Community Violence Intervention professionals, public safety leaders and community partners gathered July 8 for the CVI Film Festival, an evening centered on storytelling, prevention and the people working to reduce gun violence across Chicago.
Held at the Metropolitan Peace Academy on the Lower West Side, the festival was presented by the Partnership for Safe and Peaceful Communities, City Club Chicago and the Everytown Community Safety Fund. The event brought together local and national partners to highlight the role of Community Violence Intervention, known as CVI, through film screenings, reflection and a panel discussion.
The program featured “Pieces of the Puzzle,” a documentary from Everytown’s Community Safety Fund, a national initiative that supports organizations working in community-based violence prevention. The film follows violence prevention workers, health care practitioners, faith leaders, returning citizens and survivors as they share how community-based violence prevention efforts have affected their lives and neighborhoods. The film offered a closer look at the people working daily to interrupt violence, support healing and build safer communities.
This festival celebrates the organizations and practitioners advancing CVI across Chicago and nationally, said Esther Franco-Payne, executive director of the Partnership for Safe and Peaceful Communities. PSPC is proud to highlight the leadership and dedication of our partners, whose work is making neighborhoods safer every day.
The festival also showcased short films produced by Chicago-based violence prevention organizations, including the Illinois Peace Project, Metropolitan Peace Initiatives, the Institute for Nonviolence Chicago and Chicago CRED. Attendees also viewed work connected to the forthcoming documentary License to Operate: Violence Interrupted by filmmaker Rubye Lane and gun violence prevention advocate Chris Patterson.
Each film focused on the lived experiences behind Chicagos violence prevention movement, offering a human look at outreach workers, survivors, organizers and community leaders who are often closest to the crisis and the solutions.
Too often, the people preventing violence receive the least recognition despite carrying some of the greatest responsibility, said Jaunita Pye, associate director of grant administration and programming at the Everytown Community Safety Fund. Pieces of the Puzzle shines a light on the leaders and organizations whose work is making neighborhoods safer every day.
Metropolitan Peace Initiatives, a division of Metropolitan Family Services, hosted the event at the Metropolitan Peace Academy, where CVI workers receive training and support. MPI also convenes Communities Partnering 4 Peace, a coalition of community-based organizations working in neighborhoods most affected by gun violence.
Every day, dedicated men and women unselfishly answer the call to support healing among those most affected by gun violence, said Vaughn Bryant, executive director of Metropolitan Peace Initiatives. We are honored to share their stories in the very place where we train and professionalize the next generation of Community Violence Intervention leaders.
The evening concluded with a panel discussion featuring leaders from Chicagos violence prevention ecosystem. Panelists reflected on what they have learned in the field, the challenges facing CVI workers and the need for continued investment in community-led public safety strategies.
The panel included Eddie Bocanegra, chief program officer at Centers for Employment Opportunities, who served as moderator; Benny Lee, CEO and founder of the National Alliance for the Empowerment of the Formerly Incarcerated; Nekenya Hardy, associate director of outreach at the Institute for Nonviolence Chicago; Marcus McAllister, CEO of McAllister Consulting and Training; Rubye Lane, founder and principal producer of Mustard Seed Vision LLC; and Kanoya Ali, lead life coach at Chicago CRED.
Organizers said the festival was designed to deepen public understanding of CVI by showing the people behind the work, not just the statistics surrounding violence. As cities continue to explore community-based approaches to public safety, the films offered a reminder that prevention is often built through trust, consistency and relationships long before violence occurs.
The Partnership for Safe and Peaceful Communities is a coalition of more than 50 Chicago funders and foundations that align funding to support violence reduction efforts. Through events like the CVI Film Festival, the coalition and its partners aim to elevate community-led solutions and broaden public awareness of the work happening across Chicago neighborhoods.