Community Violence Intervention

Vaughn Bryant is Executive Director of Metropolitan Peace Initiatives (MPI), a division of Metropolitan Family Services which features a team of professionals working in partnership with community-based and citywide organizations to coordinate, support and sustain comprehensive services designed to heal communities that have experienced the highest levels of gun violence. Core specialties include the Metropolitan Peace Academy, behavioral health, workforce readiness, legal aid and street outreach supervision.

Metropolitan Peace Initiatives emerged from and supports Communities Partnering 4
Peace (CP4P), an unprecedented partnership of leading outreach and restorative justice organizations that are reducing gun violence in Chicago with a comprehensive, evidence- based, trauma-informed approach. Convened by Metropolitan Family Services and working with police as well as the private and public sectors, CP4P is a coordinated response to the public health crisis that is gun violence. CP4P has expanded to include 15 organizations serving 21 communities. Since CP4P’s launch in April 2016, Bryant has led CP4P to provide case management, re-entry and victim assistance services to more than 3,000 individuals, host 1,636 Light in the Night (LIN) events, and mediate 2,177 violent incidents in key communities.

Bryant previously held leadership roles with the Chicago Park District, Chicago Public Schools (where he developed the “Safe Passage” program), the NFL and Stanford University. He also was a former fourth-round draft choice of the Detroit Lions, a three-year starter, and a two time All-Pac-10 selection at Stanford, and a 1994 inductee into the Detroit Catholic League Hall of Fame.

A graduate of Leadership Greater Chicago, Bryant serves on the National Advisory Board of the Haas Center for Public Service at Stanford University and on various committees with the Chicago Community Trust. He is also a board member for the Positive Coaching Alliance – Chicago.

Bryant has a BA in Sociology from Stanford University and holds a Master’s Degree in Marital and Family Therapy from Northwestern University.

As Executive Director of Claretian Associates, Angela Hurlock is dedicated to building a sense of family among those who reside within the organization’s four housing developments in the South Chicago neighborhood. Claretian Associates is a community development corporation that has dedicated almost 30 years to providing affordable, safe and environmentally efficient housing to the residents of South Chicago.

Prior to assuming the position of Executive Director, Angela held the position of Senior Director of Real Estate Development for Bethel New Life, a nonprofit serving Chicago’s West Side. Under her tenure, the organization was able to provide families at or below 50%AMI with affordable transit-oriented housing opportunities and employment resources while reviving the community area through economic development.

Subsequently, Angela began leading the work of Claretian Associates which is centered on working with local schools, churches, and other organizations to build up services and resources for low-income and homeless families in South Chicago. Angela’s expertise has significantly enhanced the quality of life for South Chicago residents.

Her accomplishments have also garnered considerable recognition. Selected honors and appointments include: Citizen of the Year by the South Chicago Chamber of Commerce, inaugural fellow with the University of Chicago's Civic Leadership Academy, and appointed by Mayor Lightfoot to Chair the Chicago Housing Authority. 

Over the course of her career, Angela has also been asked to speak on numerous occasions about her work, including at the Aspen Institute, Leadership Seminar on Racial Equity & Society- Roundtable on Community Change and at the 2018 Global Diplomacy Lab (BMW Foundation) convening in Berlin Germany and Chicago.