NCJ Number
149365
Journal
FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin Volume: 63 Issue: 5 Dated: (May 1994) Pages: 8-12
Date Published
1994
Length
5 pages
Annotation
A University of Chicago sociologist initiated the Chicago Area Project (CAP) in the Russell Square Park community in 1934, a project that remains committed to juvenile gang and delinquency prevention.
Abstract
The sociologist believed that the solution to Chicago's gang problem involved reaching out to gangs and redirecting them into community life. His method emphasized a bottom-up, proactive approach and included "curbstone counseling" to reach juveniles where they hung out. The CAP also involved some unsavory elements of the community in neighborhood planning and decisionmaking. Currently, the CAP uses a three-pronged approach to gang and delinquency prevention that involves direct service, advocacy, and community involvement. The project empowers residents to work together to improve neighborhood conditions and to ensure the physical, social, and moral well-being of children. It seeks to use established neighborhood institutions, such as churches and clubs, and focuses on the neighborhood as a whole. Forty community committees have been established throughout Chicago. The CAP initially provides grants to these committees, but they must eventually raise their own funds. Each committee conducts a wide range of activities, including recreation and sports programs, efforts to enhance school-community relations, and activities to improve neighborhood conditions. The committees also work with local police officers and with probation and parole officers to maintain contact with juvenile offenders in court, institutions, and the community. The CAP participates in the Community Based Youth Services Program to provide such services as crisis intervention, emergency foster home placement, job training, and counseling. Resources needed to establish local committees are noted.