Project Safe Neighborhoods, Northern District of IL

The proposed project period is October 1, 2022 through September 31, 2025 and seeks to focus on reducing crime in Chicago and Rockford, Illinois. In Rockford, the focus is City-wide, in Chicago the effort is focused on the seven most violent police districts in the city: 4th (South Shore); 7th (Englewood); 9th (Back of the Yards); 10th (Lawndale); 11th (Garfield Park); 15th (Austin); and the 6th District (Auburn/Gresham).

The overarching goal is to reduce violent crime in the most violent neighborhoods in Chicago and Rockford by addressing crime before it happens. The Northern District of Illinois (NDIL) Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) Task Force has a collaborative, comprehensive strategy to address all four PSN Design Features which includes activity related to gun trafficking, gun and gang violence, prosecution, felon recidivism, and youth violence intervention and prevention in Chicago and Rockford through previous years PSN funding. Additionally, the NDIL has a research partner as a member of the PSN Task Force that are not funded under PSN. In FY 22, the PSN strategy will fund a range of initiatives to support focused and strategic enforcement as well as prevention and intervention services in both Chicago and Rockford.

In alignment with the NDIL’s PSN 2022 Strategic Plan, primary activities of PSN 2022 include 1) Parolee Forums and parole compliance checks for high-risk offenders in Chicago and Rockford PSN Districts 2) officer overtime and equipment to assist the PSN goal of preventing, disrupting, and prosecuting violent crime in Rockford, and 3) youth prevention and intervention efforts in the City of Rockford through the Camp HOPE initiative. 

The Northern District of Illinois PSN Task Force members identified and voted the following priorities to be allocated with PSN 2022 funds:

Thirty percent to the IL Department of Corrections to address high risk, and gang involved parolees in Chicago and Rockford PSN districts;
Thirty percent to the Rockford Police Department for a focused effort on the most violent gun offenders in the Rockford PSN district;
Thirty percent to the City of Rockford for Camp Hope, a program to help youth affected by domestic violence; and
Ten percent to the County of Winnebago to perform Fiscal Agency functions.