News

Society

Science

Health

Culture

Subscribe

How Grassroots Nonprofits Helped Drive The Great American Crime Decline

Between 1993 and 2000, murder and robbery rates dropped dramatically in the United States. Could stronger communities be the reason why?

By

Maya Kachroo-Levine

By  Maya Kachroo-Levine
Add to Google News

In 2016, the homicide rate in Los Angeles rose for the third year in a row. Between gang-related shootings and a growing homeless population, robberies went up 13% and homicides increased by 5% from 2015 to 2016.

And yet, the streets of Los Angeles are actually safer than they were 10 years ago. In 1996, there were 46% more robberies than in 2016. It’s not just Los Angeles that has seen a decline in crime — in some cities, the change has been more prominent, and the decline has held steady. National violence dropped between the 1990s and the 2010s, which is widely known as the Great American Crime Decline.

The Great American Crime Decline began in 1993. Between 1993 and 2000, murder and robbery rates dropped over 40% in the United States. Homicides and violent crimes continued to drop after 2000, albeit less significantly, but there was a big decrease again in 2009.

This crime decline might actually be thanks to nonprofits working to reduce violence and build strong communities. It’s often hard to measure the success of community outreach programs. You can see the tangible value of a one-on-one big brother/big sister-type program. But what about social programs that give funding to underserved neighborhoods or nonprofits trying to bring hope to neighborhoods where shootings are the norm?

On-the-ground nonprofits trying to affect change in neighborhoods facing daily violence have few ways of tracking their progress. However, a report published in the American Sociological Review shows that community-oriented nonprofits are having a lot more success than we thought. Every 10 additional community nonprofits in a city with 100,000 residents led to a 12% reduction in the homicide rate, a 10% reduction in violent crime rate, and a 7% reduction in property crime.

In other words, fighting violence within urban communities by promoting a “level of social cohesion” in the area and encouraging communities to “solve common problems and realize shared objectives” has really paid off. Not only is it still paying off, but community nonprofits seriously contributed to the crime decline we’ve seen in the last 25 years. Consider this as yet another great reason to keep supporting your favorite local causes.

Add to Google News

Tags

advertisement

More for You

  • Expert shares ancient monk’s mindset for keeping your composure when life ‘bumps’ you
    Coffee spill (LEFT). Man upset with shirt stain (RIGHT). – Photo credit: Canva
    ,

    Expert shares ancient monk’s mindset for keeping your composure when life ‘bumps’ you

    “What am I carrying inside of me today?”

    Mark Wales

    A snap reaction in a heated moment can be difficult to control. Sometimes an unexpected experience brings out the best in us—or, all too often, the worst. The Mindset Mentor Podcast, hosted by personal coach Rob Dial, explains how cultivating a healthy mindset can help you stay calm and composed when life “bumps” into you.

    Using a story of an ancient monk teaching his students about enlightenment, Dial highlights that whatever we carry within ourselves rises to the surface when life gets hard. Beginning the day with a healthy mindset matters.

    Dial shares a monk’s story about enlightenment

    A monk teaches his students about enlightenment. He asks them to imagine holding a cup of coffee when someone bumps into them, causing it to spill. When he asks why the coffee spilled, the students quickly reply that it was because someone bumped into them.

    The monk responds, “You spilled the coffee because that’s what was in your cup. Had there been water in the cup, you would have spilled water. Had there been tea in the cup, then you would have spilled tea.”

    Dial goes on to explain the impactful meaning behind the monk’s simple philosophy:

    “When life shakes you, which it will, whatever you carry inside of you will spill out. So if you’re carrying anger, or fear, or hatred, or jealousy, then that is what is going to spill out of you in those moments. But, if you’re carrying love and kindness and compassion and empathy, then that is what is going to spill out you.”

    morning practice, mediation, mindset, mental health
    An early morning stretch.
    Photo credit: Canva

    A question to ask before your day

    If this is the challenge we face each day, the real question becomes: how do we prepare ourselves for what life might throw our way? Dial suggests the answer lies in an intentional pause. “Each morning,” he says, “it’s important for you to stop and close your eyes and ask yourself, ‘What am I carrying inside of me today?’”

    That small act of self-awareness can shape everything that follows. If we choose to bring despair, judgment, and negativity, those emotions will most likely surface when things don’t go as planned. But if we choose to center ourselves in kindness and compassion, we’re far more likely to respond with those qualities instead.

    Positive thinking, affirmations, skills, community
    Good Morning.
    Photo credit: Canva

    The advantages of morning preparation and a healthy mindset

    Significant time and research have gone into understanding the benefits of a morning routine. These practices help build a kind of “spiritual armor” that prepares us to face the day with confidence. Simple habits like getting sunlight, drinking water, moving our bodies, and practicing mindfulness can boost energy and improve mood.

    A 2024 study found that morning activities like loving-kindness meditation can positively affect people’s mental health. Individuals with a regular practice tend to be more positive, mindful, and compassionate. The length or specific details of the practice have little effect on outcomes when compared with one another.

    Another 2024 study found that framing problems in a positive way helps people recover faster from stress. Staying motivated during difficult situations and feeling more emotionally stable are skills that can be built through mindset. The simple fact is that study after study demonstrates that positive thinking directly supports mental health during difficult periods in life.

    Dial offers a simple concept: what we carry within ourselves influences how we respond to life’s challenges. The students say it’s because they were bumped. The monk explains it’s what’s in the cup. The real preparation for the day isn’t just what we do, it’s what we choose to carry. “What am I carrying today?”

    You can watch this short video on starting a morning meditation practice:

    Keep Reading →
  • The Tsimané people of Bolivia have almost no dementia. Scientists say modern life is our problem.
    A tribe sharing a meal – Photo credit: Canva
    ,

    The Tsimané people of Bolivia have almost no dementia. Scientists say modern life is our problem.

    Their rate of dementia is roughly 1%. In the United States, it’s 11%.

    Adam Albright-Hanna

    Deep in the Bolivian Amazon, researchers studying two indigenous communities have found something that stopped them in their tracks: among older Tsimané adults, the rate of dementia is roughly 1%. In the United States, the figure for the same age group is 11%.

    The finding, published in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia, is part of nearly two decades of research on the Tsimané and their sister population the Mosetén, communities who have been recorded as having some of the lowest rates of heart disease, brain atrophy, and cognitive decline ever measured in science. A subsequent study from the University of Southern California and Chapman University, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, used CT scans on 1,165 Tsimané and Mosetén adults to measure how their brains age compared to populations in the US and Europe. The answer was striking: their brains age significantly more slowly.

    The researchers’ explanation centers on what they call a “sweet spot” — a balance between physical exertion and food availability that most people in industrialized countries have drifted far from. “The lives of our pre-industrial ancestors were punctuated by limited food availability,” said Dr. Andrei Irimia, an assistant professor at USC’s Leonard Davis School of Gerontology and co-author of the study. “Humans historically spent a lot of time exercising out of necessity to find food, and their brain aging profiles reflected this lifestyle.”

    The Tsimané people of Bolivia posing for a photograph.
    The Tsimané people of Bolivia posing for a photograph. Photo credit: Canva

    The Tsimané are highly active not because they exercise in any structured sense but because their daily lives demand it. They fish, hunt, farm with hand tools, and forage, averaging around 17,000 steps a day. Their diet is heavy on carbohydrates — plantains, cassava, rice, and corn make up roughly 70% of what they eat, with fats and protein splitting the remaining 30%. It is not a low-carb or protein-heavy regimen. It is, essentially, the diet of people who burn what they consume. CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta, who visited a Tsimané village in 2018 for his series “Chasing Life,” noted that they also sleep around nine hours a night and practice what might be called intermittent fasting — not by choice, but by necessity during lean seasons.

    The research also included the Mosetén, who share the Tsimané’s ancestral history and subsistence lifestyle but have more access to modern technology, medicine, and infrastructure. Their brain health outcomes fell between the Tsimané and industrialized populations, better than Americans and Europeans, but not as strong as the Tsimané. Researchers describe this gradient as especially revealing because it suggests a continuum rather than a binary, and that even partial movement toward a more active, less calorically abundant lifestyle appears to have measurable effects on how the brain ages.

    “During our evolutionary past, more food and less effort spent getting it resulted in improved health,” said Hillard Kaplan, a professor of health economics and anthropology at Chapman University who has studied the Tsimané for nearly 20 years. “With industrialization, those traits lead us to overshoot the mark.”

    The researchers are careful to note that the Tsimané lifestyle is not simply transferable. Their longevity in absolute terms is lower than Americans’ because of deaths from trauma, infection, and complications in childbirth, hazards of living without a healthcare system. The point of the research is not that modern medicine is unnecessary but that the environments it’s embedded in may be undermining the brain health it’s trying to protect.

    “This ideal set of conditions for disease prevention prompts us to consider whether our industrialized lifestyles increase our risk of disease,” Irimia said.

    This article originally appeared earlier this year.

    Keep Reading →
  • Doctors couldn’t explain the pain in her daughter’s foot. Then a nurse looked closer and spotted something that led to a devastating diagnosis.
    A nurse checks out an x-ray – Photo credit: Canva
    ,

    Doctors couldn’t explain the pain in her daughter’s foot. Then a nurse looked closer and spotted something that led to a devastating diagnosis.

    “She saved my daughter’s life.”

    Adam Albright-Hanna

    Elle Rugari is a nurse. So when her 4-year-old daughter Alice started complaining about foot pain one evening in late September of last year, Elle did what most parents do first: she gave her some children’s paracetamol, a wheat bag for warmth, and put her to bed. Alice had just had a normal day at childcare. There was no obvious injury.

    But Alice woke up screaming that night, and the pain kept coming back over the following days. She started limping. She cried more often than usual. “She doesn’t like taking medicine or seeing doctors,” Elle, who is from South Australia, told Newsweek. “So I knew it was something serious” when Alice started asking for both.

    At the emergency department, doctors X-rayed Alice’s foot. It showed nothing. But as they continued their assessment, a nurse noticed something else: tiny pinprick bruises scattered along Alice’s legs. Blood tests were ordered. While they waited for results, Elle pointed out something she’d spotted too: swollen lumps along her daughter’s neck.

    @elle94x

    Battling Leukaemia with all her might! ‼️VIDEO EXPLAINING IS ON MY PAGE‼️ Instagram & GoFundMe linked in bio 💛🎗️ #cancer #medical #hospital #help #cancersucks

    ♬ original sound – certainlybee

    The blood results, in the doctor’s words, came back “a bit spicy.” When Elle asked him directly whether he was thinking leukemia, he said yes. She and her partner Cody were transferred to the women’s and children’s hospital, and the diagnosis was confirmed the following day by an oncologist.

    For parents who aren’t medical professionals, those tiny bruises might easily have been overlooked. They’re called petechiae, and they’re caused by small capillaries bleeding under the skin when platelet counts drop. According to the American Cancer Society, bruising and petechiae appear in more than half of children diagnosed with leukemia, often alongside bone or joint pain and swollen lymph nodes. The limping, the foot pain, the bruises, the lumps on the neck: in retrospect, they were telling a clear story. In the moment, without blood work, they’re easy to miss.

    Nurse, patient, medicine, hospital
    A nurse embraces a young cancer patient. Photo credit: Canva

    As Newsweek reported, Alice is now three months into a three-year treatment plan on a high-risk protocol, meaning her course of therapy is more intensive than standard. She is losing her hair. She has hard days. And she sings Taylor Swift songs every single day.

    “She lets everyone around her know that she has leukemia and that she’s going to get rid of it,” Elle said. “She’s honestly the most amazing child.”

    Under the handle @elle94x, Elle shared Alice’s story on TikTok in December 2025, and the response has been overwhelming, with the video drawing over 1.3 million views. Many of the comments came from parents who recognized the pattern from their own experience. “My daughter was changing color and having fevers and complaining of leg pain and arm pain, and hospitals all kept saying it was her making it up,” wrote one user. “I didn’t give up, and it was leukemia.” Another wrote: “I thought my son had strep throat because he is nonverbal with autism. We got admitted that night for leukemia.”

    @elle94x

    … This song is 100% about superstitions and trees 👀 Do not tell my 4 year old who’s battling leukaemia otherwise. @Taylor Swift @Taylor Nation @New Heights @Travis Kelce #taylorswift #swifties #swiftie #fyp #taylornation

    ♬ original sound – elle94x

    Medical experts recommend that parents seek urgent evaluation for any child with unexplained bruising that appears in unusual places, doesn’t heal normally, or comes alongside other symptoms like fatigue, bone pain, or swollen lymph nodes. Norton Children’s Hospital pediatric oncologist Dr. Mustafa Barbour advises that if symptoms don’t improve or don’t have a clear explanation, it’s always worth making an appointment.

    Elle said there are still days when the weight of it hits hard. But Alice’s attitude keeps pulling her forward. “There are still days where it feels so, so overwhelming,” she said. “But she’s such a little champion.”

    This article originally appeared earlier this year.

    Keep Reading →

advertisement

sperm whales, science, nature, head-butting, drone video, University of St. Andrews, mammals, whales
Science

Researchers capture sperm whales headbutting on camera, validating what sailors have said for centuries

intelligence, moral psychology, cognitive science, empathy, human behavior
Exploration

Study reveals startling truth: Intelligence lowers our empathy toward other people

alzheimer's, ai, glasses, health, technology
Technology

Tech company helps dementia patients live independently with memory-prompting smart glasses

mental health, positive attitude, morning ritual, mindset, monk, compassion, mentor, life hacks
Well-being

Expert shares ancient monk’s mindset for keeping your composure when life ‘bumps’ you

reconnecting, texting, networking, engagement, communication
Society

Want to reconnect with someone but aren’t sure what to say? Try this simple, no-risk way to reach out.

Sign Up for the Daily Good!

Advertisement

Explore More Health Stories

See All
dementia, brain health, Tsimané, Bolivia, diet
Health

The Tsimané people of Bolivia have almost no dementia. Scientists say modern life is our problem.

Adam Albright-Hanna
childhood leukemia, parenting, health awareness, early diagnosis, cancer
Health

Doctors couldn’t explain the pain in her daughter’s foot. Then a nurse looked closer and spotted something that led to a devastating diagnosis.

Adam Albright-Hanna
rude, therapist, mental health, psychology, hijacking mind, regulation, aggressive behavior
Well-being

Licensed therapist says these 3 steps stop rude people from hijacking your mind

Mark Wales
Francesca Hogi, flirting, TedTalk, attraction, chemistry, humans, psychology, superpowers
Well-being

Love educator shares how awkward flirting can be turned into a romantic superpower

Mark Wales