Reducing Gun Violence: How the Community and Police are Working Together

Elvis Ortega is a dedicated professional with a proven track record in social services and K-16 education. With a strong foundation in violence prevention, community engagement, and leadership, Elvis has successfully implemented programs and initiatives that have positively impacted numerous communities. 

Elvis has extensive experience working in various roles, including as a Director of Community Engagement, Senior Anti-Violence Policy Analyst, and Family and Community Engagement Manager. He is currently the Lead Liaison for Street Outreach at the City of Chicago Mayor's Office Of Community Safety, Community Safety Coordination Center and The Chicago Department of Public Health. His ability to build strong relationships with stakeholders at all levels has been instrumental in his success. 

Throughout his career, Elvis has demonstrated a commitment to social justice and equity. His work has focused on addressing the needs of at-risk youth, Violence prevention, and promoting community safety. With his strong leadership skills and passion for making a difference, Elvis is a valuable asset to any organization.

Glen Brooks is the Director of Community Policing for the Chicago Police Department. A proven community leader and organizer with twenty years’ experience serving the residents of the city of Chicago, he began his career in the department as a volunteer beat facilitator in the CAPS initiative and subsequently served as volunteer Chairman of the District Advisory Council. In 2003 Director Brooks joined the Chicago Police Department as an Area Coordinator. In this role he was principally responsible for managing a team of community organizers, youth service coordinators and city service representatives that serviced five police districts. During his tenure as Area Coordinator, Director Brooks developed and implemented the nation’s most successful gun turn in and violence prevention strategy, the “Don’t Kill A Dream, Save A Life” program. Through his efforts, the Chicago gun turn in program generated the largest collection of voluntarily surrendered firearms in the United States, with over 29,000 firearms collected since 2006. He also lobbied legislative offices on behalf of gun control issues. 

In his current role, Director Brooks is responsible for all operational aspects of the Department’s community engagement strategy. Drawing upon his experience as a grassroots organizer and his expertise in violence prevention, Director Brooks leads strategic initiatives to improve civic engagement, ensure the safety of Chicagoans, and enhance community relations. As the principal liaison to community members, he designs and manages initiatives to address gang/gun violence, ex-offender re-entry, youth development and other programs that increase community access to city services and programs. 

Since 2016, as the national debate about policing and justice system reform has unfolded, Director Brooks has been a key leader in developing and implementing the Department’s Community Policing reforms under the Consent Decree. Transforming the CAPS program into a foundational philosophy - “Every Officer is a Community Policing Officer”, Director Brooks also works to build authentic trusting relationships with community members, to address concerns about police-involved shootings. Serving as the Department’s principal liaison with activists and demonstrators, he has successfully deescalated protests while preserving participants' first amendment rights and ensuring their safety. Director Brooks attended Duke University (Trinity ‘95) and is a former member of the U.S. Army Reserve.

Jalon Arthur joined Chicago CRED in March of 2018, and currently serves as Director of Strategic Initiatives. This position focuses on development of innovative violence-reduction strategies for implementation by citywide street outreach partners. Mr. Arthur supports city and state government efforts to include facilitation of Regional Coordination meetings which convene diverse community stakeholders to coordinate on-the-ground violence reduction efforts, and conducts comprehensive city gap analysis to inform street outreach investments. He also provides support to CRED’s citywide outreach investments, including CP4P (Communities Partnering 4 Peace), READI, and outreach implementation in the Roseland and North Lawndale communities. 

Mr. Arthur has dedicated 17 years of service committed to reducing violence. Prior to joining CRED, he worked at the University of Illinois with the Cure Violence program as director of innovation and development. During his 15 year tenure, Mr. Arthur worked with acutely at-risk youth to interrupt violence and provide case management support; set up international violence reduction programs in Puerto Rico, South Africa, Trinidad and Morocco; provided training and program support to a network of international partners; implemented innovative strategies to address multiple forms of violence; and developed a phone app in partnership with DePaul University to empower street outreach workers to utilize mobile app technology to enhance violence-reduction capacity. 

Mr. Arthur holds a Bachelor’s Degree with a concentration in Psychology, and a Master’s of Science Degree in Human Services.

Increasing public safety and helping the most disenfranchised residents, primarily the formerly incarcerated and those most prone to gun violence are passions of Steven Perkins, Communities Partnering 4 Peace (CP4P) Director of Field Instruction, with Metropolitan Family Service. In that capacity, Steven is responsible for managing the Field Managers, who provide technical support and assistance in street-outreach to over 20 community areas/sites.

Born and raised on Chicago’s South Side and a graduate of National-Louis University with a BA in Applied Behavioral Science, Steven understands the effect and plight growing up in Chicago’s most dangerous communities. His close encounters with gang-activity, gun violence and witnessing many close friends going to the penitentiary or the grave led him to become a change agent and advocate for community justice and equity.

Steven has over 19 years working in the field of public safety mainly in the areas of reentry and violence prevention. He has been Director of Reentry of CSAC (Community Support Advisory Council), a state-funded Illinois Department of Corrections re-entry program, building relationships with inmates at the Sheridan Correctional and provide support and services once released. He was part of the Cook County State’s Attorney Steering Committee, a role that ties neatly with his involvement with the Chicago Police Department and the John Jay Violence Prevention Strategy (VPS). In that capacity, he conducted call-in and custom notifications with the Chicago Police Department, Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, and state attorney prosecutors. This initiative seeks to reduce gun violence by identifying those “highrisk” youth and young adults who are gang affiliated through alternative resources. 

Steven has received acknowledgements and rewards from community organizations and several legislators including State Rep. Camille Lily of the 78th House District; State Sen. Kimberly Lightford of the 4th District, as well as Marcus King, former community outreach administrator for the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC). The department cited Steve with an Excellence in Leadership award.

Today, his work entails supervising and managing the day-to-day activities that includes overseeing the CP4P Field Managers and working with the Director of The Metropolitan Peace Academy. The Metropolitan Peace Academy, aka MPA, provides a multi-disciplinary training approach to train and develop street-outreach workers to become leaders and practitioners through research and evidence-based best practices in violence production. The goal of the MPA is to standardize and professionalize the field of outreach.

Steven is most proud of establishing meaningful and fruitful relationships over these many years, from those in “high-ranking positions” to those “dudes on the block.” He believes in the power and strength of relationships by means of building character, having unwavering commitment and gaining trust.