Chicago is seeing a historic drop in violent crime in the 1st half of the year.

According to the Chicago Police Department, homicides and shootings are both down more than 30% in the first 6 months of the year.

That's compared to 2024. city data also shows significant declines in other categories as well like carjackings, robberies and aggravated assault.

While anti-violence advocates are pleased current numbers, they of course, there's still more work to be done.

Joining us now with more, our jahmal Cole CEO and founder of My Block, My Hood, my City, a nonprofit that empowers underprivileged youth.

Vaughn Bryant, executive director of the Metropolitan Peace Initiatives and Tony Grossi, chief executive Officer of Institute for Nonviolence.

Chicago.

We also invited representatives of the Chicago Police Department to join us, but they declined.

Gentlemen, thanks to 3 of you for joining us.

First, I want your reaction when you hear that crime in Chicago is down as much as much as it is.

1st half of this year compared to 2024, maybe previous years.

What do you think when you hear that small start with you?

>> Yeah, I don't think it's really helpful to use the city's homicide rate as a reflection of our success or failure reducing gun violence the geography of every community is different.

So domestic violence dispute that ends up in a homicide in Lakeview is a lot different from a drive-by shooting East Garfield Park.

So instead of tabulating all homicides and we have 1215 on it, we need to be looking at what are people doing in these individual communities and should those a niche his be expanded into broader strategies?

How can we having increased funding for the initiative in these communities as well.

>> It makes me but still cautiously optimistic because it can change.

You know, it's unpredictable.

But, you know, to know that they're a 500 fewer victims.

That's a good thing in my mind.

And, you know, also think that, you know, at least for our work, we've been at this consistently for 8 years.

The city's you started funding us about 5 years ago.

And I think that this is not something that happens overnight, but we have to, you know, keep at it because, you know, if we want to be the safest city, we still have a long way to go techniques in question.

You.

>> I'm in a gray.

You nationally was see reductions after the peak of a few years ago.

But this is hard way going into it.

You know, those of us we engage in the front line.

I got woken up last night.

It was responding last night.

So for us, it's a constant.

But if it was going in the wrong direction, that's very discouraging.

And we went there when they were going in the wrong direction during COVID at Centra.

So it feels good is a lot mediations.

They go into that seeing the public seeing still it's a mess rates.

it's engaging in sopot unit is for young people.

We want to see it continue.

>> To that point, you know what?

Why do you think these numbers have decreased dramatically?

Chicago seen the public doesn't know into with to get the largest civilian infrastructure in the United States.

Now that that when staff and people of stipend.

>> About 2000 people, many of them with backgrounds involved in peace.

Upper ation.

That is a significant investment and civilians to do this walk.

It worked in Boston when I was in the 90's and worked in on the city's a we're doing of us building on previous knowledge from Chicago as well.

So that kind of believe that law enforcement has its spots and civilian has.

Its body encouraging.

>> Ronson question to you.

Why do you think the numbers are down?

So I would agree with Midas to build on what he's saying that, you know, folks, that we have a stipend, for example, our peacekeepers, those are guys who live in neighborhoods that we know based on a day to live where shootings are happening in, we're training them to keep their particular block safe.

And we have data from Nic Stone evaluated.

It tells us that those blocks are safer and then the other thing is our outreach workers.

You know, they're creating non-aggression agreement, they're working with groups to make sure that they, you know, are not attacking each other.

And then that gives us the room to offer services like be have health services and like workforce development helping people get G days.

And so, you know, again, like you said is a lot of work that goes into it and we have a workforce of people who really working proactively to make our city safe.

do you think?

>> I agree.

I think that is just more people that saying, hey, how can I start volunteering at county jail at Audi home and how can I pay our moonrise?

Think like that, having a nice talk like that.

if you feel useful, volunteering, I think that will sustain you and doing the work.

So I exposure for us as prevention.

So they do a lot of top prevention.

Seems like they're doing prevention of retaliation.

This provision with mental health, this provision with economics, we believe in primary prevention like to show kids better, they'll do better.

So we take his an expiration and expose them to different cultures, cuisines of professions in Chicago.

>> And to me was the strategy when you're approaching vulnerable and individuals and some of these neighborhoods or communities.

>> My 35 years experience and ice.

That is an outrage.

Mccain Boston doing to crack a pandemic is I really believe in the young people and we hire people from the community who know them know those and that plan.

We see the value in them when they don't see the way up.

As Jim I was saying I didn't see it the way out.

That's only one day now the hopeless in terms of funding.

So the mix of both supporting them was resources as well as guiding them in a positive way exposing them.

We would love to see that we would be unnecessary and that it really Jamal does all the work and to school.

The young people don't drop out and don't get involved.

But ones that involve you've got to pull them up, keep him and it's a process to get them back into the well.

That is moment normal.

>> Van, of course, you know, improvements like this don't happen overnight, you know, with because we were just talking about several years ago, the numbers were not like this.

You said that you all have been doing this work for 8 years.

What difference do you see in the work that you're doing now compared to some years ago.

I just whipping we've grown when we got started.

It does.

It was mostly only privately funded and then the state, you know, sort got added to our mix and then the city got involved in a county got involved in in the state.

Really.

>> Got involved with our PSA and started investing heavily in that, you know, allowed us to get to a point where we have 2000 people and it was I think we tabulated last year.

That was 74 million dollars that went into the system of trying to keep us safe.

So with that with training the folks outreach workers with training our case managers with training our victim advocates.

We actually do a cross training with CPD.

We do a cross training with our hospital partners so that way we have ecosystem that is all working together and sharing information, you know, to make our city safer now.

But I just want to say as far as police are concerned, that's one way like they give us information so that we can be proactive.

We don't give them information because in order to keep our reach workers safe, incredible, you know, they can.

They can.

They have to have limited interaction with the police.

So that is important.

It sounds like there's much more about sort of an infrastructure around the work and sort of professional.

I sing it to a degree.

Argument could be made.

There's more of that to be done yet.

And its local like that tomorrow's earlier point like we're looking at certain neighborhoods.

>> We rank all 77 neighborhoods every year so that we know who's most violent.

And so what's driving?

Those numbers are South Lawn.

Do a little bit They're down like, you know, 40 plus percent.

But they had a really, really bad year last year.

And then North Lawndale is down, you know, around mid the mid 30's percent as well.

So, you know, those are historically violent neighborhoods.

And so we had to be able to make a difference in where the violence is happening.

Then we believe in hyper locality and making sure that it's the people in that neighborhood that when playing to make it safe.

All of that said, you know, to a point made earlier about domestic violence in Lakeview or Lincoln Park and that leads to a homicide is very different from, you know, I'm a click.

>> You know, or turf before leads to a homicide in another neighborhood because the safety gap, it has also narrowed, but it's still remain staggering.

This year, black Chicagoans have been 19 times more likely than white Chicagoans to be the victim of a homicide.

Jamal?

>> Yeah, I think the way poverty and segregation contribute to gun violence is poorly understood in Chicago.

You gun violence is to me is a reflection of the few There's racial and economic injustice.

There's high incarceration rates, high unemployment rates.

You got poor neighborhoods and you got under-resourced schools.

We have those 5 conditions.

You could gun violence like you have making a cake or something.

If you have one scoop of racial economic injustice to schools and high incarceration you start all of you, gun violence and so, yeah, we need invest in programs that are working in East Garfield Park in Inglewood in rose and see if they should be expanded into just as well.

>> Vine we you know, we talk about funding.

We know the Trump administration has eliminated grants to community-based violence prevention efforts as of 3 months ago, close to 30 million dollars.

Have begun to notice any impact from this kind of funding?

I mean, I think part of what we were doing with that funding was incubating smaller organization.

So there's people who, you know, you hear that they're doing the work.

They're volunteering.

>> And we know sort of some of the reputable organizations out there that are do incredible work and we want to be able to build the infrastructure of their organization so that they can actually get public money in, you know, do more of what they're doing.

And so that's how we were using the grant.

And then we were also using it to to train folks.

But, you know, while we do need to have a strategy to replenish those funds.

You know, that's why you have to be diversified so that you don't have any immediate disruption, but long term, you know, we'll have to figure out a way to to replenish the funding that we were getting.

Jamal, have you begun to notice anything?

>> Yeah.

I mean, if the homeless Puna by the climate analysis of the moving back in time.

so I expected to be hard.

This nonprofit world the road is so narrow you can turn around sometimes, you know, and got as a battering.

actually do the work.

But if we do think that investing violence prevention is working, imagine how much more effective will be if we was.

Stop and so much money settling a lawsuit violent policing.

You know, I mean, it's like so much money with those 100 million dollars in the city budget for violence.

Prevention were spent with 160 million, a settle lawsuits.

And if you want to, they want to invest more money, a program, we can look directly to that money.

The allocated elsewhere.

>> So CPD has only fully complied with 16% of the consent decree in 6 and a half years since it was ordered How do you think the slow progress impacts?

You know, what is an already strenuous 10 us actually relationship between the police department in the community.

>> And I worked with police department since the 90's in Boston serving Those changes a painful nominees.

It is a bureau.

Chris says important to happen.

Taxpayers in all.

77 neighborhoods deserve to be policed in an equal way.

Right?

So if defense now from what I hear this a pantene done is he's making progress thing.

We want to cheer him on that and want to keep pushing because it is important.

We don't sing with substitute 2 of the systems as well.

We want schools to be well treating a young people.

Every system did become fun policing as well on young people come in contact with.

So and for the sake of offices, it is a stressful job.

They see a lot of harra.

So.

We need to keep encouraging weekend say, all right, this is an old story we've got to stay in will to make sure that the civilians and those working law enforcement get the right system so >> as we've discussed, violence is down.

But it's still a problem because there was a drive-by shooting that took place earlier this month in river north, killing 4 people leaving 14 wounded just last night.

I wonder if this is the phone call that woke you up.

We're 4 teens were wounded in West Garfield Park.

Vaughn had a shootings like that impact the perception of Thinking lets us know that, you know, even though there's progress, there's still a problem.

And that's why we don't rest like we.

>> You know, shellem celebrate short, but, you know, get out there and continue to work because, again, you know, one life lost is too many.

And we have plenty >> still going on.

And this still much work to be done.

And you know what?

We started this.

We said it would take us about 10 to 15 years to really get where we need to go and where just half way there.

So we still got a long way to go for these numbers, sort of evidence of progress in that goal.

We hope so.

We hope so like because it had is happening nationally like to meet.

gives me a little pause because >> we do believe in hyper locality.

We know what we're doing in our neighborhood, but we don't know what is driving nationally.

And I think there's more information to be gained.

>> And we just have to use our data that continue to work harder cells.

>> Jamal, you know, you mentioned, you know, comparing the budget that the city spends on on overtime or not.

Overtime Putin community event, community intervention or violence intervention work compared to what they spend settling lawsuits and how much is budgeted for that?

What else do you think is being done to reach this point?

In addition to the community violence intervention as well as what else should be done to maintain it?

>> Yeah, I was just saying if we are going invest decreasing street violence, we need invest in decreasing state violence and that starts with home police accountable and redirecting some of those funds from settlements to services that we're doing.

And as far the violence is happening in communities tilting.

It is all time like set big goals live on here late.

This new doesn't leak that when you set goals like get in the car with 2 men to go into the league, the universe creates a force field around you when you got big goals.

This now wake you up at 05:00AM is not big enough.

And if you've got a friend, you say, hey, what are you doing this weekend and maintain and But I want to be Not handle what you just maintain and >> I want somebody wants to go to Duke University.

They want to be a national like that's the that's the kind of like that's the league does not believe kids.

Yeah.

>> 10, the same question to you.

What what else could be done and what has been done to help get to this point?

>> I think investment some really the rest of the country is looking at Chicago.

So something we can pan us up on the back a little bit as you have.

Private foundations, 50 of them to get the business community got all levels of government investing in That is beautiful, right?

That is I don't take it for granted.

They worked an environment where we didn't have that.

I would like to see more programming for young people on the weekends.

And at night, you know, when you 17, you're looking for a day to looking fun right to it will roll being a young people from the childhood.

So Investing Moines dead in the neighborhood.

They can enjoy downtown as well.

I think rather than seeking someone brought his on that, let's invest in it.

Let's be consistent.

Invest in young people in positive programming.

They assessed before it really the hanging of is the second-best so tentative for them.

Right.

Eye was yesterday visiting 2 young men in Englewood.

One was shot recently.

They rather have a job.

The 17, you know, day they want someone a data center to want to hang.

And I told it's tragic that for you, sunrise going to a party could be the end.

So and that you have to make choices about that.

You should and many other places you don't.

>> Almost out of time, gentlemen.

Vaughn it, you know, in this time budget cuts, what supports resources organization still will still need more funding.

We still have organizations that had to lay some people off and so continue to be able to support, you know, the the local organizations that are trying to do this work.

I think that's the most important thing.

And then.

>> Also, you know, continuing to invest, you know, private money cause that gives us some flexibility to innovate because this work still needs to be innovative enough.

Think the areas that we need more coordination and more.

So the structure is like housing, housing, stability leads to better ability sustain a and in our re-entry services and doing more and reach to make sure that the transition home is good.

So those 3 areas, housing re-entry and workforce development are like the major is that we need to be focused right.

I think that's a good