01.12.24

Durbin Celebrates Opening of Metropolitan Peace Academy

CHICAGO – U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today celebrated the opening of the Metropolitan Peace Academy, a training program run by Metropolitan Peace Initiatives, a division of Metropolitan Family Services (MFS), to professionalize and standardize the field of street outreach workers who conduct violence prevention activities.

“Trauma lies at the heart of so much pain and conflict in our neighborhoods, as evidenced by a recent study revealing that half of Chicago residents have been exposed to gun violence,” said Durbin. “The official opening of the Metropolitan Peace Academy symbolizes hope — a cumulation of years dedicated to improving public safety and access to services for Chicagoans. It represents hope that fewer mothers will bury their children, fewer doctors will become gunshot wound experts, and fewer community members will suffer the trauma of gun violence. It’s an honor to have played a part in this initiative, and I look forward to witnessing all of the life-saving work MFS will continue to do for our community.”

“We appreciate Senator Durbin’s long-term commitment to keeping families and communities safe,” said MFS President and CEO Ric Estrada. “Senator Durbin’s ongoing championship of Metropolitan Family Services has allowed us to open the Metropolitan Peace Academy in a beautiful new facility to deliver the nation’s leading efforts to promote, train, and professionalize community violence intervention.”            

Durbin secured $800,000 in federal funding throughCongressionally Directed Spending (CDS)—more commonly known as an earmark—in the Fiscal Year 2023 (FY23) omnibus appropriations bill for MFS to expand training forprofessionals involved in addressing and responding to incidents of gun violence, as well as provide additional health and wellness resources for the staff, participants, and larger community working to reduce violence and gang activity in Chicago.

Durbin had prioritized addressing childhood trauma and Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) as one way to break the cycle of violence. This has included his Chicago HEAL Initiative, for which he unveiled the four-year report in June of 2023. Launched in 2018 by Senator Durbin and 10 of the largest hospitals serving Chicago, the HEAL Initiative is a collaboration to address the root causes of gun violence through economic, health, and community projects in 18 of Chicago’s neighborhoods with the highest rates of violence, poverty, and health disparities. In furtherance of the HEAL Initiative, Senator Durbin secured a $1.25 million CDS award within the FY23 omnibus appropriations law to the University of Chicago in partnership with MFS to deliver street outreach and violence recovery services on the South Side of Chicago.

Additionally, in 2018, Durbin and U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) created a Trauma Support in Schools program at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) that was funded at $12 million in FY23 and resulted in $2.9 million to Chicago Public Schools (CPS) and the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE).

Founded in 1857 as the Chicago Relief and Aid Society, MFS provides programs for low-income and working-poor families, including child and youth development programs, counseling, mental health assistance, legal aid, and violence prevention initiatives.  It has more than 1,100 staff working primarily in ten major community centers in the Chicagoland area, and it serves more than 136,000 families and individuals.

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