Chicago is the third-largest city in the United States. Chi-Town has given us some of the greatest Black artists, political leaders and history-makers. The Windy City also is known for being one of the most violent places to live in the country.
Vaughn Bryant, the executive director of the Metropolitan Peace Initiative, stopped by “theGrio Weekly” to discuss how his group is on the front lines to end violence in Chicago.
According to WLS-TV in Chicago, there have been 661 murders in Chicago over the last 12 months, although that’s down from the average of 770 murders over the three previous years. The Metropolitan Peace Initiative is working to tackle that problem by convening a coalition of local neighborhood organizations that provide a combination of street outreach, which works with the highest-risk folks on the front lines; case management services; and victim services, to assist people who have survived gun violence.
Metropolitan provides free behavioral health services across the coalition’s 27 neighborhoods, free civil legal aid services, and workforce development. Bryant says they also work in tandem, not necessarily together, with the Chicago Police Department.
When host Natasha S. Alford asked the executive director how the Metropolitan promotes positive relations between the community and the police, Bryant explained, “I think they understood that what we were building was a really professional operation. And if somebody does something untoward or gets in trouble, we hold our folks accountable in the same way that we’re asking the police to hold themselves accountable when they make a mistake.”
Watch the full clip above and tune into “theGrio Weekly” with Natasha S. Alford at 11 a.m. ET every Sunday on theGrio cable channel.
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