Community safety is an issue that affects all Chicagoans, but especially Black and Latine communities. According to a 2023 report, more than half of Black and Latine residents have witnessed a shooting by age 40. Further, violence not only impacts the health and safety of residents, but it also has a detrimental effect on the city’s economic vitality.  

While there is no one-size-fits-all method to addressing this issue, a grassroots approach that centers the voices of the people most affected by violence is necessary to make our neighborhoods safer. Launched in 2016, the Partnership for Safe and Peaceful (PSPC) is a coalition of more than 50 funders working together to support community-level programming that reduces gun violence. In tandem with those efforts, a new PSPC initiative, Scaling Community Violence Intervention for a Safer Chicago (SC2), brings together partners from across sectors to reduce shootings and homicides in neighborhoods with the highest rates of gun violence through focused services and interventions.  

In this episode of Trust Talks, we will discuss PSPC’s priorities and accomplishments, its new Scaling Community Violence Intervention for a Safer Chicago fund, and the importance of multi-sector collaboration to make our neighborhoods safer and more vibrant.   

This episode is hosted by Jai Jones, program specialist for the Partnership for Safe and Peaceful Communities (PSPC), and includes Esther Franco-Payne, PSPC executive director; Robert Boik, Civic Committee of the Commercial Club’s senior vice president for public safety; Teny Gross, CEO of the Institute for Nonviolence Chicago; and America Campos, executive director of U.N.I.O.N. Impact Center.

This episode is produced by Juneteenth Productions and was recorded at the Sound Foundation, LLC.