MISSION: Keep schools safe.
MOMENT OF TRUTH: When Latham worked as a Chicago Transit Authority manager, he and his co-workers occasionally talked about gangs or school violence. Some threw up their hands in resignation. Latham vowed not to, and after retiring, joined the Chicago Public Schools’ Youth Outreach program, whose members calm schools and students in crisis.
BACKSTORY: After a shooting or other violent incident involving a school, Outreach workers check IDs and keep students moving through the halls to prevent confrontations. Before and after school, they keep kids off the street corners. They also search for missing children and warn neighbors if a pedophile is in the area.
OUTCOME: Latham, 55, may visit several schools a week, in every part of the city. Shooting broke out near him once, prompting his family to try to get him to quit. “We see the school in chaos and the kids are at their worst,” he says. “But you just have to understand they have limited experience in life and are doing their best with what they got.” Latham’s approach is gentle. He asks pupils how their day is going, or bends down to tie a youngster’s shoe. He once helped a 14-year-old boy get used to crossing gang territory to reach school by escorting the “petite little brother” the six blocks to and from school for a few days. Then the boy walked ahead while Latham followed from a distance. At the end of a week, the boy went by himself and Latham met him at school. A year later, Latham says, the boy has not joined a gang.
PAYOFF: Kids ask Latham if he’s a security guard. “I say, ‘No, I’m a future-watcher. Good or bad, you’re my future and someone has to look out for you.'”
