The Little Village Gang Violence Reduction Project in Chicago

consistently made it clear that his first order of business was to control crime and to protect andserve the community, and that the destruction of gangs should be accomplished almostexclusively through police suppression. A key question that arises is to what extent he knewabout and really supported the GVRP. Part of the answer could be that he lacked a clearunderstanding of the purpose and nature of the GVRP at its initiation, and that once heunderstood the purpose and nature of Project operations in Little Village, he was against it. Hadthe Mayor supported the Project, the approach would readily have been sustained, particularlysince local and national funding were available for three more years at the time the Project wasofficially terminated by the Chicago Police Department.Organizational Mission and Power. Few agencies in Chicago had an interest in the gangproblem other than through suppression, or avoidance. Youth agencies were mainly interested inthe prevention of delinquency or gang membership for younger youth, mainly throughrecreational programs. There were no social-intervention or outreach youth-worker programsconcerned with the gang problem in Little Village. Schools continually searched for methodssuch as “zero tolerance,” weapons screening, school uniform requirements, and drug free zonesas well as suspensions and expulsions that would “get rid of gang youth.” Schools used thepolice to control potential or actual gang outbreaks on school grounds. They also used police oryouth-agency personnel to teach youth to avoid joining a gang. The primary focus was on “goodkids” in the school and how to protect them from gang members and gang activity, and not onthe provision of special educational training or social support programs to keep gang or gangproneyouth in the regular school system.7.5