Does anyone know if Oprah or other celebs are doing anything for the Chicago youth crime issue?

I have been listening to CNN Don Lemon and he is really having a great show tonight on the youth crime issues in Chicago. I have often wondered why celebs like Oprah and others aren't doing more in Chicago as they are in Africa in order to try and bring the youth crime rate down there. Anyone from there want to chime in on this?

As one commentator on CNN Don Lemon's Show tonight said, "This will spread across America in the future". I believe he is right. From what I have heard it has a lot to do with the breakdown of neighborhood schools and poverty issues. Gangs are taking over because of it. I just wanted to open a discussion so those that are in the area can give us some of their experiences and ideas to help bridge the gap so Chicago and others cities can get back some kind of hope in the future for their (our) youth.

Thanks.......:fistbump:

(only because she teamed up with that rock star dude, Boner, to sell the media players to begin with! Media influences people, so she shouldn't have been in such a snit when hearing kids saying they wanted ipods. She helped sell them in commercials and other ads. Kids equated her with the devices. She's good with marketing, but she's still human... but she could have said "Well kids, how do you earn an ipod? That's right! Through education." But she didn't.)

And withe the problems it's faced, it could use a little TLC from its patron.

I think there should be more focus on the USA issues now with our economy going downhill. Our youth cannot be re-manufactured.

It is such a tragedy. I wonder what Martin Luther King Jr. would do about this if he were alive? I hope there is an answer someday to help stop this senseless killing of innocent children.

For a riveting piece of journalism, read the piece in this week's New Yorker by Jon Lee Anderson titled "Gangland: Life in the Favelos of Rio de Janeiro."

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/10/05/091005fa_fact_anderson

Oh shoot, it's not the whole article, just an abstract. Go get the newsstand copy. It's an absolutely fascinating inside look at the favelos of Rio and their culture. Honestly. 5,000 murders in Rio last year (mostly drug-gang related). Compare that to Chicago, with its 508 for 2008.

I'm not trying to make light of the horrible problem we have here with youth and crime. It hit home very personally for us last year, when my husband's teaching assistant lost her 14-year-old cousin to a gang shooting. He was simply in the car driving home with his sister when the gunshots starting ringing out. He threw himself over his baby sister in the back seat and took the bullet. He died. We were devastated and called the kid's school to find out what we could do. We still haven't heard back. There are many many initiatives in the city, but nothing really seems to be working. I don't know that Oprah is the answer. People like Father Pfleger are very involved. It's devastating.

But all I can say is: at least we're not Rio, where the loss of life is ten times greater.

This is America - We are supposed to be better then that but in the last 8 years our treasury has been raped for war profiteering and some of our Banks have used their power to pilfer the middle class! With some here who have millions it seems that they should at least try and make a difference. I would if I had it.

Here is their website if you didn't know about them:

http://www.gatesfoundation.org/regions/Pages/default.aspx?1#/?action=region&id=north-america

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Do these people like Oprah and the Gates' Charity not understand the issues right here in River City?

I have asked this before but I guess it isn't "celeb" enough for some.

international patent rights. Don't want any precidents that might mess up their cashengine in the future.

They are the primary corporate funder of Thrive by Five a program focused on making sure at at risk young and their parents get interventions to help them succeed before they start school. This includes family support centers and in some communities also supports visiting nurses who help parents learn about appropriate development stages and recognize and address developmental and learning deficits. The Gates Foundation was big into education funding in the US before it began the health ventures in Africa and that funding emphasis hasn't slowed down at all.

The foundation launched the "Get Schooled" initiative last month which focuses on structural improvements in education systems. Their Dec 2008 to MDC, Inc is focused on helping teens frm underpriveleged families get into community colleges. At this point there are Gates funded MDC Inc Achieving the Dream programs up and running in New York, PA, Texas and California with additional programs starting up in Illinois and Michigan.

is a start! And they've got big purse strings they can open. I read Oprah's ipod comment years ago, and that says a lot, who knows, she may give tens of millions a year to local youth run groups.

I have to say, I've noticed an uptick in youth crime in the local area I live, and in the local news. I sure hope we all keep bringing up to our elected leaders from main st to D.C., what this economic situation is doing to our youth culture. B*sh really has sent our country down a big ol' whirlpool, hoping Obama & Congress can put the plug back in the drain and stop the sinking over the next couple years.

I don't have money to give but I have concern for the youth of our country. All our youth. I would really like to see an outreach program for the youth of Chicago to be given a voice like Spike Lee did in New Orleans when he gave out those camcorders and let the youth give reports on their situations. That would give an incite on what is really needed and what the problems are as they see it from their own perspectives.

Sad but true.

In Chicago, the problem is exacerbated by the fact that the violence is not only limited to particular neighborhoods, but to a particular half of the city. Most people on the North side have no need or desire to go to the South side like, ever. It may as well be Kansas City. You think a parent who owns a fat condo in Lincoln Park and sends her kids to school at the various magnet programs and then Northside College Prep really gives a shit about what happens in some Southside gang neighborhood? It may as well be a completely different city. When they say CPS students are being killed in scandalous numbers, they don't mean anybody from Lane, or NCP, even if there are frequent murders and plenty of gang activity just down the street from NCP on Kedzie (Latin Kings and MS13 own chunks of Albany Park right now, and I know, because I live here).

West Walker in da house!

way before the condos.

expected to be involved in every cause there is, how about those who do NOTHING for NOBODY ... Ask them!

and Medicaid to the sick to think about this: If you lived in a gated community and you had to drive through slums to get to another gated community would you think you lived a quality life?

Oprah lives in Chicago or the outskirts. That is her home base. I think that she could and should do more for that communities youth then I have seen her do and at least bring it up on her shows. I don't watch her much any more because most of the stuff she does, celebrity interviews and such just don't interest me. I said not only her but others in that community and beyond such as Spike Lee that I mentioned that did a lot in New Orleans, and others not just AA, could and should jump in here and get something going. Just my opinion. I was very glad to see President Obama is sending some people there to look over the situation. I only wish that we as Americans could be more concerned about all our children as I know President Obama and Michelle are trying to do.

She's not the only rich person in Chicago who could do something.

:patriot:

i don't see the connection. :shrug:

Get the message out. Like I said do something like Spike Lee did with the camcorders he gave out in New Orleans and the teens took them and told "their" story. Lobby for better neighborhoods, safety measures, and incentives like Georgia has for their students -

Can't wait to get to school
by Christopher Lancette
July 2007

http://www.wikigwinnett.com/content.cfm?Action=wiki&WikiID=4910

Duluth company uses animal kingdom to increase attendance, reduce tardiness

When attorney Rick Smith took his children on a once-in-a-lifetime winter wilderness excursion to Yellowstone National Park a few years ago, he had no idea he was breaking the law back home in Georgia.

His offense? Violating a new state law punishing parents whose kids miss more than five unexcused days of school.

Smith's subsequent research into the origins of the local legislation - rising concerns about poor school attendance and the fact that 30 percent of Georgia public school students racked up more than 10 unexcused absences each year - lead him to an idea for a new business. With partners David Dobra and David Dalbo, he founded Sharp Schools in May of 2005.

"We provide a rewards program that gives elementary school children incentives to attend school and be on time," Smith says.

The program's foundation consists of colorful wildlife trading cards that feature photos and fun facts about land animals and creatures from the sea. The cards also form the pieces of a puzzle. All students who attend school and are on time for all five days in a week receive a card. Students who meet certain attendance criteria for the whole school quarter also become eligible for drawings in which winners receive stuffed animal toys.

"It's about providing positive motivation," Smith says. "Kids love animals. Improving attendance gives schools more educational opportunities. Schools can't teach kids if kids aren't there."

(more at link)

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Find or fund safe ways to get to and from schools. Talk about it and see what is being done in other big cities. It just isn't funding, it's involvement and using your bully pulpit!

I am sure there are other things that can be done but it is a start!

isn't that more the responsibility of the parents?

btw- are you at all aware of how much oprah gives or does for the community?

Not just for Chicago youth but all youth in our country. Parents of these children probably have issues from poverty and where they live. They, I am sure, would welcome some help in this area. I just haven't seen much hoopla coming from celebs about our own countries issues and I would like to see more!

that's why kids have parents.

celebrity is not a replacement for proper parenting.

Just another celebrity complaining how nobody does anything for the homeless, hungry or individual rights, while sitting on one of their 5 estates and being served a 7 course meal, while being protected by armed guards. Just as bad as the jackass sitting in Starbucks drinking an overpriced latte and plunking on their laptop while complaining how nobody helps the poor.