Helping people heal from trauma

MISSION: To coordinate, support and sustain a cross-agency infrastructure made up of local community-based and citywide organizations that deliver a comprehensive set of services to heal communities at the highest risk for violence.

Metropolitan Peace Initiatives (MPI), a division of Metropolitan Family Services, convenes community-based and citywide organizations to help heal Chicago’s communities experiencing the highest levels of gun violence. We do this through:

Metropolitan Peace Academy
Behavioral Health
Street Outreach Supervision
Workforce Development
Legal Aid

Meet our Staff

Metropolitan Peace Initiatives’ Behavioral Health programs offer counseling and mental health services for individuals to develop their strengths, maximizing stability for themselves and their families.

Services are client-centered, culturally sensitive and bilingual (English and Spanish)
Trauma-informed and evidence-based care combines clinical expertise, research and participants’ own values
Services support individuals, families, and groups
Links to community health providers for long-term care are offered

Through job readiness and training services, Metropolitan Peace Initiatives’ Workforce Development programs offer unemployed and underemployed individuals the opportunity to prepare for and attain meaningful and sustainable employment.

Services we offer:

GED attainment
H.O.P.E. Curriculum (Helping Other People Excel): Two-week job readiness skills training
Skill-Based Training: Access to industry training and certification for jobs in construction, food service, plumbing, electrical, carpentry and more

Through individualized, hyper-local legal services, CP4P Justice Corps offers justice-involved adults the opportunity to move past the legal issues and barriers holding them back from success.

Free, community-based legal services are offered at CP4P partner organization offices
Service areas include employment, housing, public benefits, crime victim services, human trafficking, immigration, elder law and domestic violence

ReCAST Center for Learning & Resilience
The Metropolitan Peace Academy offers city-wide trainings to equip communities with knowledge and skills to promote resilience and communicate with others about the efficacy and importance of trauma-informed practices.

Training topics include Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES), the impact of community violence, mental health and psychological wellness, motivational interviewing, nonviolence training, restorative justice practices, self-care, trauma-informed work and self-care