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May 15, 2008 5:56 pm US/Central
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CeaseFire Group Wants State Funding Restored
Gov. Blagojevich Cut $6 Million Budget Last Year; City Has Seen Recent Surge In Violence
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
CeaseFire, a program that appears to help reduce crime, is hoping to get its funding back after Gov. Rod Blagojevich cut it last year.
CBS 2's Dorothy Tucker reports Nikko Coleman, an admitted gang member, is back in his East Englewood neighborhood having just returned from a six-month stint behind bars for aggravated battery.
One of the first people he greeted was former gang member Ulysses Floyd.
"I want you to stay out of the joint," Floyd told Coleman.
Floyd represents CeaseFire, an organization that literally sits down with gang members and tries to talk them out of shooting the next person.
"They try and keep you out of trouble. They try to organize jobs, try to help out the community," Coleman said.
But help is dwindling.
Back in august, the state cut CeaseFire's $6 million budget. Grants and federal funding keep some people working, but half -- about 80 people across the city -- were laid off.
"It hurt a great deal losing the funding because it cut back on a lot of things we were able to do with the youth such as mentoring, we had outreach workers that could find them jobs," Floyd.
Recent studies credit CeaseFire with reducing shootings in the communities it serves by 17 to 24 percent. But in recent weeks, the city has seen a surge in shootings.
"Common sense would dictate that there's a correlation in the removal of those funds and the spike in violence," said State Representative Susana Mendoza.
Mendoza is sponsoring a bill to not only restore, but to double, funding for CeaseFire. She says the governor cut the funding last year because of politics.
She doesn't care what the political reason was, she just wants the money back.
"We have to stop playing politics," Mendoza said. "I just hope the governor acknowledges that he made a mistake, and moves forward to protecting our constituents."
"Unfortunately I think the most persuasive push to get the funding restored are all the dead bodies that are piling up. I just hope there's enough community push and political will to make sure it happens," said CeaseFire member Elena Quintana.
A spokesperson for the governor's office says CeaseFire could be funded through a bill that the governor is pushing.
That bill would also have be approved by the state lawmakers.
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