MPI Joins City Officials, Community Organizations in Announcing Chicago’s Summer Safety Plan to Help Reduce Violence
Metropolitan Peace Initiatives (MPI) joined city officials, local leaders, first responders, and other community organizations for a press conference on Thursday, May 22, 2025 to discuss summer safety plans as Chicago heads into Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial start to summer. As temperatures begin to rise, so do the number of shooting incidents and homicides. However, there is an organized collaborative effort to curb any potential violence.
Mayor Brandon Johnson made note that Chicago is on track to reach its goal of having less than 500 homicides this year, but the next several months will be critical in keeping residents safe.
“This summer, we look forward to continuing the city-wide collaboration between the city of Chicago and the people of Chicago to ensure that all residents and visitors can rightfully and safely enjoy this season,” Mayor Johnson said. “[…] The most effective and sustainable violence prevention and intervention strategies we see are those that are moving in partnership. This administration is committed to coming together like never before and showing up for the city like never before.”
Garien Gatewood, the City of Chicago’s Deputy Mayor of Community Safety, laid out those strategies with a focus on prevention and rapid response. The plans will include safe space activations like Light in the Night events, “Take Back the Block” parties, and late-night basketball and softball games. There will also be opportunities for youth employment, conflict mediation, services for residents of all ages, community health and wellness resources, and more.
The city aims to focus on four priority areas that are likely to drive summer violence, which include large gatherings (“teen trends/takeovers,” house parties, street takeovers, etc.), mass shootings, gender-based violence, and youth-involved violence.
Community Violence Intervention (CVI) professionals, namely the Crisis Prevention and Response Unit (CPRU) and F.L.I.P. (Flatlining Violence Inspires Peace), also known as the Peacekeepers program, will be available to de-escalate or interrupt tense situations. Operated by MPI, CPRU serves as a mobile response unit of violence interrupters who have the street credibility to serve those communities at highest risk. CPRU has a “professional understanding” with the City of Chicago and the Chicago Police Department.
“CPRU has reduced victimizations over the course of the time they’ve been deployed. From July 2023 to December 2024, over 80 percent of these deployments have resulted in zero arrests and zero victimizations,” said Vaughn Bryant, Executive Director at MPI. He acknowledged the presence of teen trends downtown and across the city, and said CVI groups are hyper-focused on maintaining the peace and helping to ensure public safety this summer and beyond.
“[…] Our primary goal is to make sure our teens are safe and that they’re enjoying Summertime Chi,” Bryant said.
Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling said his department will take action and deploy officers as needed, but hopes to lean on more preventative measures to avoid any issues.
“If we can avoid making arrests, that’s a good day for us. It’s a good day for everybody,” Snelling said. “There are times when we have to, and when we have to, we will. But, we’re going to do every single thing that we can to avoid that.”
Dr. Olusimbo Ige, the City of Chicago’s Public Health Commissioner, said her department will also be invested in hospital-based violence prevention programs (HVIPs) to tamp down on any retaliation after a shooting incident.
It is the goal that all of these strategies, collectively, will help to make for a peaceful and enjoyable summer.
Dr. Ige made the point clear, stating, “This is the best big city in the world. For anyone to not be able to take advantage of that because they are afraid is not acceptable.”