A new study from a team of researchers from Northwestern University examined the outcomes of 324 men who participated in the Chicago CRED program—a community violence intervention program that includes comprehensive wrap-around services—between 2016 and 2021 and found that the men who completed the full 24-month CRED program were “more than 73% less likely to have an arrest for a violent crime in the two years following enrollment compared to individuals who did not participate.”
Related: This summer, 86 Chicago CRED participants—“who were recruited because they were most at risk of shooting or being shot”—earned their high school diplomas. Chicago CRED’s success in the city has also opened up job opportunities for graduates of the program, as Bob Karr, the senior vice president at Chicago’s iconic Blommer Chocolate Company, explained in a recent opinion piece in the Chicago Tribune:
“Over the years, we’ve hired more than a dozen Chicago CRED graduates. We are one of more than 40 companies in 17 industries that have hired CRED grads, and we will keep hiring them because they are hardworking, talented and hungry to succeed. They are desperate to do something with their lives… Business leaders cannot sit back and hope that others will solve crime. Our hardworking police enforce the laws to the best of their ability. Organizations like Chicago CRED give young people at risk the guidance to choose a pathway out of danger. But we can give them a paycheck and a career.”