>> reporter: this month dewaan got the maximum. $1,300. >> congratulations, bro.ood for you. >> thank you. >> reporter: that day at the cemetery he chose not to avenge his friends' death. >> everything you do is going to have a reaction. you know what i mean? and a consequence. >> you're on first check status. >> reporter: dewaan is just one of two dozen men in an 18-month-long fellowship that's run out of devone's office of neighborhood safety, or o.n.s., mostly funded by taxpayers. >> right here, boom. >> reporter: the people we've spoken to who believe it is wrong to pay a kid not to kill somebody. >> well, that's not what we do. in fact, i never tell a young man to put his gun down. their job is to get their lives together. >> i painted all those cabinets right there. >> reporter: dewaan also got a real job. >> when the people come in here and they move into their house they would never know that a little black kid from richmond did it. you know what i mean? they'd never know. >> reporter: progress for a young man who was first arrested at age 12 for armed rob