Community leaders, new center work to address root causes of Chicago violence

CHICAGO — Avanii Hazzard of Teamwork Englewood stood before dozens of leaders at a meeting in the neighborhood and implored them to dig deeper when they were discussing what the community needs in order to prevent stubborn violence.

“We’re missing a big part of the situation,” Hazzard said. “This is all reactive and none of it is proactive.”

The situation she was referring to was a fictional scenario of a teenage mom who was angry that her baby’s father, just 17, wouldn’t provide for the child and instead was spending his money throwing himself a birthday party. The tension between the teen parents would lead to a fatal shooting, according to the the imagined setup.

The group of leaders Hazzard spoke to were from community organizations in and around Englewood, including libraries, the Chicago Housing Authority, Chicago police officers and other city and community departments, and were tasked with reading the scenario and discussing what the young people involved might need in terms of support.

There were three parts: “pre-incident” which explained the background of the situation, the “incident” when a shooting occurred, and “post-incident” or “aftermath” where they learned of the fallout and how people might