As we head into the fall, we close a second consecutive summer with a dramatic rise in gun violence in Chicago. Gun violence is an issue of paramount importance to our collective well-being and to our region’s prosperity—it is a crisis that affects us all, no matter what neighborhood it occurs in, and that we must work together to solve.

Within our Safety and Justice platform, Civic Consulting Alliance facilitates institutional reform and collaborative transformation to holistically reduce violence. One key gun violence prevention and reduction initiative that we helped stand up and continue to support is the Partnership for Safe and Peaceful Communities (PSPC), which made important progress and entered a new phase over the past year.

Formed in 2016, PSPC has grown to be a coalition of more than 50 funders aligning their funding on a catalytic basis to urgently and sustainably reduce gun violence in the Chicago region.

From the beginning, Civic Consulting Alliance has guided this coalition, building upon our body of Safety and Justice platform work and our experience managing complex collaboratives to provide project management, operational, strategy development, and fundraising support.

In 2020, Chicago experienced multiple, interconnected crises—namely, the COVID-19 pandemic, a spike in gun violence here and across the country, and a national reckoning with systemic racism and the role of police in society. In 2021, in the wake of these crises and as PSPC’s direct service grantees—READI Chicago and Communities Partnering 4 Peace (CP4P)—began to receive more public funding and recognition by policymakers, PSPC members sought to reexamine their strategic direction.

In addition to providing ongoing PSPC project management and convening support, from July 2020 through May 2021, Civic Consulting Alliance—with pro bono support from a Protiviti fellow—facilitated a process to assess and update PSPC’s strategic priorities and governance structure. Going forward, PSPC will focus on four strategic priorities:

• Scaling impact through neighborhood-based approaches;
• Reimagining and reforming public safety systems;
• Ensuring a supportive policy environment; and
• Investing in community leadership.

This process also affirmed the value PSPC brings by enabling funders to amplify their individual efforts to reduce gun violence through collective action, learning, and voice. The new governance structure will more broadly distribute leadership and accelerate funders’ momentum, including: Action Groups to facilitate aligned action around PSPC strategic priorities; a Coordinating Committee to align initiatives across PSPC; two new Coordinating Committee Co-Chairs (Jen Keeling of Chicago CRED, and Tawa Mitchell of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation); and backbone Civic Consulting Alliance staff to manage PSPC’s day-to-day activities.

“Civic Consulting Alliance is instrumental to PSPC’s sustained impact. Civic Consulting Alliance provides operational support to keep PSPC moving forward, blended with strategic support that they are uniquely qualified to provide, given their management consulting skills and expertise in Chicago’s safety and justice spheres.”

— Jen Keeling, Director of Strategic Partnerships, Chicago CRED and Co-Chair, PSPC Coordinating Committee

As PSPC heads into its fifth year, it is entering a new phase in its growth and evolution. It is equipped with refreshed strategic tools and a strong foundation for collaboration. PSPC funders have grown their expertise, and continue to learn and act together. The initiatives in PSPC’s portfolio are catalyzing progress toward violence reduction, and are gaining traction beyond PSPC—including at the federal level. In April 2021, President Joe Biden called for the investment of $5 billion in community violence prevention programs via the proposed American Jobs Plan—naming READI Chicago and its Senior Director Eddie Bocanegra as an illustrative example. In June 2021, the Treasury Department issued guidance stating that community violence intervention programs are eligible uses of American Rescue Plan funding, which is directing billions in funding to the Chicago region.

Yet, it remains clear that meaningfully reducing gun violence is a complex, urgent challenge without a quick fix. In 2020, homicides and shootings increased dramatically relative to 2019—by 57% and 51%, respectively. In 2021, this tragic trend has continued, with elevated levels of gun violence continuing through the first half of the year. Moreover, the work to reimagine local and national safety and justice systems is far from over. Chicago area government officials, community leaders, residents, and advocates continue to drive forward transformative reforms, as the projects discussed elsewhere on this page attest. At this pivotal moment, PSPC and Civic Consulting Alliance remain committed to continuing to make the catalytic and foundational investments that are needed to sustain and scale strategies to substantially reduce gun violence in Chicago.

“While the path to a safer, more equitable city without gun violence is not linear, PSPC members believe that future is possible, and we are committed to continuing our important work to make that future a reality.”

— Tawa Mitchell, Senior Program Officer, Chicago Commitment at MacArthur Foundation and Co-Chair, PSPC Coordinating Committee

Civic Consulting Alliance is grateful for the philanthropic support of the following PSPC members, whose generous contributions and partnership enables us to drive progress towards our mission through impactful projects like PSPC:

Anonymous; Alvin H. Baum Family Fund; AT&T Illinois; The Chicago Community Trust; Chicago CRED; Crown Family Philanthropies; Lloyd A. Fry Foundation; Health Care Service Corporation; The Joyce Foundation; JPMorgan Chase & Co.; The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; Robert R. McCormick Foundation; Polk Bros. Foundation; Pritzker Pucker Family Foundation; Pritzker Traubert Foundation; Michael Reese Health Trust; Steans Family Foundation; and Woods Fund Chicago.