ABSTRACT
Joe and Sam were nervous. Both had just pulled their cars up to two small apartments in the neighborhoods that were at war with one another. The latest shooting in an endless series of gun warfare had caused both Joe and Sam to abandon any conventional forms of intervention, throwing everything they knew about violence prevention, youth development, and community outreach out of the window. Too many young people were needlessly dying on the streets of Richmond. So Joe and Sam were unsure if taking two young men who had shot at each other the week before on an airplane to attend a conference across country was a good idea. It had been difficult to bring the young men from North and Central Richmond together to figure out how to resolve the conflicts that had escalated to warfare. Distrust, suspicion, and fear from years of hostilities had established deep barriers that made it nearly impossible for these young men to come together safely.
