Hundreds of community violence prevention workers gathered this week at the South Shore Cultural Center to mark a continued decrease in gun violence across Chicago. The event brought together advocates and frontline workers who highlighted the role of grassroots intervention efforts in helping the city achieve its lowest homicide rate since 1965.
Last year, Chicago recorded 417 homicides, which is 29 percent fewer than in 2024 and almost half the number reported in 2021. This marks the fourth consecutive year that shootings have declined, with early data from this year showing nine fewer homicides compared to the same period last year.
James Mitchell, a field manager for Metropolitan Peace Initiatives’ Crisis Prevention and Response Unit, spoke about his personal journey. “The work works, right? 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.” Mitchell described how participating in programs such as those offered by Institute for Nonviolence Chicago helped him move from contributing to neighborhood violence to becoming an outreach specialist.
Mitchell credited local organizations with supporting his transition from participant to worker and now specialist. “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,” he said. “The intimate relationship I have with my community now is phenomenal.”
Vanessa Perry DeReef, chief training officer at Metropolitan Peace Academy, emphasized how pathways through prevention work have enabled many individuals to develop skills and build connections. She noted that since its founding in 2018, the academy has enrolled 718 people into programs focused on street outreach, health care, victim advocacy and case management.
“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,” Perry DeReef told attendees. “We believe that community violence intervention should not just be powerful, it should be a profession.”
Quiwana Bell from the state’s Office of Firearm Violence Prevention highlighted recent investments: “We are seeing what happens when credible messengers are supported with training, workforce pathways, behavioral health resources and long-term investment,” she said. “We are not just interrupting violence. We are building stability, opportunity and healing infrastructure at the neighborhood level.” According to data from Government Alliance for Safe Communities (GASC), state and local governments have provided $248 million for these programs since 2022.
Despite these gains, leaders expressed concern about future funding as federal support wanes following cuts under President Donald Trump’s administration and the end of pandemic-related stimulus funds. Edwin Galletti of UCAN Chicago said: “Our organization and many organizations are preparing and envisioning that there might be some [funding] decreases which are going to affect our workforce.”
A recent report by Northwestern University researchers found higher investment in community violence intervention correlates with significant public safety improvements across different areas of Chicago.
“This is not a victory lap,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said at Tuesday’s event. “This is a recommitment to doing what works.”
Private donors have also pledged tens of millions of dollars as philanthropic groups respond to potential funding gaps faced by prevention organizations.
“We are committed to making community violence intervention a permanent, institutionalized feature of Chicago’s public safety strategy,” said Esther Franco-Payne of Partnership for Safe and Peaceful Communities. “When you invest in community, community delivers.”
