Anti-violence programs shut down as Chicago shootings climb

[DigitalDrifter]

Dimocrats spending more money than is taken in ? Surely they're joking ?!

CHICAGO (AP) — Captured in a documentary that brought national attention to Chicago's violence, Operation CeaseFire deployed former gang members and felons to intervene in feuds that too often ended in fatal gunfire on the city's streets.

Now that operation has become another casualty in the financial meltdown enveloping Illinois, even as the city still struggles to stop shootings.

Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner froze money for CeaseFire, featured in the 2011 documentary "The Interrupters," as Illinois began running out of money because Democrats passed a budget that spent billions more than the state took in. The program was cut off before receiving all of the $4.7 million it was budgeted last fiscal year, and it has gotten no state funding this year as the fight between Rauner and Democrats who lead the Legislature drags on and several programs in Chicago and elsewhere in Illinois shut down.

Meanwhile, Chicago has seen a roughly 20 percent increase in shootings and homicides so far this year compared with the same period in 2014. That included a July 4 weekend that left 48 people shot, including a 7-year-old boy who police say was killed by a shot intended for his father, described as a "ranking gang member" by officers.

None of those holiday weekend shootings occurred in two police districts covered by a Ceasefire-affiliated program that managed to fund itself for the month of July. The same area saw nearly 50 shootings in August.

Operation CeaseFire supporters say Chicago and roughly a half dozen other current or former CeaseFire communities need all the resources they can get.

"Our kids in our communities are still dying," said Autry Phillips, executive director of Target Area Development, a nonprofit agency on Chicago's South Side that had to end its CeaseFire program. "We're going to do what we can do, but we need funding. That's the bottom line."

Even before the freeze, Rauner proposed cutting CeaseFire funding by nearly $3 million this year. His spokeswoman blamed Democrats who have refused pro-business changes sought by the former venture capitalist and first time office holder, such as weakening labor unions.

"The governor has asked for structural reforms to free up resources to balance the budget, help the most vulnerable and create jobs," spokeswoman Lyndsey Walters said this week. "Unfortunately, the majority party continues to block the governor's reforms and refuses to pass a balanced budget."

FILE - In this Feb. 1, 2006 file photo, Alphonso Prater, left, and Karl Bell, "violence interru …

"The Interrupters" aired as part of the "Frontline" documentary series on PBS and at film festivals across the U.S. The film featured three former gang members working to "interrupt" Chicago violence, though programs using the model have been implemented in cities nationwide and overseas.

Anti-violence programs shut down as Chicago shootings climb

 

[Meathead]

Wait till Obama gets back there and start organizing black communities. He has obviously done one hell of a job.

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

If only guns were illegal in Chicago, this violence would not occur........