In September 2023, the Chicago City Council passed an ordinance creating the Treatment Not Trauma Working Group of internal stakeholders. The ordinance required a report with recommendations for expanding non-police alternate crisis response programs and clinical services while increasing community awareness of both.

Partnership for Safe and Peaceful Communities (PSPC) is a coalition of funders who have been successful in building an evidence base for gun violence reduction strategies, namely Community Violence Intervention (CVI). Over the past four years, the field of CVI has expanded due to government investment and has recently become a focus of the Public Safety Task Force of the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago.

Violence in Chicago is a complex issue that is a symptom of underlying challenges of systemic racism, poverty, and social disinvestment. Shootings and homicides recorded in Chicago fell by 13% in 2023 as violence rates returned to pre-pandemic levels, but the number of people killed last year was still among the city’s highest over the past two decades. Communities also continue to suffer harm that extends beyond violence and disparately affects Chicago’s West and South Side neighborhoods.

Chicago’s Crisis Assistance Response and Engagement (CARE) program responds to 911 calls involving individuals experiencing a mental health or substance use-related crisis. The City has continued to scale up operations since the first on-the-ground team was launched in September 2021. Early in his tenure, Mayor Brandon Johnson committed to expanding the CARE program for two reasons: alternate response directly supports his “Treatment Not Trauma” policy priority, and the work is an element of his “People’s Plan for Community Safety.”

The field of alternate response has matured significantly over the past few years, particularly within the context of a nationwide push to reimagine public safety. A recent report found that the majority of Chicago’s 911 calls are related to non-urgent matters like car accidents, mental or physical health issues, or noise complaints.

It is imperative that CPD accomplish the changes the Consent Decree requires while maintaining the day-to-day operations that ensure public safety. Both priorities require careful planning of workforce allocation for how officers are deployed.

When you think of "impact," it’s easy to focus only on long-term projects with multi-million dollar investments and massive infrastructure overhauls. But often, lasting change starts small.

In our 2023 Impact Report, some of our proudest moments came from targeted, fast-moving projects. We’re talking about the crucial workshops, the streamlined toolkits, and the strategy sessions that flew under the radar but went on to unlock historic funding, reopen neighborhood pools, and welcome hundreds of arriving families.

Here is a look at the "small" projects that made a massive footprint across our region in 2023.

Challenge: The public sector alone cannot address the interconnected root causes of violence. The business community has a significant stake in making the region a safe place to live, work and do business, but has largely been missing from the conversation. In fall 2022, the Civic Committee convened the Public Safety Task Force to identify strategies for the business community to contribute to improving public safety in Chicago.

Action: Alongside pro bono partner BCG, Civic Consulting Alliance supported the design, launch, and initial work for the Task Force. This included engaging in a seven-month fact-finding process that included interviews with numerous elected officials, community organizations, academic experts, philanthropy, and law enforcement. With pro bono support from Lantern Partners, we also facilitated the recruitment of the Civic Committee’s first Vice President for Public Safety, a new position that provides strategic leadership and daily management for the organization’s public safety agenda and initiatives.

Result: In June, the Civic Committee publicly announced five commitments that it believes will organize the business community to make the most significant contribution to address both short-term acute issues and long-term root causes of gun violence. Bob Boik, formerly of the Chicago Police Department, was hired as the Vice President for Public Safety to carry out the implementation of the Task Force’s initiatives. Since this announcement, the Civic Committee’s public safety strategy has been received positively. For example, the Chicago Tribune editorial, “Curbing violent crime is an all-hands-on-deck task. That must include corporate Chicago” is complimentary of the work that Civic Consulting Alliance completed, stating, “There’s good reason to feel optimistic about the Civic Committee’s new mission. To begin with, the group’s game plan makes sense.”

Partners: BCG, Lantern Partners

Since Mayor Harold Washington asked the business community for pro bono help analyzing the City budget, we have proudly served the Mayor’s Office to advance its most important and timely initiatives. Beginning with supporting the mayoral transition in 2019, we have worked closely with Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s Office to advance initiatives aligned with our mission and to support projects where Civic Consulting Alliance was uniquely positioned to make an impact.

Gun violence continues to be a public health crisis throughout America, and a top priority for many Chicagoans who are pressing local governments to do more to increase public safety. To meet this challenge, Civic Consulting Alliance is supporting multiple interconnected clients to ensure quick and effective scaling of these concerted violence reduction efforts.