Governor JB Pritzker announced an additional $100 million in anti-violence funding for municipalities across Illinois, including Waukegan, Zion and North Chicago.
The grants will be allocated to fund gun violence prevention programs in 16 municipal areas in the state.
The funding will support nonprofit community-based organizations and local governments and is part of the Reimagine Public Safety Act (RPSA).
The new funding builds on top of $113 million made available in May as well as $10 million in funding to Chicago and other areas of the state before summer.
Pritzker’s office calls the RPSA “a multi-pronged approach to violence prevention that calls for research-backed services,” like school programs, job training, youth services, violence interruption and mental health care.
The new investments in the state come after the Office of Firearm Violence Prevention (OFVP) at the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) met with local councils in the 16 municipalities to decide on how to allocate resources.
In May, funds were used to invest in violence prevention and youth services in Waukegan, North Chicago and Zion.
Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart announced in June that “violence interrupters” will provide services to the three Lake County communities to reduce gun violence.
State officials took a data-focused approach to address municipalities that have high risks of firearm violence.
Nearly $240 million in funding has been committed to youth development and violence prevention efforts across the state for fiscal years 2022, 2023 and 2024.
Organizations can apply for grants by visiting the IDHS website.
Pritzker praised his administration for “delivering historic levels of violence prevention funding to interrupt violence and keep our communities safe.”
“This funding will support on-the-ground work from people with the community knowledge and passion necessary to make substantive change,” Pritzker said.
“This historic funding is about putting resources where they are needed, with the stakeholders who are the wisdom in the room—the organizations and workers providing vital services in impacted communities,” Lt. Governor Juliana Stratton said.
“These grants will support programs that identify root causes and the best ways to address them, as well as elevating assistance for the trauma gun violence creates. Public safety, as well as the well-being of Illinois residents throughout our state, is a top priority,” Stratton added.