Seventeen years ago, they banded together to combat violence.
Former gang members, lawyers, school officials, and business owners, they sought to form truces between warring gangs and stem Boston's skyrocketing homicide rate.
Today, Citizens for Safety will announce its rebirth and its new members, an eclectic group that includes mothers of homicide victims, religious leaders, a former policeman, and a suburban mom. They will also announce their new mission: to track sources of illegal guns and learn how they end up in the hands of teenagers and criminals.
Eight men have been killed since the year began. Nearly all of them were shot, and police said they believe several were victims of gang violence.
The spasm of violence spurred the group to announce its initiative so it could begin soliciting new members and financial support for their proposals and raise awareness about illegal gun trafficking.
"That created a sense of urgency," said Nancy Robinson, a Newton resident with a teenage son who will serve as the coalition's executive director. "We needed to move ahead."
In 1990, the year Citizens for Safety was first formed, Boston had 152 homicides, the highest number on record. The group helped create after-school programs and jobs for city teenagers. They focused on compelling gang members to get together for basketball matches. They were among several grass-roots organizations whose work with police helped lead to the so-called "Boston Miracle."
By 1999, the number of homicides fell to 31, the lowest in decades. The number would rise again through the years, but never return to the peak of the early 1990s. By 2001, many neighborhood organizations had thriving youth programs in place, and the group slowly disbanded.
"We did what every nonprofit dreams of doing," said Kathy Mainzer, the group's former director. "We put ourselves out of business, in a happy way."
In the last two years, however, the number of homicides has climbed to the 10-year high of 75 in both 2005 and 2006. Last year, the number fell to 66, but the surge of violence in the first two weeks of January has many in the community fearful of a repeat of the bloodshed of the early '90s.
"At that rate, if it keeps going, we would be way over" the peak, said Thomas Nolan, a former Boston police lieutenant and a Boston University criminologist, who will serve on the group's board of directors.
Group leaders said it is the availability of firearms, many of which come from states with less strict gun laws than Massachusetts, that has fueled the surge of violence.
"Back in the '90s, there were people bringing guns in from Georgia," said Mainzer, who will rejoin the coalition. "Now guns are coming in from everywhere."
To stop the flow, leaders said they will hold workshops with residents to educate them about trafficking and teach them how to mobilize public support for changes in current gun laws.
The workshops, called "traffic jams," also will invite homicide detectives to describe how they solved cases of fatal shootings, Nolan said.
The idea is to teach residents about police procedure and slowly build trust between the community and detectives, he said.
"If they feel as though there is a rapport established, maybe they will tell us not only where the guns are, but where they came from," he said.
Robinson said she wants the group to have a national effect and be able to pressure federal authorities to enforce gun laws and urge legislators to pass new laws that would force stricter background checks on gun purchasers.
Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis and Mayor Thomas M. Menino, who are expected to attend the announcement, said they welcome the group's return.
"We have a new start and new emergency and renewed commitment," Menino said.
The group's goals do not please everyone. Andrew Arulanandam, spokesman for the National Rifle Association, said new gun laws would not be effective.
"The reason that gun control laws don't work is that they require the cooperation of a very unlikely source, and that is the criminal," he said. "A criminal intent on committing a robbery or assault or whatever is not hindered by that law. He will do whatever, she will do whatever to get a gun."
Maria Cramer can be reached at mcramer@globe.com.
