Chicago's Silent Watchmen Guard School Route

Like a lot of parents, Gretta Campbell worries about her 17-year-old daughter, a senior at Chicago's Hyde Park Academy High School on the city's South Side — especially right after school.

After all, one of the most dangerous times of day for teenagers is after school and that's especially true in the gang-infested neighborhoods of Chicago, where police and school officials are using federal stimulus funds to try to better protect kids on their way to and from school through a program called Safe Passage.

"My daughter ... walk[s] up and down these streets and I'm really concerned about the crime and the violence that's happening these days with our youth," Campbell says.

Campbell notes that it's not just mom who's concerned — her daughter is worried, too.

"She knew a little boy that was shot and killed here and that really hit hard," Campbell says of her daughter. "That really got next to her after her friend was killed here, so she does have a lot of concern walking back and forth to school."

A New Look At An Old Problem

Hyde Park Academy Principal Thomas Trotter says he's sensitive to what his students are going through.

"If you're a kid growing up in Chicago and you travel from Englewood to Woodlawn, you go through different gang territories, so they're a little bit alert or on edge in terms of making sure they get here safely and get back home safely," Trotter says. "That's always a concern."

Source: http://www.npr.org/2011/03/24/134798564/chicagos-silent-watchmen-guard-school-route?ft=1&f=1003

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