Does sprucing up abandoned homes really help reduce gun violence? The answer is yes, according to a 3-year study done by University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University researchers. Dividing the 258 randomly-selected houses into three groups and providing varying levels of interventions to them, they found that the houses that received both maintenance and yardwork saw a 13% drop in gun assaults. Host Trenae Nuri talks with Sammy Caiola, gun violence prevention reporter at WHYY, about these results and their implications, what it would take to widely implement this solution, and other work communities around the city are doing to clean up vacant lots.

Check out Sammy’s reporting on this, and dive deeper into the study itself.

Learn more about the Young Chances Foundation, the Community Life Improvement Program (CLIP), and #JustServicesPHL.

We mentioned the dumping that happens around the city. Listen to yesterday’s episode to learn more about "Why Illegal Dumping is Still a Messy Issue.”

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