Is CPD’s Domestic Violence Program Working? Alders Finally Hold Hearing As Need Skyrockets

CHICAGO — A controversial city-funded domestic violence program finally went up for public discussion this week after a committee failed to convene enough alderpeople to consider it last month.

The Details

This time, all 18 alderpeople who serve on the City Council’s Committee on Police and Fire were in council chambers on Thursday to scrutinize a newly expanded victim services program run through the Chicago Police Department.

The first hearing on the matter had to be canceled after only eight alderpeople who serve on the committee showed up — one short of the number needed to reach quorum.

At the top of Thursday’s meeting, Ald. Nicole Lee (11th) acknowledged last month’s poor aldermanic attendance, which fueled outrage on social media.

“I was hoping to have this meeting earlier but we were unable to reach quorum, so I’m grateful to all of my colleagues for coming,” Lee told the crowd of domestic violence advocates, police officials and fellow alderpeople.

“I’m also glad that it got delayed because it makes perfect sense to have this conversation in the midst of budget season. During this time, especially when we’re in a budget deficit, we have to make sure money is being spent as effectively as possible.”

Like the original meeting, Thursday’s hearing was a direct response to a Block Club investigation published in June.

The report revealed that the city responded to Chicago’s domestic violence crisis by investing $3.9 million into a police program that has so far produced few documented results and failed to accomplish one of its top goals of connecting survivors with community service providers.

Block Club found that very few providers received referrals from the program last year.

Since the city expanded the program last year, domestic violence advocates have repeatedly called on officials to reallocate expansion dollars to “chronically under-funded” community organizations that have a proven track record of helping survivors.

Advocates at Thursday’s hearing highlighted those funding challenges that have prevented their organizations from meeting the sky-high demand for domestic violence services in recent years.

Life Span, a nonprofit that provides legal aid services, has to turn away 60 percent of survivors who come looking to them for help due to a lack of funding, executive director Amy Fox said.

And the city has seen a 25 percent reduction in rape crisis services at hospitals because of funding shortages, said Sarah Layden, CEO of Resilience, a rape and sexual assault crisis center.

Resilience doesn’t receive any funding from the city or Cook County, Layden added.

“What is very challenging is centers that are struggling to survive and keep their doors open are being placed in a position like this where we have to fight for resources,” Layden said.

About a decade ago, Yolanda Carter was severely injured in a domestic attack. Her ex-partner beat her with a hammer, resulting in Carter undergoing more than 13 reconstructive surgeries and losing her left eye.

The attack led Carter to launch a domestic violence organization called Beautifully Scarred.

“We get calls from different people trying to figure out how to help our survivors, but if we don’t have the funds, a lot of things we do are out of my own pocket. We need the support,” Carter said.

Ald. Jeanette Taylor (20th) questioned whether the city should be investing in a police program rather than boosting funding for “people who have been doing [domestic violence work] for decades and can actually do this work a little better than what we do.”

Yet Mike Milstein, deputy director of the Office of Victim Services, said “we should not be creating a false choice between [the police program] providing immediate support and community organizations providing in-depth services.”

“We need both,” Milstein said during his opening remarks.

“CPD’s victim services needs to be adequately funded, and so do the many community-based organizations that advocate for and support victims and survivors every day. And in this moment, they’re not adequately funded.”

Milstein defended the police program, saying victim specialists, who are civilian employees of the department, “provided some sort of service” to more than 7,000 survivors and victims last year, ranging from connecting them with community-based service providers and helping them craft safety plans to simply sharing the Illinois Domestic Violence Hotline.

Alex Martinez, volunteer supervisor for Resilience, left the three-hour-long hearing feeling “hopeful.”

Martinez said they were encouraged that alderpeople actually showed up this time and gave “positive feedback.”

“I’ve done this work for five years; it’s so important to me. I wish everyone would take it as seriously and really prioritize listening,” Martinez said.

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