“In order to break the cycle of violence, we need to turn retaliation into reconciliation.” Billy Moore, a life coach with the Inner-City Muslim Action Network in Chicago, knows first-hand how important it is to provide young men with positive opportunities, and a new path out of the cycles of violence.

The leading cause of death for young African American men is gun violence. At NationSwell’s fifth annual Summit, Billy joined Emerson Collective Managing Partner Arne Duncan and two recent Chicago CRED graduates, James Collins and Deontae Allison, for an hourlong discussion to explore better avenues to dramatically curb shootings in one of our nation’s greatest cities. In the context of the work of Chicago CRED, Arne, Billy, James and Deontae implored the audience to draw closer to the root causes of gun violence, and to better understand the young men involved in some of Chicago’s most broken neighborhoods—and, most importantly, how peace and safety begins with creating new, reimagined relationships.