GROWING
IMPACT


As violence continues to plague multiple communities in Chicago, Metropolitan Family Services is working to help find solutions. In 2017, we joined forces with the city’s leading street outreach organizations to launch Communities Partnering 4 Peace (CP4P).

 
CP4P is a framework that provides a comprehensive, long-term approach to reducing violence and gang activity among the individuals and communities it serves. Its work is rooted in nonviolence, trauma-informed care, hyper-local collaboration and restorative justice practices.

CP4P works in nine of Chicago’s most at-risk communities to help reduce shootings and homicides, create and reclaim safe community spaces, and professionalize the street outreach field.

 

The Metropolitan Peace Academy, a major CP4P component, is a multidisciplinary training platform designed to professionalize and strengthen the fields of street outreach and community violence prevention.

Graduates participate in a rigorous 144-hour, 18-week curriculum focused on street outreach, nonviolence, trauma-informed services and restorative justice. The Academy is the first of its kind in Chicago.

Twenty-three of Chicago’s most seasoned street outreach workers graduated from the Peace Academy in June 2018.


VIOLENCE PREVENTION

4800
REACHED

Canvassing
Outreach workers spend time in the neighborhoods, building ongoing relationships with community members, sharing information about available resources and productive alternatives to violence, and identifying existing or potential threats to peace in the area.
1070
SERVED

Re-Entry
Re-entry provides sustained support to community members returning from incarceration, to ensure successful family and neighborhood re-unification through referrals to services like counseling, job training and life skills.
3193
SERVED

Case Management Services
Case managers work one-on-one with high-risk individuals, developing relationships and connecting them with the services they need to mitigate future incidents of community violence.

CP4P celebrated another successful year of Light in the Night, featuring 814 events in CP4P communities, all with the goal of helping residents reclaim safe spaces. Public spaces including parks, gyms and schools become hubs in each CP4P community for activities such as basketball, skating, barbeques and movie nights for three to four nights weekly. This fiscal year, 83,869 people participated in Light in the Night activities.


• Alliance of Local Service Organizations (ALSO)
• Breakthrough Urban Ministries
• Cure Violence
• New Life Centers of Chicagoland
• Institute for Nonviolence Chicago (INVC)
• Precious Blood Ministries of Reconciliation
• Target Area Development Corp.
• UCAN

 

 

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WE'RE GROWING
at Metropolitan
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FINANCIALS
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2018 HIGHLIGHTS

Metropolitan
Family
Services

Part mentor, part motivator, part advocate, since 1857 Metropolitan Family Services has been the engine of change that Mpowers families to reach their greatest potential and positively impact their communities.