MPI Director of Training Tina Cooper: Women Are the ‘Backbone’ of CVI

Community violence intervention (CVI) is sustained not only by the outreach professionals who interrupt and respond to violence, but also by those who train, educate, and support them. For Tina Cooper, Director of Training at Metropolitan Peace Initiatives (MPI), it’s the women in the field who sustain her: “Being around the women that are out in the field gives me life and it reminds me why I do this work. I need that realness. And I appreciate the women who are out there, who have to stake their ground and say they belong here.”

Cooper was raised in Broadview and the West Side of Chicago. Her career in social services began at a grassroots organization in the Austin neighborhood. There, she found her passion for community engagement while working with young people: “I fell in love with it, and the young people I was working for.”

While earning her Master’s in Social Work and Clinical Licensing, Cooper met Domonique McCord, who now serves as the Chief Program Officer at MPI. McCord sponsored Cooper’s supervision hours and later recruited her for the Behavioral Health Services (BHS) team in 2019. Cooper joined a small but mighty team serving eight organizations.

Cooper describes those early days, as one of the original clinicians on BHS team, as rewarding and formative: “I had to be out in the community, and that’s all we did. It was a lot of fun, and I say that because of my joy working with and serving people. That was the most fun, building those relationships and rapport with the outreach workers and participants. It was very fulfilling.”

Now, as the Director of Training at MPI, Cooper manages the coordination of flagship training at the Metropolitan Peace Academy, which focuses on intensive training for street outreach, case management, victim advocacy professionals, and others. In her role, she also provides customized training for external and partner organizations, like the Illinois Department of Human Services and the Chicago Department of Public Health, and internally to the staff of MPI. Her expertise and clinical background lie in trauma-informed care, vicarious trauma, and self-care: “CVI work can impact you, even if you’re not working directly with the participant. It’s important for all of us to understand what trauma does to us and how we can care for ourselves.”

Cooper says women are integral to the field, even if they’re not always in the spotlight: “CVI is male-dominated, especially the boots on the ground, the people on the front line. But the women are the backbone. We do have that gift of helping, holding down the structure, and continuing to drive and motivate the work.”

Cooper holds a great deal of admiration for women in direct services, who she says have a special way of talking to people in the community that disarms them: “They have a nurturing way. People can look up to them, like that’s my auntie, that’s my mama.”

“But this isn’t soft work,” says Cooper. Instead, this is difficult, sometimes devastating work, and requires substantial support from people like Cooper, who provide care and training for those on the frontline.

For women to continue making an impact, Cooper says the playing field needs to be leveled through training, recruitment, and development: “MPI has been helping our Field Management team go back to school and get their degrees. And for boots on the ground, organizations should hire more women that have ‘licenses to operate’ in the neighborhoods.” License to Operate, or LTO, is a CVI term for street cred.

Cooper’s work as a behavioral health specialist and educator is integral to the success of MPI. She serves as a haven for women in the field who experience a great deal of vicarious and secondary trauma: “I couldn’t do what I do without them. We need each other; I can hold down my role because they need me to do what I do to keep going. I can provide counseling or be a sounding board to release whatever traumas they have, refill their cups, or provide training to build capacity within them.”