Ameena Matthews
Recipient of the 2012 Dr. Betty Shabazz Award
Mother and wife, Ameena Matthews has dedicated her life and career as a Community Activist for
Peace Building and Social Change. In 2006, Ameena Matthews joined Ceasefire, an award winning scientific
public health model that has been proven to reduce shootings and killings. In this capacity, for the past six years,
she has used her experience and knowledge in her neighborhoods, to seek out and build relationships with troubled
youths who are susceptible to the social norms of violence that still exist on the streets.
A Senior Violence Interrupter is a highly Specialized Violence Intervention Expert who works to mediate conflict
on the front end to stop the transmission of violence from one person to another. Her reputation and connection to
the community provides her access to intercept the whispers that may lead to a homicide. As testament to her
success with this program, her personal influence in the West Inglewood Beat 35 community where she works has
allowed her to mediate over 65 conflicts, organized over 49 shooting responses, worked with over 75 high-risk participants
and organized over 10 peace summits in 2011.
In 2009, Ameena became the subject of a National and International
award winning documentary ‘The Interrupters’ produced by Steve James,
co-produced Alex Kotlowitz, & Zak Piper. It has been accepted in
many film festivals and won awards such as Sundance Film Festival at
Park City Utah where Matthews had the honor of sharing the experience
with her family. The documentary features her as a riveting Community
Activist and Behavior Practitioner, while showing her loving and
nurturing attributes. In 2011, New York Times magazines awarded her
with the top five performances in 2011 although ‘The Interrupters’ was
a documentary. Ameena Matthews has appeared on the local affiliates of
every major television network, as well as CNN, BBC, Frontline, and
HLN. She also has been interviewed by various National Public Radio
narratives and has been covered in USA Today, Chicago Tribune, Chicago
SunTimes, The Chicago Redeye, Jet Magazine, New York Times and numerous
others. In 2011, Ameena Matthews received that TedX Midwest Heroes
Award presented by Illinois’ Governor Quinn, and was honored as the
2011 Chicagoan of the Year as well as an innumerable amount of other
awards and recognitions. In the beginning of 2012 Ameena Matthews was a
guest on the Colbert Report.
Growing up in one of the toughest neighborhoods in
Chicago raised by her single grandmother, Ameena Matthews observed the
dereliction cause by the violent epidemic inflicted on the community.
From that early exposure she committed herself to ending the mindset
that violence is a normal behavior in Chicago. Prior to her journey
with Ceasefire, Ameena has always promoted peace building through block
and community center gatherings, youth expression through the art of
music, dance, and spoken word in the Southshore and Inglewood
neighborhood where she was raised. Additionally, she has help organized
peace summits to bring youth from the surrounding neighborhoods
together to bring forth resolution to conflict.
Ameena is constantly in the neighborhood working to
strengthen the communities so that they have the capacity to exercise
formal social control
and respond in non-violent ways towards issues that affect them. Ameena
praises her God Allah (SWT) for her Emotional, Spiritual, and Physical
Health, to continue her path of purpose, peace building, faith
building, and community mobilization. Ameena credits her supportive
& loving family as well as her early life experience’s for
inspiring her desire to Educate and affect Behavior Modification not
only in Chicago but nationally and internationally.