In the 1990's the crack epidemic was crippling the nation's inner cities. Boston was no exception. Gang violence was rampant, but it took one particular incident to bring about major change.
In 1992, during a funeral for a young gun shot victim, a gang-related shooting and stabbing spilled into Morning Star Baptist Church. The funeral service was turned into a turf war battleground. If anything could symbolized how violence was seeping into every facet of city life, this was it.
Clergy and lay leaders used this as an opportunity to create the Boston Ten Point Coalition . The goal was to to change the street culture; to find ways other than violence to deal with the stresses that inner-city kids were dealing with.
Since then, the Ten Point Coalition has been credited with greatly reducing violence on our streets. One person who shares the credit of their success is one of the founders, Reverend Jeffrey Brown.
Today Callie Crossley sits down with Reverend Brown who announced last month that he's stepping down as Executive Director of the coalition.
GUEST:
Reverend Jeffrey Brown, Outgoing Executive Director, Boston Ten Point Coalition
