Durham violence prevention program to move to McDougald Terrace

Bull City United plans to move into McDougald Terrace, one of Durham's highest crime neighborhoods, to implement a violence prevention model that they said has been very successful in other cities. The violence prevention program is currently operated out of the Durham County Department of Public Health.

While the group is not sure when, they will be moving to an an apartment in McDougald Terrace, Durham's largest public housing complex.

The neighborhood is where Durham police shot and  killed Frank Clark last November. But the group said they had selected the location for its office before that.

They chose it because it had the highest violent crime rate per capita in Durham in 2015, and they have hopes of turning that around.

The group's approach is to have face-to-face conversations with people affected by violence, and show them retaliation and more violence are not the answers.

Its staff consists of people who are very well-connected and familiar with the communities they serve. The organization launched in November 2016 and is funded by the county and federal grants.
The hope is that once they get more rooted in communities, they can get out in front of the violence and stop it from happening