We are pleased to share that Freedom Jones (second from left above), director for Community Violence Intervention Programs at Center for Hope graduated from the inaugural cohort of the University of Chicago Crime Lab’s Community Violence Intervention Leadership Academy (CVILA) on Friday, February 9th. Vice President Kamala Harris and the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention hosted the historic graduation ceremony.
Representing Center for Hope, Freedom and 30 other leaders from 21 U.S. cities invested six months in rigorous training. The graduates can now draw on the education they received to improve their organizations and support their mission to prevent and reduce gun violence and save lives in communities harmed by the direct and indirect consequences of gun violence.
“I am so proud of Freedom who will bring her training and learned best practices back to Center for Hope where I am confident we will all benefit from her incredible experience at CVILA,” said Adam Rosenberg, vice president of Violence Prevention and Intervention at LifeBridge Health and executive director, Center for Hope. “We continue to see a decrease in crime and community violence in the areas where Center for Hope’s programs are embedded. Freedom’s training and work will continue to positively impact these areas.”
Center for Hope’s Community Violence programs are getting results in the communities where they exist. Thanks to programs like Safe Streets and Center for Hope’s hospital responder program, LifeBridge Health has seen a 28% reduction in gun-shot wounds from fiscal year 22 to fiscal year 23; and this fiscal year numbers are even lower with a 50% drop from last year’s trends recorded so far. Gun shots are down and homicides are down, which means the programs are working!
Center for hope 