Earlier this month, READI Senior Director Eddie Bocanegra joined Gov. J.B. Pritzker as he deemed gun violence a public health crisis and committed $250 million over three years to help programs like READI Chicago reduce shootings and homicides.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, and other elected officials joined Pritzker for the announcement. In addition to the Executive Order, he also announced Illinois’ new Office of Firearm Violence Prevention.
“Gun violence is devastating communities, neighborhoods, blocks, and families,” Pritzker said during the announcement. “Mothers, fathers, brothers, friends are experiencing senseless tragedies in the deaths and serious injuries of their loved ones.”
Over the past year, Eddie and READI have worked extensively with various levels of local and national government to prioritize and adequately support gun violence interventions. Eddie called the increased focus on city, county, and state collaboration a win for the field, also emphasizing the focus of the new office on systemic causes of gun violence.
“We know that the link between poverty, violence, and trauma is a cycle and can be traced back to systemic causes,” Eddie said. “This new collaboration and step toward adequately supporting community safety initiatives makes me hopeful that we can create real change moving into the new year.”
