Chicago CRED hosted its ninth annual high school graduation on Thursday, August 21, at South Shore Cultural Center for a new class of 58 participants enrolled in the community violence intervention (CVI) organization’s program. CVI programs like CRED help individuals at high risk of shooting or being shot transition away from the streets and into the legal economy through outreach, life coaching, trauma treatment, education and job training.
Since CRED’s founding in 2016, 400 participants have earned high school degrees through the Penn Foster virtual high school program. Many CRED staff and some participants have also pursued on-line post-secondary education opportunities through a partnership with Southern New Hampshire University.
In addition to 58 new high school graduates from CRED, the program on Thursday also recognized participants who graduated earlier in the year, participants in other CVI programs, and staff members who have earned new education credentials. All told, 112, people were honored at the event.
Dr. Akima Anderson oversees educational programming at Chicago CRED. She said that helping participants return to school, “Not only gives them real-world work and life skills but the confidence to know that they can reach an important goal and put themselves in a better position to succeed.”
CRED Founder Arne Duncan said that the annual graduation event each year at South Shore is, “One of the absolute highlights of our work. Most of our guys and women never had that special moment of walking across the graduation stage to the cheers, the music and the family. It means so much.”
This year’s graduation comes at a time when Chicago has experienced a dramatic drop in gun violence. In fact, gun violence has declined in six of the last eight years. Total shootings are down approximately 37 percent this year and the city is on track to having one of its safest years in more than half a century.