Turn to your neighbor and say, neighbor. Good morning. Now give yourselves a round of applause
for being out today. Good morning, everybody. Before we begin, we pause to honor a giant,
one of Chicago's very own, whose voice shaped movements, policies, and possibilities in this
city and across the nation and world. The Reverend Jesse Jackson Sr. taught us three words that still
define the work. When I say keep hope, you say a lie. Keep hope. Keep hope. Hope was never passive.
Hope was organizing. Hope was strategy. Hope was refusing to abandon our communities. And in this
morning in the city of chicago we testify that hope is alive through community violence intervention
please put your hands together for the work and the lives that you are saving professionals
partners public leaders working together to save lives and build pathways forward
I'm Craig Nash with Chicago Cred. It is my honor to call this gathering to order.
We will begin grounded in faith and moral clarity.
Please welcome Father Michael Flager of St. Sabina Church for our opening prayer.
Say amen, somebody.
Good morning. Good morning.
Good morning. Before I pray, let me just say this.
We come together this morning to celebrate a great accomplishment.
Homicide numbers are down the lowest in 60 years.
I said 60 years.
And that's a reason to celebrate.
We're also here to celebrate the men and women across the city whose work daily and sacrifice have made this a reality.
It didn't just happen.
You made it happen throughout this city.
Give yourself an applause.
But we cannot rest on our accomplishment, because those numbers mean nothing to the 417 men, women, and children who lost their lives in 2025.
Nor does it mean anything to 28-year-old David Figueroa, who lost his life on yesterday.
Our success has to show us first that we can reduce gun violence.
We don't throw up our hands.
We can do it.
We've shown that we can do it, and we've got to keep on doing it.
We also have to keep on pushing.
And that demands fighting, that not only until no lives are lost,
but until we address all of the root causes of violence.
And we have excellent education.
We have affordable housing.
We have treatment for all those trauma individuals who lost loved ones
and whole communities that live in trauma.
We have to have job accessibility, economic development, and healthy, strong, and healed communities.
Until we do all of that, we're still band-aiding the murders and the killings and the shootings that are going on in this city.
Finally, we must keep on pushing until we end America's love affair with guns
and stop them from being our first line of defense.
The way we handle our issues cannot be first a gun.
It's got to be our minds, our mouths, and if at least worse comes the worse, our hands.
But guns cannot become the answer.
Let us pray.
God, we thank you for every person who's worked and sacrificed and given all of their all to reduce violence in this city.
We thank you for all the many lives that they have indeed saved.
We also ask for your strength, your compassion, and your healing for all those families and communities who have suffered from the loss of life and still struggle today to go on.
continue to push us lord push us to build a city and a country where every community has the
resources the economic investment and the infrastructure it needs and it deserves
to become a strong and vibrant neighborhood we ask this in jesus name amen
Now I want to bring to you a person who has been a consistent voice for change, for hope, for challenge, and for peace.
He could have had a life of comfort and a life of position, but instead he has given his life to fight for the lives of our children in the city of Chicago.
Please welcome with me one I'm proud to call friend, Arnie Duncan.
Thank you so much. Please give a quick round of applause for Father Flagler, who is an extraordinary warrior for peace here in Chicago.
It's such an amazing time to be working on this issue.
And as he talked about, there are two complicated stories that are both true.
Last year, collectively, we reduced violence to the lowest level it's been in six decades, in 60 years.
Please give yourselves a round of applause for that.
That is extraordinary work.
And all of us want to be a part of history in a positive way.
And to do something that hasn't happened basically in any of our lifetimes is unbelievable.
We've had four consecutive years of violence going down.
Violence is down across the nation, which is fantastic.
But Chicago is one of the fastest improving cities in the nation.
So we're getting there.
And very importantly, if this doesn't get talked about enough,
at the same time violence is going down, arrests are also down about 30%,
from 90,000 arrests to 60,000 arrests.
So think about what that means.
We're not just incarcerating our way to a safer city.
We're not locking up the next generation.
What we're doing collectively is we're changing behavior.
People who are carrying guns are putting down guns.
People who are shooting guns are no longer shooting guns.
Fewer arrests, less violence, that's the sweet spot.
That's where we're going to be.
And collectively, we're going to get there.
But Father Mike said we have a long way to go.
Just in our small little Chicago cred family,
Thursday we have to go to the funeral of the son of one of our life coaches
who was killed last week
and yesterday visited the 18-year-old grandson
of one of our staff who was shot 15 times.
And the team at the University of Chicago
Trauma Center there saved his life,
which is a miracle.
But this is not a time of mission accomplished moment.
This is not a time to really celebrate.
We've cut violence in half from the pandemic.
We have to cut it in half again.
And that's just going to be a lot of hard work,
a lot of blood, sweat, tears,
everyone working together.
but we have a chance to keep getting better collectively
and that's the gift that we can give to our city
and most importantly to our city's children.
And what we've accomplished was the same time
when we had an assault by the federal government coming here
that increased danger, did not increase safety.
We did at the same time
and the president removed $800 million in grants for CVI
that hurt many of our organizations here in Chicago.
So we did all these things despite that assault from the federal government.
And that assault is probably not going to change.
It may well come back next month.
We can never use that as an excuse.
We just have to keep getting better together.
And there's no one way that we can continue to get these kind of results.
The outreach work and the peacekeepers here, you're going to hear a lot about that, are extraordinary.
But the life coaching, the clinical support, the healing from trauma, the life coaches, the jobs program,
everything we're doing, helping our young people get their high school appointments,
all of those things together create a new sense of opportunity and hope.
So there's no one path there, but we have to get better together.
You're going to hear from a representative of the Chicago Cubs.
The jobs piece of this is hugely important.
We can't ask people to put down the guns and not give them a chance to make money in the legal economy.
The Chicago Cubs is one of our just fantastic employer partners here.
You'll hear from them.
Just a couple quick thank yous.
I want to introduce our next speaker, President Periquito, to the mayor and to the city council.
Thank you so much for what the city's doing.
Larry Snelling, your police chief, is doing a fantastic job.
The city's putting in about $32 million this year into CVI.
Please give them a round of applause and thank them for their hard work.
To Assistant Secretary Bell of the state, what the state has done with the Peacekeepers program is extraordinary.
This is hard work.
It's controversial.
It's difficult.
But there is no way we get the kind of results we've gotten across the city without them investing over $100 million each year.
Thank you so much.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Please give Assistant Secretary Bell a big round of applause.
And finally, I just want to introduce Cook County Board President, Toni Preckwinkle.
She and I go back almost 30 years.
I got my start in education when she gave my sister and I and our team at Ariel a chance to start a small public school in her ward.
She didn't have to support that effort.
She did. That gave me a chance to start to work with the Chicago Public Schools and then actually go into the public schools.
She has been a constant fighter for better schools, for public safety.
The county has always invested in CVI.
She's an absolute warrior.
She'll tell you the truth. She'll tell you like it is.
We're lucky to have her as a champion.
Please give a warm round of applause and welcome to Kitt County Board President, Toni Preckling.
Good morning.
I'm grateful to stand here among so many people who are committed to building safer communities across Chicago and Cook County.
Our shared work reflects a simple belief.
Where you live should never determine whether you feel safe.
Community violence intervention has become a central part of how we advance that vision.
not as a temporary initiative, but as a long-term strategy
grounded in evidence, partnership, and community leadership.
Cook County is proud to be part of the Government Alliance for Safe Communities.
Through this partnership, alongside the City of Chicago, thank you, Mayor,
the State of Illinois, and our community partners,
we are aligning investments, coordinating strategy,
and strengthening the organizations doing that very hard work on the ground.
This collaboration is not theoretical.
It's producing measurable results.
Just yesterday, the Government Alliance released a new report from our research partner at Northwestern University.
Here are three of the findings.
First, public investment has expanded CVI programs and increased participation among those most at risk.
Second, funding is being directed where it is needed most.
in communities that have experienced the highest levels of violence and historic disinvestment.
And third, the neighborhoods with the strongest levels of investment
have seen the greatest public safety gains.
In the 34 communities in which we've made investments, shootings are down 60%.
60%.
This is what effective partnership looks like.
It's the government working with communities, philanthropy, and research partners
to deliver outcomes that are both data-driven and community-oriented.
Cook County has made a sustained commitment to this work,
building on historic investments through the American Rescue Plan Act.
We've invested $20 million in community violence intervention last year,
and in 2026 we will continue that commitment with another $20 million.
We do this because evidence shows CVI saves lives
and because it strengthens the fabric of our communities.
CBI reflects a fundamental truth.
Lasting safety comes from within the communities themselves.
It reaches people most at risk of violence or incarceration
and connects them to support, stability, and opportunity.
The work is led by outreach workers, case managers, and advocates
who understand their own neighborhoods, who bring credibility, compassion,
and lived experience to this effort every single day.
This model recognizes that residents in communities most impacted by racism and disinvestment
are not just participants in public safety strategies.
They are leaders in shaping them.
Over the past year, we've also seen how communities can come together
in moments of uncertainty and challenge.
Time and again, residents have demonstrated that safety is built through trust,
collaboration, and shared responsibility.
CVI embodies that spirit.
Public safety is not the responsibility of any one agency or sector.
It requires partnership across government, not-for-profit organizations, philanthropy, and the private sector.
And that is exactly what the Government Alliance represents.
There's still a lot of work ahead.
The progress we've made together is real.
We're building a stronger foundation for safety, one rooted in data, equity, and community leadership.
I want to thank all of you in this room who are helping to build this infrastructure for community safety.
And to the outreach workers, case managers, and victim advocates on the front lines, thank you, thank you, thank you.
Your work is changing lives, strengthening neighborhoods, and creating pathways to peace.
I also want to recognize the public, private, and not-for-profit leaders
who have made this partnership possible.
Your collaboration demonstrates what can happen when we align ourselves.
and our resources and our values.
And finally, I want to give a special thanks to my chief of staff,
Lynetta Haynes-Turner, whose leadership has helped drive the work of the Government Alliance forward.
Thank you all. Thank you all.
Please put your hands together and give it up one more time for President Pratt-Quinkle.
Thank you, Madam President, for your leadership and partnership.
At this time, I want to invite Vaughn Bryant to the stage
to introduce the mayor of this great city of Chicago.
Come on, give a warm welcome, y'all.
Good morning, everyone.
My name is Vaughn Bryan,
Executive Director of Metropolitan Peace Initiatives.
And before I get started,
I want to acknowledge Cook County Commissioner Bridget Degnan.
Thank you.
I just wanted to acknowledge you.
And then Alderman Jason Irvin as well.
And Alderman Michelle Harris is here.
Okay, good.
All walking in.
Appreciate it.
So let me start by saying it's a privilege to work alongside of you each and every day.
Thank you for your commitment to advancing community violence intervention
and building a safer, stronger neighborhoods across the city of Chicago.
Communities Partner for Peace has spent the last nine years
building a community-based public safety network in Chicago.
This historic decline in gun violence is the result of what happens
when the entire city, CBI, the mayor's office, the state, the county, law enforcement, philanthropy,
business leaders, and so many others who believe every Chicagoan deserves to live a safe life
commit to working together for peace.
While we're encouraged by this progress, there's much work to be done.
Our goal is to consistently remain under 200 homicides.
200 is too many, but that would put us in a place to be the safest city, the safest major city in the country.
And we are committed to doing that together, which is why we want to introduce our next speaker.
Since taking office, Brandon Johnson has made it clear that reducing violence in Chicago requires more than just enforcement.
It requires investment, partnership, and trust.
His administration has demonstrated a real commitment to CVI, recognizing the CVI organizations as essential partners in building safe neighborhoods across Chicago.
His administration has worked in partnership with City Council to advance and sustain funding for CVI strategies that meet people where they are.
That commitment sends a powerful message that prevention and intervention work, that communities deserve resources, and that those closest to the challenges are a critical part of the solution.
Please join me in welcoming Mayor of Chicago, Mr. Brandon Johnson.
Thank you, Vaughn, for that introduction and for your leadership at the Metropolitan Peace Initiative.
that the work that you do and your team, the work that you all do every single day
is changing lives across our city.
Good morning, everyone.
It is truly an honor to be with you all to convene again with our incredible peacekeepers.
It's the peacekeepers that will inherit that which God has promised.
And as we convene this winter, I'm grateful for all of the CVI workers that have literally put your lives on the line to transform our beloved city.
I do want to thank our elected leaders. Thank you to President Preckwinkle for her leadership and commitment.
Thank you to Alderman Irvin and Harris, who are here as well.
Our community-based organizations, the Office of Community Safety, and all who brought us together this morning.
This gathering reflects what makes Chicago the greatest city in the world.
It's our collaboration, our commitment, and our shared belief in our communities that they deserve peace.
When I took office, I made a very clear commitment to make Chicago a safer place for every single resident in every neighborhood.
And today we are seeing the commitment translate into real progress.
We will be the safest, most affordable big city in America because of this room.
Crime and violence has declined across every major category citywide.
And closing out 2025 with the fewest homicides in 60 years is a remarkable testament to the collaboration that is in this room.
But this is not just about statistics.
This is about families and keeping them whole.
More young people choosing opportunity over despair and more communities reclaiming that hope.
This summer, we hired 31,119 young people for summer jobs, the largest investment for youth employment in the history of Chicago.
And that's why these results are not just by accident.
They happen because we come together around that shared goal, because we believe that investing in our people actually works,
and that most importantly, we trust the community.
We know that community violence intervention is not just this theory that people pontificate, but it's proven to work.
It saves lives. It interrupts cycles of harm. It creates pathways to healing.
And healing is critical.
And that's why I'm proud that we have reopened three mental health clinics, expanded mental health care across this city,
and we are generating revenue from these big tech companies to continue to invest in our mental well-being.
You know, CVI professionals are not just reducing violence.
You're strengthening our neighborhoods.
You are helping drive economic development.
You are reducing long-term taxpayer costs, and you are building stability where instability once lived.
The wraparound services, the coordination with law enforcement and city agencies,
the partnerships with community leaders, this comprehensive approach is exactly why we're seeing the progress that we are seeing.
And it's not time to turn away from those investments.
And while today is a moment where we recognize the success and we honor the lives of those who have impacted this work,
this is not a victory lap. This is a recommitment to doing what works.
It's a reminder that this work matters too much to slow down.
That consistency, the strategy, and the collaboration, it has to continue.
The progress that we have made to protect lives has to expand.
And I know the work can be hard, you all.
It is hard working in Chicago.
Trust me, I know.
But there is no greater joy than seeing the lives of those families that we are transforming.
You are going into living rooms, and you're not just working with an individual.
You're working with entire families, whether you have to go pick up Pampers or get food or find pathways to full healing.
Together, we are shaping the safest, most affordable big city in America.
And we're going to continue to do that by building more affordable homes, investing in mental health, investing in the long-term future of our children.
That's why this year we were able to release the largest TIF surplus for our public schools.
Half a billion dollars went back into our public schools to support our young people.
And so in closing, just know that my administration stands with you.
Listen, we don't always get it right, but we know we have to continue to do the work.
So let's continue to make sure that we are investing in you all.
I need your help to support, to generate more progressive revenue so that we can invest more into CVI.
We will continue to work to ensure that community violence intervention is not a temporary initiative,
but a permanent pillar of Chicago's public safety strategy.
Because public safety is public health, it's economic stability, it's dignity, and most of all, it is justice.
For every life that we save, we are creating opportunities for black and brown and working people across this city.
So thank you for your leadership.
Thank you for your partnership.
And God bless you all.
And God bless the most amazing freaking city in the world, the city of Chicago.
Bless you all.
Thank you.
Come on, put your hands together for Mayor Brandon Johnson.
Keep hope.
Keep hope.
Leadership at every level, city, county, community, makes progress possible.
We now turn to implementation.
the peacekeepers program peacekeepers make some noise the peacekeepers program continues to
demonstrate how coordinated strategy reduces violence and strengthens neighborhoods please
welcome jason little who will provide an update and introduce our state partner give it up for
Jason. It's always one. My man. So good morning. For years, Chicago has been defined by headlines
about violence. But in 2025, we saw a different story. Gun violence in our city reached a historic
low. Shooting declined by 35% compared to 2024. And Chicago recorded its lowest annual
homicide total since 1965. That didn't happen by accident. It happened because community
violence intervention expanded, strengthened, and delivered. Back in 2018, CVI operated
in 13 communities' areas.
By 2025, it was active in 51 of Chicago's 77 communities.
That's just not growth.
That's an infrastructure for peace.
Since 2021, nearly 78% of the decline in homicides
has occurred in CVI-covered areas.
The neighborhoods that have carried the greatest burden
are now leading the city's recovery.
When the Peacekeeper Programming launched in 2023,
research observed immediate and significant drop in shootings in covered areas.
In physical year 2025 alone,
Peacekeeper hotspots saw a 32% reduction in shootings.
And perhaps the most powerful,
Communities experienced 181 more days of peace in violent hotspots compared to previous three years.
That's 181 days where families didn't get devastating calls.
181 days where children could play without fear.
181 days where hope has space to grow.
So, FLIP and CVI aren't just programs.
They are lifelines.
They are credible messengers mediating conflicts, interrupting retaliations, and showing up every single day to protect our communities.
This work would not be possible without strong leadership and partnerships.
We are deeply grateful for the Office of Firearm Violence Prevention, Governor J.B. Prisker, and Assistant Secretary Bell for their commitment to funding and advancing this life-saving work.
We also thank Aclavis, MPI, and all of our flip partners across this city who stand on the front line every day.
And when they stand on the front line, they turn strategy into safety.
Because this is what happens when community leads.
This is what happens when investment meets lived experience.
This is what happens when we choose prevention.
It is now my honor to introduce Assistant Secretary Bell.
Good morning, everyone.
I'm Kiwana Bell.
I serve as the Assistant Secretary over the Office of Firearm Violence Prevention for the state of Illinois
and it's housed inside of the Illinois Department of Human Services.
I'm here today on behalf of Governor J.B. Pritzker, who remains deeply committed to investing in community-driven public safety.
Also, our IDHS Secretary, Dulce Quintero, as well as all the staff of the Office of Firearm Violence Prevention.
I also want to take a moment to acknowledge my GASC partners.
We at the state work very closely with our partners at the Cook County Justice Advisory Council, Avig Das, and Lynetta Haynes-Turner in Wondolin.
Also, Delrese Adams at the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority, as well as Gary and Gatewood, who's the Deputy Mayor of Public Safety at the City of Chicago.
I also want to thank CRED, the Partnership for Safe and Peaceful Communities, Metropolitan Peace Initiatives.
our Aclavis, and all of the community violence intervention organizations gathered here today.
And thank you so much, Jason, for that introduction and for your leadership alongside all of the peacekeepers,
incredible messengers across this city.
I truly am honored to serve with you all.
So I joined the state around two years ago, but I spent more than 17 years working on the front lines in Austin in violence prevention.
And what I can tell you I know firsthand is that what we are witnessing in Chicago right now in violence reduction is not accidental.
It is the result of sustained, sustained is important, right, sustained, hyper-local, community-led, community-driven work.
It happens because outreach workers show up at 10 p.m. at night to mediate a conflict.
It happens because case managers walk with participants through trauma and transition
because clinicians, victim advocates, and peacekeepers help people regulate pain before it turns into harm.
That is public safety.
That is prevention.
And that is community leadership in action.
At the Office of Firearm and Violence Prevention, our approach is simple.
In principle, we trust communities to lead, and we partner with them to scale what works.
With more than $30 million in annual state investment, Peacekeepers has now been scaled to be a year-round program in nearly 30 communities across Chicago.
From Austin to North Lawndale, from Humboldt Park to Little Village, from Englewood to South Shore,
We are seeing what happens when credible messengers are supported with training, workforce pathways, behavioral health resources, and long-term investment.
We are not just interrupting violence.
We are building stability, opportunity, and healing infrastructure at the neighborhood level.
And let me be clear, the peacekeepers, outreach workers, and CVI professionals are not just program staff or program participants.
They are community ambassadors, trained practitioners providing life stabilization services.
You are leaders and are essential to the future of public safety in Illinois.
The state's role is not to replace community wisdom.
Our role is to align resources, remove barriers, and strengthen the ecosystem so that local solutions can thrive and sustain over time.
Because the truth is this, lasting reductions in gun violence happen when communities are resourced, not overlooked.
when healing is prioritized alongside safety and when government listens as much as it leads.
So to everyone here.
The outreach workers, clinicians, funders, faith leaders, participants, thank you.
Your work, your work is saving lives, stabilizing families, transforming neighborhoods from the inside out.
We see you, we value you, and we continue to stand with you as partners in building safer, healthier communities across Chicago and Illinois.
Thank you all.
Put your hands together one more time for Assistant Secretary Bell.
Thank you, Assistant Secretary Bell.
State partnerships strengthen local impact.
Scaling this work requires coordination, discipline, and sustained strategy.
Please welcome George Matos to provide an update on SC2 and where we are headed.
Come on, give it up for George.
So, good morning, everyone.
Good morning.
Thank you for coming out today. This is an important moment in Chicago's history and even a more critical moment in the CVI community.
Together, we have built something powerful, directly touching lives and bringing hope to so many across all of the city who want to live safely, raise their children and support their families.
As Craig Nash said, I run an initiative called SC2, which stands for Scaling Community Violence for a Safer Chicago, better known as SC2.
With SC2, we're trying to do something that's never been done.
As you just heard, many people, his lives have been changed by CVI, but we're trying to change whole communities by taking our work to scale.
We're not just focused on today's high-risk individuals.
We're trying to break the cycle of violence so that the next generation doesn't experience what many of us in this room have experienced.
Currently, SC2 is implementing in four communities, with three others in the pipeline.
All seven of these SE2 communities have contributed significantly to Chicago's remarkable decline in gun violence over the last four years.
Austin, North Lawndale, Little Village, Humble Park, Inglewood, New City, Godfield Park, all of our partners across this beautiful city, congratulations to you all.
We announced SC2 two years ago, right here in South Shore Cultural Center.
And at that time, we challenged ourselves to cut gun violence in half from the 2021 high.
As Arnie pointed out, we have all but met that goal.
We are also challenging ourselves to cut it in half again.
And it won't be easy.
But when I look around this room and when I think of the thousands dedicated men and women across Chicago who are working together, I know it can happen and I know it will happen.
Clap it up once more. Let's go.
So thank you for all your hard work, courage and dedication.
You're making it possible for this city to heal and to grow.
I also want to thank our funders in philanthropy, in business, and in government.
Without those incredible support, we wouldn't be here, and we wouldn't be able to get here together.
It is now my honor to introduce one of our funding champions who leads a consortium of donors, philanthropists,
called Partnership for Safe and Peaceful Communities, also known as PSPC.
Put your hands together and please welcome Executive Director of PSPC
Esther Franco-Payne.
Good morning, everyone.
Again, Esther Franco-Payne with the Partnership for Safe and Peaceful Communities.
And I am always so honored to be in this room.
I think this is my third year in this room,
and it is such a privilege and a joy to see all of the faces of the people who do the hard work on the front lines.
Ten years ago, in 2016, PSPC was formed at a very pivotal moment
when Chicago was experiencing a painful surge in gun violence.
The headlines were grim, communities were hurting,
and many of us in philanthropy were asking ourselves a hard question.
What would it look like to do something different?
We began with just a few handful of funders who believed that if we were going to see change,
we needed to work differently.
We needed to work together and in true partnership with community.
Today, we are proud to be a collaborative of more than 50-plus funders.
That includes individual leading philanthropies like the MacArthur Foundation, Joyce, Crown, McCormick, Polk,
and so many others who share a deep commitment to this city.
But what matters most is not how we started, it's what we believed.
When PSPC began, none of us knew that Chicago would go on to build one of the most extensive community violence intervention ecosystems in the country,
with CVI organizations, as you heard, serving nearly half of Chicago's neighborhoods.
We are unique, we are special, and we are doing the hard work.
We didn't have a blueprint. We just knew this.
If we wanted different outcomes, we had to trust and invest in the people closest to the problem.
We had to support community.
We had to empower those closest to the pain to lead the solutions.
And today, ten years later, we're in this room, standing together,
marking one of the most dramatic declines in gun violence in our city's recent history.
Give yourselves a clap for that.
That progress belongs to you, the outreach workers, the interrupters, the case managers,
the community leaders, the faith leaders, the parents, the young people,
and the neighborhood organizers who show up every day.
And as George said earlier, we still have a long way to go.
Arnie said it earlier, we want to cut what we have already cut further in half.
Gun violence is only part of the challenge.
True safety is bigger than the absence of harm.
It is about opportunity.
It is about belonging.
It is about dignity.
It is about joy.
That's why PSPC's work has never been limited to just supporting CBI organizations,
but over the past decade, we have provided more than 1,700 grants to community groups
that are reclaiming their streets, their parks, bringing families together and children together,
activating public spaces, and reminding us that safety is also about connection.
We know visible, positive activity matters.
We know community ownership matters.
And so the Chicago Fund also celebrates 10 years of commitment and positive impact in our communities.
On behalf of the funding community, including our partners in the business community and in government, city, county, and state,
I want to say on behalf of PSPC, thank you for all that you do.
To everyone in the room doing the hard work daily, often unseen, Chicago is becoming safer.
Your courage is real.
Your contribution is real.
Your impact is real.
Philanthropy does not lead this work.
We support the work.
Community leads this work.
And we are here, as Kiwana said, to sustain the progress.
The funding community is 100% committed to staying the course.
With 10 years of support, over 10 years of support thus far, we have invested over $203 million.
Yes.
And we are committed to the long term.
We are committed to making community violence intervention a permanent, institutionalized feature of Chicago's public safety strategy.
What we have learned over the past decade is simple.
When you invest in community, community delivers.
That's it.
Ten years ago, we chose to do something different.
Today in this room, we celebrate what that difference has made.
And tomorrow, we keep going.
So I look forward to hearing from the voices in the field.
And again, I say thank you on behalf of PSPC.
Come on, y'all.
Show your love for S.A. George. Come on, y'all. Put your hands together.
Investments and systems alignment matter, but the field is where the work lives.
We will hear directly from the professionals and practitioners doing the work every day.
Please welcome Dr. Vanessa Perry DeReef, chief training officer at MPI, joined by James Mitchell,
former participant, former flip worker, and now a crisis prevention and response unit field manager.
Y'all got to make some noise for that. Come on, y'all. This is what professional CBI looks like.
So good morning, good people. I'm Dr. Vanessa Perry DeReef, Chief Training Officer of Metropolitan Peace Initiatives,
where I lead the Metropolitan Peace Academy. For those who may be new to this work,
The Metropolitan Peace Academy is Chicago's training ground, where CVI's frontline workers come to learn about their best practices,
those techniques and strategies surrounding their work, and they leave feeling connected, inspired, and valued.
We are the place where outreach workers, case managers, and victim advocates come to sharpen their skills, strengthen their practice, and build community with one another.
Since 2018, the Metropolitan Peace Academy has established a network of CVI professionals, all in while building relationships and trusted safe spaces with a curriculum that highlights role plays, real-time scenarios, crisis protocols, all through the lens of trauma-informed care.
As I look out into the crowd today, I see the men and women who do this work, canvassing our city streets to make our communities safer.
Our superheroes, we call them, our city's superheroes.
Today I want to center those real heroes in this room.
When we started this work some years ago, CP4P had a vision.
And that vision included to reduce homicides and shootings, to reclaim safe spaces, and to professionalize the field of community violence intervention through the Metropolitan Peace Academy.
We believe that community violence intervention should not just be powerful, it should be a profession.
It should be unified, and it should be uplifted.
And the people doing this work, they should be supported, they should be seen, and they should be connected to each other.
Today, the Metropolitan Peace Academy is a fully realized, centralized, professional training center for Chicago's CBI workforce,
where our vision is, those who do the work, lead the work.
Since the launch of our very first cohort of outreach workers, we have matriculated 718 graduates across our outreach, case management, and victim advocate cohorts.
1,718 trained professionals who show up every day to de-escalate violence, provide resources and support, and care for those who grieve.
These men and women mediate conflicts. They break cycles of retaliation. They monitor hotspots. They meet pain with healing. They meet risk with relationship. And they meet trauma with care.
And because of the collaboration and connections that exist across our beloved city,
Chicago has seen a 30% decline in homicides just last year.
Violence is now at levels that we haven't seen since the early 1960s.
And you know what? This didn't happen because we're lucky.
This happened because of all of you.
Many of you started as outreach workers, case managers, and victim advocates,
and you are now supervisors.
You are directors, you are field managers, and you are college graduates.
You are proof that this is not just a job, good people.
This is a growing profession.
But, oh, we didn't start this work.
We stand on the shoulders of the pioneers, the men and women who paved the way
and laid the groundwork for places just like the Metropolitan Peace Academy
that continues to grow to meet the professional development needs of our CBI community.
This convening is testament to those who come before us, and we honor you today.
The MPA has amplified that belief, creating a centralized hub where best practices live,
where safe spaces are built, and where you can recharge your cape.
I would like to give a special shout-out to all of my boots on the ground in the room today.
Thank you for holding the line, and thank you for holding the standard.
Now, in true MPA fashion, you know what we need to do now.
So when I say one, two, three, you all are going to lift the roof off with your boom.
One, two, three.
One, two, three.
Thank you.
And now I'd like to introduce you to someone who represents the why behind the work,
someone whose life has directly impacted by community violence intervention.
Please join me in welcoming James Mitchell, a former participant of IMVC, graduate of MPA Cohort 7, and currently a field manager for our Crisis Prevention and Response Unit.
I appreciate it. I appreciate it. Thank you, Dr. Vanessa. You know that.
Morning, everyone. This is awesome, right? Look at this. My journey from participant, essentially, to CVS specialist has been quite the experience.
It has given me more than I thought it could.
I wasn't always a believer of the work, even when I first heard of it.
I didn't think that it could serve me a purpose or even my community or where I would fit in or even if I would be good at it.
I was skeptical, like most people, and I got into it.
And it's changed me dramatically, not just for offering me a job, but the way I think, the way I view information,
the way I process it, the intimate relationship I have with my community now is phenomenal.
Building a beloved community is a dream of mine, not to just see it, but to be a part of it.
When I first started, it was hard.
I didn't know, I didn't even think it was anything wrong with what I did, the way I lived, none of it.
But the more I got into it, the better of a person I became.
When I first started, I started off like Flip.
I see Flip workers in here.
Well, a participant, I wasn't even Flip first.
I started off as a participant at IMBC.
I had a brother who worked there who encouraged me to get into the work, and I didn't believe it.
So I would go and see them do things.
They had a shooting response, and he invited me up there, and I thought he was crazy.
I've told this story a few times.
He actually said, come to this place where someone had been killed.
And I couldn't fathom why he would go to a place where someone was killed.
But I went, against my better judgment, I went to see him.
But when I got there, the reaction that I seen that people gave them, people were hurt.
But when they showed up, it changed.
You could genuinely see people happy to see them in the worst conditions that they had experienced.
They were happy to see them. And you can't fake that generosity.
And that moment I knew like, OK, this this might be something fast forward.
I became a flip worker, which I was still also skeptical about that as well.
And my first flip assignment, really, they told me like, hey, we need you to go to your community.
It's not going to be, you know, it's not going to be what you think it is.
And we want you to just work with the people there, right?
You have good relationships.
Try to keep the violence down there.
And I didn't know how I could do that, right?
I spent most of my life contributing to the violence.
I knew how to do that.
I didn't know how to keep it down.
I didn't even think that was possible.
So I'm doing flip and slowly I'm getting different reactions from people, right?
The way people are viewing me.
At one point in time, I would show up places and people would get their children and would leave.
We would come. They'd be like, we're not staying here while they're here.
And that started to change. People would come up to me.
People would speak to me. And these people in my own neighborhood that wouldn't do these things at first and rightfully so.
And one story that's actually real memorable to me is there's an older lady who lives on the block where I was doing peacekeeping at.
And her name is Miss Johnson. And Miss Johnson would not speak to me.
She would not believe that I had changed.
She figured like, oh, he must be used in that identity to, you know, continue to do what he was doing previously.
And people would tell her like, no, James is changing. He's doing better. You give him a chance.
And she wasn't buying it. And I would try. I would speak to her. She wouldn't speak back.
I would be by a house. She would just go in, close the door.
And I would do my best to keep gentlemen from like hanging out there or just like giving her her space.
So one day, she didn't have any garbage cans in the back of her house.
Something happened.
And I'm like, okay, this is my way in.
I'm going to get her these garbage cans.
And I didn't know how.
I remember going back to INVC and telling them, like, I need garbage cans.
And they're like, what?
I'm like, I need garbage cans, right?
This is going to be my buy-in.
And I don't know.
Dave was like, all right, we're going to put the order in.
We're going to get us some garbage cans.
And maybe like a week later, she got those garbage cans.
And I like to believe that we got them.
That's what I tell.
But it changed things.
She no longer would essentially call the police when people would stand in front of her house
or when it would be an altercation.
She would call me.
She believed in the work.
Not only did she believe in the work, but she believed that we could actually do it.
So me and Ms. Johnson has become great friends over the years.
And I continue to go back and do that. So that is proof that the works work, right?
This is sometimes you see it in numbers, but you can see me.
I'm living proof that if given the right chances, opportunity and resources, people can change.
So it's been it's been memorable. I continue to grow.
I continue to be fascinated by the work and not just the boots on the ground.
It's so much that go into these wraparound services.
I'm a firm believer that mental health is something that needs to be addressed.
It has done wonders for me.
I have an intimate understanding of it, which allowed me to think different,
which allowed me to be a better servant to my community.
So I'm going to land this thing because I ain't got that much time,
and everybody who knows me knows I'm long-winded.
So in closing, what I will say to the rest of my peacekeeper and CVI workers, continue to do the work.
It takes courage to do this, right?
Every time we choose this instead of what we know or what we think fits the situation.
And we don't do that and we do the work, that's courage. Continue to be those courageous people. Thank you.
Y'all, come on, stand to your feet. Come on, make some noise, y'all.
Y'all give it up one more time. Yes! Yes!
Give yourselves a round of applause.
I've been blessed to know some of the most amazing professionals in the world of healing.
Professional intervention must be matched with professional healing.
Trauma untreated becomes risk repeated.
Trauma untreated becomes risk repeated.
Please put your hands together for what I consider some of the finest clinicians on this planet.
Please welcome Dr. Donald Tyler, Director of Clinical Services at Chicago Cran, along with Clinician Dorothy Wilson and program alumnus Jaquan Whittington.
Apologies. A little bit of a switch.
Our participant that's going to be joining Dorothy is Charles Coleman.
Please give it up for Charles Coleman.
Y'all could do better than that. Give it up for Charles.
Good morning.
You know, fundamentally, community violence intervention is about empowering individuals who are acutely at risk for involvement,
further involvement, past involvement, empowering them to make the best decisions for themselves and their families.
These decisions are often about how they respond to ongoing conflict and violence,
ideally in a way that creates more safety and peace and doesn't continue to perpetuate violence.
It's also about making the best decisions as it relates to what you want to do with your life,
how you're going to create the life that you want for yourself.
Also, critically, it's about understanding how one has been impacted mentally, emotionally, and physically
by exposure to ongoing violence as well as by the ongoing life stressors in one's community
and impacting one's life.
And so those of us who do the work, those of us who've had experience in terms of exposure to violence
understand how deep and how damaging some of the exposure can be.
Just imagine if you haven't been in that situation, what it's like to have several members of your family,
members of your family, as well as friends killed by gun violence.
Imagine what it's like to be personally involved in terms of being a victim of gun violence.
But also please understand what it takes to rise above and go beyond these circumstances.
This is the work that we do on an everyday basis.
What I want to do today is turn it over to my colleague Dorothy, our participant Charles,
and let them talk a little more about what behavioral health services are all about
and how they are beneficial to our participants.
Thank you, Dr. Tyler.
Will you all hear me?
I'm grateful for this opportunity to share with you Charles Coleman.
Thank you, Charles, for agreeing to share your personal experiences with clinical services at Chicago CRED.
Please share how working with your therapist has helped you.
First, thank you, Ms. Faduma.
Therapy has taught me social skills to increase my self-awareness, emotional regulation,
intentional communication through structured sessions.
It's helped me identify treasures that allow me to, I'm sorry,
the shift to improve my ability to navigate conflict and disagreements.
Therapy has also helped me understand boundaries, both for respecting others and asserting my own boundaries without using aggressions or avoidance.
I've become comfortable with expressing needs and clearly rather than expecting people to read between my lines.
Another major skill development is active listening.
Instead of preparing myself to rebuttal, I prepare myself to learn, and I validate emotions even though I disagree with them.
This strengthens my relationships across personal and professional spaces.
And some of these cognitive behavioral techniques help me challenge the assumption that people have for my intentions.
Instead of personizing everything, I assess evidence and context.
This reduces the defensiveness and improves my collaborations.
The awareness that also allows me to repair misunderstandings and build trust for consistency.
Overall, clinical therapy addresses a lot of my problems,
help me refine interpersonal effectiveness, emotional intelligence, and conflict navigation.
Thank you.
Thank you, Charles.
What would you tell someone in the community that is unsure about entering into therapy?
I would let them know the benefits of it.
Therapy gives you a set of tools to navigate some of these conflicts that we don't have.
We don't naturally acquire these conflict resolutions.
We don't naturally acquire the ability to mediate some of these very emotional situations.
and then it also teaches us
how to filter some of our negative emotions
I think for us
in some of these situations
everything feels so
aggressive, it feels such
like an attack
so therapy allows us to filter other emotions
outside of anger
and despair all the time
Thank you Charles
Thank you everyone
Y'all come on, put your hands together one more time
Powerful. Stability opens doors. Opportunity carries it forward. Employment is one of the
strongest predictors of sustained safety. We are grateful. We are grateful for private sector
partners who are stepping up. And what better time? It's springtime. So it's time for some
baseball right oh come on now it's time for some baseball so please welcome from the chicago cubs
senior director of talent acquisition for the chicago cubs brad nagle and along with
crab participant and future club cubs employee tyrell frazier come on put your hands together
y'all didn't get excited enough for baseball
Thanks, everyone. Really excited to be here.
Again, I'm Brad Nagel. I'm the Senior Director of Talent Acquisition at the Cubs
and have been with the team for close to 20 years and oversee all of our recruiting.
Believe it or not, we carry a roster of about 1,500 people who help put the show on at Wrigley Field
across all of our events all year long, core of those being baseball, obviously.
All of those roles, we in-house, we train, and we upskill our people.
And at the Cubs, we put a huge emphasis on creating meaningful employer relationships
all throughout the city of Chicago.
And truly and personally, I value the community partnership that we've created
with Arnie and Chicago Cred over the last five years,
which is our most impactful relationship and allowed us to make over hundreds of hires
over the last, like I said, five years.
and excited to soon introduce Tyrell Frazier, our newest member of the team.
So with that, the Cubs continue to be focused on job creation
and opportunity all throughout the city of Chicago
and, again, onboarding really talented people who can help us put on a great show
and create a great rest experience for all of our fans.
So thank you again, and go Cubs.
And excited to introduce Tyrell Frazier, again, our newest member of the team.
Good morning, everybody.
Peace and blessings.
My name is Tyrell Frazier.
I'm 25 years old from the west side of Chicago with the Manly Career Academy
High School. I attended a college at Lincoln University for a semester to get
the college experience. My reason for joining Chicago Career was it was an older
guy from the neighborhood was coming around telling us like they had a
program for us like to help us get jobs, trades, keep us off the streets for a
couple of hours, and they helped me get cribbed. So, like, I was one of the guys, like, coming
outside early morning every day, going to the block. Then it was just like, every time
I'm out early, it was just trouble. Police harassing me, shooting every day in the neighborhood,
getting arrested. So it was just like, it was tough. It was tough. So I gave it a try.
I gave it a try.
But the time that I was in there, I was slacking, wasn't coming, leaving early,
just being me, just doing what I was just doing.
And then they ended up kicking me out for like 30 days.
So when I came back, I had to let them know, like, I'm ready.
I'm ready to be a leader now.
I'm ready to show the youth that we can do it.
So I ended up coming back to Chicago, create, getting statistics.
I end up getting my class facilitated certificate, professional life course certificate, and writing books.
So now I'm just here.
Now I be helping out with them every day because we've got the younger guys in there.
So I just help out with the youth, come over there every day with them still just to help out with the youth.
So, yeah, that's what I'm doing now.
I want to thank Brad for welcoming me to their team.
Thank you.
Give it up again for the Chicago Cubs and to Tyrell Frazier.
For those in North Lawndale, our relationship with the Chicago Cubs,
Chicago Cubs helped renovate the baseball fields at Franklin Park.
So we thank you for your continued relationship and your support of our communities.
Opportunity must be reinforced to the community.
CVI works best when neighborhood engagement is constant and credible.
Please welcome Bomani Obadeli, Community Engagement Director at ActiveList.
Good afternoon to everyone, to all the elected officials.
Let me first start off, reiterate much of what you heard.
I don't think we would be in this space if it was not for the constant, continuing support of our state legislators,
the governor, the county board president, and the commissioners, as well as the mayor and all the city aldermen.
Shout out to Alderman Michelle Harris, who stayed with her under Secretary Bell.
This is probably the first time in the history, a 10-year history, where we've seen CVI continuous funding uninterrupted at a robust level.
And because of that, you see the results that we've gotten.
The 60-year low in violence prevention, and again, is because of the work of many of the men and women in this room.
This is what collaboration looks like. This is what a community effort looks like, right?
And so shout-out to each and every one of you from all the different organizations who get up every day in the afternoon,
lay in the evenings when no one really sees the work that you do, see the work that you do, interrupting violence, doing mediations.
And that means something. That is a big deal.
And I don't think the public really taken to the magnitude, the level of risk that is taken every day by many of you.
And my condolences to the many faceless men and women who have lost their lives doing this work.
I think that's a story that should be told at some point as well.
I equally don't want to belabor you long, but I want to give a shout out on behalf of our CEO,
who has prioritized education, and our partnership with Northeastern Aclavis Partnership,
supported by the Illinois Department of Human Services, I want to make sure we say that,
has netted several men and women who've gone on to matriculate through college
and obtain bachelor's degrees and master's degrees,
and two people in this room, well, colleagues of mine that I'm proud of,
is Dave Benefield and Williams Edwards.
Are you guys still here?
Both gentlemen have graduated or graduating with their bachelor's degrees
because of the work that they've done here at Aclavis,
and that cohort that's going to graduate.
In May will probably be another news story. We had a man that was, you know, on death row, that was sentenced to life in prison, basically, and have gotten out, changed his life, gone back to school, and have matriculated through the space of CBI work.
And for that, all the college graduates and the folks that have gone through those programs deserve a round of applause, in my opinion.
To the point about the work at Aclavis, I'm just going to give you the data from 2025.
We've mediated over 1,200 conflicts, did 1,200 mediations and conflicts at the agency.
We've sought and supported more than 1,200 patients through our six partnerships at community hospitals through the work that we've done.
And we have partnered with 22 organizations over the span of our work and have given out over $100 million in sharing those resources with community-based, indigenous community organizations.
So not only folks who have been in the CVI space and have been outreach workers, supervisors, but we've also championed people going on to start their own organization.
So there are people that you don't see in this room today that started, that looked like you, that have been in this space,
but are now CEOs of their own community violence prevention-based organizations because of our work and partnerships with them.
So that is a big deal as well.
So, again, I don't want to belabor it.
We want to thank Chicago, Craig, CP4P, and for all the folks who have put this event together today.
Our work is not done.
I look forward to being back here next year where we talk about a city of Chicago where we have under 300 murders.
And I know that's a lot of pressure to put on us, but using a public health approach and taking a holistic approach to this work,
I do believe that we can get it done.
Take care. God bless you all.
Brother Obadeli, Brother Obadeli, the activist hour.
The activist hour?
Yes.
Every Saturday morning, 8 a.m.
Every Saturday?
My co-host is somewhere around here.
Sister Katrina Wadi is over there.
Listen, tune in. A lot of good information.
Come on, y'all. Make some noise.
Great information.
Give it up one more time for Brother Obedele.
Amen.
So we are just about there, y'all.
We want to bring up one final alumni that is doing amazing things.
So this work is strongest when organizations across Chicago align and invest long term.
Please welcome Raekwon Kessler, Iman alumnus, whose journey reflects sustained support, what sustained support makes possible.
Amen? Amen?
I'm a little nervous. I ain't even going to lie, this is my first time doing this.
Speaking in front of a big crowd.
What I'm going to speak about is education and why it made my life more productive.
Education made my life more productive because most jobs required a high school diploma.
And without a job, life is hard.
And I know this because even in and cred, before me having a high school diploma, I really had nothing to look forward to.
And now that I do got my education, it made me look forward to something.
It pushed me and opened more doors in life for me.
So after getting my high school diploma, I joined a welding class at E-Man, partnered with Daly College.
And with that, I was able to take classes, welding, MIG welding, TIG welding, and stick welding also.
And yes, I plan on going back to school to train more robots with welding because I started already.
I just didn't get a chance to finish it yet.
Y'all, come on, put your hands together and make some noise, y'all.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for everybody that came out today.
Today we heard from faith leaders, public officials, practitioners, clinicians, employers, funders, and alumni.
And all of you, thank you so much for everything that you do.
The work continues, the scaling continues, the healing continues.
Keep hope. Keep hope. Come on.
Thank you so much. God bless.
with all speakers and guests that are available.
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