CHICAGO | Ceasefire, the successful violence reduction program, does not operate in the south suburbs because no legislators there have successfully lobbied for it.
That was the message last week from Norman Livingston Kerr, director of the gang mediation program of the Chicago Project for Violence Prevention at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
"We've expanded pretty much every year over the last three years," Kerr said.
"The catalyst has been state representatives advocating for their area. Sometimes where we're going to be working is an announcement to us."
In other words, Ceasefire does not select the communities in which it offers its expertise mediating street conflicts. The state Legislature, which funds the programs, also picks the communities, Kerr said.
Ceasefire recently received a $1.7 million grant to expand to Baltimore, Cincinnati and Newark, N.J. It already operates in 16 neighborhoods in Chicago and eight other Illinois communities, but none in the south suburbs.
The south suburbs will only receive Ceasefire's help if the region's legislators lobby for the help, Kerr said.
"I know the south suburbs. I know they are in dire need," he said. "Those aren't our decisions. We don't pick the area. When it comes to state funding, we never do that."
Ceasefire, which the Chicago Project for Violence Prevention launched in 2000, aims to reduce shootings and killings in the communities in which it operates, Kerr said.
The initiative, which uses former gang members and ex-convicts, does this by implementing the same model in each community, he said.
"We use community mobilization, public education and messaging, and working relationships with law enforcement," Kerr said. "We also tap into faith leaders to get them involved." Outreach workers develop relationships with highest-risk individuals in each community, Kerr said. They attempt to mediate conflicts before they occur and to prevent retaliation, he said.
Ceasefire is not an extension of law enforcement but instead tries to maintain a "working relationship" with police, Kerr said.
"They provide us with shooting data, the areas that are the hottest, as far as shootings. We have our workers pay attention to those areas," he said.
"Law enforcement deals with individuals when they cross the line," Kerr said.
"Our job is to help them not cross the line, keep them on our side of the line as law-abiding, and doing something constructive."
