Via the University of Chicago Crime Lab

The University of Chicago Crime Lab has announced the Chicago Initiative to Reduce Gun Violence Among School Age Youth Design Competition.

The first phase of this initiative is to solicit letters of interest (LOI) from city agencies, non-profit and faith-based organizations, and private sector firms that have promising ideas about pilot programs to reduce youth gun violence and promote positive youth outcomes among high risk youth, which could be implemented and rigorously evaluated should private funding become available.

Letters of Interest (up to 3 single spaced pages in length) should be sent to: This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it no later March 21, 2009, and should follow the guidelines contained in the Request for Letters of Interest (RFLOI) which is located at on the Crime Lab website: http://crimelab.uchicago.edu. 

Also featured on our website is a report that we are releasing today, Gun Violence Among School Age Youth in Chicago, which provides a brief overview of some of the Crime Lab's efforts to better understand who the youth are who are involved as victims and offenders in gun violence in Chicago, and what types of intervention strategies might be helpful in addressing this problem.

We seek your help in getting the word out to organizations and groups that might be interested in responding to our Design Competition Request for Letters of Interest. The RFLOI, the report, and more information about this and other Crime Lab projects can be found at our website.

Thanks in advance for your help in getting this information out to groups and organizations that might be interested. Any questions can be directed to This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it .