The Memorial Day weekend is viewed as the start of summer in Chicago — with all 22 beaches set to open for the summer on Friday.
As people flock to the lakefront and downtown, the city is working to ensure every neighborhood is safer.
The scene is played out all too often across Chicago — families grieving from gun violence. Pastor Donovan Price is often seen holding families up.
"I hope that they put me out of the job of being a victim advocate in the streets of Chicago. I hope it all ends," Price said, "but in any case, maybe its ending might come through the strength of prayer."
That is why every Monday evening during the summer for the past five years, a parking lot at 87th Street and the Dan Ryan Expressway transforms into a community prayer lot.
"You get people from as far as way as Glenview who come out here every Monday and pray with us," Price said.
Price said what happens in the lot is impactful. People pull up in the parking lot and ask what Price and his group are doing as they pray, but those people never turn down the prayer themselves.
City leaders welcome the prayer, and are aware of what summer brings.
"It is not a coincidence the community areas that see the most violence also sees the highest rates of unemployment," Mayor Brandon Johnson said Thursday.
Mayor Johnson said Thursday that shootings are down 36%, and homicides and violent crimes are down 21%.
The CBS data team shows last Memorial Day weekend, 41 people were shot — 12 fatally. Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling pointed out that as police work to keep violent crime down, the department is also combating violent teen takeovers.
"We know that those teens become vulnerable to fights, shootings, attacks, things of that nature," Snelling said. "We want to put an end to it before it starts."
Jermont Terry
Jermont Terry joined the CBS 2 team in October 2019. He's born and raised on Chicago's South Side. He's happy to return home to report on his community after 18 years of uncovering stories across the country.