Partner and Private Sector Leaders Affirm Historic Investment In Community Violence Intervention To Help Address Surging Gun Violence

With summertime violence surging, community, philanthropic and business leaders joined with state and local elected officials to affirm a historic commitment to work together to expand community violence intervention (CVI) programs in Chicago and in other regions of the state.

At a press conference today with philanthropic, business and community leaders, Mayor Brandon Johnson and other city officials, Governor Pritzker and state lawmakers highlighted $175 million in funding in the state’s Reimagine Public Safety Act to support CVI. Philanthropic and business leaders also announced that they had reached their initial milestone of raising $100 million to expand CVI programs in Chicago as part of a new initiative announced in February.

“Community violence intervention programs are an essential and effective tool for ending the public health crisis of gun violence,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “The work these organizations are doing on the ground, with the support of the RPSA and our partners in the business and philanthropic communities, is a holistic and proven counter to the gun violence that has plagued our city and our state for far too long—violence that we, together, are working hard to ensure is not passed on to another generation.”

Esther Franco-Payne, Executive Director of the Partnership for Safe and Peaceful Communities, a coalition of approximately 50 foundations and private donors, highlighted the historic partnership among philanthropy, business, government and community that has helped build the network of CVI organizations in Chicago.

Franco-Payne said, “We are determined to bring CVI to scale in every community where it is needed and make it a permanent feature of Chicago’s public safety strategy. We’re in this for the long haul and we won’t stop until our children and families can live without fear, trauma and violence.”

Eric Smith, the Vice-Chairman of BMO Bank, and co-chair of a Public Safety Task Force created by the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago, thanked the philanthropic and business sectors for raising $100M to expand CVI. He went on to say that the Civic Committee plans to raise millions more to support several other pillars in a public safety plan first unveiled in June of 2023.

Smith said, “Expanding CVI is the first step. We are also committed to hiring from and investing in communities plagued by gun violence and supporting efforts to modernize and strengthen the Chicago Police Department. The business community of Chicago is all in on public safety.”

Vaughn Bryant, the Executive Director of the Metropolitan Peace Initiative (MPI) said, “We’re grateful to our funders and mindful of the necessity for accountability that comes with such a large undertaking; through our actions, transparent data and outcomes, and how we work towards one common goal. This funding will allow violence prevention agencies across Chicago to further their mission in ending the cycle of gun violence, for many years to come.”

Chicago CRED founder Arne Duncan thanked donors and elected officials at the event but, citing the weekend violence in which more than 100 people were shot and 17 were killed, he said, “The level of gun violence in our city is so extreme that we cannot let up for even a moment. We all have to get better—police, the CVI community, philanthropy, business and the broader public services network. Every one of us must be part of the answer.”

In recent years, the City, County and State governments as well as philanthropic and business leaders have invested heavily to support CVI organizations across Chicago that are providing a menu of services to individuals at high risk of shooting or being shot. Services include outreach, life coaching, trauma treatment, education and job training.

A growing body of research from Northwestern University and the University of Chicago suggests that Chicago CVI programs are saving lives and reducing gun violence. City crime data also shows significant drops in gun violence in some communities served by CVI organizations.

Today, CVI programs are active in 37 of the city’s 77 neighborhoods. However, they only serve about 15 to 20 percent of the estimated 20,000 highest-risk individuals in the city. To increase the impact of CVI programs, philanthropic, business and community leaders announced in February a bold and ambitious 10-year plan to “take to scale” CVI programs.

The plan is called Scaling Community Violence Intervention for a Safer Chicago, or “SC2” for short. The twin goals are to serve up to 75 percent of the people at highest risk of shooting or being shot and, as part of a comprehensive strategy that includes traditional policing and other investments, reduce gun violence by 75 percent. At the February announcement, Governor Pritzker, Mayor Johnson, and legislative leaders all voiced their support for CVI.

At a follow-up event in June, SC2 leaders identified five neighborhoods where CVI programs are in various stages of scaling up. They are: North Lawndale, Austin, Garfield Park, Humboldt Park and Little Village. Two additional neighborhoods, New City and Englewood, have also received capacity-building funds in anticipation of eventually going to scale.

Today’s announcement, built around the public and private sector funding, affirms that the work is moving forward with urgency. The following individuals and organizations contributed to the $100M SC2 fund:

For Further Information:

• Peter Cunningham, 312-636-8619, petercunningham57@gmail.com
• LaToya Egwuekwe Smith (MPI), 773-882-2751, SmithL@metrofamily.org

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