“It’s About Genuine Love”: How Peer Mentorship Prevents Gun Violence

When June Sutton first got involved with the Brownsville Community Justice Center as a young man, he was given a unique task—“100 handshakes in ten days.” Along with his peers, he had ten days to walk up to a hundred people from the neighborhood, introduce himself, and shake their hand.

The idea of striking up a conversation with a hundred people who felt like total strangers was intimidating. “At first I really didn’t want to do it,” said June. “But then it was like, ‘This is kind of cool, I’m actually meeting new people.’ And soon enough we were getting more like 300 handshakes in ten days.”

Today, he’s still at the Community Justice Center—this time as a staff member, preventing gun violence by helping young people be fully themselves while building community with others.

For years, our teams in Brooklyn and the Bronx have worked to stop gun violence by engaging people most impacted, defusing conflicts, changing narratives, and supporting community-led projects to build safety and well-being. Like June, many of those staff members were once participants in our programs themselves, with similar experiences as the young people they work with today to help them reimagine their futures.

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