Community Violence Intervention (CVI) advocates and professionals from across Chicago made their way down to Springfield, Illinois to amplify a simple but strong message: CVI saves lives and deserves sustained funding.

Metropolitan Peace Initiatives (MPI) honors Mental Health Awareness Month in May, a time to educate and bring awareness to the conditions that affect those in our everyday lives.

On Tuesday, April 28, staff at Metropolitan Peace Initiatives (MPI) held an informative discussion centered on the realities and opportunities individuals face after coming home from prison.

“Credible Messengers” passes the mic to the people leading Community Violence Intervention (CVI) work in Chicago. From insights on how they got into the work to the future they envision for our city, they share their lived experiences and how they’re fostering change in their communities.

The third annual We Are Our Own Medicine Conference brought together leaders across the Community Violence Intervention (CVI), faith, and public health spaces at New Life Covenant in Humboldt Park.

Illinois Peace Project is proud to announce the honorees for its 2026 Peace Portraits series, a visual project dedicated to spotlighting the extraordinary individuals working everyday to build safer, stronger, and more peaceful communities.

It was a packed house at the North Lawndale Collaborative’s (NLC) quarterly community meeting, as residents, Community Violence Intervention (CVI) professionals, and elected officials gathered to hear insights on the work being done on the ground to combat violence in the area.

Metropolitan Peace Initiatives (MPI) recently launched the second cohort of its Management and Supervision Fellowship, welcoming a new group of leaders committed to strengthening the Community Violence Intervention (CVI) field.

Women are a vital yet underrepresented part of CVI, serving in a variety of roles across the field in research, policy, behavioral health, and boots-on-the-ground roles.

Karen Mata, who works as a Street Outreach Mentor at New Life Centers, has a long history of providing safe havens for her community.

Diana Hincapie, Case Manager at Enlace Chicago in Little Village, says her work in the community has healed her relationship with herself, her family, and her city.

Tashee Poplous is part of a team of experts who prepare hundreds of professionals every year in Community Violence Intervention (CVI) practices and standards.

Sharonda Giles, Director of the Crisis Prevention and Response Unit (CPRU) at Metropolitan Peace Initiatives (MPI), doesn’t just manage and operate a unique crisis intervention initiative; Giles is in the field herself, doing the work of monitoring large crowds and responding to critical incidents in real time.

Gina Ramirez, former Street Outreach Case Manager at New Life Centers, is intimately familiar with playing an essential role in her home communities of Brighton Park and Bridgeport.

Metropolitan Peace Initiatives (MPI), alongside other Community Violence Intervention (CVI) organizations, public officials, and advocates, convened to provide Chicago with a public safety update and mark the city’s historic decline in gun violence last year.

Metropolitan Peace Initiatives (MPI) Chief Program Officer Domonique McCord was among many leaders at a public hearing convened by the Illinois Accountability Commission, testifying on the impact of Operation Midway Blitz.

On a quiet February evening in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood, a couple dozen people gather, not for a workshop or a neighborhood meeting, but for something far more personal: laser removal of gang-related tattoos.

Leaders from Communities Partnering 4 Peace (CP4P) organizations were among the new cohort for Latino Policy Forum’s 2026 class of the Multicultural Leadership Academy (MLA).

The City of Chicago recently launched its first-ever women’s Community Re-entry Support Center (CRSC) in partnership with the Women’s Justice Institute, in addition to awarding five community organizations serving residents returning from incarceration.

At Metropolitan Peace Initiatives, we like to say, “Those who do the work, lead the work.” 2025 was no exception as we continued our mission to end gun violence in Chicago.

MPI Chief Program Officer Domonique McCord shared her insights on Chicago’s declining levels of gun violence with WBEZ’s Mary Dixon and Patrick Smith in a segment for Say More.

Chicago closed out 2025 with the lowest number of homicides since 1965, and for the first time in decades, four years in a row of declining gun violence.

Meet four new graduates from the MPA as they reflect on their training experience and their work as champions of CVI.

As 2025 comes to a close, Chicago is on pace to record its lowest number of homicides in the past 10 years, ABC7 reports.

As Chicago closes out the year with historic declines in gun violence, Metropolitan Peace Initiatives celebrated its newest class of Community Violence Intervention workers to graduate from the Metropolitan Peace Academy.

Chicago is set to close out the year with historic declines in violent crime, as detailed in a new report from Crain’s Chicago Business. City leaders, law enforcement officials, and Community Violence Intervention experts acknowledge that their combined efforts have helped make 2025 one of the city’s safest years in decades.

Congratulations are in order for Metropolitan Peace Initiatives (MPI) Field Manager NyEdra Turner and MPI Training Specialist Tashee Poplous who recently received their bachelor’s degrees from Northeastern Illinois University through its University Without Walls program.

New Life Centers CEO Matt DeMateo was recently honored with the 2025 Inspire Change Changemaker Award from the Chicago Bears for his impactful social justice work in Chicago.

The two-day event focused on capacity building, wellness, and the professionalization of Community Violence Intervention, as the field continues to evolve and take shape in cities across the country.

The momentum to end gun violence in the state of Illinois continues to build, but the pace must be sustained by effective collaboration across public and private sectors.