Tens of thousands of young adults, age 16 and older, are on Chicago’s streets with no high school diploma, no job experience and no hope. Many are in some phase of the criminal justice system. The older ones are effectively scarred for life. Their options are severely limited, far too often for nonviolent, often drug-related, transgressions.
We must address the needs of this population if we are to reverse the city’s public safety epidemic and make every neighborhood safe. While there is no substitute for providing the Chicago Police Department with the resources and support needed to remove violent habitual criminals from our streets, the city should also take proactive steps to stem the growth of new criminals and to rehabilitate existing ones by integrating them into the economy.
The following initiatives would have a profound effect on reversing the violence.
* Reengage high school students through paid work-study to keep them out of gangs and away from other criminals. High schools can begin immediately providing students with paid work as an incentive for keeping them in school and to reengage those who have dropped out or on the verge of doing so. A little money in the pocket can go a long way toward preventing young people from falling prey to the clutches of street gangs flashing cash.
Just as early college courses are often offered in lieu of certain high school courses, work-study opportunities should be offered as an alternative to elective courses. The savings realized by offering fewer high school elective courses could be used to subsidize student salaries for work-study jobs. As a bonus, this would place students in safe environments surrounded by positive role models — working men and women.
The program could be modeled after the proven Cristo Rey Jesuit High School Corporate Work Study Program, which employs students in part-time jobs while they attend high school. It was founded in Chicago in 1996, and there are now 38 Cristo Rey high schools in the U.S. Chicago Public Schools had a limited work-study program in the 1990s that annually employed 8,000 to 10,000 students and even awarded contracts to student-created and -owned businesses.
In 2017, the Blue Foundation, funded by Chicago Community Trust, conducted a comprehensive survey and analysis to identify and inventory adult education and occupational training and support services in the region that serve this very population. The analysis revealed an abundance of programs and support services. Why isn’t City Hall taking advantage of them?
The Youth Connection Charter School is one example. It’s an alternative school with nearly 20 community campuses across the city for young adults who have dropped out. Since its founding in 1997, YCCS has awarded more than 5,000 young adults their high school diplomas. That success led to the state authorizing the expansion of this charter model and authorizing school districts to open “adult high schools.” No school district to date has taken advantage of this. Other missed opportunities include the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, which offers occupational training grants, and the federal workforce opportunity tax credit, which is available to companies that hire at-risk individuals.
Adult education and occupational training and job placement services should be prioritized — this requires institutional infrastructure.
* Offer education and job-linked occupational training alternatives to incarceration with opportunities for those currently incarcerated. Just as judges frequently suspend sentences for successful participation in drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs, judges could also do the same for participation in high-quality adult education and occupational training programs. This, of course, would be limited to nonviolent and first-time offenders. It would reduce the destructive generational impact incarceration has on families as a whole, and it would give offenders an opportunity for a second chance to become successful in a skill or trade. It would change the trajectory of many, rather than fueling the school-to-prison pipeline.
It also would create significant savings as the cost ratio between incarceration and education can range from 4-to-1 to 7-to-1, depending on the type and level of incarceration. Furthermore, the long-term savings in the form of reduced government dependency and the benefits to the community in terms of economic activity are substantial.
Besides job training, other supports such as housing, mental health services and family counseling are also critical to facilitating reentry.
This can be done for certain types of city employment, and city contractors should be incentivized to follow suit. The formerly incarcerated should also be encouraged and supported in starting their own businesses by increasing access to existing model programs such as that offered by the Chicago Neighborhood Initiative, which provides certificated entrepreneurial training through a microfinance group, which founded the Pathway to Enterprise for Returning Citizens to help formerly incarcerated individuals qualify for business loans. The city’s business assistance programs should be fully enlisted to support such efforts.
There is no more important priority than providing the Chicago Police Department with the resources needed to keep violent and habitual criminals off the street. Of equal importance, the city should proactively stem the emergence of new offenders and rehabilitate existing ones by reintegrating them into the economy. There are no financial obstacles to accomplishing both.
Paul Vallas was budget director for the city of Chicago and CEO of Chicago Public Schools.
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