Safer Returnfunded by the MacArthur Foundation, and designed jointly by Urban Institute researchers and Safer Foundation staffwas an action research demonstration implemented in Chicago's Garfield Park neighborhood between 2008 and 2013. This brief retrospectively describes the context in which the program model was developed, the activities performed during the strategic planning process, existing evidence-based or promising programs examined for possible inclusion in Safer Return, features of the model as it was initially conceptualized, and the proposed multi-method research design that uses a quasi-experimental approach and primary and secondary data collection to capture individual, family, and community results.