Accelerating Collaborative & Systemic Approaches
to Violence Reduction
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In 2021, Chicago experienced levels of gun violence unseen in 30 years. As communities and leaders grapple with how to reduce and prevent this violence, gun violence is increasingly recognized—and treated—as a public health crisis and a product of systemic racism. This is a pivotal change in approach, and one that requires close collaboration across sectors, between levels of government, and with communities most impacted by gun violence. Moreover, it comes at a time when unprecedented federal resources are being made available for violence prevention.
In 2021 and early 2022, Civic Consulting Alliance supported two projects to accelerate collaborative, systemic approaches to violence prevention—to ensure that these resources advance real change and safer communities.
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Community Safety Coordination Center |
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In August 2021, Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced the creation of the Community Safety Coordination Center (CSCC), a first-of-its-kind, multi-agency coordination center to advance a whole of government, community-driven approach to violence prevention and reduction for the City of Chicago.
The CSCC is a mayoral initiative that builds on lessons learned from the City’s equity-focused response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It utilizes the Racial Equity Rapid Response (RERR) Team’s innovative, collaborative model for emergency pandemic response, which coordinated resources and information across the City, practitioners, nonprofits, and community-based organizations. The CSCC brings together City departments and agencies—ranging from the Chicago Police Department to those not traditionally considered part of the safety ecosystem, such as Chicago Public Libraries, Chicago Park District, and Chicago Public Schools—alongside community organizations and leaders to advance community safety initiatives aimed at addressing the root causes of violence. Like the RERR Team, the CSCC takes a place-based approach, focusing on 15 communities prioritized in the City’s comprehensive violence reduction plan, “Our City, Our Safety,” starting with West Garfield Park, North Lawndale, Little Village, and Englewood.
Given Civic Consulting Alliance’s experience structuring effective models for collaboration—including standing up the RERR Team, and supporting violence reduction coordination at the community, City, and intergovernmental levels—the Mayor’s Office turned to us to align CSCC stakeholders on a unified vision and roadmap. From November 2021 to January 2022, we worked to:
- Develop a public health-inspired community safety framework (pictured below) that equipped CSCC stakeholders with a foundation of common language and structure for coordinating programs and services;
- Map current and planned City initiatives to the CSCC’s framework in order to identify overlap or gaps; and
- Compile a toolkit with best practices and research to support City agencies and departments in evolving their initiatives and operations to align with the CSCC’s framework—and, in turn, the City’s vision for reducing and preventing violence.
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The public health-inspired community safety framework Civic Consulting Alliance developed, above, visualizes the interdependent levels of intervention needed to holistically address violence. |
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Today, the Mayor’s Office and CSCC stakeholders are using this framework, initiative map, and best practice toolkit to coordinate violence prevention and reduction efforts across City departments, sister agencies, and community-based organizations. This systems-level approach represents a new way for the City to work to reduce violence in Chicago, focusing on the root causes of violence, and centering community knowledge and expertise.
“Civic Consulting Alliance helped us develop a structure for approaching community safety that is driven by the needs of Chicago residents, and that will ensure more effective and efficient use of City resources. I am deeply grateful to your team for providing us the capacity and expertise we needed to accelerate this critical work.”
- Tamara Mahal, Chief Coordination Officer, Community Safety Coordination Center
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Intergovernmental Coordination on Violence Prevention |
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Reducing gun violence is a critical priority for the City of Chicago, Cook County, and the State of Illinois. Significant new funding is available to all three entities via the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), creating an opportunity to increase investment in community-based public health approaches to violence prevention in 2022. To ensure that this work is done efficiently and effectively, the City, County, and State sought to develop systems to facilitate intergovernmental coordination on violence prevention across funding streams.
Civic Consulting Alliance was uniquely positioned to support this work given our experience facilitating coordination across institutions, our knowledge of the Chicago region’s violence prevention ecosystem, and our expertise developing sustainable structures for collaboration. From August to October 2021, we designed and facilitated three workshops with representatives from the City, County, and State. Over the workshops, the group:
- Established common definitions for violence reduction efforts, using a public health lens;
- Reviewed data on current year funding at the program-, grantee-, and geographic-level across the city, county and state;
- Shared priorities for use of future funding (including via ARPA);
- Agreed on two priorities for coordination going forward (aligning their strategies for funding gun violence intervention efforts, and developing an approach for investing in violence prevention organizations’ capacity building); and
- Launched two working groups to focus on these priorities.
We are hopeful that this effort to better align the City, County, and State's strategies will maximize the impact of the unprecedented public funds available through ARPA—substantially and sustainably reducing gun violence in the months and years ahead. Already, one early outcome of this collaboration was a joint ‘Readiness Summit’ the three units of government held on February 4, 2022 for nonprofits, community organizations, and vendors to learn about funding opportunities for their work, which will be followed by more specific opportunities to engage regarding violence prevention funding. The City, County, and State also recently launched a joint website www.greaterchicagotogether.org as a hub for information about their particular ARPA grant opportunities.
“Civic Consulting Alliance’s exceptional project management skills and expertise in collaborative violence prevention efforts kept us aligned and focused on our shared violence prevention goals. We are grateful for your service to the residents of Greater Chicago.”
- Lanetta Haynes Turner, Chief of Staff, Cook County
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Fellow Spotlights: Jiayi Gu and Jake Graham
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Jake Graham joined us as a fellow from July to December 2021. Jake is a Senior Consultant - Technology Strategy & Operations at Protiviti.
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What project work were you involved in during your time at Civic Consulting Alliance?
Jiayi: I worked on a project to determine Cook County's priorities for the investment of American Rescue Plan Act funds.
Jake: First, I worked on a burgeoning initiative called 5/25 Move to Action which aims to galvanize the private sector in Chicago towards a more equitable economy throughout the region. Second, I supported a project with Chicago Public Schools to align pre-K through 2nd grade early learning.
What will you take away from your time at Civic Consulting Alliance?
Jiayi: I've gained valuable skills around how to approach complex problems, work-planning, and being a better team member.
Jake: The value of asking the right questions and putting in the time and effort to answer the hardest questions. I've been impressed with the scale and complexity of the problems that Civic Consulting Alliance works on, and it's incredibly important work. I will do my best to apply that lens and a proactive attitude throughout my career.
What was your most memorable experience during your time at Civic Consulting Alliance?
Jiayi: I really enjoyed working with the people at Civic Consulting Alliance. I had so much support from my supervisor and the team, and I always felt that I was a valued team member.
Jake: There is no shortage of memorable moments and experiences in my six months here. One that stands out was my first day working in the office, after working remotely for more than a year due to the pandemic. I spent two hours brainstorming on a whiteboard with a team member, drawing what probably looked like gibberish to determine a model for large-scale culture change. That was a fun morning!
How has your time at Civic Consulting Alliance helped you develop professionally?
Jiayi: The fellowship experience showed me what it is like to work in public sector consulting, and allowed me to explore my interest in the field of public health. Through my project, I learned about Cook County's public health priorities, and saw the interdisciplinary nature of public health firsthand. It was also invaluable to talk to Civic Consulting Alliance staff who have supported health-related projects.
Jake: The fellowship structure and the Civic Consulting Alliance team are very growth-focused. As a result, I've noticeably strengthened my client interaction and abstract problem solving skills. This experience has also made me appreciate the value of leaders who prioritize the development of their team members.
Civic Consulting Alliance Fellowships are full-time positions that typically last between three months and a year. Fellows are integrated into project teams for a unique professional development opportunity. In partnership with Northwestern University, we provide a semester-long Undergraduate Fellowship. Please visit our Fellowships page to learn more about our range of fellowship opportunities.
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Thank you to our funders! |
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Civic Consulting Alliance is grateful for the critical support of all of our funders. Since our last newsletter, we were thrilled to receive philanthropic commitments from the following corporations and foundations: |
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General Operating Funders |
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Support to achieve our Safety & Justice platform vision for impact. |
Support in recognition of our investments in West Side United's Employee Professional Pathways programs, whose impact is amplified by AdvancingCities funding. |
Support to achieve our visions for impact in our Education and Safety & Justice platforms, including collaboration with the City of Chicago and Cook County to guide effective, transparent, and inclusive investment of critical federal funds. |
Support for management of the Partnership for Safe and Peaceful Communities. |
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