Collective Efficacy is related to the social bond among the members of the community along with their disposition to act on behalf of the common good. This project suggests that a direct link between crime indicators and mutual trust within the communities exist, which affect the level of violence in the city. Wherever poverty, unemployment and insecurity of tenure exists, colective efficacy may serve as a mediator with respect to violence.

Collective Efficacy is a concept expandable to issues of broader relevance for the public interest of the community, such as budget cuts on welfare programs, recollection of disposals or urban decay of the environment. Since individual response to delinquency may use efficacy mechanisms on a personal basis which may not entail the capacities of a networked collaboration, we suggest reassesing the role that colective efficacy play as guarantee of colective interest and common good.

At Cuernavaca Forum we face the challenge to find alternatives to juvenile delinquency as well as the compromise to improve the urban environment by strenghtening the social fabric of the communities in the metropolitan area of Cuernavaca, Mexico. Violence and delinquency represent not only a personal trauma but also a social and economic barrier for the community for which our goal is to articulate the public partnering with the communities in order to have a mesurable and long-lasting impact on reducing crime indicators in the cty. In the long run we aim to support communities to sustain opportunities and responsibilities among the younger population of Cuernavaca in order to regain a peaceful environment for all.