A six-member team from Cincinnati Community Action Now will travel to Boston on Monday to learn more about a program that has gained national attention for reducing crime and easing tensions between blacks and police.

        The purpose of the one-day visit is to determine whether aspects of the Boston program can be duplicated in Cincinnati to help counter the recent rash of shootings and street violence.

        The program was started by the National Ten Point Leadership Foundation in 1992 after a gang-related shooting and stabbing at a church in Dorchester, Mass. Rev. Eugene Rivers, director of the program, plans to visit Cincinnati next month.

        “This program is a model for mobilizing the police, community and church leaders to work together in eliminating street violence and its underlying causes,” the Rev. Damon Lynch III said. A co-chairman of Cincinnati CAN, he will lead the group.

        Others making the trip:

        • Mike Allen, Hamilton County prosecutor.

        • Scotty Johnson, Sentinel Police Association president.

        • David Radliff, Cincinnati Police Department District 4 commander.

        • Rev. Calvin Harper, president of the AMOS Project.

        • Betty Hull, a CAN staff representative.

        On Monday the group will tour the city and meet with Boston's mayor, deputy superintendent and members of its police gang unit.

        The Rev. Mr. Rivers said Cincinnati is experiencing problems with black-on-black violence similar to what Boston went through 10 years ago. Boston had more than 150 homicides in 1991, most of them young black males.

        “You had white police who were being overwhelmed by a great deal of crime and disorder in the inner-city black community and who were not clear on what the best strategies were to deal with it. You also had a black community that didn't know how to respond to the violence explosion,” the Rev. Mr. Rivers said.

        “In order to get past the racial impasse between blacks and police, the black community had to own the criminality and violence of its youth.”

        The Rev. Mr. Rivers said black clergy and black politicians had to be trained to take leadership and responsibility for partnering with police and youth — even gang leaders — to deal with the violence. The approach reduced violence in the city by 75 percent and led to other cities such as Philadelphia, Tulsa, Okla., and Los Angeles to examine or implement the program.

        “The good news is Cincinnati is in a position to learn from the mistakes and lessons of Boston and develop models of collaboration to get their hands around the violence in the city,” the Rev. Mr. Rivers said.

        CAN leaders said the trip reflects the high priority of its police and justice action team to identify successful initiatives that will bring police and community leaders together to make local neighborhoods safer.

        “The Cincinnati Police Violent Crimes task force is a necessary effort to deal quickly and firmly with the shootings, and we strongly endorse its mission,” said co-chairman Ross Love. “At the same time, we recognize that effective police enforcement needs the involvement and proactive support of the community.”

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