Unity Temple is sponsoring an opportunity for Oak Parkers to meet people at the forefront of violence prevention efforts in Chicago.
The congregation’s gun violence prevention team is hosting an event with staff from The Nonviolence Institute for Chicago on the evening of Friday, Sept. 12. The event, an “ice cream social” featuring the Milk and Honey ice cream truck, will give Oak Parkers the opportunity to meet with the institute’s peacekeepers and learn about how to support the group’s mission of making Chicago safer through grassroots relationship building and community support.
The event will last from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Austin Gardens on Forest Avenue north of Lake Street.
The institute’s outreach workers are typically long-time residents of the communities they serve and work to mediate conflicts in their neighborhoods to prevent them from spiraling into violence, provide victim support programming and other community engagement work.
“The Institute for Nonviolence Chicago’s street outreach teams advocate for the community,” the group said of its work in the community. “We host giveaways and nonviolence trainings, provide food and toiletries, and conduct wellbeing checks when needed. To help communities take back areas where violence has occurred, we host block parties creating safe spaces and building relationships with our neighbors.”
The institute has peacekeepers working in Austin, West Garfield Park, Back of the Yards and Brighton Park.
In 2024, peacekeepers responded to over 300 shootings, conducted nearly 1,000 conflict mediations “that likely prevented a shooting” and enrolled nearly half of all shooting victims they supported into ongoing programming, according to the group.
Gun violence Prevention is one of Unity Temple’s seven justice network values.
Since last November, there have been three fatal shootings in Oak Park.