The Little Village Gang Violence Reduction Project in Chicago

Developing the Roles and Responsibilities of the Youth WorkersAn early and continuing concern of the youth workers was their inability to respond togang members requests for jobs, or referrals to agencies for jobs. The workers were not yetknowledgeable about resources or agencies that could be helpful in identifying jobs. R. C., theAssistant Project Director, promised that he could provide jobs for several of the youth, but thisdid not materialize and was a source of embarrassment to him, as well as to the other workers.More and better efforts in job preparation and placement would be needed. The leaders of aLatin King group said that they were putting the youth workers and the Project on “probation,”waiting to see evidence of real job assistance.It was important to orient staff to the distinctive character of the Project, the roles thatoutreach community youth workers would have to play and the obstacles they would encounter.An objective for the workers was to make contact with the gang youth based on the goals andobjectives of the Project, which had to be articulated, specified, and respecified again and againover the first months.The target youth were to be gang members who were shooters, hardcore, or influentials.We were not primarily concerned with peripheral youth, non-gang youth, non-violent gangyouth, or even family members, except as they were integrally involved in the life space of ourtarget youth and contributed directly or indirectly to their violent behavior. At the start of theProject we were not primarily interested in certain types of non-violent delinquent behavior bygang youth, for example, truancy and graffiti. As time went on, we took a more holistic view ofthe nature and causes of gang violence. Gang youth, 13 or 14 years of age, hanging out on thestreets in groups during school hours, could contribute to drug use, graffiti, or laying in wait for3.14