Giving Compass' Take:

• Crain's Chicago Business discusses how a partnership among local philanthropists is committing more than $40 million to help reduce gun violence in the next few years through community outreach, better police training and other methods.

• Could this type of collaborative funding effort work in other urban areas? Giving control to local stakeholders, especially when it comes to safety issues, seems like a solid strategy.

• Here's how gun violence affects the economic health of communities.

Families, community and religious leaders, civic and church groups, and others are working to make blocks and neighborhoods safer throughout the city. Businesses and local nonprofit organizations are reaching out with jobs and services for individuals at risk of violence. Reforms are underway at the Chicago Police Department. Chicagoans realized that continuing to do the same thing, hoping each year would be better than the last, is no longer acceptable.

We, as Chicago funders and foundations, must play our role, too. The Partnership for Safe & Peaceful Communities grew out of an effort in 2016 to support the operations of the Police Accountability Task Force, which examined how the police department can improve the way it serves all Chicagoans. The partnership is investing more than $40 million in complementary strategies to meaningfully reduce gun violence over the next two to three years. A 25 percent decrease in homicides by the end of 2019 would restore the 20 years of progress on violent crime Chicago experienced prior to the 2016 spike in crime.

Members of the partnership are coordinating our individual investments with a focus on four key strategies:

  • Providing services like jobs and cognitive behavioral therapy to those most at risk of gun violence.
  • Increasing the effectiveness and legitimacy of the Police Department through improved officer training, better police-community relations and greater public involvement in police accountability measures.
  • Strengthening gun laws to reduce the availability of illegal firearms.
  • Supporting grassroots organizations for summer events and projects across 19 Chicago community areas to foster stronger community bonds, crowd out violence and promote constructive engagement with law enforcement.

Read the full article about Chicago funders addressing gun violence by at chicagobusiness.com.