Albert Stinson, 38, mentors 10 boys at Marshall High School, on Chicago's West Side. Most of them are affiliated with gangs and have criminal records — and are at serious risk for becoming victims of violence. Dianna Douglas/NPR hide caption
Youths And Gun Violence: Chicago's Challenge NPR examines what some call an epidemic of youth violence in Chicago and the city's intensive new efforts to try to reduce it.
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Youths And Gun Violence: Chicago's Challenge
NPR examines Chicago's efforts to calm a wave of of youth violence.
A CeaseFire meeting in southwest Chicago. The program stages group interventions in risky neighborhoods and works with gang members to help decrease shootings and killings. David Gilkey/NPR hide caption
Chicago Public Schools' Safe Passage program places adults along the routes students take to and from school to keep an eye out for trouble. David Gilkey/NPR hide caption
Creating Calm In Chicago's Schools
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Students participate in a team-building activity. These 13- and 14-year-olds are vulnerable to gangs and have already been exposed to violence. Fifteen students who attend Chicago Public Schools have died by gunfire this school year. David Gilkey/NPR hide caption
Marcus Spies was shot while taking out the garbage. He lives in Roseland, a tough south side neighborhood where gang fights claim lives and wound many. Spies says that one of the gangs wanted him to join up, but he declined. He believes they shot him in retaliation. David Gilkey/NPR hide caption