City leaders: Chicago’s SC2 initiative shows promising results reducing gun violence in year one

CHICAGO (WGN) — Tuesday marked one year since the start of a program designed to cut down on gun violence in Chicago.

City officials held a meeting with Community Violence Intervention (CVI) Groups at Farragut Career Academy in Little Village, where they announced data and statistics collected from a program known as Scaling Community Violence Intervention for a Safer Chicago (SC2).

According to CPD crime data, several crime statistics have experienced a notable drop year over year through mid-July. Shootings in the city are down 39%. The number of shooting victims is down 40%. Gun violence deaths are down 32%.

“Shootings and homicides are down 80% since last year in Little Village,” said Matt DeMateo, CEO of New Life Centers of Chicagoland.

SC2 was announced in February 2024 during a meeting for CVI groups at the South Shore Center. Since its official implementation in July 2024, the program has expanded into eight Chicago neighborhoods based on gun violence statistics, with CVI groups now doing similar work in 27 different neighborhoods across Chicago.

“A growing body of research is showing us that we do make a difference with individuals,” said Susan Lee, Executive Director of SC2.

Public and private entities have come together to fund the program, with upwards of $400 million being put toward SC2 in hopes of reducing the city’s gun violence problems.

How does SC2 work?

A central point of SC2 and other programs like it is the use of “peacekeepers.”

Peacekeepers are community members who are trained in violence intervention strategies and tactics found useful in trying to de-escalate situations where gun violence is likely to occur.

“It’s about getting them to put down their guns, get some treatment, go back to school and get a job,” DeMateo said.

Carlos Robinson is one of those community members recruited to be a peacekeeper. Robinson told WGN-TV he served time in prison when he was younger, and these days, he wants to help forge a new path toward peace in the neighborhoods where he and those he cares about live.

“It’s important because I don’t want to keep seeing Black on Black crime,” Robinson said. “I don’t want to see these kids going through what we went through.”

Those who work to train peacekeepers said the programs that train them are worthy of expansion too.

“You need lived experience so they understand the challenges that individuals in the community face,” said Domonique McCord, Chief Program Officer of the Metropolitan Peace Initiative. “They know what it means to want to live a dignified life and recover from the things that people judge you by.”