Make Chicago SAFE by Chicago Civic Media

Chicago is a world class city. But it's a broken world class city.

It's fractured by endless political infighting that only worsens the city's wartime levels of gang/drug/youth/gun violence.

It's demoralized by constant if-it-bleeds-it-leads crime story violence coverage in its media.

And it's been crippled by six decades of catastrophic losses of human life and treasure.

And since COVID, the violence has been citywide. No neighborhood is safe.

Chicagoans are fleeing Chicago in droves.

Yet world class Chicago survives. And thrives in many, many ways.

This August Chicago hosts the Democratic National Convention. The whole world will be watching.

Chicago can't afford a repeat of the debacle of the 1968 Demo Convention. Mayor Johnson can't. The Democrats can't. And neither can America.

It's time for Chicago to end its violence. Not just reduce it. END it!

It's time for all Chicagoans - citizens, police and city leaders - to TEAM UP to make Sweet Home Chicago SAFE.

Safe for all residents. The Safest Big City in America.

Hi, my name is Steve Sewall. I know how Chicago can make itself SAFE.

I'm a career Chicago educator, businessman and media entrepreneur.

My small group, Chicago Civic Media (CCM) has been designing game-changing, safety-generating media formats for 35 years.

Dynamic formats that connect citizens and leaders productively.

Since 1988 these formats have quietly improved safety and education for Chicago students, adults, police and city leaders in schools and communities all over Chicago.

Now they can empower all 2.6 million Chicagoans - citizens of all ages and backgrounds, police, businesses, City Hall - to advance and realize the universally desired goal of citywide safety.

How so? By strengthening Chicago's two existing safety resources. With their proven power to optimize the enormous (yet untapped) safety-generating power of Chicago's third indispensable, Digital Age public safety resource: Chicago's media.

This deployment combines

Simple as that.

2.6 million Chicagoans are now finally addressing Chicago's violence comprehensively and holistically.

For commercial media: new profit centers arise as you deploy safety-generating formats - ours or your own - wisely and effectively.

But time is of the essence. Because next August the whole world will be watching as Chicago hosts the Democratic National Convention.

This 20-second ChicagoWRKS video shows the Chicago SAFE process (we changed the name because it belongs to Chicago).

See the full story at Chicago Civic Media.

If the Chicago SAFE process works in Chicago, it can work anywhere.

It's also scalable to work at state and national levels.

It's a new way of doing politics. For any Digital Age democracy.

Chicago needs it. America too. And how about democracies worldwide?

With your support, we fight hard to make it happen. Quietly.

Thanks for considering and supporting this work.

Our updates will keep you posted.

How your donations will be spent

We seek $2,900 to support our efforts to realize Chicago SAFE through December 31, 2023.

Funds are earmarked for concept development, project advocacy and group member expenses essential to the realization of Chicago SAFE.

Note: donations are not tax deductible. We're an independent group, neither for-profit nor not-for-profit.

About Chicago Civic Media

Visit our CCM Projects page for highlights of our three decades of community-building work in Chicago. BTW, here's our 2019 GoFundMe during the years of Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

As for me, Steve Sewall, I hold degrees from Harvard (A.B. '64), Yale (M.A.T. '66) and the University of California at Berkeley (Ph.D. '91). My CV is here.