Sports are part of the communal fabric of cities. They bring together people from diverse walks of life and capture the hearts of their hometowns. This is especially true in our great city of Chicago. Our fans fill our ballparks, arenas and stadiums, proudly wear our gear, and loudly support our teams. Season after season, Chicagoans are there for us. We believe we have a responsibility to return that support.
In 2016, the rate of homicides in Chicago surged — 60 percent from the year prior and today, violence continues to rip through our neighborhoods. It is extraordinary, yet has become so common to Chicago that it seems ordinary. With such staggering statistics, it became clear — we needed to act. Last year, our five teams came together for the first time to form the Chicago Sports Alliance, seeking to leverage our collective platforms to address violence in our city.
Rather than simply making a donation, we wanted our coming together to make a statement and encourage all Chicagoans to become involved in finding solutions. From Wrigley Field to Guaranteed Rate Field, from Soldier Field to the United Center, every person who calls Chicago home has both an opportunity and an obligation to care about the crisis that plagues our city.
When we began, we took a page from our own playbooks with our initial investment. Every team relies on data, statistics and analysis to enhance performance on the field, ice or court. Why not apply that same approach to make smarter, more strategic philanthropic decisions to save lives?
To do this, we teamed up with the University of Chicago Crime Lab. In our first year, we focused on supporting three initiatives proven to reduce violent crime:
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The Choose to Change program, a trauma-informed therapy and mentorship program engaging young people at elevated risk for violence involvement. Evaluation indicates a 47 percent reduction in violent arrests among participants in the first two groups after program enrollment.
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Analyst training for the Chicago Police Department’s district-level, data-driven violence reduction strategy—the Strategic Decision Support Centers (SDSCs), which use daily data analysis to focus police resources. This strategy has been successful in driving down violence in Englewood, while increasing positive police-community engagement.
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The University of Chicago Crime Lab to support efforts to measure and assess the impact of the teams’ initial investments to improve outcomes for the most vulnerable Chicagoans.
These programs have shown progress in just one year, and those are the kinds of results we look for when making investments.
Today, as we look toward the start of a second year of the Chicago Sports Alliance, we are pleased to announce that we will continue to support evidence-informed, data-driven initiatives with financial and in-kind support. We will continue supporting Choose to Change and are adding another promising model to the Alliance portfolio: the Rapid Employment and Development Initiative (READI Chicago).
READI Chicago uses data analysis to identify men at highest risk for violence involvement and then engages them in an 18-month program featuring transitional jobs and cognitive behavioral therapy, a combination of services proven to reduce violence.
We wear different uniforms, have different names, but Chicago is something we share. We stand united as five championship teams to serve as a champion for our city, and we hope others will join us in this work.
George H. McCaskey is chairman of the Chicago Bears; Rocky Wirtz is chairman of the Chicago Blackhawks; Michael Reinsdorf is president of the Chicago Bulls; Tom Ricketts is chairman of the Chicago Cubs, and Jerry Reinsdorf is chairman of the Chicago White Sox.
