Chicago Reporter Highlights Chicago Peacekeepers Program, 35% Decrease in Homicides in Single Year
A recent in-depth piece from The Chicago Reporter featured Community Violence Intervention (CVI) leaders from Communities Partnering 4 Peace (CP4P), who shared some of the complexities of the Peacekeepers Program and the powerful impact the Peacekeepers have made in their neighborhoods.
The Peacekeepers Program, once known as Flatlining Violence Inspires Peace (FLIP), began in 2018 and has since expanded under the Reimagine Public Safety Act, a critical piece of legislation that supports community-based violence prevention initiatives.
According to a 2025 report from Northwestern University’s Center for Neighborhood Engaged Research and Science (CORNERS), hotspots monitored by Peacekeepers saw a 31% decrease in shootings over a two-year period, with nearby areas seeing a reduction of 41%.
“We’ve had a 35 percent drop in homicide in a single year,” shared Andrew Papachristos, CORNERS Faculty Director and Professor of Sociology at Northwestern. “We don’t talk about it every day, and we should.”
While the reductions in violence are promising, so are the outcomes for the Peacekeepers themselves.
“Doing peacekeeping alone ultimately becomes a band-aid because you’re not really addressing the root cause part,” said Vaughn Bryant, Executive Director of Metropolitan Peace Initiatives (MPI).
Bryant shared that the program can be instrumental for Peacekeepers in helping them achieve long-term employment.
“They get used to showing up for something on a regular basis, they start to learn time management and responsibility,” Bryant said. “Hopefully they see that doing this work can give them some purpose and some contribution to their neighborhood and society and they will take that home with them.”