Research Activities: In July 2014, Fortaleza started a citywide large-scale urban renewal project focused on disadvantaged neighborhoods with high shares of young adults. The program builds football fields, invests in citizenship formation through football lessons, and improves the nearby infrastructure with a playground, street lighting, and sidewalk. This study uses a difference-in-differences design to provide the causal effects of this neighborhood intervention on violent crime and students’ performance. Football fields decreased homicide rates by 45-68\%, on average, with no evidence of crime moving around the corner or clock. Estimates are driven by young males with a criminal history, which suggests that renovated areas experience fewer gang fights after the policy’s implementation. Voluntary incapacitation, more state presence, and eyes on the streets are relevant mechanisms that explain the decrease in violence. Also, fifth graders who study close to a football arena improved their Math scores by 2.5%, on average. Considering the neighborhood’s amenity value and public safety improvements, social benefit exceeds costs within two years. Urban policies that blend person- and place-based interventions might be cost-effective alternatives to Police Services to reduce violence in distressed communities.