Illinois budget crisis cited in rise of Chicago shootings

Fifty-three people were shot and four died in Chicago this weekend, bringing the total number of shootings in the city to at least 2,300 so far this year — about 400 more than the same point last year, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Community activists are placing some of the blame for the uptick in gun violence on a state budget battle causing deep funding cuts to programs and counseling services meant to keep kids off the streets and guns out of their hands.

And to these activists, Gov. Bruce Rauner, who took office in January, is often portrayed as the chief villain. “Rauner doesn’t care about our urban communities, and the kids see that,” said Pam Bosley, a community organizer at the Ark of St. Sabina, a South Side church that works to prevent gun violence through mediation and diverting youth from self-destructive behavior.

“He said he would shake up Springfield, but when he’s shaking up Springfield, he’s causing a lot of violence in our neighborhood,” Bosley, whose son was killed in a drive-by shooting in 2006, said. “He needs to come into the community and talk to the people he’s hurting, and see what we’re going through. I know he’s not used to talking to people in the urban community, but he became a governor for the state, not just for certain people.”

Rauner’s office did not return a request for comment from Al Jazeera.  

Due to budget cuts that began after Rauner took office, Bosley said that she was only able to provide 300 summer jobs this year, down from the 1,000 she had been able to give to at-risk youths in 2014.

The church has also had to lay off people, drastically cut worker hours and close three hours earlier in the day, leaving some children with fewer options for after-school activities.

One teenager, standing outside St. Sabina waiting for the bus, was shot this summer in the leg, a victim of mistaken identity in the ongoing gang violence.

“If we had been able to stay open, he would’ve been safe inside,” explained Lamar Johnson, 25, Bosley’s assistant who counsels youth on how to deal with feelings that can lead to violent behavior.

He added that he has heard of some youth engaging in the drug trade to make money in the absence of a summer job.

“That’s their only understanding of making money. So it is very common if they don’t have any alternatives like a youth center or a group where you’re being mentored,” he added.

Johnson himself has seen his hours at St. Sabina cut from 40 to 20 a week, putting pressure on him to provide for his two-year-old. He’s looking for community organizing work elsewhere.

Almost 200 miles away from St. Sabina in the statehouse, legislators are grappling with a budget shortfall that amounts to between 4 and 6 billion dollars, according to the Illinois Policy Institute (IPI), an independent think tank.

“Right now you’re seeing haves and have-nots in the budget. Pensioners are at the front of the line while social services are at the back of the line,” said Kristina Rasmussen, executive vice president of the IPI. She cited clauses in the Illinois’ constitution and federal mandates that compel the government to make pension payments.

The budget impasse doesn’t show signs of stopping, and that has people who work with urban youth concerned for the future.

Rebecca Levine, a public health expert and director of Strengthening Chicago’s Youth and the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s hospital, said that while it’s hard to prove a direct link between the cuts and violence, the remaining services almost certainly won’t be enough.

“If this budget situation doesn’t get resolved soon, we’re going to increasingly see reliance on law enforcement, incarceration and in patient psychiatric care,” she said. “If we aren’t supporting people’s basic needs, they’re going to find themselves in what we see as facilities of last resort.”