HR0832 LRB094 18274 LCT 53585 r

1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, In 1995, the Chicago Project for Violence
3 Prevention began planning a public health strategy to increase
4 neighborhood safety; the goals of this multi-pronged
5 anti-violence intervention include decreasing shootings and
6 killings, changing norms of violence in high crime
7 neighborhoods, and creating positive opportunities for the
8 highest risk individuals; and the full implementation of this
9 plan, called "CeaseFire", began in 2000; and
 
10     WHEREAS, As a result of the CeaseFire project, West
11 Garfield Park (WGP) saw two periods of 90 days each with no
12 shootings during the spring and summer of 2000; this was
13 previously unheard of in that community; WGP went on to see a
14 67% (from 43 to 14) reduction in shootings for 2000; and
 
15     WHEREAS, Since that time the reduction has been maintained
16 and subsequent reductions have been seen in at least 5 new
17 CeaseFire implementation areas; during 2001-2003, the new
18 CeaseFire communities experienced average decreases in
19 shootings from 33-65%; in 2004, the seven communities fully
20 implementing CeaseFire again averaged 48% reductions in
21 shootings; and in addition, the Logan Square community had a
22 drop in homicides from 12 to 1 (92% reduction); and
 
23     WHEREAS, The Chicago Project for Violence Prevention is
24 housed at the School of Public Health at the University of
25 Illinois at Chicago; and
 
26     WHEREAS, There are long waiting periods between
27 expenditures from CeaseFire operations and State
28 reimbursements from the Department of Corrections; and
 
29     WHEREAS, Funding that is directly given to the University
30 of Illinois at Chicago for CeaseFire administration would

 

 

HR0832 - 2 - LRB094 18274 LCT 53585 r

1 reduce these waiting periods; therefore, be it
 
2     RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
3 NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
4 we urge the General Assembly to streamline CeaseFire
5 administration and allow funding to be directly given to the
6 University of Illinois at Chicago, in addition to their regular
7 funding, to avoid long waiting periods between expenditures and
8 State reimbursements from the Department of Corrections.