Violence Prevention Coalition

ONE Northside’s Violence Prevention Coalition (VPC) has created a 5 year plan to address structural racism, violence and mass incarceration and we will do it by…

Demolishing barriers in employment that foster violence and change the narrative for black and brown men on the Northside of Chicago. This will be accomplished by reducing incarceration rates by 30 %, recidivism rates by 20%, and dropping the expulsion rates in Chicago Public Schools by 50% for Communities on the Northside of Chicago by 2020.

Bringing us closer to our five year goal, the Violence Prevention Coalition was instrumental in passing legislation in 2014 that removed the felony question from job applications (Ban The Box). Going forward the Violence Prevention Coalition has created a campaign that we are working on that will bring mandatory GED education to persons incarcerated in the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) who are without one.

More than 90% of violent crimes are committed by people who have had some contact with the Justice system.  People of color returning from prison who are seeking a second chance at life are finding themselves without the tools to succeed and in many cases no better off than when they were first incarcerated, this is a trend that is literally killing our communities. The VPC has decided to change this!

With more than 48,000 people incarcerated in its facilities, the majority of whom are Black and Brown; over 22,000 of them do not have a High School Diploma or GED. Of the 22,000 people who are in need of a GED education to kick start a successful life upon release, less than 2,000 people incarcerated in Illinois had the opportunity to test for the GED certification in 2014.

2015 is the Year ONE Northside will be demanding that the Illinois Department of Corrections become accountable to the people of Illinois by providing rehabilitation instead of Warehousing for those seeking a better life after prison

*The VPC will work with a three-pronged approach by addressing issues caused by past structures, current misconceptions, and preventing future infractions

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