CeaseFire Project-Chicago Police District 11

The Edward Byrne Memorial Discretionary Grants Program, administered by the Office of Justice Programs' (OJP's) Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), furthers the Department's mission by assisting state and local jurisdictions in improving the criminal justice system and assisting communities in preventing drug abuse and crime. In fiscal year 2007, the Edward Byrne Memorial Discretionary Grants Program will focus on funding local, regional, and national efforts within six major categories: 1) targeting violent crime; 2) preventing crime and drug abuse; 3) enhancing local law enforcement; 4) enhancing local courts; 5) enhancing local corrections and offender reentry; and 6) facilitating justice information sharing. All categories combat, address, or otherwise respond to precipitous or extraordinary increases in crime, or in a type or types of crime.

The University of Illinois at Chicago/Chicago Project for Violence Prevention (Chicago Project) will use the Fiscal Year 2007 Byrne Discretionary grant funds, awarded under the Category II (Preventing Crime and Substance Abuse), to fund the CeaseFire Program. CeaseFire is an initiative to stop shootings and killings and has a track record of success. CeaseFire was first implemented in early 2000 in the West Garfield Park neighborhood of Chicago. By the end of the first year, shootings dropped by 67 percent. Due to this success, CeaseFire was expanded to other communities in Chicago and other cities in Illinois. CeaseFire's goals are: to reduce the rate of killing in the City of Chicago to be equal to or less than the national rate; and to provide support and guidance to those individuals who are at high risk of involvement in shootings to encourage them to follow a positive lifestyle. The primary objectives to achieve these goals are: to continue and enhance the efforts in the Chicago Police District 11 to further reduce the number of shootings and killings; to maintain a well-trained force of workers who provide both assistance to CeaseFire sites in Chicago and in Illinois; and training to build the core capacities of all staff. The Chicago Project combines a strategic public health approach with a criminal justice-based understanding of violence prevention by: including a full commitment to a specific objective; setting long- and short-term goals; developing a strategy based on best practices and a management structure at the community and city/county levels. The Chicago Project and CeaseFire call for the strengthening of communities so that they have the capacity to exercise social control and respond to issues that affect them. These activities are organized into CeaseFire's five core components that address both the community and those individuals who are most at risk of involvement in a shooting or killing. The five core components are community mobilization, outreach, faith leader involvement, public education, and police participation.

CA/NCF