Dear friends,
This Giving Tuesday, we invite you to join us in creating safer cities.
Gun violence remains the top concern of city residents in Chicago and across America. Unfortunately, the cities struggling the most with this problem are also, effectively, broke – downtowns continue to struggle on the heels of the pandemic and federal relief funding is now ending.
The only way cities are going to solve this problem is by innovating – by trying new things and using R&D to figure out what works and what doesn’t, which has been the mission of the University of Chicago Crime Lab since our founding 17 years ago:
- Changing our understanding of the problem. Our work is helping change the local and national conversation about what gun violence is and how to solve it, as summarized in a new book by Crime Lab Pritzker Director Jens Ludwig, reviewed by Malcolm Gladwell and recommended by Laura Arnold.
- Piloting and scaling what works. Our R&D partnerships with government agencies and non-profits in Chicago have led to millions of public sector dollars being redirected towards evidence-based solutions that reduce gun violence, like behavioral science programs and youth summer jobs.
- Concentrating first responders when and where violence is most likely. A key fact about gun violence in America is its predictability by time and place. The Crime Lab has built data tools to help focus first responders on those times and places, like Chicago’s open-source Violence Reduction Dashboard and the Chicago PD’s Strategic Decision Support Centers. The Crime Lab has also made major investments in human capital to enable key first responders to utilize these data tools, like police and community violence intervention leaders.
We all have a stake in making our cities safer, and we hope you will join us in advancing these goals.
With gratitude,
Roseanna Ander
Founding Executive Director
University of Chicago Education Lab