Metropolitan Peace Initiatives
Helping people heal from trauma by partnering with and offering support for community-based and citywide organizations through:
- Metropolitan Peace Academy
- Behavioral health
- Street outreach supervision
- Workforce development
- Legal aid
Communities Partnering 4 Peace
Our partners provide a comprehensive, long-term approach to reducing violence gun violence in communities across Chicago. CP4P principles are:
- Trauma-informed
- Restorative
- Nonviolent
- Hyperlocal
Metropolitan Peace Academy
Professionalizing the field of community violence intervention (CVI) with intensive and multidisciplinary training by:
- Building a citywide network of outreach workers
- Enhancing community capacity to reduce violence
recent news
North Lawndale Collaborative Hosts Safer Community Meeting at UCAN Chicago
The North Lawndale Collaborative (NLC) hosted a Safer Community Meeting on Monday, March 17, 2025, at UCAN Chicago’s headquarters, where residents and leaders in the field of community violence intervention (CVI) came together to create strategies for improving community safety.
Cynthia Leal, Victim Advocate at New Life Centers: Women ‘Need to Be Supported’
Community violence intervention (CVI) programs have the power to save and change lives for participants, and sometimes, those participants become empowered enough to turn around and provide that same advocacy for others. This much is true for Cynthia Leal, Victim Advocate for New Life Centers in Chicago’s Little Village.
WATCH: The History of ‘The BOOM’ at the Metropolitan Peace Academy
Ever wonder how the Metropolitan Peace Academy’s “1, 2, 3, BOOM!” rallying cry came to be? Let Dr. Vanessa Perry DeReef, Chief Training Officer at Metropolitan Peace Initiatives, give you a history lesson.