NYC program trains at-risk youth in filmmaking to "flip the script" on gun violence

In a city that saw a 136% increase in minors arrested with a gun from 2018 to 2024, a unique effort is underway to empower some of those young people to put their lives on a new path.

The New York City Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice runs "Flip the Script," a 40-week program that trains at-risk teens and young adults, often with gun charges, in filmmaking. The 18- to 24-year-old participants, mainly from Brownsville, Brooklyn, and the South Bronx, are paid $20 an hour.

One of those teens, KJ Campbell, lost his father and two brothers to gun violence. The 19-year-old was also arrested in 2023 for illegal gun possession.