Violence interrupters move to break the cycle of gun violence in Philly

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As the only boy in the family, Majere Debrady was considered to be the man of the house, charged with taking care of his mom and younger sisters in Southwest Philadelphia.

“She instilled that in me my whole life,” said Debrady in an interview with WHYY News. “I was always like a leader type, like I wasn’t like a follower or nothing like that.”

But the 19-year-old said he was tempted by others to turn to a different sort of life.

“I ain’t gonna lie, Southwest, it was pretty [like just] rough,” Debrady said.

He found other avenues to get past the appeal of street life and to ultimately avoid gun violence.

He joined Pushing Progress Philly, a program administered by the City’s Office of Public Safety addressing gun violence through community engagement.

“When I first heard about it, [it] sounded like a crazy opportunity,” Debrady said. “It taught me, like, how to be a complete man, building my character, to take more accountability in my actions. Be responsible.”

Kareem Brown, the program’s director, said they received additional funding from groups like the Civic Coalition to Save Lives, which has allowed them to expand their program.

“There are deep cultural norms within the population of people involved in gun violence. The money from the coalition helps us break through those barriers,” he said. Brown explained that the funding enables them to address the “crabs in the barrel” phenomenon — a metaphor where individuals hinder each other’s progress out of envy or competition. They host events such as the “breaking the crabs in the barrel” feast where participants come together to enjoy the crustaceans and engage in productive dialogue; they turn the negative connotation on its head in a fun and tasty way.

Brown views intervention as critical in reducing violence. He believes focusing on housing, employment and health care will help economically disadvantaged individuals find stability, decreasing their chances of returning to crime.

“Our goal is to offer behavioral health services … the kind of credibility within this audience to enable folks who want to be heard,” Brown said. “And once they’re heard, it will help them get to a path where intervention will be less and less needed.”

Lifelong Philadelphian Rev. David W. Brown was recently appointed executive director of the Civic Coalition to Save Lives. The organization, founded in 2022, is one of many groups working to bring an end to gun violence in Philadelphia.

Brown’s life was profoundly impacted by his personal experience with gun violence as a teenager. “I was the intended target, but the gun jammed,” he recounted in an interview with WHYY News. “It scared me off the streets and pushed me into the work I do now.”

In addition to leading the coalition, Brown serves as an associate professor and assistant dean for communication and community at Temple University’s Klein College of Media and Communication.

Despite his background in journalism and public relations, Brown credits his faith and role as a pastor with helping to drive his fight against violence, specifically in marginalized communities.