Our neighborhoods have been hurt and shaken by gun violence resulting from a series of gang conflicts that have escalated dramatically in recent days. We have a beautiful community, and no one should be fearful to live here and enjoy it.
I have been in regular communication with Mayor Lightfoot about the seriousness of this situation this week, and am pleased to announce that the city will be expanding its violence interruption efforts to include Albany Park and neighboring areas that have been hard hit recently by gun violence.
Through the Communities Partnering 4 Peace program, agencies dispatch street outreach workers focused on diffusing conflict, preventing retaliation and opening up other paths for our young people. This is a necessary component of reducing gun violence and gang activity that the city expanded earlier this year in other community hotspots but that, to date, has been missing in our area.
I want to be clear: No single program is a panacea, and even the most successful programs cannot replace the long-term solutions we need to ultimately fix the problem. In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic and the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, the social fabric in our communities is stretched to breaking, and gun violence has risen in major cities nationwide. We know this is going to take sustained effort to repair.
However, the situation facing our neighborhoods right now is urgent—something that, as a mother of a young child living just blocks away from several violent incidents this week, I am acutely aware.
I thank Mayor Lightfoot for her efforts in our communities and look forward to working with our community partners to begin to implement this program as an important part of keeping our neighborhoods safe