Recorded presentation

Tio Hardiman¹, Norman L. Kerr², Elena D. Quintana, PhD³, Tim Metzger, MUPP¹, Cody D. Stephens, MA¹, and Gary Slutkin, MD¹. (1) University of Illinois at Chicago, School of Public Health, Chicago Project for Violence Prevention/CeaseFire, 1603 W. Taylor, Chicago, IL 60612, (312) 355-3151, tioh@uic.edu, (2) University of Illinios at Chicago, School of Public Health, Chicago Project for Violence Prevention/CeaseFire, 1603 W. Taylor, Chicago, IL 60612, (3) University of Illinois at Chicago, School of Public Health, Chicago Project for Violence Prevention, 1603 W. Taylor (M/C 923), Chicago, IL 60612

In 1995, the Chicago Project for Violence Prevention began planning a public health strategy to increase neighborhood safety. The goals of this multi-pronged anti-violence intervention include decreasing shootings and killings, changing norms of violence in high crime neighborhoods, and creating positive opportunities for youth. Implementation of the plan requires collaboration and support by citizens, government, law enforcement, and clergy. The full implementation of this plan, called “CeaseFire”, began in 2000.

CeaseFire centers around five main interventions: 1) public education 2) outreach to high-risk youth 3) clergy outreach, safe havens, and gang mediation 4) community responses to all shootings to show resistance to violence 5) law enforcement responding promptly to shootings.

In February 2000, community coalition members began responding to all shootings and killings within the first CeaseFire Zone. From 2000 to 2001, over 200 community responses were held in Chicago Project neighborhoods. Currently there are 25 youth outreach workers working in 5 Chicago neighborhoods, 36 clergy working closely with the project, and over 1 million public education materials distributed from 2000 to 2003. In the first CeaseFire Zone there was a 67% decrease in shooting in the first year of implementation (from 43 shootings in 2000 to 14 in 2001); this reduction was maintained through 2002. In 2001-02, four additional CeaseFire Zones have implemented this program and have shown shooting reductions between 14% and 67% from the start of CeaseFire to the present. In late 2002, two additional Zones added outreach workers and show a preliminary 45% and 5% reduction.

Learning Objectives:

• To understand how a public health strategy can be implemented to reduce violence.
• To examine the essential components of a successful anti-violence campaign

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.

Recorded presentation