MPI Chief Program Officer Domonique McCord and Father Greg Boyle Share CVI Insights for New Life Centers Panel
On Tuesday, October 15, MPI’s Chief Program Officer Domonique McCord participated in a focused discussion on CVI at New Life Centers. Featuring keynote speaker Father Greg Boyle of Homeboy Industries, this diverse panel of CVI experts explained how they first became involved with the work and how it has impacted them.
When asked about the beginnings of MPI and Communities Partnering 4 Peace (CP4P), Domonique emphasized how CP4P grew from eight organizations to fifteen over the course of seven years.
“We started off collaborating with other CVI organizations in CP4P on street outreach, case management, and victim services,” said Domonique. “When we talk about the growth and evolution of CVI, we were able to launch the Metropolitan Peace Academy, which is an 18-week course for outreach workers to learn new skills and how to be better at their jobs.”
The future of CVI was also discussed, with some challenges being funding sustainability and the emotional toll that the work can take on those in outreach. Despite this, the final question asked of the panelists was, “What gives you hope?”
“People and human capacity,” said Domonique, “It’s amazing.”