Policy and Practice | December 2022

are just the beginning of this effort to radically improve safety in communi ties across Illinois by reducing gun violence and investing in resources and opportunities for disproportion ally impacted communities. The OFVP has been particularly focused on growing the profession of street outreach, intervention, and conflict mediation within our target communities. Street outreach pro fessionals work block by block in impacted communities to engage individuals who are at immediate and high risk of being either victims or per petrators of violence. Engagement can occur in a variety of settings, including parks, homes, street corners, com munity centers, schools, or hospitals, to name a few. Street outreach staff is focused on building relationships with those at high risk so that they can promote peace and mediate potential and existing conflicts. Street outreach professionals have time and time again proven critical in intervening when violence occurs or is imminent. They connect with commu nity members and help them navigate issues, including housing, mental health, education, and justice—all resources that are essential to ensuring community vitality and safety. Outreach leaders bring lived experi ences to their work—that experience may have been confronting community violence, incarceration, mental health, substance use disorders, or other expe riences resulting in trauma. Assisting someone who carries the weight of the world on their shoulders often takes someone who has also carried it before. And we know street outreach works. Research partners at the Northwestern University Neighborhood and Network Initiative (N3) assert, “with 100 percent cer tainty, that outreach can reach those in harm’s way successfully without relying on the criminal justice system.” For years, community-based orga nizations have been building street outreach capacity in Chicago neighbor hoods. One such organization, Chicago CRED, an anti-gun violence organiza tion founded in 2016, has studied the impact of this lifesaving model. An evaluation of Chicago CRED’s street outreach initiative shows that nearly

After dedicating my life to pro viding street-based intervention and outreach to communities and young people impacted by firearm violence, I am honored to lead Illinois’ Office of Firearm Violence Prevention (OFVP) as Assistant Secretary at the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS). In November 2021, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed the Reimagine Public Safety Act (RPSA) into law, which is designed to prevent and mitigate the harm of gun violence in our communities. At the same time, Governor Pritzker declared gun violence a public health crisis and directed all state agencies to develop holistic solu tions to prevent violence by investing resources to address systemic factors that perpetuate trauma and violence in historically impacted communities. The RPSA is a comprehensive approach to violence prevention in response to the State of Illinois' height ened experience of loss, harm, and trauma at hands of firearm violence, especially during COVID-19. RPSA is investing $250 million over three years among the 42 communities in Illinois that have endured the highest rates of gun violence, providing resources to implement violence prevention and interruption programs, with a specific emphasis on street outreach. This unprecedented investment rec ognizes that law enforcement alone cannot be the sole answer to reducing violence in our communities. We need to support good law enforcement with the resources they need while also increasing our support for neighbor hood organizations that are stepping forward to keep kids safe and de-esca lating violent environments. In one year since establishing the office, the OFVP has issued 14 notices of funding opportunities and initiated grants to more than 115 community organizations, totaling $65.4 million. We have established 16 councils across Illinois to provide local perspectives on community-based solutions to violence in varying regions of Illinois. We have also convened researchers from academic institutions across the state to provide evidence-based insight into firearm violence reduction and methods for evaluating our success. These monumental achievements

Growing up in Chicago’s Cabrini Green Homes, a Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) public housing project on the Near North Side of Chicago, I experienced gun violence, a trauma far too many young people continue to endure. I know first hand the impact of intergenerational trauma stemming from domestic violence, community violence, sub stance use, and poverty. After being shot, leaving my children for a 12-year prison sentence, and burying close friends whose lives were cut short by gun violence, I have been fortunate to break through the devastating conse quences that ongoing violence driven by poverty can inflict. Unfortunately, my experience defies the statistics. Nationwide, Gun violence is the leading cause of death for African American men ages 15 to 34. In Illinois, Black individuals are 32 times more likely than White indi viduals to die by gun homicide, which is triple the national average. Overall, at a rate of 29 firearm homicides per 100,000 residents (2020), the Chicago homicide rate is six times higher than New York City’s and three times higher than in Los Angeles. In 2020 alone, gun homicides increased by 52 percent, resulting in 769 deaths. These are not simply numbers. Behind each shooting are individuals and communities who are perma nently scarred by these incidents. Each shooting inflicts trauma on entire neighborhoods, and this pain shapes the experience of too many young people growing up across Illinois. That is why leaders at the highest levels of Illinois recognize that we have a responsibility to address this trauma and prevent it.

Christopher Patterson is the Assistant Secretary at the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) and Director of the Office of Firearm Violence Prevention (OFVP).

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Policy&Practice December 2022