* The executive order is here. Press release…

Joined by legislators, stakeholders, and community leaders, Governor JB Pritzker today declared gun violence a public health crisis and announced support for a $250 million state investment over the next three years to implement the Reimagine Public Safety plan, a data-driven and community-based violence prevention initiative.

Stakeholders have been a driving force behind the plan to coordinate and maximize hundreds of millions of dollars in future funding. The state will begin issuing Notices of Funding Opportunities for qualified organizations before the end of 2021 with a goal of enabling work to be well underway before the summer of 2022. […]

“Government’s first duty is to center public safety by and for the people,” said State Senator Robert Peters (D-Chicago). “We must abandon the status quo because it continues to let us down and invest into the collective samaritan such as our Illinois communities and neighborhoods; and this plan will do just that. With this, we’re on a path away from decades of policies that have led us to this point, and towards providing vital, trauma informed services so no child, no parent, and no neighbor are left alone and isolated. This will be the beginning of creating and maintaining public safety for all and not a few.”

The new resources draw from federal and State funding, including $50 million from the fiscal year 2022 state budget. The administration will work with members of the General Assembly on additional $100 million appropriations in the budgets for fiscal years 2023 and 2024, building on the state’s existing anti-violence investments. The governor has more than doubled violence prevention funding since taking office, with the state now appropriating $507 million for violence prevention, diversion, and youth employment programs in FY22, including $125 million in funds made available from the American Rescue Plan Act. […]

The Reimagine Public Safety Act (RPSA), sponsored by Senator Robert Peters and Representative Justin Slaughter, establishes the Office of Firearm Violence Prevention (OFPV) to focus on reducing firearm violence in communities with the highest rates of gun violence.

“Law enforcement alone can never be the sole answer to reducing violence in our communities,” said Chicago Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot. “Violence reduction and intervention are critical components to the modern public safety landscape as well as our holistic approach to combating crime. I commend our State partners for making this investment, which will help residents both in Chicago and across Illinois feel that much safer in the communities they call home.” […]

“This violence prevention plan is so much more than just the $250 million in community-based grants,” said House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch (D-Westchester). “It is an evidence-based model that relies on collaboration between state agencies, academic organizations and our local violence prevention groups who know their communities
best to achieve meaningful and lasting change the people of our state deserve.” […]

Additionally, the Governor issued Executive Order 2021-29, declaring gun violence a public health crisis and launching a comprehensive, statewide approach to reducing gun violence and establishing the Reimagine program. The Executive Order requires relevant state agencies to work with the new Office of Firearm Violence Prevention (OFVP) to address the systemic causes of firearm violence and to develop trauma-informed and equity-based strategies.

The overall violence prevention approach includes four key elements:

• High-risk youth intervention programs that have been proven to reduce involvement in the criminal or juvenile justice system, referrals of teens into therapeutic programs that address trauma recovery and other mental health services.

• Violence prevention services, including street-based violence interruption work, emotional or trauma related therapy, housing, employment, job training/placement, family engagement, and wrap-around support services.

• Youth development programs, including after school and summer programming to increase school attendance and school performance, reduce criminal justice system involvement, and build social-emotional persistence and intelligence.

• Trauma recovery services for young people, funded by Medicaid, designed and implemented by the Department of Healthcare and Family Services, to address trauma recovery from chronic exposure to firearm violence. A team-based model of care will include case management and school support services, group and individual therapy, and evidence-based family systems interventions.

$250 Million in Community-Based Grants

In the coming weeks, the OFVP will announce competitive funding opportunities for grants focused on technical assistance for violence prevention and youth development and intervention. Fifty million dollars in funding has been budgeted for the remainder of the state’s fiscal year 22, and $100 million for each of the subsequent two fiscal years will be requested.

ICJIA and IDHS have launched technical assistance and training opportunities for community organizations across the state to apply for funding that will help address factors that contribute to gun violence.

For information on available technical assistance and upcoming funding opportunities, visit the IDHS website at https://www.dhs.state.il.us/page.aspx.

Office of Firearm Violence Prevention

Anti-violence funding will support the enactment of RPSA, which establishes the OFVP within the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) to focus on reducing firearm deaths and injuries in communities with the most gun violence. […]

To develop sound recommendations on reducing incidents of gun violence, the OFVP is required to identify and work with violence prevention conveners in Chicago neighborhoods with the highest rates of violence. In areas outside of Chicago, the OFVP will form community advisory groups designed to lower firearm injuries and deaths.

Community-Based Violence Prevention and Intervention Action Plans

The Reimagine Plan aligns with the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority’s (ICJIA) recently published violence prevention plan, a statewide effort structured on evidence-based strategies and practices and focused on measuring incidents of gun violence across the state and analyzing indicators that can predict acts of violence.

ICJIA’s researchers laid out five areas of focus to guide future prevention efforts:

1. Stop the violence, promote safety;
2. Support children, youth, and families;
3. Advance equity;
4. Support health; and,
5. Promote collaboration across state, municipal, and community-based agencies.

The ICJIA violence prevention plan, the Reimagine Plan, and today’s Executive Order build on existing state and federally funded youth jobs programs, career-training efforts, and the first of its kind Restore, Reinvest, and Renew (R3) initiative. Through R3, ICJIA has devoted tens of millions of dollars of revenue from adult-use cannabis sales into equity and community-based programs across Illinois.

“ICJIA released the Statewide Violence Prevention Plan in September which supports the administration’s goals of breaking the cycles of violence caused by years of failed criminal justice policies and economic disinvestment in Black and Brown communities,” said Acting ICJIA Executive Director Delrice Adams.“Developed in collaboration with over 130 community violence prevention stakeholders and seven state agencies, the plan aligns with the Reimagine Public Safety Act by providing a coordinated strategy to reduce gun violence across the state.”

Executive Order 2021-29

Governor Pritzker issued Executive Order 2021-29 to support IDHS in its implementation of the RPSA, a critical component of the violence prevention plan. The newly formed OFVP, established by the act, will coordinate with the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH), ICJIA, the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS), and other relevant state agencies to establish a public health approach to reducing gun violence.

“Because gun violence is one of the leading causes of premature death in Illinois and the United States, it is a critical public health issue,” said IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike. “Last year, approximately 1 of every 3 deaths in Illinois among those aged 15-24 years involved a gun. While gun violence affects people of all ages and races, it has a disproportionate impact on young adults, males, and racial/ethnic minorities. We must all work together to identify the roots of gun violence and what role each of us play in ending it. Gun violence is not inevitable; it is preventable.”

“Firearm violence is devastating to communities and individuals long after acts of violence occur,” Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services Director Theresa Eagleson said. “Offering trauma recovery services with individual case management and therapy to young people who have been continuously exposed to violence is an essential step in the healing process and is in line with the Department’s efforts to address the social determinants of health.”

RPSA requires HFS to submit a State Plan Amendment to Illinois’ Medicaid program that could result in federal matching reimbursement for some of these services.

Further advancing the Pritzker administration’s work to reduce violence across the state, last month the Illinois State Police (ISP) announced a significant increase in its gun license revocation efforts as part of its larger work to rebuild the Firearms Services Bureau with a focus on public safety.

Since 2019, ISP’s Division of Criminal Investigation has conducted more than 450 firearms enforcement details, with over 1,300 prohibited persons brought into compliance and over 10,000 firearms dispositions accounted for.

…Adding… Democratic State Rep…