U. of C. study backs activists’ push for jobs for youths BY MAUDLYNE IHEJIRIKA Staff Reporter For Timothy Arnold, 17, of West Pullman, One Summer Plus gave him his first job this summer. For Zachary Robinson, 22, of Chatham, it was more of a saving grace. Robinson had just gotten out of the Cook County Sheriff’s Boot Camp in April. A counselor there encouraged him to apply for the program, which offers a job and therapy. “I’m so thankful for this. If I didn’t get a job, I don’t know how I’d be getting money,” said Robinson, who served eight months for attempted robbery. He and Arnold are among 1,000 black males ages 16-24 — at least two-thirds of whom have previous arrests — hired this year through the city’s One Summer Plus program. A study by the University of Chicago Crime Lab found that the anti-violence program helped reduce arrests for violent crimes among the youths by 51 percent by providing jobs, therapy and mentoring in 2012. The U. of C. study of 1,634 mostly black youths in grades eight to 12 — selected from 13 Chicago Public Schools in areas plagued by high violence and poverty — provides breakthrough scientific evidence that jobs help reduce violence. Amen. Alleluia. That was the reaction Tuesday of community activists who have long advocated jobs as a remedy to Chicago’s inner city violence. “I hope they didn’t pay a lot of money, because we’ve been saying this forever,” said the Rev. Michael Pfleger, who has used recreation, counseling and jobs as antidotes to gang violence in St. Sabina’s Auburn-Gresham neighborhood. “There’s never been a doubt in my mind that a major solution to ending this violence is jobs, education, opportunities. We always knew it in the street,” he said. “We think the combination of jobs, plus mentoring, plus the cognitive behavioral therapy is a winning combination,” said Evelyn Diaz, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Family and Support Services. “It can take a lot of forms. But the idea is to help teens control impulsive or automatic behavior.” Email: mihejirika@suntimes Twitter: @maudlynei Powered by TECNAVIA Copyright © 2013 Sun-Times Media, LLC 08/07/2013
Posted on: Wed, 07 Aug 2013 20:54:19 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015