In the South Bronx neighborhood of New York City, a new program is making allies out of unlikely partners. Ex-gang-members are coming home from prison to patrol the streets and stop violence before it escalates and lands another person in prison. “S.O.S. South Bronx” is based on a program started in Chicago, where neighborhoods that used the program saw gun violence reduced by half. The program treats violence like a disease, and the S.O.S. members as antibodies trying to eradicate the disease through mediation. We take a stroll through the South Bronx with these violence interruptors.

Photo by Sarah Barrett