University of Illinois at Chicago
Chicago Project for Violence Prevention
1603 W. Taylor
Chicago
ILUSA
60612
Biographical Sketch: Tio Hardiman
Tio Hardiman, Director for CeaseFire Illinois, has dedicated his life and career to community organizing for peace and social change. In 1999, Mr. Hardiman joined CeaseFire, an award-winning public health model that has been scientifically proven to reduce shootings and killings. In this capacity, Mr. Hardiman helped oversee expansion of the program from 5 Chicago-based community sites to 26 sites throughout the State of Illinois.
In 2004, under Tio’s direction, CeaseFire received additional funding from the State of Illinois to immediately expand from 5 to 15 communities and from 20 to 80 Outreach Workers. Mr. Hardiman also piloted a successful program innovation that year: the introduction of Violence Interrupters. This addition of highly specialized violence intervention experts work to mediate conflict on the “front-end.” Their reputation and connections in the community provide them access to leaders and influential decision makers in street organizations. As testament to the success of this program overall, homicides declined in Chicago by 25 percent, to a total of 448 homicides, a rate of 15.5 homicides per 100,000 residents that same year. This was the fewest number of homicides in the city since 1965.
Today, CeaseFire has been replicated in 17 Chicago communities, 7 communities in Illinois, and in Baltimore, Phoenix, AZ., Kansas City, and Basra, Iraq and in 5 cities in New York State. In addition, more than 30 cities and 20 nations concerned about their own levels of shootings and killings have expressed interest in learning more about the model. Mr. Hardiman is a frequent media contributor on the issues of Chicago violence and gang conflict. He has appeared on the local affiliate of every major television network, as well as CNN and the BBC. Mr. Hardiman has also been interviewed for numerous National Public Radio stories and has been covered by the New York Times Magazine, The Chicago Tribune, The Chicago Red Eye, Jet Magazine, The Chicago Sun Times, and numerous others.
Growing up in Chicago’s notorious Henry Horner housing projects, Mr. Hardiman witnessed firsthand the devastating affect the violence epidemic has on a community. From that early exposure, he committed himself to ending violence in Chicago. Before joining CeaseFire, Mr. Hardiman organized more than 100 block clubs to strategize community plans for public safety on behalf of the Chicago Alliance for Neighborhood Safety and held leadership positions for Bethel New Life and Chicago’s CAPS Program. He holds a Bachelors degree in Liberal Arts from Northeastern University and a Masters degree in Inner City Studies.