Chicago anti-violence groups losing $3.7 million in federal funding after Justice Department cuts grants
A Chicago nonprofit organization will lose $3.7 million after the Justice Department canceled their federal grant. It's funding that would have gone to community groups committed to violence prevention in their neighborhoods.
"It's such a tragedy," Metropolitan Family Services CEO Ric Estrada said.
The group was going to use a portion of the money to fund the work of its Metropolitan Peace Academy. The remainder was going to be given to three Chicago organizations, including Project Hood in Woodlawn.
"They're doing lifesaving work and street outreach; community violence intervention. This will debilitate them and harm their ability to continue to do that work," Estrada said.
Think Outside Da Block and Target Area Development Corporation, both based in Englewood, also will lose out on promised funding.
All three organizations are committed to violence prevention in their communities. The cuts could also mean some people will be out of jobs.
"In all of this, including us and them, there's the potential for laying off staff," Estrada said.
Each year, Metropolitan Peace Academy trains 250 outreach workers for 15 different community organizations. Without the Justice Department grant money, the number of outreach workers trained could be cut in half.
"They're stopping the next act of gun violence out in communities, and that's what we're most fearful of; that, if we don't train them, if we're not funding these organizations, what's going to happen there?" Estrada said. "We're seeing historic decreases in gun violence over the last three years; and this year again, double-digit decreases in gun violence, homicides, and acts of violence. So we need to keep that momentum going."
Estrada said his organization plans to appeal the Justice Department's decision to pull the grant.
"We believe it's a contract that we have. It's also important to know that Congress authorized this. This is an act of Congress; a bipartisan act of Congress that authorized this money," he said.
With that in mind, Estrada said the organization will go to court if necessary.
The organization has 30 days to appeal the decision.
