Chicago ends year with fewer shootings, but more robbers use guns as overall crime remains high

Andre Thomas, executive director of Integrity and Fidelity, speaks to outreach workers during a meeting at the Faith Temple Baptist Church before the workers headed out to canvass hotspots in the East and West Englewood areas on Dec. 27, 2023. (Pat Nabong/Sun-Times)

Numbers don’t mean much to Jonas Jacox, who works to make a stretch of Roseland safer.

He instead trusts the power of his street outreach, even when the odds seem against him. Like when the gang member he was mentoring was shot dead on his way to an anti-violence program over the summer.