Advancing a Fair and Just Response to Gun Violence

The Northwestern Neighborhood & Network Initiative (N3) promotes new ways for faculty, experts, and students at Northwestern's Institute for Policy Research to engage communities, civic partners, and policymakers to address core problems facing the residents of Chicago and communities throughout the country. Specific projects and types of engagement are linked by a focus on how the social relationships among networks, geographic communities, and the constellation of groups, organizations, and civic partners affect what we feel, think, and do—and how understanding, building, and leveraging this sort of network-thinking can improve our neighborhoods, cities, and our region. N3’s work sits at the intersection of - and addresses - the most urgent racial justice and equity issues facing our communities, such as the dual challenges of neighborhood violence and police violence (which are often intertwined but so often put in opposition to each other), in addition to the disparate impacts of an overly punitive justice system. In September of 2019, The Joyce Foundation brought together 27 thought and action leaders from across the country to discuss the overlap between criminal justice reform, gun policy, and violence prevention with the explicit goal of developing an agenda for research, policy, practice, and narrative that reduces both the harms of gun violence and the criminal justice system. The week-long meeting in Montana was described by many original cohort members as “the” - or one of the - most profound experiences of their professional careers. Participants left the meeting appreciative of the opportunity to create new ties and strengthen old ones; to learn from practice and research; and debate and challenge colleagues. This “West Creek Cohort” has embraced the task of generating fresh, innovative ideas to address the complex issue of gun violence. The summary of this group’s ideas and direction were published in a report later that year. And d