Explorations in the Culture of Violence in Chicago: Comparing Outcomes of Faith-Based with Secular Violence Prevention Programs

The goal of this research is to compare the anti-violence program outcomes of faith-based organizations with that of secular nonprofit organizations. What solutions to violent behavior among adults and youth do religious vs. secular actors propose and apply? How effective are their respective interventions or prevention work against violence and how do they measure this? In this project, I posit that violence at both the personal and community levels is an endemic, but solvable, social problem. However, using the conclusions of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it is a public health rather than policing problem that requires a multi-institutional and multi-sector response. Therefore, I will present initial findings explaining how comparative approaches are brought to bear on solutions to violence with a focus on the city of Chicago and, importantly, how these comparative programs justify their approaches and demonstrate their effectiveness. Hence, an important component will be to identify the measures they use to claim successful anti-violence outcomes. I will also examine to what degree explicit and named nonviolent strategies and tactics are used to achieve their results. However, beyond logistical questions lies the cultural inquiry into how religiously informed paths to social change may compare to perspectives without a motivating spiritual component. The principal method is inductive, collecting both qualitative and quantitative data from six organizations (three of each type) that claim anti-violence programs.