The holistic transformative street-street gang intervention impact and its association with homicide rates in Cali, Colombia

Cali is one of the cities in Colombia and Latin America with the highest rate of homicides, with around one third of homicides being attributed to street gang-related violence. In 2016, the Mayor´s office from Santiago the Cali - Colombia, the Police Department and the Cisalva institute from Universidad del Valle worked together to develop an holistic intervention, “TIP –Youth without frontiers”, to reduce street gang-related violence in Cali’s communes. The intervention comprised six components focusing on developing personal/emotional skills, improving access to health and other public services, reducing substance use, connecting youth with employment and educational opportunities, promoting participation in sports and recreational activities, and improving the restitution of citizen rights to street gang members. This study aimed to describe the characteristics and implementation of this transformative street gang program and to describe changes in street gang-related homicides that could be associated with the implementation of this program. The program started contacting street gangs in January 2016, recruiting the first street gang members in August 2016. As of December 2018, 2.107 youth (from 84 Police identified street gangs) have participated in the program. A reduction in street gang-related homicides was observed in Cali’s communes from 2015 to 2018. In intervened communes these homicides decreased on average by 80%, suggesting that the program could have contributed to the reduction of street gang-related violent behavior in these areas.