For 55 years Broader Urban Involvement and Leadership Development, known as BUILD, has dedicated its time to youth in Chicago.The West Side organization reaches more than 2,500 youth each year through its gang intervention, violence prevention and youth development programs.Chief Program Officer for BUILD Monique Draper described what they're trying to create with their summer programming,
Broader Urban Involvement and Leadership Development reaches youth through Chicago gang intervention, violence prevention and development programs."Mentorship is the cornerstone of everything that we do. We have our youth that are connected to mentors here. Every youth gets a mentor," she said. "It builds those positive relationships with youth and their families. When we have mentors, the kids call them up.
In some Chicago neighborhoods, the Black youth jobless rate was 92%. The report was commissioned by the Alternative Schools Network and written by the Great Cities Institute at the University of Illinois Chicago."The neighborhoods are in dire straits. They don't have much in the way of an economy, very few jobs. What used to be an industrial economy in the 50s, 60s is a service economy," he said.