With summer soon to begin, organizations work to stop violence and keep Chicago communities safe

CHICAGO (CBS) — A week from the official start to summer – when we typically track a spike in violence in Chicago – we checked -in with the organizations hard at work to keep the city and its communities safe.

As CBS 2’s Tara Molina reported Friday, a total of 37,096 crimes have reported in Chicago so far this year – 9,688 of them- violent.

It has been a couple months in the city – we’ve tracked crime at a five-year high across downtown neighborhoods, with spiking violence on public transit.

But by the numbers, the West Side’s Austin community is a neighborhood bearing the brunt of crime in Chicago – with a total of 1,585 index crimes so far this year.

Charles Decuire of the Institute for Nonviolence Chicago is one of the people trying to change that.

“Heading into the summer, we just try to be proactive; Be visible – boots on the ground,” Decuire said. “It’s not just us doing the work. It’s a collaborative effort.”

Decuire noted how frustrated the city is when it comes to violence – and how strong the need is to do something abut it.

“We meet our participants – high risk individuals – where they’re at, in the neighborhoods, where the violence is taking place,” he said. “I got into this work because I was part of the problem in my past life.”

The Institute of Nonviolence Chicago takes a comprehensive approach to addressing crime in Austin and across the city this summer.

“When the weather warms up, more people are outside – a lot of congregating,” Deecuire said. “Unfortunately, that’s when a lot of shootings are taking place.”

That is just one reason Decuire says it’s important to be proactive when it comes to warmer months. His organization works to identify neighborhood hotspots, and then cover them with violence interrupters.

“We have a strategy called flip where we identify eight of the hottest spots in our neighborhoods and use our participants, like 42 of them – a mixture of old and young,” Decuire explained.

They also respond to crime scenes with resources for the surrounding neighborhoods, and host pop-up events throughout the summer to give kids, teens, and families safe outlets and spaces.

“We provide a number of wraparound services for people and their families,” Decuire said.

It has a lasting impact much bigger than any crime scene.

“It’s an uphill battle, but we’ve got a lot of people willing to do the work,” Decuire said, “and with the right resources, right funding, right everything we can really make a difference and try to curve some of this violence in the city of Chicago.”

We also checked in with Chicago Police on the city’s summer safety plan. Police responded that they don’t discuss strategies or deployment. 

The Mayor’s office shared a variety of programs the city has running now for violence prevention and community engagement. They shared these links: