Violence reduction goes hand in hand with reaching disconnected youth
Something important is happening in Chicago. The Philadelphia Inquirer gets it. Here’s the headline from the paper’s Jan. 10 editorial: “Important lessons for Philadelphia from Chicago’s three-year decline in gun violence.” That’s a far cry from 2016, when national news outlets “described the violence in Chicago as ‘spiraling out of control.’ ”
The Dallas Morning News noticed, too, with this Jan. 7 headline: “Chicago reduced violent crime, so why can’t Dallas?” Our city is in the process of reversing a narrative about what ABC News once called a “historic murder total.”
The progress is encouraging, but the numbers are far from what we should be able to achieve. Chicago still has five times more homicides per 100,000 residents than New York City and three times as many as Los Angeles. Becoming “the safest city in the America” — Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s bold challenge to all of us — demands that we pay attention to our disconnected youth.
In Chicago, as the Tribune has noted, the number of disconnected youths — out of school and out of work — ages 16-24 is significantly higher than the national average. Too often these young people, mostly men, get caught up in activities that place them at high risk of violence and criminal justice system involvement.
Focusing on disconnected
youth who may or may not be in the criminal justice system is an important complement to what violence prevention groups like ours do, which is to focus on the young people most at risk of shooting or being shot. Disconnected youth in Chicago need relationships with caring adults, a path into the legal economy and a feeling of safety in their community. They need to have a stake in Chicago’s future.
We are a coalition of violenceprevention groups composed of Metropolitan Family Services, Heartland Alliance, Communities Partnering 4 Peace, READI Chicago, and Chicago CRED. Together, we have a shared commitment to creating pathways to safety, opportunity and jobs. The dual benefits are reducing violence in our communities and providing viable opportunities that haven’t previously existed.
READI and CRED get men at highest risk of gun violence off the streets and into jobs or job training. In some of Chicago’s most violence-prone neighborhoods, we provide job training and placement, therapy, social services, improved housing and education. We partner with employers to give them a paycheck so they can support themselves and their families.
CP4P is made up of 15 community organizations doing outreach work in 22 South and West Side neighborhoods. We train workers to do the outreach that is hyperlocal, trauma informed, restorative and using Martin Luther King Jr.’s principles of nonviolence to interrupt the cycle of revenge that keeps violence alive. We offer participants a comprehensive set of services based on their needs, including behavioral health, job readiness training, GED attainment and legal aid.
Much of this work has been supported with grants from an umbrella group of private funders, the Partnership for Safe and Peaceful Communities. Formed in 2016, PSPC has invested nearly $75 million in violence prevention. Thanks in part to their support, murders are down about 35% since 2016.
Despite three years of declining gun violence, it continues at alarming levels. In fact, January is already up significantly over January 2019. We cannot stand by and accept gun violence as normal. We must do more, together.
Overall, shootings are down almost 40%.
However, despite three years of declining gun violence, it continues at alarming levels. In fact, January is already up significantly over January 2019. We cannot stand by and accept gun violence as normal. We must do more, together.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the Chicago City Council have stepped forward with $11.5 million for violence-prevention programs this year, but our goal is to increase the city’s investment to $50 million per year. We are seeking additional private money and advocating for up to $100 million per year in state money for violence prevention.
Collectively, these private, city and state investments will amount to just a fraction of what the city, the county and the state currently spend on policing, prosecution, incarceration and health care for shooting victims. By investing more to prevent violence, we will not only save lives but also save money that is better spent on education, health care, housing and other vital services.
New York and LA have done it, so we know it can be done. Major cities around the country are watching us. If we can do it, so can they. But everyone must step up: Elected officials at every level of government, policy experts, funders, employers, law enforcement, community groups and private citizens all have a crucial role. The time to act is now.
Vaughn Bryant is executive director of CP4P and the Metropolitan Peace Initiatives of Metropolitan Family Services. Eddie Bocanegra is senior director of READI Chicago. Arne Duncan is managing partner of Chicago CRED.