Since 2010, Rainier Beach residents and stakeholders have been organizing to reduce the incidents that contribute to youth crime in Rainier Beach. 15 years later, data will show we have indeed accomplished that goal

How did it happen? 

The planning took three years, and a successful grant from the Department of Justice in 2012 supported the knitted together deployment of four evidence-based non-arrest crime intervention methodologies.

  1. Guardianship (also known as Safe Passage)
  2. Youth and Neighborhood Engagement 
  3. Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (Levels 1-4)

4 . Restorative Justice practices (like circles)

Ongoing support, to this day, by the City of Seattle’s Department of Neighborhoods and Human Services Department has been critical. The cooperation of members of Rainier Beach A Beautiful Safe Place for Youth (www.rb-safeplaceforyouth.org). Based on the research at George Mason University ( our evaluation team from 2010-2023, it is now Seattle University) that focuses on street segments, Rainier Beach residents and selected not-for-profit organizations (RBAC, Seattle Neighborhood Group, and Boys and Girls Club of King County) decided to focus on five locations. We have data that shows, since 2012, the incidents that contribute to youth crime have decreased each year. IT WORKED, PEOPLE! 

Speaking of research, an evolution this work took was changing the name of the locations from “hotspots” (per research language) to “pearls” (per RB neighborhood language). Take a look at the website that keeps people up to date on the activations, www.seseattlefreedomnet.org. To this day, you will see young people from RBAC, who are paid for what they do, activate the following street segments weekly:

  1. Rainier and Rose Street
  2. Rainier and Henderson
  3. Henderson and 44th Avenue So/Chief Sealth Trail)
  4. Henderson and 52nd Ave
  5. Rainier Ave South and Seward Park Ave South.

The blue section in the graphs below shows the number of incidents each year. THE NUMBERS WENT DOWN!

Don’t believe the narratives about the Rainier Beach neighborhood. Do believe people are hard at work trying to change the narrative and the data shows it. It doesn’t mean we stop either. So be on the lookout for the RBAC teams out there activating our pearls and say hello when you do.

Gregory Davis

Related Posts