Top Stories Chicago

Cease Fire is bolstering its efforts to reach women and girls like Rivera who are caught up in Chicago’s violent street life. The strategy marks a shift for the Chicago-based organization, which historically has worked with men, the primary offenders and victims of crime. Over the last five years, CeaseFire has doubled the number of female outreach workers as daily contacts with women grew, said Elena Quintana, director for evaluations. It also wants to increase its number of female “violence interrupters” — the workers who try to mediate street disputes before they turn deadly.

Deseree Rivera was 17 and knew her world of gangs and drugs was no place to raise her newborn daughter.  One day last year as she fed the baby, she whispered a pledge into her tiny ears.  “I promise I’m going to go back to school, go to college,” she said.  In that moment, Rivera finally decided to seek help from CeaseFire, an anti-violence program whose workers had been encouraging her for months to turn her life around.