Chicago CRED
Last Revised: October 22, 2025
- Issue Areas
- Justice and public safety
Program overview
Violence prevention and economic empowerment: Chicago CRED (Create Real Economic Destiny) is a community-based violence prevention program that engages young people involved in gang violence. The program provides holistic support based on five pillars including street outreach to engage those most at risk of being involved in violent crime, therapy, life coaching, education, and job training to remove individuals from high-risk circumstances.
Engaging in community based outreach: Chicago CRED is a nonprofit that operates on the West and South Side of Chicago. The organization recruits and trains community members with lived experience of gun violence to be street outreach workers who engage in group-level mediations to reduce violence. Street outreach workers also bond with and recruit individuals at the highest risk of being involved with gun violence either as perpetrator or victim.
Providing multi-step support: After identifying and recruiting high-risk individuals, participants meet a team of support staff including mental health workers and life coaches. Participants then complete a three-step program designed to help them disengage from violence, build decisionmaking and self-regulation skills, repair relationships, and gain employment over the course of a 12-18 month period.
Gaining meaningful employment: The final step of the program is focused on skills training as well as securing and retaining employment. Job training is a crucial part of CRED’s model to move young people away from gangs. Participants explore different careers and receive career coaching to help them get a job. Example career supports include resume writing assistance and soft skills training (e.g., time management and goal setting). Certificate programs in fields including commercial truck driving and security help participants get jobs.
Continuing individualized support: After completing the multi-step program, participants continue to receive the services they need such as mental health treatment. This ensures participants continue to have a support network to rely on so they are less likely to re-join gangs or commit violent crime.
- Strategies
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Community-led violence prevention
- Location
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Chicago (IL)
A single study with a rigorous design suggests that Chicago CRED is a promising strategy for reducing arrests for violent crime.
A 2023 quasi-experimental evaluation of Chicago CRED found that participants who complete all stages of Chicago CRED programming were 73.4% less likely than those in a comparison group to be arrested for a violent crime within 2 years of participating. However, there was no statistically significant result in the rate of gun violence victimization.
Employ community members as outreach staff: Determining whether a prospective participant is "ready" for the Chicago CRED program is an important part of the recruitment process. However, participant readiness is difficult to assess. While conducting qualitative interviews with program staff, researchers found that street outreach staff -- who have similar lived experiences to participants -- may be able to assist in assessing the readiness of prospective participants.
Emphasis on Mental Health Support: Gun violence is traumatizing for all involved, and many participants have experienced other traumatic instances such as homelessness, hunger, or domestic violence. Chicago CRED addresses this by working with licensed therapists who practice cognitive behavioral interventions in weekly group sessions with participants as well as providing one-on-one counseling, trauma and stress management groups, and enrichment workshops.
Providing stipends: Program participation removes individuals from illicit earning, but financial insecurity can be a compelling motivator to return to crime. To offset this, participants receive a weekly stipend starting at $125 during the initial recruitment phase, increasing to $225 per week during the regular programming and job training. A stipend helps keep participants in the program and ensures they have a legal source of income.