Founded in 1996, Fight Crime: Invest In Kids is a national bipartisan, nonprofit anti-crime organization led by more than 2,500 police chiefs, sheriffs, prosecutors, victims of violence and leaders of police officer associations. The Illinois office was opened in partnership with ICVP in 1997, and we currently have more than 300 members.

Fight Crime: Invest in Kids Illinois is a bipartisan, nonprofit anti-crime organization led by Illinois's best-known police chiefs, sheriffs, state's attorneys, other law enforcement leaders and crime survivors. We are a partnership between the national Fight Crime: Invest in Kids and the Illinois Center for Violence Prevention.

Our mission is to help Illinoisans understand that our most powerful weapons against crime are the programs proven to keep kids from becoming criminals in the first place. These include quality early childhood programs, prevention of child abuse and neglect, after-school programs for children and teens, as well as interventions to get troubled kids back on track.

Fight Crime: Invest in Kids Illinois evaluates crime prevention strategies, informs the public and policymakers about those findings, and urges investment in programs proven effective by research. Our website is organized to focus attention on those strategies. We do not fund or operate any direct service programs for children.

Funding for Fight Crime: Invest in Kids Illinois comes from private foundations, corporations and individuals. Fight Crime: Invest in Kids Illinois receives no funds from federal, state or local governments

East Dundee Police Chief Ignacio “Joe”Pena, Fight Crime: Invest in Kids IllinoisCo-Chair

Members include the presidents of the Major Cities [Police] Chiefs organization, the National District Attorneys Association and the International Union of Police Associations. Among the victims of violence are parents of children killed in the Columbine, Paducah and Jonesboro school shootings and the Oklahoma City bombing, and many others whose tragic encounters with crime are well known, such as Marc Klaas, whose daughter, Polly, was abducted and murdered.  For a current listing of our Illinois membership, click here.

Our Illinois members include Attorney General Lisa Madigan, Cook County State’s Attorney Richard Devine, Chicago Police Superintendent Phil Cline, and the Presidents of the Illinois and Chicago Fraternal Order of Police, Illinois Sheriffs Association, Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police, and Illinois State's Attorneys Association.