On Aug. 23, 2007, CeaseFire learned that funding that supported 25 neighborhood CeaseFire sites had been cut from the state's budget, along with funds for hundreds of other
organizations, as a result of Illinois budget battles. This meant that ongoing support for
hundreds of high-risk CeaseFire clients ended
immediately. More than 100 CeaseFire outreach workers and violence interrupters lost their jobs
and are no longer on the streets preventing violence.

CeaseFire's state funding was among some $460 million in cuts for hundreds of organizations throughout Illinois, which came amid battles between the governor and the legislature over the state FY2008 budget.

State Representatives Call for Doubling of State Funding for CeaseFire, Nov. 6, 2007

Some of the media responses to the elimination of CeaseFire's state funding are listed below.

Cardinal Francis George, Archbishop of
Chicago, speaks at a rally in support of
CeaseFire on Aug. 30, 2007, outside the
James R. Thompson Center in Chicago.

"In August, Gov. Rod Blagojevich vetoed $6.2 million that legislators had budgeted for CeaseFire as part of his broader dispute with legislators over funding priorities." -- Chicago Tribune editorial