second time, when a bullet slammed into his shoulder, the Baltimore native was its intended target.
How Baltimore’s violent crime rate hit an all-time low: ‘This is not magic. It’s hard work’
The end of violence in Baltimore is a litany of stories that weren’t told in 90-second clips on the evening news, about shootings that didn’t happen.
Federal grant nixed for Springfield violence intervention program for women
About four years ago, Breasia Mitchell was living at a women’s shelter in Holyoke. She had been in an abusive relationship for years, and shelter staff there referred her to a violence intervention program for young women and mothers at Roca. Though Mitchell credits the program with changing her life trajectory, Roca has less capacity to help young women like her, because the U.S. Department of Justice this spring terminated a grant that brought in about $1 million to the women’s program in Western Massachusetts.
From the streets to second chances: How Roca is changing the lives of Baltimore’s young men
The first step at Roca isn’t therapy, job training or even talking. It’s showing up — over and over again. For John Young and John "Yahya" Lewis, being staffers at Roca Baltimore means logging miles across the area in the rain, in the cold, in the heat, to connect with the young men they serve.
Administration decries crime rates, but has slashed prevention efforts
President Trump moved to take over policing in Washington, D.C. to “rescue our nation’s capital from crime," but the data doesn’t back up many of his claims. Murder and violent crime dropped significantly across the U.S. last year, a trend that’s continued so far in 2025. The crackdown comes even as his administration cut funding for other kinds of crime prevention work.
More than a dozen high-risk young mothers and women graduate from Roca Springfield
Roca, a non-profit organization, has been working for 37 years to help high-risk young women in Massachusetts find safety and stability. “Over the past few years, we’ve seen a steep rise in female-perpetrated violence and incarceration,” said Sunindiya Bhalla, Executive Vice President of Women and 2Gen at Roca. Roca’s three-year million-dollar intervention program is making a way to decrease the rise, despite the U.S Department of Justice deciding to terminate tens of millions of dollars in grant funding for community violence intervention programs.