OFFICE OF THE MAYOR
CITY Of CHICAGO
LORI E. LIGHTFOOT
MAYOR
May 25, 2022
TO THE HONORABLE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CHICAGO
Ladies and Gentlemen:
I transmit herewith, together with Chairmen Taliaferro, Sposato, Scott and Sawyer, a resolution calling the Committee on Public Safety, the Committee on Special Events, Cultural Affairs and Recreation, the Committee on Education and Child Development, and the Committee on Flealth and Human Relations to promptly convene a joint hearing regarding summer community safety.
Your favorable consideration ofthis resolution will be appreciated.|1010|
RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, it is essential for City residents and visitors that every neighborhood in Chicago is safe to live, work, and visit, and we must address current concerns regarding violence and crime with immediate comprehensive and sustainable solutions; and
WHEREAS, planning for safety for the summer of 2022 began in 2021; and
WHEREAS, community safety requires a whole-of-government approach in which all City departments fulfill their individual missions through a lens of community safety while focusing on the root causes of violence; and
WHEREAS, every resident can have a role to play in contributing to community safety;
and
WHEREAS, in August 2021, the City of Chicago established the Community Safety Coordination Center ("the CSCC") for purposes of bringing a whole-of-government approach to community safety; and
WHEREAS, the CSCC coordinates both City department and sister agency investments and resources in neighborhoods, in collaboration with community partners, all to address various community safety needs as identified in part by local residents at the block level; and
WHEREAS, the CSCC is focused on the 15 communities with the highest rates of violence since 2016 and CPD is focused on the 55 beats that account for 50 percent of violence in the last 13 months", and
WHEREAS, to date, overall homicides are down in 2022, year-over-year by over 10 percent, and shootings are down overall by over 16 percent; and
WHEREAS, in the 15 communities which are the primary focus of the CSCC and the Chicago Police Department, on average, overall homicides are down in 2022, year-over-year by 11.7 percent and shootings are down overall 16.9 percent; and
WHEREAS, the year-to-date homicide clearance rate is 60 percent; and
WHEREAS, the CSCC has launched a number of community-driven initiatives to enhance safety and reduce violence, such as vacant lot greening, the Home and Business Protection Program, mental health skills building training for violence prevention workers, and high-risk intervention networks in communities most impacted by violence; and
WHEREAS, a key part ofthe community safety strategy is to engage youth between the ages of 14-24, and particularly those youth who are criminal justice involved or most vulnerable to be victims or perpetrators of violence (hereinafter "most vulnerable youth") in meaningful and safe activities over the course of the summer of 2022; and
WHEREAS, in order to facilitate this engagement, a number of City departments and sister agencies have created the following programs, all designed to reach youth and particularly the most vulnerable youth:
• the Department of Family and Support Services will directly fund 13,120 summer jobs, 50 percent of which are targeted at the most vulnerable youth, with the "One Summer Chicago" Program planned to reach over 19,500 youth through partners and City sister agencies.
The Department of Family and Support Services will fund services for 816 high-risk youth this year through the Service Coordination and Navigation (SCaN) program, which seeks to reduce their involvement in violence through wrap-around supports and connection to various services.
The Chicago Park District has more than 600 parks and 250 fieldhouses offering thousands of affordable programs throughout the year with financial assistance to families unable to pay to ensure that children and teens that most need access participate in programs.
The Chicago Park District offers citywide programs with a focus on our 15 priority areas. This summer parks programs will serve roughly 21,000 young people through various camps while also offering day-camp to 6 - 12 year-olds to an additional 13,000.
The Chicago Park District will offer 2,100 summer positions including Recreation Leaders, Attendants, Junior Laborers and Lifeguards. Wages start above $15/hour. This is in addition to the $500 bonus for lifeguards and $200 bonus for recreation leaders, attendants, and junior laborers.
Night Out In the Parks summer series will bring more than 700 cultural events, including movies, concerts, and theatrical performances to neighborhood parks and most are absolutely admission free.
Chicago Public Schools will have programming for students who experienced learning loss and expect 90,000 students to participate in this programming;
Chicago Public Schools will again launch the Choose to Change program which is an evidenced-based mentoring program that has shown reductions in justice involvement by 48 percent, and expect to have at least 600 (in addition to the 1,000 youth served in the previous year) youth participating in this program;
Chicago Public Schools will pilot a new program designed to reach inactive students. This program is targeting 1,000 such youth;
Chicago Public Schools will deploy summer Safe Passage workers to support summer school and parks programming; and
WHEREAS, the Chicago Police Department will continue to make strategic deployments to address gang conflicts and to proactively use crime data, human intelligence and technology to address all manner of violent and other crimes; and
WHEREAS, the Chicago Police Department will continue to collaborate with federal, state, county and other local municipalities to address a range of criminal activity; and
WHEREAS, it is important for members of the City Council to partner with City departments and sister agencies to improve public safety; and
WHEREAS, some of the most effective ways for City Council members to obtain timely, fulsome and accurate, ward and city-wide information regarding community safety issues and initiatives is to:
engage personally and directly with knowledgeable officials at the Police Department, the CSCC, Chicago Park District, and Chicago Public Schools, among other departments;
participate in regular briefings provided through the Mayor's Office, local police districts, public safety town halls; and beat meetings, to name a few, or
seek a personal briefing on an area of interest; and
WHEREAS, in addition to such direct, grass-roots communications, there are benefits to gathering pertinent information in a public legislative setting; and
WHEREAS, to ensure robust discussion, presentation of pertinent information, and the opportunity to ask meaningful questions, the City Council's Rules of Order provide for substantive discussion to take place in the City Council's standing committees, not on the Council floor; and
WHEREAS, this long-standing role of Council committees is most effective and efficient for addressing important issues, because these committees have jurisdiction over and experience with specific subject matters and are empowered to hear from witnesses; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED, that we, the Mayor and Members of the City Council of the City of Chicago, assembled this twenty-fifth day of May, 2022, do hereby call upon the Committee on Public Safety, the Committee on Special Events, Cultural Affairs and Recreation, the Committee on Education and Child Development, and the Committee on Health and Human Relations to promptly convene a joint hearing regarding the respective summer community safety plans ofthe Chicago Police Department, the Chicago Park District, the Chicago Public Schools, and the CSCC and to invite knowledgeable representatives of each specified department, sister agency and office to testify, and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the City Clerk is directed to transmit copies of this resolution to the Committee on Public Safety, the Committee on Special Events, Cultural Affairs and Recreation, and the Committee on Education and Child Development, and the Committee on Health and Human Relations.