Civic Leaders in Violence Prevention Share Successes and Insights for Chicago Tribune

Executive Director of Metropolitan Peace Initiatives (MPI) Vaughn Bryant, Executive Director of the Partnership for Safe and Peaceful Communities (PSPC) Esther Franco-Payne, President of the Civic Committee Commercial Club of Chicago Derek Douglas, and founder of Chicago CRED Arne Duncan shared vital insights and recommendations for addressing the issue of community violence in the city of Chicago with the Chicago Tribune.

The group shared optimistic trends in the reduction of community violence, with a 9% reduction in homicides this year following a 32% drop between 2023 and 2021, and total shootings down 6% this year after an approximately 40% drop between 2023 and 2021.

“Over the last decade, with mostly private funding, Chicago has built an extraordinary network of some two dozen grassroots CVI organizations that engage directly with those at highest risk of shooting or being shot. Through services such as trauma treatment, education and job training, we guide them out of street life and into the legal economy,” reads the article.

Thanks to the Scaling Community Violence Intervention for a Safer Chicago (SC2) initiative, several high-risk neighborhoods in the city of Chicago are now undergoing a transformation, with more attention and resources being poured into violence reduction. CVI organizations now reach about 20% of Chicago’s highest-risk population, and individuals who complete CVI programs are shown to be 73% less likely to be rearrested,

The advocates hope to make Chicago one of the safest big cities in America: “To get there, however, we need the public sector to match our investment and consistently fund CVI programs at a level that supports these goals.”

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