Funded Programs

Acclivus, Inc. supports community health and well-being for populations at risk for violence and other negative health outcomes. Acclivus provides evidence-based violence prevention and reduction programming in partnership with community-based grassroots organizations, community leaders, hospitals, and other stakeholders. Funds will support Acclivus’ hospital intervention programming, community-based violence prevention programming, and subawards to communities for direct services.

In response to declining state resources and expanding criminal justice research about best practices in corrections, Illinois passed the Crime Reduction Act of 2009. The Adult Redeploy Illinois (ARI) program was created by the Act to increase alternatives to incarceration for individuals with probation-eligible charges. Research shows that community-based interventions are more effective than imprisonment at reducing recidivism and are less expensive to taxpayers. ARI provides grants to local jurisdictions to expand their capacity to safely supervise individuals in the community by investing in evidence-based practices shown to reduce recidivism. In exchange for grant funding, sites agree to reduce by 25 percent the number of individuals they send to the Illinois Department of Corrections from their target populations.

Website: https://icjia.illinois.gov/adultredeploy/

Violence prevention services in Chicago’s Albany Park and Irving Park communities.

Sections 602 and 603 of the Social Security Act as added by section 9901 of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) authorizes the Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery Fund (CSFRF) and Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Fund (CLFRF) respectively, which provides $350 billion in total funding to Treasury to make payments generally to States to respond to the COVID-19 public health emergency or its negative economic impact, including to provide assistance to households, small business, nonprofits, and impacted industries, such as tourism, travel, and hospitality; respond to workers performing essential work during the COVID-19 pandemic by providing premium pay to eligible workers of the State, territory, tribal government, metropolitan city, county, or nonentitlement units of local government performing essential work or by providing grants to eligible employers that have eligible workers; provide government services, to the extent of the reduction of revenue due to COVID-19 relative to revenues collected in the most recent full fiscal year of the State, territory, tribal government, metropolitan city, county, or nonentitlement units of local government; or make necessary investments in water, sewer, or broadband infrastructure.

ICJIA receives ARPA funding via state appropriation.

The Bullying Prevention Grant Program funds schools or youth-serving organizations to implement and evaluate evidence-based bullying prevention programs in K-12 school settings.

The mission of Ceasefire Illinois, a unit at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health, is to work with community and government partners to reduce violence in all forms and help design interventions required to better define what should be included in a community or city anti-violence plan. Growing up in communities where violence is an everyday occurrence, youth learn that violence is normal and are thus more likely to use violence or become victims of violence. Ceasefire staff members work to engage this population. Staff members will help change their behavior and connect them to resources that would otherwise be out of reach.

Pilot program to establish a co-responder unit that will hire licensed clinical social workers or licensed social workers who will work with law enforcement and will be responsible for conducting follow-up visits for victims who may benefit from mental or behavioral health services.

The units shall utilize community resources, including services provided through the Department of Human Services and social workers in juvenile justice and adult investigations, to connect individuals with appropriate services. The unit’s primary area of focus shall be victim assistance.

Community Based Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative grants will support the following objectives:

• Support existing community-based violence prevention agencies that have been operating their programs for at least two years; • Serve the highest risk participants, those mostly likely to shoot or be shot, through evidence-based street outreach services; • Actively participate in the GASC Community Violence Intervention-Street Outreach Community of Practice; and • Focus on high fatal and nonfatal shooting victimization communities within City of Chicago, Cook County, and Lake County.

Grants to law enforcement, first responders, and local government agencies to develop and implement collaborative deflection programs in Illinois that offer immediate pathways to substance use treatment and other services as alternatives to traditional case processing and involvement in the criminal justice system, and to unnecessary admission to emergency departments.

Grants and administrative expenses related to trauma recovery centers.

Community-Based Violence Intervention and Prevention (CBVIP) services programs support the following activities:

1. Convene or expand an existing community coalition to engage service providers, governmental agencies (local and/or statewide agencies), law enforcement, faith-based, and general community members to ensure that service providers and all potential participants are aware of violence prevention resources available in community; develop collaborative partnerships to ensure that clients’ immediate needs are met; and provide pro-social activities for the community.
2. Educate the public about program services through wide distribution and various types of program materials, public presentations and awareness events.
3. Provide at least one of the four following direct services:
   • Street Intervention/Interruption-Active Outreach and Engagement – These programs provide crisis intervention and de-escalation of high stress situations to at-risk youth and young adults.
   • Counseling and Therapy – These developmentally and culturally appropriate therapeutic services are provided by a mental health professional.
   • Case Management – Case management approaches that are more effective at long-term client retention and developing trust between agency and youth/families require actively engaging participants (i.e., active reaching out, meeting youth/families in the home, community engagement).
   • Youth Development – Engaging young people to develop their emotional, physical, social, and intellectual selves provides opportunities for youth to practice conflict resolution and prosocial life skills.

The Community-Law Enforcement Partnership for Deflection and Substance Abuse Treatment program helps law enforcement to develop and implement deflection programs that offer immediate pathways to substance use treatment as an alternative to involvement in the criminal justice system.

The Coronavirus Emergency Supplemental Fund will be utilized by the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC), the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice (IDJJ), and local units of governments and non-profit organizations to prevent, prepare for, and respond to the coronavirus.

ICJIA’s COVID-19 response website: https://icjia.illinois.gov/covid19/

The Death Penalty Abolition Fund was created by Public Act 725 ILCS 5/119(b),stating that all unobligated and unexpended moneys remaining in the Capital Litigation Trust Fund were to be transferred to the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority for services for families of victims of homicide or murder and for training of law enforcement personnel.

The Duane Dean Behavioral Health Center’s Community Diversion Program seeks to employ a broad based comprehensive approach in Kankakee County to educate and increase access to services to the local criminal justice systems, the local community and the opioid dependent individuals. This program will incorporate community education and trainings, cognitive behavioral counseling, medication assisted therapy (MAT), case managers, peer support specialist, and recovery coaches.

The Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program (JAG) was designed to streamline justice funding and grant administration. The program blended funding for Edward Byrne Memorial State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance (also known as ADAA) and Local Law Enforcement Block Grant programs to provide agencies with the flexibility to prioritize and place justice funds where they are needed most.

JAG funds can be used for state and local initiatives, technical assistance, training, personnel, equipment, supplies, contractual support, and information systems for criminal justice for any one or more of the following purpose areas:

• Law enforcement.
• Prosecution and court programs.
• Prevention and education programs.
• Corrections and community corrections.
• Drug treatment and enforcement.
• Crime victim and witness initiatives.
• Planning, evaluation, and technology improvement programs.

ILLINOIS EDWARD BYRNE MEMORIAL JUSTICE ASSISTANCE GRANT (JAG) STRATEGIC PLAN - 2024-2029

The JAG strategic plan was developed by ICJIA staff as the culmination of research work completed over four years. Research staff conducted surveys, engaged in process and outcome evaluations of criminal justice programming, analyzed crime and public health data, reviewed and summarized research on best practices, and examined the scope of available criminal justice resources across the state.

The ICJIA Board established the Ad Hoc JAG Committee to ensure that the JAG strategic plan was designed in consultation with stakeholders from local governments and representatives of all segments of the criminal justice system. That committee was charged with reviewing crime and justice system data in relation to the JAG priority areas and proposing funding priorities and goals for the next five years. The Committee’s recommendations for five-year JAG funding priorities and goals are presented here.

The Emergency Federal Law Enforcement Assistance (EFLEA) Program assists state and/or local government units in responding to extraordinary law enforcement emergencies by authorizing the U.S. Attorney General to grant funding to help alleviate the costs incurred by law enforcement agencies in responding to emergency law enforcement challenges. These EFLEA funds help cover extraordinary law enforcement expenses incurred by the Highland Park Police Department as a result of the mass shooting at Highland Park’s 2022 Independence Day parade.

Family Violence Coordinating Councils, at both state and local/circuit levels, establish a forum to improve the institutional, professional, and community response to family violence, including intimate partner abuse, child abuse, abuse against people with disabilities, and elder abuse. The councils engage in education and prevention as well as coordination of intervention and services for victims and perpetrators. They work to improve the administration of justice when addressing family violence.

The Flexible Housing Pool (FHP) is a Supportive Housing Program initiated by Chicago and Cook County in 2019. Its primary objective is to provide housing for individuals who are high utilizers of the hospital emergency department, jail systems, and shelters and are also facing homelessness. The FHP utilizes an integrated housing, health, and social services design, consolidating various public and private investments into a single pool. This pool provides rental subsidies and services to eligible individuals.

FHP promotes an integrated housing and service delivery strategy aimed at increasing supportive housing for individuals impacted by homelessness with complex health needs, a history of justice involvement, and significant adversities. This innovative approach involves collaboration with support services providers, health care providers, housing finance agencies, housing developers, and philanthropy. It aims to create hundreds of housing units and facilitate connections between residents and the health system.

The Illinois State Crime Stoppers Association is a broad-based crime fighting and crime prevention group that develops and facilitates Crime Stoppers programs throughout Illinois.

The mission of the Illinois Innocence Project (IIP), founded in 2001 at the University of Illinois Springfield, is three-pronged:

I. Legal Advocacy — IIP works to exonerate innocent men and women who were wrongfully convicted and imprisoned in Illinois for crimes they did not commit. II. Reform — IIP works toward reforms of the Illinois criminal justice system to prevent miscarriages of justice and to ensure people who have committed unlawful acts are brought to justice when someone else is convicted in their place. III. Education — IIP educates students, the public, and law enforcement about wrongful convictions, why they occur, and how to prevent them.

The Improving Criminal Justice Responses to Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, and Stalking Grant Program (ICJR) will continue the training, adoption, implementation and evaluation process for the Illinois Model Protocol for Law Enforcement and Prosecution: Responding to Victims of Domestic Violence, and the Illinois Model Protocol for Law Enforcement and Prosecutors: Responding to People with Disabilities and Older Adults Who Experience Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence, Abuse, Neglect or Exploitation.

The Improving Reentry Education and Employment Outcomes Program is designed to improve correctional educational and employment programs that serve justice system-impact individuals during incarceration and throughout their periods of reentry into the community. It promotes an evidence-based and data-informed approach that will provide meaningful career opportunities, interrupt the cycle of unemployment, and promote reentry success.

The National Institute of Justice awards Kirk Bloodsworth Post-Conviction DNA Testing Program grants to states trying to defray the costs associated with post-conviction DNA testing of forcible rape, murder, and non-negligent manslaughter cases in which actual innocence might be demonstrated. Program funds may be used to review such post-conviction cases and to locate and analyze biological evidence associated with these cases.

Law enforcement grants to support less lethal devices, less lethal device training, other less lethal weapon alternatives, and associated administrative expenses. These grant funds are intended to advance effective, safe, and accountable policing to enhance public trust and public safety.

Grants to Illinois justice system agencies for live scan equipment.

The National Instant Criminal Background Check System Reporting Improvement Program provides assistance to states to improve the completeness, automation, and transmittal of records to state and federal systems used to conduct background checks. Such records include criminal history records, records of felony convictions, warrants, records of protective orders, convictions for misdemeanors involving domestic violence and stalking, records of mental health adjudications, and others that may disqualify an individual from possessing or receiving a firearm under federal law. Helping states to automate these records also reduces delays for law-abiding gun purchasers.

The Paul Coverdell National Forensic Sciences Improvement Act authorizes funding to improve the quality, timeliness, and credibility of forensic science services for criminal justice purposes. Act funding is directed to crime laboratories and medical examiners’ offices based on population and crime statistics. The program permits funding for facilities, personnel, computerization, equipment, supplies, education, and training.

In order to facilitate the safe disposal of drugs, the Illinois General Assembly passed Public Act 097-0545, which established the Prescription Pill and Drug Disposal Fund, a special fund in the state treasury. The Act states, “monies in the Fund shall be used for grants by the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority to local law enforcement agencies for the purpose of facilitating the collection, transportation, and incineration of pharmaceuticals from residential sources that are collected and transported by law enforcement agencies. These funds will be used to procure drug disposal boxes and arrange for their delivery to priority sites. Recipient agencies will agree to follow this standard procedures for the receipt, storage, and disposal of the collected drugs.

The Prison Rape Elimination Act was passed in 2003 to provide for the analysis of the incidence and effects of prison rape in federal, state, and local institutions and to provide information, resources, recommendations, and funding to protect individuals from prison rape.

Project Safe Neighborhoods is a nationwide commitment to reduce gun crime by networking existing local programs that target gun crime and providing these programs with additional tools necessary to be successful. This funding is used to hire new federal and state prosecutors, support investigators, provide training, distribute gun lock safety kits, deter juvenile gun crime, and develop and promote community outreach efforts as well as to support other gun violence reduction strategies.

The Residential Substance Abuse Treatment Program provides funding for treatment programs in a correctional setting and is available to the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) and Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice. These funds are used to implement residential, jail-based, and aftercare programs.

As part of the legalization of adult-use cannabis in Illinois, the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act established the R3 program to “directly address the impact of economic disinvestment, violence, and the historical overuse of the criminal justice responses to community and individual needs by providing resources to support local design and control of community-based responses to these impacts; to substantially reduce both the total amount of gun violence and concentrated poverty in this State; to protect communities from gun violence through targeted investments and intervention programs,…[and] to promote employment infrastructure and capacity building related to the social determinants of health in the eligible community areas.” (Illinois HB1438, Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act, 2019-2020).

The ‘eligible community areas’ of the R3 Program were established by the R3 Board based on a number of factors, including rates of gun violence, child poverty, unemployment, and commitments to and returns from the Illinois Department of Corrections. Only areas identified as R3 zones based on these indicators were eligible for R3 funding. Additionally, five areas of service delivery were identified within the R3 legislation: Civil Legal Aid, Economic Development, Reentry, Violence Prevention, and Youth Development. Funds for this program are derived from tax revenues from the legal sale of adult-use cannabis.

Website: https://r3.illinois.gov

The Safe from the Start Program was initiated to address childhood exposure to violence. The program implements and evaluates comprehensive and coordinated community models to identify and respond children ages 0 to 5 who have been exposed to violence in the home or community. Program components include coalition and collaboration building, direct services, and public awareness.

The Safer Foundation (SF) partnership with Mount Sinai Hospital’s Sinai Urban Health Institute (SUHI) seeks to better understand the issues connected to gun violence in Chicago’s west side communities. As a referral partner, SUHI seeks to work with SF to build their previous study of non-fatal gun violence victims who are treated and discharged quickly. The goal is to refer such persons for SF services and to identify their social needs, gaps, resources and barriers to employment and workforce development comparing those with and those without arrest/conviction records.

ICJIA funds will allow Safer Foundation to use mechanisms to provide additional supports to participants participating in a higher level of credentialed training and job training, including higher literacy, skill level, case management, and wrap around services.

The Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act is Title I of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 (Public Law 109-248). The Act provides a comprehensive set of minimum standards for sex offender registration and notification in the United States. The Act aims to close potential gaps and loopholes that existed under prior law and generally strengthens the nationwide network of sex offender registration and notification programs. The program offers competitive awards administered to states by the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs.

The Byrne State Crisis Intervention Program (SCIP) provides funding to “implement state crisis intervention court proceedings and related programs or initiatives, including, but not limited to, extreme risk protection order programs that work to keep guns out of the hands of those who pose a threat to themselves or others, mental health courts, drug courts, and veterans treatment courts.”

In accordance with SCIP guidance, ICJIA convened a SCIP Advisory Committee to establish funding priorities and to approve a SCIP plan. The Advisory Committee established the following three priorities for the use of SCIP funding, centering community voice and incorporating research and evaluation throughout:

1. FRO training for system partners
2. FRO compliance and enforcement
3. Solicitation to support local government FRO implementation, treatment linkages, develop community infrastructure, and follow-up.

Through this program, programmatic funding will be provided to support organizations providing sports-based youth development programming and providing healing through sports programming. Laureus Sport for Good Foundation will create a grants program to increase access to, and equity of youth-development based sports initiatives.

ICJIA received a $1,500,000 line-item appropriation to address diversion and deferred prosecution. Winnebago County’s DIVERT Program will implement both diversion and deferred prosecution programs at the pre-trial or prosecution phase.

Street Intervention Program (SIP) funds provide sub-awards to agencies for outreach services, to mediate and intervene with conflicts, and to provide other supports to reduce the shooting and homicide incidents in high need communities.

Blessed Child’s Get Inspired Project will serve youth and young adults ages 12-27 in the south suburban areas of Chicago Heights, Country Club Hills, Hazel Crest, Matteson, Park Forest, Richton Park, and other surrounding suburbs.

The key elements of the Get Inspired Project are:

1. Street-based outreach: Building new relationships and maintaining existing relationships with street-involved youth. They do this by conducting outreach directly to street and system involved youth who have been victims of violence and/ or perpetrators of violence.

2. Conflict resolution and mediation: These two components are key to the strategy of violence prevention and interruption. This service will be available at the agency via a contracted mental health professional.

3. Life skills and job skills: Both components are essential for providing youth with alternatives to violence, incarceration, and the street economy. Life skills include referral to GED or alternative school programs where needed, conflict resolution, anger management, stress reduction techniques, and mental health workshops. Job skills include technology training, resume writing, job search training, interview role plays, and post training and job placement follow-up and evaluation, financial literacy and money management classes.

The program will provide computer literacy classes, financial literacy classes, and etiquette/life skills classes. The agency will have a mental health professional available to meet the needs of program participants and host community events. The communities will be made aware of the events and services through the engagement and relationships built by the peacekeepers. Peacekeepers are members of the organization that actively work to stop or prevent conflict between the communities. They will constantly engage the communities’ youth, stakeholders, institutions, and other agencies. Participants will be identified by location, age, and needs. Peacekeepers will look for youth in the programs proposed service areas, schools, institutions, and other agencies who fit the defined parameters of youth and young adults ages 12-27.

Trauma Recovery Centers (TRCs) provide comprehensive mental health and case management services for victims of violent crime and their families in underserved communities with high levels of violence through implementation of the TRC model.

Under this award, the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) made $25 million available to eligible state victim assistance programs to apply for noncompetitive funding to support training and technical assistance for victim assistance service providers and others who work with crime victims. Illinois was awarded $946,913 for federal fiscal year 2015.

The purpose of this program is to provide each state and territory with funding to support training and technical assistance for victim assistance grantees and others who work with crime victims. States are encouraged the use of the funds to enhance existing State Victim Assistance Academies (SVAAs) or to establish new ones. These funds can also support statewide training initiatives, crime victim related conferences, basic training for new programs for underserved victims, and scholarships to service providers and others who work with crime victims. As with all VOCA awards, states would have the year of the award plus three years to spend these funds.

Illinois has an extensive network of coalitions and statewide issue groups that are supported by strong legislation dedicated to victim rights and services. Yet, Illinois is a large, diverse state that still has many unmet needs in the victim services field. Local agencies throughout the state struggle to meet the training and staffing needs for their services. Issue specific training is available in some areas and increasingly required for some positions, but the availability of training that is affordable and the opportunity to hear state and national experts in many fields is often beyond the reach of local agencies.

Funding from this program will be used to expand training opportunities for victim service advocates throughout the state of Illinois.

The Victims of Crime Act is funded with fines paid by offenders convicted of violating federal laws, supports direct services to victims of crime. The Act requires that priority be given to services for victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse, and other groups identified by the state as underserved victims of crime.

The Victims of Crime Act Discretionary Training and Technical Assistance Grant program provides training and technical assistance to Victims of Crime Act victim assistance service providers and others who work with crime victims. Activities funded through this program may include, but are not limited to, establishment or enhancement of state victim assistance academies, statewide training initiatives, crime victim-related conferences, basic training for new programs, or scholarships to attend conferences and/or training for service providers and others who work with victims of crime.

Congress first passed the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) in 1994 and reauthorized the Act in 2000. With a reauthorization in 2005, Congress began a new initiative of the S.T.O.P. (Services * Training * Officers * Prosecutors) VAWA program by authorizing grants to states for programs that would improve the response of the criminal justice system to female victims of sexual assault and domestic violence. The program’s objectives include:

• Providing services to women who are victims of sexual assault and domestic violence.
• Developing, implementing, and evaluating a plan for training police, prosecutors, judges, circuit clerks, probation officers, and service providers to promote an interdisciplinary approach to sexual assault and domestic violence.
• Implementing measures that document and assess the response of criminal justice agencies in Illinois to sexual assault and domestic violence.

The Act specifies that states must allocate 25 percent of the funds to law enforcement, 25 percent to prosecution, 30 percent to service providers, and 5 percent to the courts. The remaining 15 percent can be allocated at the state’s discretion.

The Violence Against Women Act Arrest Program provides grants to encourage arrest policies and enforcement of protection orders program. This discretionary grant program is designed to encourage state, local, and tribal governments and state, local, and tribal courts to treat domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking as serious violations of criminal law requiring the coordinated involvement of the entire criminal justice system.

The Violence Against Women Act Sexual Assault Services Program supports the provision of hotline, advocacy, counseling, and outreach services to adults and children at 33 local victim service agencies across Illinois.

The Kankakee County States Attorney Office will implement a violence prevention program to provide after school activities, community-based social services to victims of violence, and operate a father’s project with the goal of strengthening relationships between fathers and their children who have been involved in gun violence.

The Lake County States Attorney Office will adapt the public health approach of the Cure Violence model to address gun violence in Lake County. This model uses disease control methods to stop violence through: 1) Identification and detection of individuals and scenarios that need to be addressed; 2) Interruption, intervention, and risk reduction of the violence by interacting with the individuals who cause violence; and 3) Change behaviors and norms with those individuals.

Violence Prevention Program for City of Danville (DVPP) funds designated to the City of Danville support Project Unity. The Project Unity program will take a multifaceted approach to fostering strong relationships between citizens and law enforcement to reduce violent crime and empower youth and young adults to achieve success.

The Violence Prevention and Reduction (VPR) program provides sub-awards to agencies for violence prevention and reduction services and strategies, to mediate and intervene with conflicts, and provide other supports to reduce the shooting and homicide incidents in high need communities.

Violence Prevention and Street Intervention Program (VPSIP) funds designated to Metropolitan Family Services support its Communities Partnering 4 Peace (CP4P) program. CP4P provides a targeted and holistic multi-tiered approach to confronting gun violence in the highest risk neighborhoods of Chicago, implementing multiple interventions that work directly with both perpetrators and the victims of gun violence. This comprehensive response collaborates with local agencies skilled in peace, trauma, victim services, and wraparound supports and have capable outreach workers who live and work within the communities served. CP4P partner agencies are fully integrated within the neighborhoods, allowing them to establish authentic relationships and be responsive to incidences of gun violence and the needs of those impacted by it.

The SFY25 State Budget appropriated $1,550,000 in General Revenue Funds for grants and administrative services associated with violence prevention programs, youth employment programs, and operational expenses to named entities.

The Violent Crime Witness Protection Program (VCWPP) was designed to protect victims and witnesses who fear retaliation for testifying against those accused of violent crimes. VCWPP funds will support victims’ expenses including the relocation of witnesses, victims, and those related to persons supporting the prosecution of violent crime perpetrators throughout the court process.