Gov. Rod Blagojevich actually pulled the plug on the $6.2 million for the Chicago Project for Violence Prevention’s CeaseFire anti-violence program, while state. Sen. Donne Trotter (D-17th) served as cheerleader from the legislative sidelines.
The governor maintained the money just wasn’t there to continue to fund the only organization in the state with a track record of stopping shootings and killings. Trotter was the lead voice in Springfield, decrying CeaseFire’s data; while arguing the money should be divvied up among several groups.
A 229-page report released last week by the U.S. Department of Justice documents that CeaseFire was effective not only in changing behaviors among some of the city’s most hardened thugs, but the organization also saved lives by preventing shootings and retaliatory murders. The report is the culmination of work by 15 academicians from universities as noteworthy as Northwestern and the University of Chicago.
The three-year study overshadows an earlier university study calling CeaseFire’s work inconclusive. Trotter used that as the hook to maintain the CeaseFire dollars should go elsewhere. Although no capital spending bill has been passed, the governor recently announced an ambitious $150 million anti-violence package. While the programs identified in the package could be real, the funding source is phantom.
Even Mayor Richard M. Daley questioned from what well the governor was going to draw the $150 millionûgiven that all state wells are dry. Blagojevich, earlier this year tapped Carol Adams, secretary of the Illinois Department of Human Services, to roll out the Safety Net Works program. This is another unfunded program that means even someone with Adams’ considerable strategic, political and community building skills, has to knock on doors to find funding.
The DOJ report is a clarion call that CeaseFire administrators and staffers know what they’re doing, as it noted that “99 percent of the highest risk person who sought help of getting out of a gang got that help from CeaseFire.” The report was further unwavering in its positives about CeaseFire stating the organization “transforms ‘hot spots’ (high density shooting areas) into cooler spots and makes the neighborhood safer.”
With 24 school children shot and killed since the governor stopped CeaseFire’s funding, and murders occurring on a weekly basis here, two critical factors are painfully obvious. Whatever research Blagojevich and Trotter did to justify their positions was flawed. And CeaseFire needs its funding restored immediately so the slaughter on our streets can be stopped.
______
Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
About Post Author
