How Long Will I Cry? (41 page)

Demoiselle 2 Femme (D2F), French for “Young
Ladies to Women,” is a not-for-profit organization committed to
providing holistic programs and services that support adolescent
females in a successful transition to womanhood. T-awannda Piper,
whose narrative opens this book, is the director of programs for
the organization.

Enlace Chicago - Violence
Prevention
2329 S. Troy Ave.
Chicago, IL 60623
Phone: 773.823.1062
Fax: 773.475.7953
Email: [email protected]
Social Media: http://www.facebook.com/enlacechicago or
https://twitter.com/EnlaceChicago
Website: www.enlacechicago.org

Enlace Chicago has one of the most
comprehensive violence-prevention initiatives in the Chicago
metropolitan area, providing services ranging from school-based
prevention work to advocacy for reform in juvenile justice policy.
Enlace is based in the Little Village community.

Gordie’s Foundation
6430 S.
Ashland Ave.
Chicago, IL 60636
Phone: 773.434.3920
Fax: 773.476.7526
Email: [email protected]
Social Media:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gordies-Foundation/163496413678066?fref=ts
Website: www.gf28.org

Founded by Audrey Wright, whose story appears
in this book, Gordie’s Foundation provides ex-offenders with
marketable vocational training that can be the springboard to a
productive lifestyle change. The organization is based in the
Englewood community on the South Side.

Greater Roseland Community Committee
-
Youth Voices Against Violence
11026 S. Indiana Ave.
Chicago, IL 60628
Phone: 773.629.8804
Email: [email protected]
Social Media: https://www.facebook.com/groups/364009450334/

After losing her son to gun violence in 2003,
Gwen Baxter founded this organization so that fewer mothers would
have to go through an experience such as hers. Youth Voices
provides after-school programs, including tutoring and recreation,
as well as summer youth employment.

J-Def Peace Project
1436 W. 18th
St.
Chicago, IL 60608
Phone: 312.405.8221
Email: [email protected]
Social Media:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-J-DEF-Peace-Project/171459632918845

The J-Def Peace Project uses
multidisciplinary arts to foster a peaceful community. Its goal is
to continue the work of aspiring hip-hop artist Jeff Abbey
Maldonado Jr., who was murdered in the Pilsen neighborhood in 2009.
His father, Jeff Maldonado Sr., talks about the young man’s life
and legacy in this book.

Kids Off the Block, Inc.
11627 S.
Michigan Ave.
Chicago, IL 60628
Phone: 773.995.9077
Fax: 773.264.3912
Email: [email protected] or [email protected]
Website: http://www.kidsofftheblock.us

Founded by Diane Latiker, whose narrative
appears in this book, Kids Off the Block provides at-risk,
low-income youth positive alternatives to gangs, drugs, truancy,
violence and the juvenile justice system.

Latino Cultural Exchange
Coalition
2646 W. Division St.
Chicago, IL 60622
Phone: 773.367.1374
Email: [email protected]

Co-founded by Max Cerda, whose story can be
found on these pages, this group—located in Humboldt Park—works
with at-risk young people and ex-offenders.

Lazarus Jones Save Our Children
Campaign
P.O. Box 257474
Chicago, IL 60625
Phone: 773.386.0750
Email: [email protected]
Social Media:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lazarus-Jones-Save-Our-Children-Campaign/129568373810731?ref=hl
Website: http://www.lazarusjonessocc.org/

Founded by Pamela Hester-Jones, whose story
appears on these pages, the Lazarus Jones Save Our Children
Campaign focuses on improving safety within our communities through
support, counseling and educational workshops.

Marillac Social Center
212 S.
Francisco Ave.
Chicago, IL 60612
Phone: 773.722.7440
Fax: 773.722.1469
Email: [email protected]
Social Media:
https://www.facebook.com/MarillacSt.VincentFamilyServices and
https://twitter.com/MSVChicago
Website: www.marillachouse.org

Since 1914, Marillac Social Center has been
serving the needs of the poor and working poor of the West Side of
Chicago. Sponsored by the Daughters of Charity, Marillac Social
Center provides vital programs and services in the areas of child
development, social services, family services, senior services and
youth programs.

Now Is The Time
Website:
http://www.nowisthetimechicago.org

Now Is The Time is a citywide initiative
aimed at inspiring young people to make positive change in their
communities and stop youth violence and intolerance. The
organizations behind this effort include Steppenwolf and many of
Chicago’s other leading theater companies, as well as the Chicago
Public Library, Facing History and Ourselves, and dozens of other
organizations and institutions.

Parents of Murdered Children, Inc.
(POMC)
Little Company of Mary Hospital and Health Care
Centers
2800 W. 95th St.
West Pavilion, Room 8536
Evergreen Park, IL 60805
Phone: 708.720.6104
Alt. Phone: 773.847.1613
Website: www.pomc.com/chicago/index.htm

Parents of Murdered Children, Inc. is a
non-profit self-help support group for survivors of homicide
victims. The group offers follow-up with supportive family services
after the murder of a family member or friend. The Chicago Area
Chapter of POMC holds monthly meetings, provides a telephone
network of support, supplies information about the grief process,
organizes a speaker’s bureau and provides accompaniment for
survivors who must attend court proceedings.

Precious Blood Ministry
P.O. Box
09379
Chicago, IL 60609
Phone: 773.952.6643
Fax: 773.952.6739
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.pbmr.org

Located in the Back of the Yards
neighborhood, Precious Blood Ministry works with young people 14 to
24 years old, many of whom are court-involved or are coming out of
detention or incarceration. Precious Blood Ministry employs a
restorative-justice program that tries to create a safe haven for
young people, engage them and help them access whatever resources
they need, including mentoring, job placement, housing and
education.

Project H.O.O.D. (Helping Others Obtain
Destiny)
6620 S. Martin Luther King Dr.
Chicago, IL 60637
Phone: 773.326.4200
Website: http://www.projecthood.org/
Social Media: https://www.facebook.com/PastorCoreyBrooks or
https://twitter.com/CoreyBBrooks

Pastor Corey Brooks, whose story appears on
these pages, founded Project H.O.O.D. to build a community center
and call attention to street violence on Chicago’s South Side.

Project NIA
1530 W. Morse
Ave.
Chicago, IL 60626
Phone: 773.392.5165
Email: [email protected]
Social
Media: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Project-NIA/218584157088
or https://twitter.com/projectnia
Website: www.project-nia.org

Project NIA supports youth in trouble with
the law, as well as those victimized by violence and crime, through
community-based alternatives to the criminal legal system. The
group advocates for redirecting resources from youth incarceration
to youth opportunities.

Purpose Over Pain
P.O. Box
1235
South Holland, IL 60473
Phone: 773.234.8117
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.purposeoverpain.org

Purpose Over Pain was formed in 2007 by
members of seven families who had lost children to senseless gun
violence. The co-founders include Pamela Montgomery-Bosley, whose
story is in this book. Purpose Over Pain works to assist families
victimized by gun violence by helping with funeral expenses,
offering counseling and directing them to support groups. Members
of the group also lobby for common-sense gun legislation and speak
at schools and community events about gun violence and what it does
to communities.

Southside Together Organizing for Power
(STOP)
602 E. 61st St.
Chicago, IL 60637
Phone: 773.217.9598
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.stopchicago.org

STOP is a community organization that fights
for South Side residents on issues such as gentrification,
displacement and health cuts, as well as youth incarceration and
criminalization.

Strengthening Chicago’s Youth
(SCY)
Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of
Chicago
225 E. Chicago Ave., Box 157
Chicago, IL 60611
Phone: 312.227.6678
Email: [email protected]
Social Media: https://www.facebook.com/StrengtheningChicagosYouth
or https://twitter.com/SCY_Chicago
Website: www.scy-chicago.org

Spearheaded by Lurie Children’s, SCY is a
group of private and public stakeholders that takes a public-health
approach to violence prevention, with a focus on policy, systems
and environmental change. SCY believes that preventing violence
before it occurs requires a balanced effort that addresses the
complex factors underlying violence and builds on the assets of
youth, families and communities.

UCAN
3737 N. Mozart St.
Chicago, IL 60618
Phone: 773.588.0180
Fax: 773.588.7762
Email: [email protected]
Social: https://www.facebook.com/UCANChicagoland or
www.twitter.com/UCANchicago
Website: www.ucanchicago.org

UCAN strives to build strong youth and
families through compassionate healing, education and empowerment.
UCAN aims to help prevent violence by focusing on non-violent
conflict resolution strategies, mentoring, youth empowerment,
leadership development and advocacy.

YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago -
Youth Safety and Violence Prevention
1608 W. 21st
Place
Chicago, IL 60608
Phone: 312.587.2243
Fax: 312.447.3096
Email: [email protected]
Website: ymcachicago.org/programs/gang-intervention

The YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago provides
leadership and initiatives that help make neighborhoods safe
through a unique combination of collaborative community organizing,
education and training, family-wellness programs, and intensive
youth and family outreach. Through the Youth Safety and Violence
Prevention and Street Intervention Program, the Y integrates
evidence-based prevention, intervention and reduction strategies
and has a presence in 11 of Chicago’s at-risk communities including
Humboldt Park, Little Village, Logan Square, Pilsen and South
Chicago.

Youth Guidance
1 N. LaSalle St.,
Suite 900
Chicago, IL 60602
Phone: 312.253.4900
Fax: 312.253.4917
Email: [email protected]
Social Media:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJHHjBRA7zQ&feature=plcp
Website: www.youth-guidance.org

Youth Guidance operates the Becoming a Man
program, a school-based counseling, mentoring, violence prevention
and educational-enrichment program that promotes social, emotional
and behavioral competencies for at-risk male youth from Chicago’s
toughest neighborhoods.

Youth Service Project, Inc.
(YSP)
3942 W. North Ave.
Chicago, IL 60647
Phone: 773.772.6270
Fax: 773.772.8755
Email: [email protected]
Social Media: https://twitter.com/YSPChicago,
http://www.youtube.com/user/YouthServiceProject,
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Youth-Service-Project/245115743727 or
http://www.youthserviceproject.org/?feed=rss2
Website: www.youthserviceproject.org

Since 1975, YSP has worked with youth and
families in the greater Humboldt Park community. The group offers
programs in seven core areas: education, recreation, intervention,
prevention, arts and culture, community building and
diversion.

STUDY GUIDE

When the theatrical companion to this book
premiered at Steppenwolf Theatre Company in February 2013, it was
part of a citywide call
to action against youth violence and intolerance called Now Is The
Time. This initiative, co-sponsored by the Chicago Public Library,
promotes
dialogue between young people seeking solutions to minimize
violence and strengthen their communities.

Consider these questions for further
discussion:

• In Miles Harvey’s introduction to
How Long Will I Cry?
, he notes that Chicago is the most
racially segregated city in the country. Do you think that there’s
a connection between racial segregation and youth violence? And how
do you think racial tensions in Chicago could be abated?

• After the murder of 16-year-old Derrion
Albert, Miles Harvey wondered what he could do—or what anybody was
supposed to do—to tackle
a problem as big, scary and complex as youth violence. How do you
think one person, or one group of people, could make a difference
(small or big)? 

• Miles Harvey notes that in today’s world,
everyone is blogging, texting, tweeting, Friending–but nobody’s
really listening. One of the main goals of this book is to make
people feel more connected with each other. What other sorts of
stories would help people “hear” each other and would be
inspirational to collect?

• Statistics show that nearly 80 percent of
recent youth homicides (kids killed under the age of 21) took place
in 22 low-income black or Latino communities on Chicago’s South,
Southwest and West Sides—even though just one-third of the city’s
population lives in those areas. What do you think the government
should do about black-on-black and Latino-on-Latino crime? How
about the police? How about people who live in these communities,
and those who live outside of them?

• In which of the stories did you witness
someone taking positive action? Was it action for themselves,
action for their community or both?

• Whose story did you most relate to out of
the people interviewed? Who did you find inspiring and why?

• In Max Cerda’s story, he talks about first
joining a gang for a sense of camaraderie. What are positive
outlets a person can turn to when looking for camaraderie? As a
society, how can we create constructive opportunities for young
people searching for a sense of community as an alternative to
joining a gang or turning to violence?