Sue Cardenas-Soto

The City of Chicago recently launched its first-ever women’s Community Re-entry Support Center (CRSC) in partnership with the Women’s Justice Institute, in addition to awarding five community organizations serving residents returning from incarceration.

Chicago is set to close out the year with historic declines in violent crime, as detailed in a new report from Crain’s Chicago Business. City leaders, law enforcement officials, and Community Violence Intervention (CVI) experts acknowledge that their combined efforts have helped make 2025 one of the city’s safest years in decades.

Chicago remains on track to record its lowest number of shootings since 1965, but after a year of facing threats to sustainable funding, leaders in the field of Community Violence Intervention (CVI) continue to explore new, innovative ways to save even more lives.

Women in Community Violence Intervention (CVI) are crucial to its success in making Chicago a safer city.

Community Violence Intervention (CVI) leaders, advocates, and public officials gathered at City Hall prior to the Chicago City Council’s meeting on Thursday, September 25, 2025, in a call for a $50 million allocation for CVI programming in the upcoming FY26 city budget.

On Friday, September 12, 2025, Communities Partnering 4 Peace (CP4P) organizations met with U.S. Senator Dick Durbin and State Senator Celina Villanueva in Little Village to discuss the progress of Community Violence Intervention (CVI) efforts in their area.

Community Violence Intervention (CVI) is sustained by these direct service providers, like Doris Villaverde from the Southwest Organizing Project (SWOP).

The historic drop in violent crime that was recently reported in the city of Chicago is a positive sign that Community Violence Intervention (CVI) works, but CVI advocates believe there’s still more work to be done to make the city safer.

Public safety advocates recently joined “Reset with Sasha-Ann Simons” for a panel discussion on the progress Chicago has made so far in reducing gun violence while also dealing with the challenges of losing federal funding.

At the Institute for Nonviolence Chicago (INVC), a dedicated team of CVI professionals are instrumental to providing life-changing care and resources to individuals incarcerated in the Cook County Department of Corrections (CCDOC).