MPI Executive Director Vaughn Bryant Talks DOJ CVI Cuts on ABC 7’s ‘Our Chicago’
Vaughn Bryant, Executive Director of Metropolitan Peace Initiatives (MPI), and Dr. Michael McGee, founder of Project Outreach and Prevention (POP), recently appeared on ABC 7’s Our Chicago to address the recent termination of over 75 federal grants by the Department of Justice (DOJ). These grants, totaling more than $180 million, were previously allocated to Community Violence Intervention (CVI) organizations, including MPI and POP, which have been instrumental in reducing violence in Chicago.
Bryant expressed concern over the timing of the grant cuts.
“For us, it just means that organizations will probably have to lay off workers. And the timing of this is terrible, because we know that the vast majority of our gun violence happens in the summertime, so doing this now is inconvenient,” shared Bryant. “It stunts the growth of the local organizations who know and understand their community in a way most of us don’t.”
Bryant highlighted the measurable impact CVI programs have on homicide rates in Chicago’s most affected neighborhoods. “If we were to take the three neighborhoods where the DOJ grant is actually operating, West Englewood is down about 33 percent, Englewood is down about 42 percent… Woodlawn is down 75 percent over the last five years… We are not saying that we are solely responsible for that. But having community violence intervention being part of the public safety ecosystem has been a value add.”