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“The City of Chicago is at its best tackling critical issues when government, the private sector, and the nonprofit sector work together towards a common goal.”

– Jennifer Scanlon, Chair of the Civic Committee and President and CEO of UL Solutions.

Thank you for your interest in the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago’s Public Safety Task Force work.  We formed the Task Force for the following reasons: 

  • Crime is a crisis plaguing many American cities, including the city we love – Chicago.  The crime issue is among the biggest challenges facing our City today and could threaten our long-term vitality if we do not address it together.
  • Crime and gun violence affect everyone in Chicago, including our communities, employees, and our companies, and damage our reputation around the world.  In meetings and discussions with Civic Committee members over the last two years, it is clear that public safety is a top concern and priority for our members. 

A Safe City: 

  • Reduces trauma and related physical and mental health issues;
  • Improves educational outcomes;
  • Spurs the attraction, creation and retention of jobs and businesses;
  • Supports tourism; and
  • Makes those who live here want to stay. 

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Join Us By Providing:

Dollars

  • The Civic Committee is working with the philanthropic community and nonprofit Community Violence Intervention (CVI) organizations on an initiative to scale CVI efforts across an initial 10 neighborhoods over the next 5 years. This initiative is led by local CVI organizations working together in each neighborhood using evident-based practices and will be sequenced for greatest impact.
  • To achieve this scale will require $100 million over the next five years.
  • Help our joint fundraising effort with philanthropy to support the scaling of CVI.

Jobs

  • The Civic Committee is committed and looks to the broader Chicago business community to partner with CVI and community-based organizations to create job opportunities for graduates of comprehensive CVI programs and, more broadly, residents living in South and West Side communities.
  • CVI organizations project that in five years they will have 1,000-2,000 graduates annually in need of employment opportunities.
  • Help identify at least 5-10 jobs in your organization that will enable us to build a ramp to hire 1,000 – 2,000 CVI graduates annually by year five.

People

  • The Chicago Police Department and CVI organizations have expressed their desire for increased organizational support to accomplish their respective missions.
  • A number of the skills they desire are strengths of the business community.
  • Help by agreeing to participate in a business capacity-building consortium to lend your talent to the Chicago Police Department and CVI organizations as strategic needs are identified.

We will be reaching out to you and others who are interested in helping address this critical issue.

Please put your contact information below so that we can get back to you.


Civic Committee Public Safety Task Force

In October of 2022, the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago appointed a task force to better understand what Chicago is currently doing to address crime and to identify ways for the business community to play a more active role. On June 1, 2023, the task force issued a framework that outlined five pillars:

  1. Helping take community violence intervention (CVI) programs to scale. 
  2. Hiring alumni of CVI programs with wraparound support services.
  3. Enhancing policing/criminal justice reforms.
  4. Hiring more broadly from underinvested communities.
  5. Investing directly in underinvested communities.

In doing so, the Civic Committee embraced an ambitious set of goals that would put Chicago on track to be the safest big city in America:  

Five-Year Goals

  • Bring the annual number of homicides below 400, from the recent high of 804 in 2021.
  • Bring the annual number of shootings below 2,000 from the record high of 3,561 in 2021. 

Ten-Year Goals

  • Bring the annual number of homicides below 200.
  • Bring the number of shootings below 1,000. 
In September of 2023, the Civic Committee named Mark Hoplamazian, President and CEO of Hyatt Hotels Corporation, and Eric Smith, Vice Chairman of BMO Bank, as the new co-chairs of the Public Safety Task Force.  The two Chicago business leaders are replacing the late James Crown, who led the task force until his tragic death in June.
 
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  • There are many people and organizations working to improve public safety in our City and have been doing so for a long time.
  • We know that this complex topic requires bringing people together to solve it, and we identified specific ways that business can partner with others in the City to reduce violence in the short and long term.
  • We come to this task because of our deep and personal connections to our City and all who live here.  Our businesses have invested here because we believe in Chicago’s fundamentals – its strong and vibrant culture, its proud history, and its hard-working people, in every neighborhood and from all walks of life.
  • We recognize that improving public safety requires a “one-table” strategy where business, community, philanthropy, and government are working together on a comprehensive shared plan in a sustained effort over time.
  • This initiative will take time and there will be challenges along the way, but we are committed to playing our part for the long term.
  • We believe that Chicago can be a national leader in stemming violent crime and improving public safety, drawing on our long history of civic engagement and partnership among the public, non-profit, and private sectors.