Crime Reduction Initiatives

PREVENTION & INTERVENTION 

• FAMILY PEACE CENTER - Opened the state's first Family Peace Center for victims of domestic and sexual violence.
• EDUCATORS' TEAM - Created an educators' team to develop training and assistance for educators to identify and respond to children in crisis from domestic and sexual violence.
• SUMMER PROGRAM -  Developed a Collaborative Summer Program with Rockford Park District to identify and mitigate trauma experienced by participants. It includes strategies to address immediate and long-term harms in order to prevent future violence.
• NAVIGATORS - Worked with Rockford Park District and YMCA to support embedding navigators into afterschool youth recreation sites to connect youth and their families to additional services and resources.
• HANDLE WITH CARE - Collaborated with Rockford Public Schools to create a notification system to provide school staff with notice that a student may have been exposed to a traumatic event.
• DIVERSION PROGRAM - Implemented a 21-week intervention/diversion program for youth and their families to receive group and individual support.
• HUMAN TRAFFICKING RESPONSE TEAM - Established a Human Trafficking Response Team to identify, refer, investigate and prosecute human trafficking in Winnebago County. 
• CAMP HOPE - Launched Camp Hope for youth to help them process experiences of being exposed to domestic and/or sexual violence in a trauma-informed way to help with healing and finding hope.
• NO ENTRY PROGRAM - Launched a five-year initiative to address racial and ethnic disparities and reduce the number of youth entering the justice system with a new no entry program.
• RE-ENTRY PROGRAM - Partnered with Winnebago County to establish a program to identify and deter members of the community who were at a heightened risk of committing future acts of crime and gun violence. 
• ILLINOIS HEALS PROGRAM - Established a program for Family Peace Center staff to connect victims of crimes and their families to systems and opportunities to heal.
• ENGAGING MEN & BOYS  PROJECT - Awarded a grant to develop a train-the-trainer program to help staff of youth-serving agencies identify, respond and redirect behaviors, beliefs and actions that may lead to violence against women, girls and marginalized communities and encourage them to be positive mentors to their peers.
• CHILDREN EXPOSED TO VIOLENCE PROJECT - Awarded a grant to support the establishment of a Community Healing Center, a multiagency, multidisciplinary facility, where children exposed to violence, and their families can come to receive healing and supportive services that promote trauma recovery, youth development, and violence prevention and interventions.
• YOUTH PROGRAMS - Supported youth programs, such as Comprehensive Community Solutions, 815 Alive, New Genres Art Space and Boys and Girls Club, to provide youth with positive experiences and outlets, as well as reduce the number of youth entering the criminal justice system.
• WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM - Partnered with a local minority contractor to hire at-risk young adults to gain job skills by building sidewalks in neighborhoods across our community.
• CRIME REDUCTION PROGRAMS - Provided funds to both Northwest Rockford Neighbors, Inc., and Community Life Center to establish youth programming to help with crime reduction and violence prevention.