| | April 1st, 2013 5th Edition |
 Greetings! Thanks for all the supportive messages you have been sending in. Our goal each week is to share with you many different topics that all funnel into the debate of "Where does violence start?". One hot topic here in Chicago is the school system. School closing is an obvious and painful starting point. How will closing community schools effect murder rates 1 year, 5 years, or even 10 years from now? Please read and share these articles with your family and friends. Spread the word about Project Hood. Sincerely, Project Hood Team  | | What every child deserves |
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 TOGETHER.
SHAPING THE FUTURE. At Project Choices, we are beginning to implement an incentives program to help boost attendance and compliance with program requirements. Our youth are teens with busy academic and social lives - three program days a week is substantial. The mandated must compete with that which is desired. We have formatted a method of helping the teens to achieve program goals:
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 Chicago school closings ignite furor and fears Judy Keen, USA TODAY
CHICAGO - Curtis Johnson cried when he heard that the public school where he works as a security guard and where two of his children are students will close at the end of this school year. Johnson, 42, worries his children, ages 11 and 13, will have to "walk across gang-infested neighborhoods" to get to their new school. "I don't understand that," he says. The announcement last week that Chicago Public Schools will close 54 schools before classes begin next fall is creating a furor. Jesse Ruiz, vice president of the Chicago Board of Education, says the number of schools must be pared because many are underutilized because of a shrinking student population - the number of Chicago residents fell by 200,418 from 2000 to 2010 - and because the district faces a $1 billion budget shortfall. |
|  - What is the Poverty Line, anyway? According to the 2011 U.S. Census Bureau, it is a family of four (two adults, two children under 18) that earns less than $23,021.
- The basic-needs budget for a U.S. family of 4 is $31,080 (rural Nebraska) to $64,656 (Boston, Massachusetts).
- In 2011, nearly 46.2 million Americans were living in poverty.
- Children living in poverty have a higher number of absenteeism or leave school all together because they are more likely to have to work or care for family members.
- Dropout rates of 16 to 24-year-old students who come from low income families are seven times more likely to drop out than those from families with higher incomes.
- A higher percentage of young adults (31 percent) without a high school diploma live in poverty, compared to the 24 percent of young people who finished high school.
- 40 percent of children living in poverty aren't prepared for primary schooling.
- Children that live below the poverty line are 1.3 times more likely to have developmental delays or learning disabilities than those who don't live in poverty.
- By the end of the 4th grade, African-American, Hispanic and low-income students are already two years behind grade level. By the time they reach the 12th grade they are four years behind.
- The nation's lowest-performing high schools produce 58 percent of all African-American dropouts and 50 percent of all Hispanic dropouts, compared to 22 percent of all white dropouts.
- Less than 30 percent of students in the bottom quarter of incomes enroll in a four-year school. Among that group - less than half graduate.
Are you inspired to make a difference? Check out our ideas for running a school supply drive! GO
Read More. . . .
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 Gang 'Curse' A Reality For CPS Kids As Schools Close By Mark Konkol, DNAinfo Writer at Large Next fall, Old Town kids at Manierre Elementary might have to walk four blocks to Jenner Elementary Academy of the Arts in River North. It's about nine minutes on foot - past the Dominick's, across Division Street and through Seward Park to their new school. That might not sound like a big deal - but it is. In that part of town - where the notoriously gang-infested Cabrini Green towers have been torn down and replaced with an urban farm and an increasing number of condos - warring gangs battle over drug turf and hold long-standing grudges in the slowly gentrifying 'hood. "We're dealing with a generational curse," Ald. Walter Burnett (27th) said. "Some of these kid's parents were killed by other kid's parents. That's the real stuff in that neighborhood." |
 Baby shot dead in stroller; 2 Georgia teens charged with murder By Lolly Bowean, Chicago Tribune reporter
Brunswick, Georgia (CNN) -- Two teen boys in this coastal citywere charged with murder Friday, accused in the fatal shooting of a 13-month-old boy who was in a stroller being pushed by his mother. Aided by a description and a check of school attendance records to determine who was not in classes Thursday, officers searched for the young suspects and took them into custody, police said. The mother told reporters the shooting occurred when one youth demanded money. Read more. . . |
Save the Date June 15, 2013 ProjectHOOD will Kick-Off the Summer with a 5K Walk and a 10K Run, culminating with a Peace and Health Rally. Our city needs something that will foster collaboration and community. Going into the summer, it's no secret, history has suggested that our children are at a greater risk of exposure to violence and we need something that will produce hope. Chicago is a runners' city and in conjunction with the City of Chicago and others, this could ideally be the event of the year! |
|  Project HOOD(773) 326-4200
"Stop ganging up on each other, but gang up on the problem!"
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