In her continued efforts to reduce youth violence in Chicago, State Senator Mattie Hunter’s legislation to create the Youth Violence Prevention Task Force was signed into law. House Bill 2879 authorizes the task force to increase awareness by providing job opportunities, social and education initiatives, safe havens and other opportunities for violence prevention for at-risk youth.

“Youth violence has devastated our nation as homicide is now the 2nd leading cause of death for youth ages 15 to 29, and the epidemic is particularly rampant in Chicago,” State Senator Mattie Hunter said. “We must act now because more adolescents are killed in Chicago than any other U.S. city is simply unacceptable. We owe it to our children to do our best to protect them.”