Ex-Gang Members, City Team Up To Stop Gun Violence In Fort Greene

FORT GREENE, BROOKLYN — A new center on Myrtle Avenue isn't just looking to put an end to gun violence, but stop it before it starts. And, if the history of the group who will lead it is any indiction, it just might work.

The new Crisis Management System site — one of a few new centers funded by the Mayor’s Office to Prevent Gun Violence — will offer what is known as "wrap around services" for the neighborhood's youth, including job training, conflict mediation, mental health and legal aid.

It will be run by Brooklyn nonprofit G-MACC, Gangstas Making Astronomical Community Changes, which was started in 2008 by former Bloods gang member Shanduke McPhatter. G-MACC already runs similar programs from its outpost in East Flatbush, which city officials have said helped create a 30 percent drop in shooting incidents from 2012 to 2017, according to People.

McPhatter said his team at the new center will help bring that success to Fort Greene.

"I don't need a gun, I need my experience...my understanding that every kid is a life worth saving," McPhatter told the crowd at a ribbon cutting ceremony on Friday.

G-MACC leaders were joined by elected officials, including Councilwoman Laurie Cumbo and public advocate hopeful and Councilman Jumaane Williams, who they say helped them secure the funding for the new space.

The new center is part of a $34 million investment the city made over the summer to anti-gun violence initiatives, according to a release from The Mayor’s Office to Prevent Gun Violence. The funding will also go to three other CMS locations, two in the Bronx and another in Brooklyn.

Each site is managed by a local group to ensure they have "their pulse already on the community" in a way other city-run programs might not, said Eric Cumberbatch, executive director of the Mayor’s Office to Prevent Gun Violence.

"We want to reach a population that is not (typically connected) to the customary routes to a city agency," Cumberbatch said. "This is a bridge, this is a vehicle to get access to (those) young people."

Friday's ribbon cutting included a moment of silence, with the crowd holding candles, to remember those that have been lost to gun violence.

"Somewhere during that 60 seconds, somewhere in the world, due to senseless gun violence someone's life was taken," McPhatter told the crowd.

An independent study of the program found that the "wrap around" method of supporting youth has led to significant reductions in crime, a decline in the propensity to use violence in disputes and increased confidence in law enforcement, a release said.

The Fort Greene center will be run by G-MACC staff, many of whom, McPhatter said Friday, have, like him, been formerly incarcerated and decided to give back to their community.

"This today is really about taking power back into the hands of our community," Cumbo said. "This is going to be a place where our young people can see themselves and see people who look just like them, who they can relate to and most importantly that love them."

Photos by Anna Quinn/Patch.