Crime & Law
Meet the Outreach Workers Striving to Improve Safety Across Chicago
Violent crimes in Chicago declined between 2023 and 2024.
Peacekeepers across the city play an important role in interrupting and preventing violent crime in neighborhoods. These leaders are strategizing and organizing in their communities every day to improve safety and make a difference.
Damien Morris, chief program officer of violence prevention at Breakthrough, works in the city’s 11th District with a high focus on West and East Garfield Park, two of Chicago’s hottest spots for violence and crime.
Morris said the number of large gatherings occurring in Garfield Park attribute to the high concentration of violence. He noted Labor Day weekend tends to be one of the most dangerous weekends in the city because of the high volume of activity.
Despite the risks, Morris and his team of peacekeepers continue to work diligently in their community to improve the state, move from being desensitized to violence and create a sense of identity.
“We’re not taking ownership of our communities, we allow this to become the norm,” Morris said. “Because no one is saying, ‘Hey, look, we have to come together to ensure that if this happens, there’s a collective front to address what has happened.’”
Morris said members of the Black community need to start governing over their neighborhoods much like other areas in Chicago, for example Little Italy, Greektown and Polish communities.
“When you go to an African American community, where’s the identity? Where’s that at? It’s not proudly displayed, because the community is not governing themselves,” Morris said.
Morris is one of several leaders doing violence prevention work.
Adrian Rodriguez, co-director of violence prevention at the Puerto Rican Cultural Center, and his team partner across the city with several schools to assist with guiding today’s youth.
Rodriguez believes connecting with the younger generation and giving them a sense of purpose and worth helps to keep them from leading a life of crime and violence. In addition to establishing a bond with students, he also works to cultivate relationships with local gang members to ensure they know his approach is one of respect.
“When you see them occupying a space, you go on there, you introduce yourself,” Rodriguez said. “You have to walk with respect. You have to treat them like men. And that means creating a relationship, finding out our similarities, or getting through our differences.”
Rodriguez grew up surrounded by gang culture on both his mother’s and father’s sides, and his background assists with his and his team’s efforts to improve the community. Historically gangs formed as a means of protection and community for marginalized groups. Rodriguez tries to use their original purpose as a means to tap in and create something constructive.
“I think providing them with some beliefs and a foundation of morals, and that’s what’s been lost,” Rodriguez said. “But a lot of the time, people find pride in their gang, so I like to use that to try to give them an ulterior object to be proud of. I organized a few street cleanings because when I was a kid that’s what the gangs did. They cleaned the neighborhood. They made sure if there was a situation about to happen they protected their neighborhood.”
To learn more about Morris and Rodriguez, visit wttw.com/firsthand. Both men are featured in the “Firsthand: Peacekeepers” documentary series, which follows the struggles and triumphs of five peacekeepers in Chicago.
