Funded through the Solutions Journalism Network for Flint Beat:
Across the country, mental health professionals, city officials and community leaders have been developing grassroots responses to curb gun violence. From mediation to education, a driving factor behind these efforts has been prevention. As Flint, Michigan witnesses a striking increase in violent crime, they look to these responses as possible interventions for their own community.

Members of the Flint community met outside of the Flint Water Treatment Plant to protest the state of Flint's water on the five-year anniversary of the water crisis. At the behavioral level, exposure to lead has been observed to cause increases in impulsive actions and social aggression.

Family and friends filled Ballenger Park to mourn the loss of Antijuan Moore who was killed in Flint, Michigan. Moore was shot and killed while trying to break up a fight between his wife and another person.

A Flint police officer clears the scene after a fight led to a shooting outside of a Flint party store.

Alim Muhammad, right, and Cameron X, left, walk around neighborhoods in Flint during the Nation of Islam's anti-gun violence initiative.

Dishon poses for a portrait in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Dishon is a member of Save Our Streets that aims to curb gun violence in two target areas in Crown Heights and Bed-Stuyvesant by mediating conflicts that may result in gun violence.

Hundreds of Flint residents came out to celebrate the life of Rondale "Whoadie" Braxton's during a memorial service held at an abandoned Little Caesar's lot in Flint.

Family and friends filled Ballenger Park to mourn the loss of Antijuan Moore who was killed in Flint, Michigan. Moore was shot and killed while trying to break up a fight between his wife and another person.

Community members hang out during the first block party in almost 10 years in the Louis Armstrong projects in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn.

Lakesha Baker poses for a portrait in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Lakesha's brother died from gun violence in 2014.