Blueprint Partner Agencies

The Community Gun Violence Reduction Blueprint features collaboration with community partners who are committed to this work, including health, education, social services, justice, policy, faith-based and the private sector.

Blueprint partners have been actively engaged with the City for many years offering violence prevention and intervention services throughout the community. These agencies bring a culturally responsive lens to their work, serve communities of color and individuals who are, or have been, justice involved. You can read more about the City’s partnership with these organizations here.

Carle Foundation Hospital’s around-the-clock Emergency Department (ED) social work team connects community members with the resources needed to interrupt the increasing numbers of interpersonal violence. These resources include, but are not limited to, emergency/transitional/relocation housing, healing and emotional support, conflict mediation, legal and victims’ rights assistance, health advocacy and other long term safety planning support as needed.

Champaign Unit 4 Schools will implement increased engagement opportunities for youth and their families, including:

• A year-round Goal Getters Program for male and female students to support the prevention and interruption of interpersonal conflict. .
• Parent Academy/Parent University to reach and empower 100+ parents/families from historically marginalized populations through workshops to educate parents on topics including parenting skills, preparing kids for kindergarten, using technology at home, health and wellness, nutrition, and financial literacy.
• Saturday Immersion and Extension with five satellite spaces housed in neighborhoods most impacted by gun violence.
• Brilliant, Bold, and Beautiful Program for Males and Females, a community-wide initiative designed to offer a unique cultural experience that results in a positive self-image for boys and girls of color as a counter-narrative to negative stereotypes and beliefs.
• Secondary Intramural Teams to create additional sporting teams that promote wellness, the opportunity for physical activity, fellowship, and sportsmanship.

Crime Stoppers of Champaign County has increased the cash reward from $1,000 to $2,500 for anonymous tips that lead to the arrest of an individual using a gun during the commission of a felony crime in Champaign County. Crime Stoppers will pay a cash reward of $5,000 for anonymous tips that lead to the arrest of an individual committing a homicide.

Driven to Reach Excellence and Academic Achievement for Males (DREAAM) Hope for the Future, will focus on outcomes of child well-being, violence prevention, trauma healing and holistic needs.

• Tier One – Wellness Programming for All provides free to low-cost programming for 100 children at Garden Hills Academy every Saturday year-round from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Activities include:
  • Physical health Programming
  • Cultural Arts Programming
  • Community Drill Team Program
  • Social Emotional Learning
• Tier Two – Focused, Community-based Gang Prevention engages middle school Black/African American boys involved in and/or at risk of being in the mental health and juvenile justice systems. Participants will be identified through a variety of sources including parent and youth interviews, social histories, and school discipline data. Gang prevention services are implemented year-round in community-based settings, led by Champaign residents who will be trained in mentoring, life coaching, healing circles, restorative justice, and healing-centered engagement. Prevention services include:
  • Intensive one-on-one mentoring
  • Culturally relevant behavioral interventions
  • Athletic programming
  • Case management to address chronic barriers
• Tier Three – Intensive Services for Disconnected/Out of School Youth is designed to reach, teach, and empower youth ages 14 – 18 with intensive educational, vocational and behavioral services to address the social and educational disparities faced by this targeted population. Hope for the Future support a youth-led wraparound plan to address and improve educational and life skill developmental needs. Intensive services are comprehensive and coordinated across systems and include:
  • High school completion
  • Post-secondary educational planning
  • Job training and placement
  • Life skills
  • Substance abuse support
  • Counseling
  • Life coaching and Driver’s education

East Central Illinois Youth For Christ On Track “Lunch Crew” Program provides youth development programming to Champaign Unit 4 students through the On Track “Lunch Crew” Program, a combined tech mentoring program that meets during lunch periods at five Champaign Unit 4 Schools. This program engages young people through applied learning activities in radio controlled (RC) motorsports and sound design engineering. Participating students also receive additional academic support as indicated as needed through referrals. The On Track Program coordinates program services with STEAM Genius.

First Followers uses a peer mentoring model to train formerly incarcerated individuals to become mentors to other formerly incarcerated participants through their GoMAD (Go Make A Difference) program. First Followers provides an 18-month program with a tiered approach to incentivized payments, with participants receiving stipends for participation and engagement with the program. The levels of payment will increase with continued engagement and upon reaching milestones set by participants and First Followers staff. The program is a non-mandated intensive mentoring intervention designed for individuals who have been identified as the most active firearm offenders in the Champaign-Urbana area.

First Followers also collaborates with corrections, parole, probation, and other reentry service providers to implement and expand on reentry programs.

The HACC YouthBuild Program serves at-risk and disadvantaged youth between the ages of 16 and 24 who are high school dropouts, adjudicated youth, youth aging out of foster care, youth with disabilities, homeless youth, and other disconnected youth populations. This partnership provides support for 15 YouthBuild participants.

STEAM Genius provides afterschool youth development programming through the On Track Afterschool Program, a combined tech mentoring program that engages young people through applied learning activities in radio controlled (RC) motorsports and sound design engineering. The On Track
Program coordinates program services with East Central Illinois Youth For Christ (YFC).

The Trauma & Resilience Initiative (TRI) uses trauma-informed, strength-based approaches and other community defined methods to provide culturally, ethnically, and linguistically responsive outreach and engagement services to individuals, families and communities affected by violence. Services include the following:

• Education and Evidence Based Trauma Specific Training
• Awareness Raising through community engagement, education, and forums.
• Healing and Emotional Support
• Case Management and Referral
• Service Navigation

The Youth and Family Peer Support Alliance is a non-profit organization providing programs and services to families of youth ages 10 to 21 who are experiencing mental, emotional, or behavioral health problems. Services include the following:

• Family Wraparound Services
• Youth and Family Programming