How These Leadership Greater Chicago Fellows Are Helping Keep Chicago Safe

(Top left to bottom right) Metropolitan Family Services President/CEO Ric Estrada, Metropolitan Peace Initiatives Executive Director Vaughn Bryant, UCAN President/CEO Christa Hamilton, Partnership for Safe and Peaceful Communities Executive Director Esther Franco-Payne, Chicago CRED Founder Arne Duncan, and Deputy Mayor of Community Safety Garien Gatewood.

Leadership Greater Chicago (LGC) recently partnered with Crain’s Chicago Business to launch a seven-part series highlighting the organization’s 40-year history of empowering leaders who are addressing socioeconomic challenges across the city.

One of the most pressing issues, without a doubt, is gun violence and public safety. In response, a dedicated network of community violence intervention (CVI) leaders and LGC Fellowship alumni are working together to help reduce violence in hotspots across Chicago. 

Fellows include Metropolitan Family Services President/CEO Ric Estrada, Metropolitan Peace Initiatives Executive Director Vaughn Bryant, UCAN President/CEO Christa Hamilton, Partnership for Safe and Peaceful Communities Executive Director Esther Franco-Payne, Chicago CRED Founder Arne Duncan, and Deputy Mayor of Community Safety Garien Gatewood. Together, through their respective organizations and initiatives such as “Scaling Community Intervention for a Safer Chicago” (SC2), they’re finding solutions to keep the peace.

“That exposure [to LGC] provided me with the opportunity to sustain valuable relationships with Fellows from the business, government and nonprofit sectors,” Franco-Payne told Crain’s. “We are all working for the common good of the city. […] LGC makes the collaboration to reduce violence more rewarding and effortless. It’s a perfect storm.”

Read more about the work they’re doing here.