Our vision is a Chicago where all can thrive and live free of the fear of gun violence. Our mission is to increase the collective impact of community organizations working to END gun violence, save lives and build a stronger Chicago.

To do this, we seek to address investment and proximity gaps in efforts to end gun violence, by funding and seeding growth for a diverse collaborative of organizations throughout the city. Strides for Peace intentionally engages different sized organizations with a spectrum of interventions and responses – gun violence is too complex to be solved by only one or two approaches: we must work together.

Our partners, who are trusted and respected in communities most impacted by violence, inform all our work. We listen to and learn from them and they listen to and learn from each other. Together, we build individual and collective capacity so we all grow more effective in addressing the impacts of, and ultimately ending, gun violence.

A Project for Us from Strides For Peace on Vimeo.

BUILD is a nationally respected gang intervention, violence prevention, and youth development organization
based on Chicago's West Side. We work to save lives and mentor young people who live in the city's most
challenged neighbrohoods. 

Our mission is to inspire hope and offer opportunities so youth facing systemic obstacles can achieve
positive futures.

Our services reach over 2,500 youth a year helping them build hope, resilience, and a path to a promising future. 

Camp for All Kids creates pathways to the transformational experience of sleepaway camp for Black and Brown youth while fostering inclusive and equitable camp communities. We are proud to join our community partners in support of our common vision of a Chicago free from the fear of gun violence. Please join us! Thank You!

Using outdoor adventure sports like paddling, orienteering, cycling, camping and rock climbing, Chicago Adventure Therapy (CAT) works with Chicago youth to have a lasting positive impact on their communities and become healthy adults by teaching effective social skills and strong leadership skills, increasing participants' sense of possibility, and fostering a sense of empowerment and personal responsibility.

The Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation envisions a community free from all forms of sexual exploitation and sexual violence, including sexual assault and the commercial sex trade. CAASE addresses the culture, institutions, and individuals that perpetrate, profit from, or support sexual exploitation. CAASE is excited to be demonstrating our commitment to holistic violence prevention throughout Chicago by participating in this year's Race Against Gun Violence.

ConTextos uses the power of education and personal narrative to promote healing and reflection, and to foster critical thinking and dialogue. We seek to lift up the voices and insights of people affected by trauma, to challenge assumptions, and to provoke change.

The Crater Big Brother Mentor Program (CBBMP) is a mentoring program endeavoring to make a difference in the lives of youth between the ages of 8-18, as well as the community, by providing mentorship, educational opportunities and life skills.

Through our members in the Everytown Survivor Network, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America gives a voice to survivors and victims of gun violence. The Survivor Network works to build communities of support around the country, and many of our survivors live in the Chicago area and lead our work with community partners to stem gun violence.

The E.Y.E. LEAD Promise is E.Y.E. LEAD's commitment to its student participants to see them through their chosen pathway in life, whether that's college, a trade, or workforce development. 

E.Y.E. LEAD provides lifelong programming, mentorship and support to all of its participants, through all stages of life. 

E.Y.E. LEAD provides programming through its collaboration with community partners to provide holistic professional and personal development.  

E.Y.E. LEAD Foundation Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation. All donations are tax deductible. 

The Firehouse Community Art Center has served as a safe haven for young people in the Chicago area for over a decade and has been coordinating various events and art programs dedicated to preventing and interrupting youth and young adults caught in violence. The Firehouse Community Art Center was birthed from youth and young adults in North Lawndale who attended an all youth and young adult Saturday night Hip-Hop worship service in 2003, started by Pastor Phil Jackson. Youth and young adults came from all over the community and city to engage in the arts. This prompted Pastor Phil and several partners to incorporate The Firehouse Community Art Center as a 501(c)(3) in 2006, and in 2007 they purchased the 100 year old Chicago Firehouse in North Lawndale. The Firehouse now offers year-round, multi-disciplinary cultural arts programming, mentorship, leadership and workforce development centered around the prevention and interruption of violence.

Every child has hopes and dreams. Every child is full of promise. Every child needs support to reach their potential. 

At Friends of the Children-Chicago, we empower children in Chicago's neighborhoods impacted most by poverty and gun violence through relationships with salaried, Professional Mentors. We stay by their side for the long-term: 12.5 years. No Matter What. 

A Professional Mentor's full-time job is to support the social, emotional, and academic development of our youth. We work in all facets of our children's lives, building bridges between home, school, and community. Our Professional Mentors show up - week after week - month after month - year after year - and empower our youth to thrive. 

Based in Greater Grand Crossing on Chicago's South Side, the Gary Comer Youth Center was established in May 2006. Our mission is to prepare young people (ages 11-24) for college, careers, and futures as well-rounded global citizens. We foster the advancement of young people through its integration of exploration, out-of-school-time enrichment, employment and extended learning opportunities. Our model is comprehensive and focused on youth development; health & wellness, and family & community engagement; academic success; and career exploration. In collaboration with strategic partners, CEC supports 2,000 young people annually. Our vision is a world where every young person in every community has the resources and opportunities to reach their unlimited potential. 

Guitars Over Guns aims to empower youth from Miami and Chicago's most vulnerable communities through a powerful combination of music education, public performance opportunities, and mentoring relationships. Our mentors are all local, professional musicians who are trained in Social Emotional Learning best practices designed to help youth overcome hardship, find their voice, and reach their potential as leaders. 

Healing Hurt People-Chicago (HHP-C) is a hospital and community based violence intervention program launched in August 2013 as a collaboration between the John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County, The University of Chicago Comer Children's Hospital and the Center for Nonviolence and Social Justice at Drexel University in Philadelphia.

HelloBaby from HelloBaby NFP on Vimeo.

The  Hyde Park Kenwood Interfaith Council Anti-Violence Task Force is comprised of members of multiple faith communities and affiliated organizations within the Hyde Park and Kenwood communities, joining movements throughout Chicago to address the violence across our City. We seek to address violence by offering leadership, resources, our voices and perspectives, all shaped by various faith traditions which have a common commitment to the well-being and flourishing of all human beings.

With funds raised this year, we will continue our work of healing through the arts as a violence prevention strategy, seeking to reach young people who would benefit most.  Our task force seeks to combine the arts, therapists, community building and speakers to facilitate healing at our community gatherings. 

Our goal is to raise $3,000.


For more information about our work, please visit our website: https://hpkinterfaith.org/anti-violence-task-force-2/

Kids Off the Block (KOB) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit founded in 2003 by Diane Latiker who opened her home to youth in her community to help them steer away from the negative influences they saw daily.  KOB works with youth, teens, and young adults ages 12-24 years old, offering homework help, mentoring, activities and a "safe place."

We have come so far since 2020 with 10 youth employed in West Garfield Park. We have grown to 115+ youth employed across not just 1 but 6 communities. Youth are doing much more than picking up trash or community beautification; they are learning carpentry, welding, auto mechanics, visiting business owners across the city, and serving unhoused individuals and communities. The work of Hood Heroes, for the sake of our youth, must continue.

The mission of M.A.S.S. is to ensure our children are able to go to school, play outside their homes, and return safely without fear of being a victim of gun violence.

Metropolitan Family Services empowers families to learn, to earn, to heal, to thrive. Part mentor, part motivator, part advocate, since 1857 Metropolitan Family Services has been the engine of change that empowers Chicago-area families to reach their greatest potential and positively impact their communities.

NeighborScapes is a not-for-profit organization with a mission to strengthen the physical and social fabric of neighborhoods, while creating a covenant of care, enrichment and development for young people.

One of our main projects for 2024 is our Innovation House Program. Innovation Houses are repurposed vacant homes occupied by Community-Building Fellows (CBFs). CBFs enjoy affordable room rentals in Innovation Houses and commit to 10 hours each month of community engagement. The goal is to transform neighborhoods of concentrated distress by participating in community change.

New Community Outreach creates restorative spaces for healing, reconciliation and flourishing. We are a community based, non-profit organization committed to Bronzeville's youth and community. We collaborate with residents and organizations on the South Side of Chicago to provide programs, host events and respond to community-identified opportunities. 

Our work prioritizes partnerships with organizations and schools, such as Jackie Robinson Elementary, Dyett High School, DuSable Campus, the Bronzeville Community Action Council, Chicago Center for Youth Violence Prevention, and other local and city-wide organizations. Building on the relationships of our leadership and board of directors as well as the ministry of New Community Covenant Church, we lead restorative justice programing for high school students, maintain a community garden in order to provide fresh produce to our neighbors through distributions, and host a community-wide back-to-school fair annually among other neighborhood initiatives!

We envision a Bronzeville where youth and other community members meet trauma with restorative justice in order to renew the relationships (with ourselves, our neighbors, and our environments) which lead to our individual and collective flourishing.

 "Paving The Way Project" serves as a voice for the Washington Park community, as an outreach program for violence prevention, and as a bridge between public service personnel and the public in hopes of building a safer and stronger community. 

The Precious Blood Ministry of Reconciliation (PBMR) is a restorative justice hub in the Back of the Yards (New City) and Englewood neighborhoods on the South Side of Chicago. Rooted in the Spirituality of the Precious Blood, PBMR works to restore human dignity through hospitality, hope and healing. We believe that together, we can heal the conflict and violence in our community by journeying alongside those most impacted by racism, gun violence, gang activity, poverty, incarceration, and involvement in the criminal justice system. 

PBMR aims to create safe spaces for youth, their families, and those who have been impacted by violence and incarceration. By growing in relationship, and hearing one another's stories, we can listen to the chronically unmet needs in the community, and then work together to meet these needs together. In the past 20 years, PBMR has responded to needs as they arise, and today provides support in trauma healing, employment, education opportunity, career development, on and off-site affordable housing, case management, emergency financial support, access to mental and physical healthcare, legal aid, advocacy, healing arts programs, and more. 

The Mission of Sunshine Gospel Ministries is to seek the renewal of the city through ministries of discipleship, mercy, and justice. We seek to engage and empower youth, families and guests of our community to thrive and lead fruitful, healthy lives through faith, connectedness and opportunity.

Strengthening Chicago's Youth (SCY) is Chicago's largest violence prevention collaborative and a catalyst for innovation convened by Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago. Our mission is to connect and mobilize our community around a public health approach to violence prevention. We encourage partnerships that strengthen existing efforts so our youth can reach their full potential.

Tools Up Foundation's mission is building our communities, with the community! Underdeveloped talent, economic disadvantage, and safety gaps, plague the african american men and women of Cook County Chicago, especially within the Grand Crossing and surrounding neighborhoods. We will take the charge, and engage our neighboring communities offering our entire Tools Up Foundation ecosystem, which includes providing stipends, social & emotional mentorship, mental health coaching, case management & trauma-informed support services, as well as construction vocation. 

Our target constituency starts with teenagers ages 14-17, developing family value perspectives, and providing guidance that promote mental stability within impressionable youth who are at high risk of gun violence. Teens will benefit from all supervised activities during peak hours of gun violence during both the academic school year and summer break. Teens will learn marketable construction technology skills that could set the stage for financial security as adults, as they graduate and transition into our 18 years old and up, Pave the Way Up pre-apprenticeship program. 

Together Chicago exists to be a catalyst for lasting change by reducing gun violence and increasing thriving communities in our city. We catalyze faith, business, community, and government leaders to inspire hope and affect peace and justice in the communities we serve. We focus on five areas: economic development, educational achievement, violence reduction, gospel justice, and faith-community mobilization.

I'm proud to be part of "WDA Throw the Guns Away" A Race Against Gun Violence, where we're raising crucial funds to support communities affected by this epidemic. With every donation, we're empowering organizations like WDA to continue their vital work. At WDA, we're committed to providing communities with alternatives to violence. Events like the Black Wall Street Chicago Festival offer youth opportunities they might not otherwise have, showing them there's more to life than carrying a gun. Through education, support, and outreach, we're making a difference—one life at a time. 

At Youth Guidance, we believe that no matter what challenges a young person faces, they are more likely to succeed when they have many caring adults in their lives. Our highly trained staff works directly with schools, parents and families to meet kids where they are—physically within schools, socially and emotionally—and help them break cycles of violence, overcome life and academic obstacles, make positive choices, and remain on the right path towards life success.