Champaign City Council approves $1M for 7 gun violence prevention groups

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WAND) — Gun violence was one of the topics at the Champaign City Council meeting Tuesday night.The council approved funding through the Gun Violence Reduction Blueprint. It splits $1 million among seven organizations.Carle Health is one of those organizations, and it plans to use the money for several purposes. Holly Cook, Carle Health’s director of the emergency department, said the funding is huge for the hospital.“It is incredibly important for us, as Carle Health, to be a member of this blueprint, simply because we are the trauma center in the region,” Cook said. “We care for the patients who need these services. We recognize the need, and the importance of getting resources to the patients, families and communities that need them.”Since the plan began in 2021, the number of people shot has dropped 61 percent. But the need for these organizations has not changed. The hospital believes sharing resources with families can make all the difference.“A lot of it is resou