Media Justice Blog

Daley caps mayoral career by gutting C.A.P.S. program

December 03, 2010 - no comments

The latest effective preventive program to be gutted is the Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy (C.A.P.S.) program, in which trust is built between neighborhoods and the police officers who serve them.

Tags: Chicago, violence prevention

Illinois Youth Town Hall focuses on reducing violence

April 28, 2010 - 1 Comment

The Illinois Youth Town Hall, co-sponsored by the Roosevelt Institute and the Leaders Investing For Equality campaign, attracted about 400 students from Chicago area universities and high schools, including 40 Northwestern students.

Tags: 10-15, 15-19, 19-24, academia involvement, Albany park, Chicago, community involvement, CPS, dyett high school, gang violence, government involvement, northwestern university, november 2009, roosevelt institute, the daily northwestern, youth voices

The Power of Words

April 21, 2010 - no comments

Tamara Lynch didn't perform in a local poetry slam contest last Wednesday for the money or the guaranteed job offered at a West Side McDonald¡¦s restaurant.
The Austin Business and Entrepreneurship Academy student did it because she enjoys writing poetry.


Tags: 15-19, African American, Austin, Austin Weekly News, Chicago, chicago suburbs, community involvement, CPS, december 2009, East Garfield, gang violence, urban prep charted academy for young men, west side, youth voices

Global agency reaches out to youth on South Side

March 01, 2010 - no comments

World Vision, which provides impoverished children in developing nations around the world with access to clean water, nutritious food, education and health care, launched its South Side operation Monday at Pulliam Christian Reformed Church in the Roseland neighborhood.

Tags: Chicago, Chicago Breaking News, church involvement, gang violence, march 2010, non CPS, poverty, Roseland, south side, street violence, west side

Juvenile Probation-A Day on the Front Lines

February 26, 2010 - no comments

Rodney Purdy is a Cook County Juvenile Probation officer. His job kicks in after a young person is found delinquent, or guilty, by a judge. Probation officers, or P.O.s, are, in a way, the eyes and ears of the court, making sure the kid follows through on the judge’s orders. Maybe to go through drug rehab or do community service or attend anger management class. The P.O is supposed to make sure the young person’s getting what’s needed, to stay out of prison and get a new footing in life.

Tags: 15-19, 848, African American, Chicago, CPS, criminal charges, drugs, Englewood, female, gang violence, government involvement, gun violence, january 2010, male, NPR, police involvement, poverty, prison industrial complex, roseland, school violence, south side, youth voices

Getting Out and Staying Out

January 27, 2010 - 1 Comment

Half the young people who get out of Illinois youth prisons end up back inside. They
just can't make it outside. When Illinois broke off its youth prisons from adult ones
three and a half years ago, it vowed to change that.

Tags: 15-19, 848, Chicago, criminal charges, female, gang violence, hispaniclatino, january 2010, non CPS, NPR, police involvement, prison industrial complex, school violence, south side, stealing, youth voices

Army of advocates fights for at-risk youths

January 12, 2010 - no comments

Chicago's program, which is just getting under way, will offer advocates to the 250 to 300 high school students deemed most likely to be the victims of violent crime, based on a statistical model. Baltimore's program is different in that it offers the program to youth offenders as an alternative to jail.

Tags: 15-19, African American, baltimore, Chicago, chicago tribune, CPS, criminal charges, drugs, government involvement, gun violence, january 2010, male, murder, police involvement, poverty, sexual violence, street violence, washington DC, youth voices

Austin Weekly News | ‘It’s your child killing my child’

January 10, 2010 - no comments

Kesia, as family and friends called her,
was inside the Beefee Restaurant on Lockwood and North
Avenue with a friend the evening of Aug. 28, 1993 when she
became the unintended victim of a gang-related drive-by shooting.

Tags: 10-15, African American, Austin, Austin Weekly News, Chicago, chicago tribune, community involvement, CPS, drugs, female, gang violence, gun violence, january 2010, male, murder, no arrest, north lawndale, oak park, south side, street violence, west garfield park, west side

Fenger emergency federal grant used for “public health approach to violence”

January 08, 2010 - no comments

In High Schools Fenger High School will use more than half of the $500,000 grant promised by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan in October after the beating death of Derrion Albert to provide more support to teachers in how to manage students without harsh punishments.

Tags: 15-19, African American, catalyst notebook, Chicago, CPS, fenger high school, government involvement, january 2010, male, murder, violence as public health issue

Deconstructing Chicago Youth Violence

January 06, 2010 - no comments

Headlines blare whenever a young person is killed in Chicago – especially if it’s at the hands of another youth. Community activists, educators and politicians alike are wrestling with how to stop these murders and some are calling it a crisis. But that kind of hyperbole may be misplaced. The youth violence the city is experiencing today is not as extreme as past decades.

Tags: 15-19, academia involvement, African American, Chicago, chicago public radio, community involvement, CPS, drugs, fenger high school, gang violence, government involvement, gun violence, january 2010, julian high school, male, murder, NPR, police involvement, poverty, roseland, simeon high school, south side, street violence, wbez, youth voices