@peaceinourcities.org
🏙️ Preserving lives and helping cities thrive by reducing and preventing urban violence. Secretariat: Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice, @nyucic.bsky.social, @stanleycenter.org. #PiOC peaceinourcities.org
Cities are increasingly recognizing that effective violence prevention requires engaging w/ masculinities across this continuum.
Join us + @efusnews.bsky.social for a webinar to explore gender-responsive and gender-transformative approaches to this violence.
RSVP now! ⤵️
buff.ly/c2CYAcA
During last month's Latin American Forum on Democratic Security and Territorial Governance in Guatemala City, President Arévalo also spoke to the challenge of investing in strategies that fundamentally uphold human rights and reinforce trust. Without that, security can not be durable or meaningful.
"We need to understand the way in which crime can be used by political actors against democracy to create an unstable state."—Mr. Bernardo Arévalo, President of Guatemala.
Read the Letter of the Local Social Covenant on Violence and Conflict Prevention, written by Peace in Our Cities and presented at the UCLG 2026 Annual Retreat:
🔗https://buff.ly/Nc1MZGm
Participants seated in a room during the UCLG 2026 Annual Retreat in Barcelona, Spain.
Kelsey Paul Shantz speaks, with a microphone, on behalf of Peace in Our Cities during the UCLG 2026 Annual Retreat in Barcelona, Spain.
How can local governments recommit to preventing violence and building safer communities?
Peace in Our Cities joins @uclg.bsky.social in supporting city leaders to commit to violence prevention strategies that are balanced, evidence-based, legitimate, inter-related, and focused.
🔔 This week, the webinar, “Evidence for Peace: Gathering Local Data to Prevent Urban Violence,” showcased two initiatives as practical examples of how cities can generate actionable evidence to inform violence prevention.
Learn more ⤵️
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🚀 Building trust through multistakeholder convening and dialogue.
🤝 Developing partnerships and institutional architecture for urban violence prevention.
Read more about each project in the full report:
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🏆️ Seven cities in seven countries received awards from Peace in Our Cities for local projects that generally fell into one or more of four broad areas of intervention:
📊 Gathering data and promoting evidence-based intervention.
💪 Empowering and protecting youth.
🌐 The Peace Incentive Fund (PIF) is a small-grant mechanism focused on bridging knowledge and action by supporting city partners in their efforts to invest in prevention backed by evidence and network research.
🆕 Our new Peace Incentive Fund 2024-25 Report demonstrates how even small investments in violence reduction and prevention can yield significant results and transform the lives of those most vulnerable to violence and insecurity.
🤔 How can cities address the gender norms that shape urban violence?
💡 Join us for a webinar to explore the challenges and approaches in navigating gender norms in street-based outreach, group violence intervention, and public-space safety strategies.
RSVP now! ⤵️
buff.ly/c2CYAcA
#DYK: Harmful constructions of masculinity linked to power, status, territorial control, risk-taking, & the use of force often cut across private & public forms of violence.
Join us + @efusnews.bsky.social for a webinar to learn how we can address this challenge.
RSVP ⤵️
buff.ly/c2CYAcA
❓ How can masculinities & gender norms shape violence in private & public spaces?
💡 Join us + @efusnews.bsky.social for the webinar, “Masculinities, Gender, & Urban Violence Prevention,” to explore this topic in spaces including IPV, GBV, & community violence.
RSVP ⤵️
buff.ly/c2CYAcA
Event flyer.
🤔 How can multi-sector & multilevel partnerships build more resilient cities?
🌟 On January 26, @sdg16.plus, @internationalidea.bsky.social, + @peaceinourcities.org will host a virtual event to highlight partnerships that fostered trust, built shared purpose, & delivered results.
📥 Informe completo:
buff.ly/b9hJjTt
💡 A finales de julio de 2025, organizaciones de la sociedad civil y el gobierno municipal de Rosario se reunieron en un intercambio de conocimiento para avanzar en la prevención de la violencia mediante la mediación comunitaria y la colaboración entre múltiples partes interesadas.
💡 In late July 2025, civil society organizations + the city gov't of Rosario, came together in a tailored peer exchange that revealed key insights into advancing violence prevention through community mediation + multistakeholder collaboration.
📥 Full report:
buff.ly/b9hJjTt
🌍 In 2025, #PiOC brought together gov'ts, civil society, & researchers to share strategies on reducing violence & strengthening peace.
🌟 In 2026, we look forward to building on the momentum for another impactful year working in partnership with all of you.
2025 recap ⤵️
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🙌 @peaceinourcities.org is happy to see the positive impact that our programs can have on our city members, and we look forward to seeing Casper implementing these changes.
Read more:
🔗 buff.ly/SlFjVh6
🔗 buff.ly/UMnoARw
🗞️ A recent Oil City News article shares how the city of Casper is working to implement changes into its public safety programs and policies following a city exchange with the city of Edmonton, Canada, organized by PiOC.
🌟Please welcome our newest member, Vox Populi Ecuador Foundation, to the #PeaceinOurCities network!
💡 Their work focuses on developing projects that address the needs of marginalized populations in Quito, Ecuador 🇪🇨, & prioritizing the promotion of human rights.
➕ buff.ly/5S4jZc0
🌟Please welcome our newest member, AfroReggae, to the #PeaceinOurCities network!
📲 AfroReggae’s mission is to transform lives through inclusion, culture, and innovation, using digital culture as a tool to create opportunities and combat prejudice.
Learn more: buff.ly/EEFKbUz
📰 Our latest newsletter is out now!
Highlights include:
🔦 New members spotlight.
📑 Rosario City Exchange Report.
🖥️ #PiOC Mano Dura Webinar.
Check it out ⤵️
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Subscribe to receive regular updates ⤵️
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#PeaceinOurCities #SaferCities
“[A peace] operation will be much more efficient if we first have a large, robust research layer of organized crime.”—@carolinaricardo.bsky.social, Executive Director of @soudapaz.bsky.social, emphasizes the importance of sustainable peace, communication, and data.
Live:
nyu.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
🌐 There is an increasing global appetite for punitive and effective policies.
🪧 The false dilemma between “tough-on-crime” and “soft-on-crime.”
⭕ Why extremes fail (this is a complex systems problem).
📝 Strategies to address violence and crime.
🎥 Tune in live: nyu.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
💡 Enrique Betancourt, Author of “Tackling the False Dilemma: A Communications Guide for Advancing Balanced and Effective Public Safety Approaches,” shares key points from the guide, including:
This guide is PiOC’s offer of support to members & allies who are aiming to achieve meaningful violence reduction & prevention.”—Jai-Ayla Sutherland, Program Officer, Mass Violence & Atrocities at @stanleycenter.org.
Available in English, Spanish, + Portuguese: peaceinourcities.org/resources/ta...
🌐 “Right now, there is growing popularity or demand for Mono Dura, or tough-on-crime approaches, particularly in the Western hemisphere. Members of Peace in Our Cities have routinely raised concerns about the increased demand for tough-on-crime approaches to public security challenges.
💬 They’ll discuss how policymakers and local leaders can respond to demands for heavy-handed repressive security approaches, with balanced, human-rights-based policies that offer long-term solutions for public safety challenges.
🎥 Tune in live: nyu.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
#PeaceinOurCities #PiOC