Prosperity Through Collaboration: Highlights From the 2026 Strides for Peace Expo
The 2026 Strides for Peace Gun Violence Expo brought together community leaders, advocates, artists, faith leaders, and organizations from across Chicago on Friday, September 25 and Saturday, September 26 at the Hilton Chicago. This year’s theme, “Prosperity Through Collaboration,” centered the importance of working together to create safer and stronger communities.
The expo opened Thursday evening with a gala celebrating leaders and organizations committed to addressing gun violence in Chicago. Among those recognized was Metropolitan Family Services (MFS) President and CEO Ric Estrada, who received an Impact Award.
Across two days, the expo featured more than 50 speakers and more than 10 thought-provoking conversations, along with a resource fair, art exhibit and expo, marketplace, and a mini film and play festival. Together, the events created space for people to learn, connect, share ideas, and highlight the many approaches being used to build safer communities.
Faith in the Field: Moving From Thoughts and Prayers to Build Safe Cities
One conversation that highlighted the importance of collaboration was a panel titled “Faith in the Field: Moving From Thoughts and Prayers to Build Safe Cities.” Moderated by Pastor Gil Monrose, the conversation featured Rev. Al Conley, Pastor Corey Brooks, Rev. Larita Rice Barnes, and Rev. Shanan E. Jones.
The session explored the role churches play as pillars in their communities and the ways faith leaders are working to prevent youth involvement in gun violence, support justice-impacted and formerly incarcerated people, and create opportunities through Community Violence Intervention (CVI).
Pastor Brooks, CEO of Project H.O.O.D., a Communities Partnering 4 Peace partner, spoke about the transformation happening in his own community.
“In 2014, Chicago Sun Times said that our block was the most dangerous block in all of Chicago. And so we set out to transform that,” Brooks said, detailing how that transformation has included creating opportunities and resources within the community including church, trade school, financial literacy courses and more.
Rev. Barnes expanded on the impact of the church in the community, stating, “It goes back to the Civil Rights Movement. The church has always been the place where people come for everything. You want to be married, you’re coming to the church. You want your kids baptized, you’re coming to the church. A funeral happens, you’re coming to the church…They are looking for faith leaders.
“We have always been there and been a scaffolding in the community, showing up. We are the first ones when things happen in families that people are calling.”
Collaboration Across Communities
Metropolitan Peace Initiatives (MPI) was also represented at the expo’s resource fair, connecting with attendees and sharing information about the organization’s work to support safer Chicago communities.
For Marcos Constantino, Community Behavioral Health Specialist at MPI, the opportunity to gather with organizations doing similar work reinforced the importance of Strides For Peace’s theme.
“It was really the collaboration aspect of it all. These are complex, systemic issues, and collaboration is so important. We can’t work in silos. The importance of MPI being here is learning from what everyone else is already doing and finding ways to work together,” Constantino said.
Celebrating Peace Through Art
The expo also created space for creativity through its art fair and artist expo. Esther Franco-Payne, Executive Director of the Partnership for Safe and Peaceful Communities (PSPC), spoke to the value of bringing art into the event.
“I love the addition of the Strides for Peace Art Fair. It’s a beautiful way to bring creativity into the expo while highlighting the people and communities working toward peace,” Franco-Payne said.
The addition of the art fair offered another way for attendees to engage with the message of peace while celebrating artists and the communities they represent.
From faith leaders working directly in their neighborhoods to organizations connecting people with resources and artists using creativity to tell stories of peace, the Strides for Peace Gun Violence Expo showcased the many people contributing to the work of creating safer Chicago communities. It was a powerful reminder that meaningful change is built through connection, shared knowledge, and collective action.