Fast Facts
- What: Community Violence Intervention Film Festival
- When: July 8, 2026
- Where: Metropolitan Peace Academy, Lower West Side, Chicago
- Presented By: Partnership for Safe and Peaceful Communities, City Club Chicago and Everytown Community Safety Fund
- Featured Films: Pieces of the Puzzle, License to Operate: Violence Interrupted and short films from Chicago-based CVI organizations
CHICAGO — The people doing the work to prevent violence in Chicago took center stage during the Community Violence Intervention Film Festival on July 8.
Hosted at the Metropolitan Peace Academy on the city’s Lower West Side, the event brought together Community Violence Intervention professionals, community leaders, filmmakers and public safety advocates for an evening centered on storytelling, healing and prevention.
Presented by the Partnership for Safe and Peaceful Communities, along with City Club Chicago and the Everytown Community Safety Fund, the festival highlighted the voices and lived experiences of the people working every day to reduce gun violence and strengthen neighborhoods across Chicago.
“By sharing their stories, we hope to deepen the understanding of community-led solutions and inspire continued investment in the people and strategies creating lasting change,” said Esther Franco-Payne, Executive Director of the Partnership for Safe and Peaceful Communities.
Stories From the Frontlines
The program featured a screening of Everytown’s documentary Pieces of the Puzzle, which follows violence prevention workers, healthcare practitioners, faith leaders, returning citizens and survivors of violence as they share their experiences with community-based violence prevention.
The film gives viewers a closer look at the people and organizations working to interrupt cycles of violence, support healing and create safer communities in neighborhoods most impacted by gun violence.
“Too often, the people preventing violence receive the least recognition despite carrying some of the greatest responsibility,” said Jaunita Pye, Associate Director of Grant Administration and Programming at the Everytown Community Safety Fund.
Chicago Organizations Help Tell the Story
The festival also showcased short films produced by Chicago-based Community Violence Intervention organizations, including the Illinois Peace Project, Metropolitan Peace Initiatives, the Institute for Nonviolence Chicago and Chicago CRED.
Attendees also got a look at the forthcoming documentary License to Operate: Violence Interrupted, created by filmmaker Rubye Lane and gun violence prevention advocate Chris Patterson.
Each film highlighted the people, lived experiences and present-day work behind Chicago’s violence prevention movement, giving audiences a deeper understanding of what Community Violence Intervention looks like beyond the headlines.
Training the Next Generation of Peace Leaders
For Metropolitan Peace Initiatives, hosting the festival at the Metropolitan Peace Academy was a powerful reminder of the work happening every day to professionalize the field of Community Violence Intervention.
“Every day, dedicated men and women unselfishly answer the call to support healing among those most affected by gun violence,” said Vaughn Bryant, Executive Director of Metropolitan Peace Initiatives.
The Metropolitan Peace Academy trains and supports Community Violence Intervention professionals, helping build a citywide network of leaders equipped to respond to violence, support residents and create long-term change in their communities.
Conversation Around Community-Based Public Safety
The evening closed with a panel discussion featuring leaders from across Chicago’s violence prevention ecosystem. The conversation focused on the impact of community-based public safety work, lessons learned from the field and ways to strengthen CVI strategies in the years ahead.
Panelists included Eddie Bocanegra of Centers for Employment Opportunities, Benny Lee of the National Alliance for the Empowerment of the Formerly Incarcerated, Nekenya Hardy of the Institute for Nonviolence Chicago, Marcus McAllister of McAllister Consulting and Training, Rubye Lane of Mustard Seed Vision, LLC, and Kanoya Ali of Chicago CRED.
Why It Matters
As cities across the country continue investing in evidence-informed Community Violence Intervention strategies, organizers say storytelling remains an important tool for helping the public understand the work, challenges and successes of violence prevention professionals.
Through film and conversation, the CVI Film Festival helped shine a light on the community leaders working to create safer neighborhoods while building pathways to healing, opportunity and prevention.
WHATS THE WORD will continue highlighting the people, organizations and community leaders doing the work to make Chicago safer because these stories deserve to be part of the conversation.
