Last Sunday, our city was shocked when Dante Barksdale, an outreach coordinator for Safe Streets, was killed near the Douglas Homes in East Baltimore. Safe Streets is a city-funded violence interruption program. Dante Barksdale worked in the program for nearly 10 years, urging people who were considering violence to reconsider, and to choose alternative means to settle disputes and address beefs. The circumstances of his murder are not yet known. But the loss for our city is well known to be tremendous, and widely recognized.

We're thankful to Tom's next guest, JT Timpson, for joining us today, as he mourns the loss of his dear friend. JT Timpson is the Director of Youth Work and Crisis Intervention for Roca Baltimore, another violence interruption organization that started in Boston, and began here in Baltimore a few years ago.

JT Timpson joins us on Zoom.

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