County Taps City of Refuge for Brooklyn Park Program
The Anne Arundel County Department of Health has selected City of Refuge Baltimore to lead a violence interruption effort in Brooklyn Park.
Updated on Nov. 8, 2026 in Violence
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The Anne Arundel County Department of Health selected City of Refuge Baltimore to lead the Brooklyn Park Violence Interruption Program following a multi-month planning and procurement process. The program is moving into its implementation phase, with recruitment and staffing next.
Why it matters
The county is treating violence as a public health crisis rather than relying solely on law enforcement, and the Cure Violence Global model aims to interrupt potentially violent conflicts before they escalate. The selection marks the transition from planning to putting the program on the ground in Brooklyn Park.
The program will use the Cure Violence Global model and will include a program manager, supervisor, violence interrupters, and outreach workers. The extraction does not specify how many staff positions will be filled or the program's budget.
The players
Anne Arundel County Department of Health
The county health agency that launched the program and selected the provider, treating violence as a public health issue.
City of Refuge Baltimore
The Baltimore-based organization selected to lead hiring, implementation, and community outreach for the Brooklyn Park program.
The details
City of Refuge Baltimore will lead implementation, including hiring staff and establishing community outreach. The model works directly with individuals at high risk of involvement in violence, and the team will receive training before beginning direct work in the community.
Timeline
November 8, 2026: City of Refuge Baltimore selected to lead the Brooklyn Park program.
Upcoming: Recruitment and hiring of program staff begins.
Upcoming: Staff training before direct community work starts.
Once operational: Regular public reporting of program performance measures.
Violence Interruption Landscape
The Brooklyn Park program applies the Cure Violence Global model, which treats violence as a contagion to be interrupted through direct work with high-risk individuals. Its adoption by a county health department reflects the public health framing that Anne Arundel County is using in place of a law-enforcement-only response.
Brooklyn Park residents may see outreach workers and violence interrupters working directly in their neighborhood once the program is operational. The county has said it will regularly report performance measures, giving the public a way to track results.
The takeaway
Public health approaches to violence depend on consistent staffing, training, and reporting, so residents can watch whether the program's published performance measures show results over time. Local readers can follow the county's updates as hiring and implementation proceed.
What happens next
Recruitment and hiring of program staff, followed by training, are the next phases, though no specific dates were provided in the source.
Further reading
For more on how community-based approaches to violence prevention are being applied across local neighborhoods, explore our coverage in this section.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Eye On Annapolis.
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