Traffick Jam Community Workshops
The Citizens for Safety Traffick Jam Community Workshop is an interactive, multimedia seminar that brings mayors, citizens and police together to raise awareness of the “Iron Pipeline” that supplies guns used in crime. Workshop participants learn how police track guns, where crime guns come from, loopholes in state and federal laws that contribute to trafficking, as well as how they can work with mayors and police to make their cities safer. Coalition co-chair Mayor Tom Menino and Mayor Frank Jackson have recently worked with Traffick Jam workshops in Boston and Cleveland.
Traffick Jam results
Citizens for Safety and the City of Boston conducted the first series of Traffick Jam workshops in the summer of 2008 in Boston neighborhoods impacted by illegal guns. The workshops trained hundreds of community residents and led to the formation of a Traffick Jam Citizens Action Group to keep people actively engaged. Over 60% of workshop participants have joined the Citizens Action Group.
Traffick Jam coalitions
Citizens for Safety conducted a Traffick Jam training for the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) in Cleveland that inspired members to take action. They hosted the first Ohio statewide summit on illegal guns in December 2008 and recruited 29 new Ohio mayors to join MAIG. The new mayors brought Ohio’s total MAIG membership to 51, one of the highest of any state.
Benefits of Traffick Jam
- Helps people connect the dots between violent street crime and the system of trafficking responsible for arming criminals and youth
- Creates opportunities for open dialogue and partnerships between community residents, including youth, and local police
- Rallies community residents to support elected leaders and law enforcement to reduce trafficking
What others are saying
“Through its series of Traffick Jam workshops, Citizens for Safety can build grassroots support for common sense policies to rid our streets of illegal guns. What we’re trying to do is educate people, create a coalition nationally. It’s about education of the public because the public has to be informed, because the police cannot do it alone, we need the community to be part of the solution.”
Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, Co-founder Mayors Against Illegal Guns
”By giving citizens the education that we got in the workshop tonight, it will take away the blame syndrome. We blame the Mayor, we blame the police, we blame everybody except the people that are supplying the guns. And with the proper education, I think we’ll start to look into that and change the way the guns are brought into the community.”
Mildred Hailey, Executive Director, Bromley-Heath Tenant Management Corporation, Boston
Start a Traffick Jam® in your city
The residents of your city are your most powerful allies in the fight to curb gun trafficking. But do they understand the connection between gun crime and illegal gun trafficking? Do they know how they can help reduce gun trafficking and save lives?
Traffick Jam Community Workshops educate the public about gun trafficking and turn awareness into action. Developed in partnership with the City of Boston, the Boston Police Department, and leading community organizations, Traffick Jam is an effective tool to engage residents to work with mayors and local police and keep their neighborhoods safe.
Download a copy of the Traffick Jam flyer
To bring Traffick Jam Community Workshops to your city and build momentum for change, contact Citizens for Safety at:
info@citizensforsafety.org
Massachusetts office: (617) 233-5363
Ohio office: (216) 470-3086
www.wheredidtheguncomefrom.com
