West Baltimore's Penn North community recognizes a year without a homicide
The Penn North community in West Baltimore acknowledged a milestone on Tuesday, an entire year without a homicide.
Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott didn't want to call it a celebration, but there was music, free shirts, and snowballs to mark the occasion.
Penn North is one of a few Baltimore neighborhoods to reach this milestone, along with Sandtown-Winchester, Woodbourne-McCabe, and Park Heights.
"Penn North going 365 days without a homicide is another example that community violence intervention works, and anyone who tells you otherwise does not understand the work or is just failing to realize reality," Mayor Scott said.
Penn North's homicide-free year
The last homicide in the Penn North neighborhood was on May 23, 2026, in the 1800 block of N. Woodyear Street. Since then, there have been no homicides within the catchment area's boundaries for 368 days.
Baltimore's Mayor's Office said the Penn North community, backed by the Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (MONSE), Safe Streets, and Catholic Charities, achieved the milestone with more than 100 mediators, 45 community events, and anti-violence messaging.
"Safe Streets sites across the city are putting boots on the ground to prevent violence and build safer communities," Mayor Scott said. "This work has helped produce historic reductions in shootings and homicides in Baltimore's most disinvested communities, and the Penn North site going over 365 days without a homicide is yet another example that community violence intervention truly does work."
Baltimore's anti-violence initiative
Baltimore leaders credit the city's anti-violence programs and community partnerships for the homicide-free year in Penn North, which is one of 10 Safe Streets Baltimore locations
MONSE oversees the Safe Streets Baltimore program and contracts with community-based organizations, Associated Catholic Charities, and Lifebridge Health Center for Hope (CBOs), to serve as site administrators.
Catholic Charities operates the Penn North site, as well as the Sandtown-Winchester, Brooklyn, and Cherry Hill locations.
"Treating violence as a disease works. Safe Streets and our Community Violence Intervention (CVI) ecosystem are bearing fruit and helping drive historic citywide reductions of violence," MONSE Director Stefanie Mavronis said. "365 days without a homicide isn't a coincidence. This milestone is an opportunity to acknowledge how far the Penn North community has come, but also an opportunity for us to recommit ourselves to public safety."
