Title: Practitioner Perspectives: The Robert Taylor Boys and Girls Club of
Chicago.
Series: Bulletin
Author: Bureau of Justice Assistance
Published: February 1999
Subject: Juvenile delinquency prevention, mentoring programs
14 pages
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U.S. Department of Justice
Office of Justice Programs
Bureau of Justice Assistance

Bulletin From the Field
Practitioner Perspectives

February 1999

The Robert Taylor Boys and Girls Club of Chicago
By Patrick J. Coleman, Elizabeth Lahey, and Kristine Orlando, BJA

On March 23, 1998, we hailed a Checker Cab on Chicago's North Side and
asked the driver to go to 5120 South Federal Street. It was obvious that the
cab driver had no idea where this address was; this address is not
frequented by cabs. From a few blocks away, any one of the 16-story,
high-density (32.4 units per acre), low-income Robert Taylor Homes could
be any apartment building. [1] However, the uniformity of the brick-red
and dust-white alternating clusters of rectangular buildings gives the
neighborhood an institutional look.

The outside walls of the Robert Taylor Boys and Girls Club of Chicago
(the Club) are covered with bright colorful murals depicting children
playing sports and enjoying themselves. The almost electric yellow, green,
and purple pictures send the message that this place is fun. The Club
stands in sharp contrast to the Robert Taylor Homes development located
directly across the street with its dilapidated, circa 1959, buildings
surrounded by mud and broken glass. Nothing else colorful was visible on
South Federal Street, not even businesses with colorful signs. 

In 1996 President Clinton authorized $100 million in grant funding for the
Boys and Girls Clubs of America (B&GCA) to be awarded over 5 years.
The bulk of these funds are being used to enhance the programming of the
2,500 Clubs around the country so that they can serve an additional 1
million children. In 1996, the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) was
awarded $35.35 million of these funds to support B&GCA over the next 5
years. In 1997, 260 jurisdictions received funding for new clubs or
outreach programs. [2]

We went to the Robert Taylor Boys and Girls Club to see if it is possible
to maintain a neutral, safe haven for children living in impoverished
conditions in a neighborhood troubled by violence and crime on the border
between rival gang territories. If you look at the Chicago Police
Department's crime maps of the 5100 South Federal Street neighborhood
during the 2 weeks around our visit to the Club (figure 1), you can see the
incredible rate of crime and violence that occurs in this area. Even the
crime map covering a 24-hour period during our visit (figure 2) is littered
with marks indicating narcotics and assault and battery crimes. Can a
club--an afterschool program--really make a difference in the lives of
children facing such enormous challenges?

The Club is an amazing place. This public, nonprofit organization has the
mission of "building men and women, one kid at a time." The Club is
paradoxically situated in a community where all the raw materials--the
children--are available, but almost none of the resources necessary to
refine those raw materials and accomplish the Club's mission are available.
And yet, from our viewpoint, the Club is an unqualified success. It
provides a clean, warm, safe haven for children--a place where they can
play, build strong bodies, get help with their homework, and learn how to
use computers and the Internet. This is a place where children can dance
and laugh and dream; where children can develop and find the support to
resist the destructive influences of the world around them; where,
considering the specter of the housing development across the street, the
children can latch onto hope and turn their dreams into reality.

A Tour of the Club 

Into the Club we went. As we entered, we passed a paper banner that said,
"Welcome Justice Dept." And even though there was no one in sight, we
felt welcome. The clean, bright, colorful entryway was full of life. Ken
Dunkin, the Director of the Club, greeted us and led us to the activity
room. Like the Club's exterior, the entire length of the main hallway is
painted with bright, colorful murals. Director Dunkin told us later that
children participating in a summer jobs program were paid to paint the
murals with the assistance of artists from the Chicago Children's Museum.
We noticed that, although the hall floors seemed clean enough to eat off
of, a janitor was preparing to polish the floors with a large machine. Ken
explained that keeping the Club clean was a high priority and he believes
that part of a healthy and safe environment is order and cleanliness. Gang
symbols are forbidden in the Club, and the children are not allowed to
wear ball caps inside. The color of a cap, Ken explained, is one way a
youth can indicate his or her membership in a particular gang.

In the activity room, we were introduced to Dr. Billie Adams, a
well-respected pediatrician and member of the Club's advisory board. We
explained to Dr. Adams and Ken that we wanted to write a case study
about the Club's mission and activities, and that we were interested in how
the Club functioned and survived in a public housing setting. 

Dr. Adams indicated the building across the street and said, "What this
kind of deprivation has meant to the community, is that there is no
community outside of the Club. Even if there were a theater or a store it
would be better. But there's nothing. No after-school programs at all
outside of the Club." This deprivation is reflected in the extreme
demographics of the people living in the Robert Taylor Homes. Of the
more than 11,000 people living in the development, less than 5 percent are
employed, 84 percent earn less than $10,000 a year, and 41 percent earn
less than $5,000 a year. Seventy percent of the Taylor residents are under
age 21, and 99.9 percent are African American. [3]

We asked Dr. Adams what the Club needs to succeed in the Robert Taylor
Neighborhood. "Resources!" she proclaimed. "The need for resources here
is terrible. The staff are stretched to the limit. This Club is less than 10
years old, so it doesn't have the donor base that a lot of the older clubs
have. That makes it really hard to raise enough money from private
donations. Older clubs have a donor base of children that grew up in the
club and now give back to the club that helped them." She noted that some
clubs have a lot of contributors for special reasons, as in the case of the
James Jordan Boys and Girls Club of Chicago--the club named after
Michael Jordan's late father. "[The Club at Robert Taylor] has neither of
these things going for it and is often struggling to make ends meet."

From the activity room, Director Dunkin led us to the Club's impressive
gym, which is almost the length of a football field. It has six basketball
rims and a gleaming floor. Standing in the gym you have the impression
that you are on the court of a professional basketball team. It is a sharp
contrast to the dilapidated courts across the street that are littered with
broken glass.

At one end of the gym is a stage where the children put on plays. At the
other end of the gym, Marty, the physical education instructor and former
high school all-American baseball, football, and basketball player,
monitored the children as they played basketball. Marty is a large friendly
man, and the children's respect for him was apparent. Ron, a volunteer
little league baseball coach, was also present, signing children up for the
spring leagues. We asked Ron what he thought this Club means to the
children and he told us, "People from the outside looking in [at this
community] think there's nothing good here. But these kids want to be
doing positive things. The Club and these [baseball] leagues give them a
chance to do something positive."

The younger children, ages 6-12, are allowed access to the Club from 2
p.m. until 6 p.m., and the older children are allowed to come in after 6
p.m. Director Dunkin explained the importance of separating older
children from younger children. The younger children need to be protected
from some of the older children's bad habits, like profanity. It is also
important that the younger children be sent home at earlier hours to ensure
that they arrive home safely and spend the evenings with their families.

Our next stop was the Club's library located down the hall from the gym.
We were pleased to see that the library is large and houses many books.
The books are in good condition, and the walls are adorned with colorful
artwork by the children. It resembles an elementary school library. Several
children were sitting at a small table reading and laughing. The friendly
librarian explained that the Chicago Public Library operates the library.

The Robert Taylor Homes Local Advisory Council has an office in the
Club building. We stopped by the office and spoke to Mildred Dennis, the
Local Advisory Council President. Ms. Dennis told us that the city is
preparing to tear down the Robert Taylor Homes and finding housing for
the development's residents has been difficult. Two forms of relocation are
being planned by the city. Robert Taylor residents may be relocated to
low-density housing developments in other neighborhoods or they may be
given rent subsidies to allow them to relocate to "nonpublic" housing
developments.

The three rules of the Club were posted on the walls throughout the
building: 1) No hats (to ensure that the Club remains gang neutral); 2) No
smoking; and 3) No sunflower seeds. Despite the rules posted throughout
the Club, we encountered one brave little girl in the gym eating sunflower
seeds.

We toured the day care center, the computer room, the dance room, and
the game room on the second floor of the Club. We spent most of our time
in the computer room, which was filled with young enthusiastic children
who were laughing, learning, and getting along. Around the room more
than 24 computers lined the walls. The E-mail Club had recently had a
sleep over in the computer room and the kids eagerly told us about it. One
wall had windows with a view of the housing development. It was "E-mail
Day" in the computer room. The children were sending e-mail messages to
their assigned pen pals at a large consulting firm located in Chicago. Ken
explained that the consulting firm was a "good friend" of the Club. Some
of the children played games on the computer and others wrote book
reports.

Other stops on the tour included an area where the Club provides literacy
classes and welfare-to-work programs for adults. Ken told us that the Club
is renovating the dance room so that African dance and ballet classes can
be offered; a major hardware store has agreed to donate the materials.

Back in the computer room, we met DeAndre, a bright 12-year-old boy.
Because of his excellent grades in school, DeAndre went to Disney World
last year with children from other Boys and Girls Clubs around the
country who had their own success stories. We asked DeAndre why he
liked to come to the Club and he told us, "My favorite part is the computer
room. I like to write e-mail [messages] and do my homework here.
Coming to the Club gives me a place to go instead of getting involved in
one of the gangs." We asked DeAndre why most of the kids he knows get
involved with gangs. "For protection," he said. "Kids get into gangs
because they don't feel safe any other way."

We asked our friend DeAndre to interview Club Director Ken Dunkin so
that we could learn about the Club's history and the everyday problems he
and his staff face. DeAndre found out that a man named Carl Lavender
founded the Club in 1991 and currently serves as the Senior Vice
President.

The Club receives funding from private donors and grant funding from
local, state, and federal sources. The building that houses the Club is
leased from the Chicago Public School System for $1.00 per year.

Ken explained that the Club offers a wide variety of programs, including
physical education, social and recreational activities, and arts and crafts,
for children like DeAndre. "We try to expose [the children to events]
outside of this community," Ken said. For example, DeAndre has seen The
Nutcracker Suite and the Dance Theater of Harlem, and he has attended a
White Sox game, a Bears game, and several Bulls games.

Ken singled out the Club's computer room as a particularly valuable
resource. Working with computers allows children the opportunity to
familiarize themselves with today's emerging technologies--writing and
sending e-mail messages, surfing on the Internet, and even designing Web
pages.

DeAndre asked Ken about the Club's future prospects, and Ken mentioned
that the Chief Executive Officer of Boys and Girls Clubs of Chicago and
the Mayor of Chicago met recently to discuss possibly establishing a
second club in the area. Ken was not certain when this might happen,
however. "Maybe within the next 5 years," he said.

A Walk Through the Robert Taylor Homes Development

The Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) describes the Robert Taylor
Homes development thusly:

The physical conditions of Robert Taylor-B include obsolete mechanical
and electrical systems, outdated elevators, leaking plumbing, inadequate
security, deteriorating hot water tanks and heating riser systems, and an
inadequate sanitary waste system. The building design includes open-air
galleries on each floor that lead to weather exposure (a major cause of
elevator breakdown) and high levels of criminal activity. [4]

We buttoned our coats as we exited the Club. The Hulk, as Ken refers to
the Chicago wind, blew ferociously through the corridors formed by the
buildings as we walked between them. Children were playing outside and
laughing happily, even though there was no playground.

As we walked across the street  toward the Robert Taylor Homes
development, we immediately noticed that many windows in each
building were boarded up and painted a dark red. The entrance to the first
building was dark. We didn't see the person standing in the doorway until
we passed by him. As we walked through the unlit, 15-foot passageway,
our noses were assaulted by the odor of sewage. Glass crunched under our
feet as we walked between buildings.

The first building we visited houses the offices of CHA and the Local
Advisory Council President. We were told that this is one of the nicest
buildings of the complex. We walked through an entranceway but were
still out in the elements because the main hallways of this complex are
open to the outside. Exposure is limited only by the steel mesh screen that
is welded to the open side of the hallways. You would think this design
would give a feeling of openness, yet we just couldn't shake the feeling
that we were in prison. We walked 20 feet down to the CHA office, which
is different from the rest of the building. It is bright, has been painted a
light color, and is warm. We asked a CHA employee why the windows of
some apartments are boarded up and painted red. He answered, "Because
they are vacant and the Housing Authority boards them up to keep drug
dealers from doing business in them."

We then walked across the hall to a stairway. The entrance to the stairway
was guarded by a heavy, gray metal door. We began walking up the stairs,
but, after two flights, it got very dark and we stopped. We contemplated
our safety if we were to climb any higher. We noticed that the light fixture
was gone and bare wires were hanging from the ceiling. Ken asked that we
close the stairwell door, cutting off our only available source of light. It
was so dark that we couldn't even see each other. "Imagine," Ken said,
"the elevator broken, as it often is, and having to walk up to the 10th floor
at 7 p.m. when there isn't even the sunlight to provide guidance. Your
hands [are] full of groceries." As we reopened the door, Ken commented
that he routinely carries a flashlight with him. Later, when walking
through the common areas of the development, we noticed that virtually
all of the light bulbs and light fixtures were missing. 

When we walked out of the stairwell at the next floor, we were greeted by
the stench of trash. As we looked over the vacant courtyard, we felt as if
we were standing in a war zone. The walls were covered with graffiti.
Directly across from the elevators was the source of the odor--the trash
chute. Garbage that had missed the small opening was piled all around it.
Ken said, "Imagine being 7 years old and your mama asks you to take the
trash out and you have to find your way through all that." Even at 3:30 in
the afternoon the room with the trash chute was completely dark. Ken
pushed the elevator button to take us up for a view of the whole complex.
After waiting for several minutes, we determined that the elevator must be
broken and walked down the stairs. 

When we walked out of the building, a moving truck pulled up. Ken asked
the two men unloading the contents of the truck if they were moving in.
One answered that they were, and Ken gave them a hearty welcome to the
neighborhood. It was a typical moving-day scene. However, with all the
talk of redevelopment, it was surprising to see people moving in. In fact,
the CHA has received approval from the U.S. Department of Housing and
Urban Development (HUD) to demolish 5 of the 28 buildings at Robert
Taylor. Three of the buildings have already been selected and the other
two will be selected by CHA in consultation with Robert Taylor residents.
CHA has begun relocation planning for the residents of all buildings that
are set to be demolished. [5]

Ken pointed out the magnet school on State Street. This special school is
for the best and brightest kids in the neighborhood. Ken made the
observation that the school building doesn't have one window on the side
that faces the housing development.

We walked past the omnipresent person in the doorway to the next
building where we walked through an unlit 15-foot tunnel and back into
the elements again. These apparent "sentries" at every door just stood
there, noting our presence. Ken stopped outside the next building in order
for us to see the cables coming out of all the windows and connecting to
the centrally located cable box like a giant thin legged spider clinging to
the side of the building. "At least you get free cable here," Ken joked. We
started to walk further but were stopped by a little girl questioning Ken
why she didn't get a job she had applied for at the Club. She was dressed
like most of the people we encountered during our walk, in clean,
well-kept clothing. Ken motioned for her to come back with us to the
Club, and we turned around to set out for the safety, security, and warmth
of the Club. Once inside, we realized for ourselves why the Club seemed
to be "paradise in the middle of hell" as one of the Club volunteers
described it.

Success in the Midst of Strife

Our walk through the Robert Taylor Homes development lasted between
30 and 45 minutes at most, but it left images of decay and despair in our
minds. The contrast between the clean, warm, welcoming order of the
Club and the conditions across the street was almost impossible to
reconcile. During our brief visit we were able to determine that it is
possible to maintain a safe haven for children living in an impoverished
neighborhood troubled by crime and violence. The Club has successfully
created a neutral zone among gang territories and is making a difference in
the lives of this neighborhood's children.

By any standard, the Club has been a great success--as a model of cost
efficiency and as a service provider to the community. With approximately
1,500 members and an annual budget of just over $325,000, all Club
services are provided at a cost of less than 65 cents per member per day.
Club staff are dedicated and enthusiastic and are willing to work for low
wages in a dangerous neighborhood. The Club is supported by private
contributions and in-kind donations of equipment; goods; services;
volunteer time; local, state, and federal (including Bureau of Justice
Assistance [6] grants; and ongoing coordination with the Boys and Girls
Clubs of Chicago. The Club is open 313 days a year and serves more than
300 children and community members each day.

The Club has also been a success for the community, hosting a number of
major events that help to bring residents together. Each spring, the Club
organizes the "We Are Family Festival," during which residents of all ages
are treated to food, music, and entertainment. Every fall, the Club hosts a
Halloween party and haunted house. The Club serves a Thanksgiving Day
dinner that all community members are welcome to attend.

There is also a Winter Holiday Celebration for the community with
holiday foods and gifts and toys for the children. In addition, the Club
conducts three to four clothing drives a year, provides day care services,
and organizes computer literacy training, basic educational classes, and
job skills training in banking services and housekeeping for parents in the
community. The Club fosters success and builds marketable and social
skills through activities and clubs such as the Club's Keystone Club, Torch
Club, and "Teens, Crime, and the Community," as well as Junior
Achievement. Through these specific efforts the Club provides a regular
community service workforce to the neighborhood.

On "National Service Day," October 24, 1998, the Club's teens, in
collaboration with a local nonprofit organization called Chicago Cares,
Inc.:

o Painted five apartments housing senior citizens.

o Explained to neighborhood seniors how to use the "Senior Citizen
Resource Guide" that the kids at the Club had developed.

o Participated in the Robert Taylor Homes biannual "Clean Up the Hood
Day."

o Helped transform a formerly vacant lot into "Mama's Garden"--a flower
garden that has been dedicated in memory of a community activist.

o Wrote letters to local, state, and federal officials.

o Participated in a march to support advocating additional initiatives
against violence.

The Club's success is also told in the stories of past and present club
members. There are many other stories like the one given earlier in this
newsletter by Laresa Robinson. For example, Theo Williams is a first-year
computer science major attending Northland College in Northern
Wisconsin. Theo is the first man in his family to attend college. He told us
that his experiences at the Club have taught him the importance of good
sportsmanship, perseverance, leadership, and imagination and helped him
develop a positive attitude about life. The Club kept him off the street and
out of trouble by keeping him engaged in structured recreation. Theo made
the Chicago Sun-Times First-Team All-Stars for 2 consecutive years.
Theo's most memorable experience was meeting professional basketball
players Alan Iverson, Marcus Camby, and Tim Duncan, who conducted a
clinic at the Club. Theo also met the famous professional boxer,
Muhammad Ali, at the Club. Theo said that meeting these people helped
to motivate him.

Douglas Massey, coauthor of American Apartheid: Segregation and the
Making of the Underclass and a former Professor of Public Policy at the
University of Chicago, argues, "When you concentrate poverty, you
concentrate anything that's correlated with poverty--[single] heads of
households, welfare dependency, crime, violence." [7] In addition to these
conditions, residents of the Robert Taylor Homes live with high levels of
fear, few job opportunities, limited access to goods, limited city services, a
struggling public school system, and dangerous and unsanitary living
conditions. The residents of this community have little or no political
voice in Chicago and, according to Ken Dunkin, the residents respond to
governmental relief efforts with an understandably overdeveloped "no
outsiders" attitude.

Balancing Support

A whole series of interdependent relationships must remain in balance for
the Club to survive. First, the Club could not possibly succeed if it didn't
attract the children. According to DeAndre and other children we spoke
with, the Club has to be both fun and safe to appeal to children.
Considering the Club's limited resources and the neighborhood, neither
goal is easily accomplished.

One promising practice the Club employs is rewarding children for
completing homework, getting good grades, playing games and sports
fairly, and showing an interest in learning about new things. The rewards
come in the form of access to computers, healthy snacks, trips to Disney
World, paying jobs, and the use of all facilities that are available to them
at the Club.

Equally important, but much more difficult to attain, is the goal of a safe
environment. The children and their parents must trust that the Club is a
safe place. Achieving this goal requires more than simply telling gang
members that they can't wear their hats inside. The Club must maintain an
understanding with gang members that there is to be no criminal activity
or violence at the Club. Prohibiting the display of gang colors is part of
this understanding. Getting gang members to see that the Club belongs to
the community is essential. The Club has to be both respected and, to an
extent, protected by the neighborhood gang members. However, the Club
cannot depend on gangs to keep the peace. Doing so could lead to both an
imbalance of power among the gangs and a perception by Chicago
authorities that the Club is allied with the gangs. This is a very delicate
and tenuous balance that must be maintained.

Another factor to consider is that the Club must have the support, but not
the constant presence, of the Chicago Police Department. The Club cannot
appear to be too much of an ally of the police or it might be perceived as a
police program by the community--just another "outsider" organization
that thinks it knows what's best for the Robert Taylor Homes residents. At
the same time, it is essential that the Club clearly be supportive of law
enforcement efforts and inform children about dangers associated with
gang membership.

Yet another key factor to the Club's success is its acceptance by the
community. The Club accomplishes this in many ways. Perhaps one of the
most important ways is that most of the people who work or volunteer at
the Club live in the neighborhood. Also many of the Club's part-time
employees are older children from the Robert Taylor development. Club
employees make a point to demonstrate that they care about and are not
afraid to be in the community. It is not unusual to see Ken Dunkin or other
club staff walking around the development talking with children, parents,
and community leaders.

The Club must be fun for all ages and a variety of interests, but it must
stay within its extremely limited budget. The Club must be safe, but not so
structured that it is not fun. The Club must be accepted and protected by
the gangs, the police, and the community--all of which, at times, exist in
conflict with one another. For now, the staff of the Robert Taylor Boys
and Girls Club of Chicago are maintaining this fragile balance. The result
of their efforts is an oasis that offers hope for the children of a very
troubled community.

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Notes

1. Chicago Housing Authority World Wide Web information site
(http://www.thecha.org/Taylor_Back.htm).

2. "BJA Grants Spark Club Creativity," Connections, Boys and Girls
Clubs of America, Atlanta, Georgia, Spring 1997, p. 2.

3. Chicago Housing Authority World Wide Web information site
(http://www.thecha.org/Taylor_Demo.htm).

4. Chicago Housing Authority World Wide Web information site
(http://www.thecha.org/Taylor_Back.htm).

5. Chicago Housing Authority World Wide Web Information site
(http://www.thecha.org/Taylor_Stat.htm).

6. The Club at Robert Taylor received part of a special $150,000 grant in
1994 from BJA that was passed through the Boys and Girls Clubs of
Chicago. The Club also received $10,000 grants in both 1997 and 1998 to
support its implementation of the "Smart Moves" Violence Prevention
Curriculum.

7. Shore, Debra, "The Houses That Gautreaux Built," The University of
Chicago Magazine, February 1995.

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For More Information

For more information about the Robert Taylor Boys and Girls Club of
Chicago and the Boys and Girls Club of America, contact:

Ken Dunkin
Club Director
Robert Taylor Boys and Girls Club
5120 South Federal Street
Chicago, IL 60609
773-924-6160

Boys and Girls Club of America
National Headquarters
1230 West Peachtree Street NW.
Atlanta, GA 30309
404-815-5700
World Wide Web: http://www.bgca.org

For more information about the Bureau of Justice Assistance Practitioner
Perspectives Series, contact:

Patrick J. Coleman
Resident Practitioner
Bureau of Justice Assistance
810 Seventh Street NW.
Washington, DC 20531
202-616-0313

To order publications or to find out more about BJA programs, contact:

Bureau of Justice Assistance Clearinghouse
P.O. Box 6000
Rockville, MD 20849-6000
1-800-688-4252
E-mail: askncjrs@ncjrs.org
World Wide Web: http://www.ncjrs.org

Clearinghouse staff are available Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to
7:30 p.m. eastern time. Ask to be placed on the BJA mailing list.

-------------------------------

This series is dedicated to the exploration of vital issues in criminal justice
program development and management. Case studies highlight the work
of progressive, innovative people and programs in state and local criminal
justice systems. Although a case study may include a detailed description
of the operational aspects of a program, it is not a scientific program
evaluation. Rather, it is a document designed to explore the interaction of
factors such as collaboration, politics, resources, culture, and others that
play a part in successful public management.

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One Club Member's Story

My name is Laresa Robinson and I live in the Robert Taylor Homes in
Chicago, Illinois. My home is in a crime-infested neighborhood. I was
stereotyped as a criminal when I was only 13 years of age. I am the oldest
of four children, and I'm the first to attend a 4-year college. My mother
wasn't able to finish high school, and I believe that is the reason why she
pushed me so hard to go to college. Most members of my family were
gang members, but the Robert Taylor Boys and Girls Club showed me that
there is more to life than gangs and motivated me so that I would not
become a crime statistic. The Club and my mother are helping me become
the woman that I am going to be. Ken Dunkin, the Director of the Club, is
a positive role model for me and the other children in my neighborhood. I
was a junior helper in the computer room at the Club, where I received
much valuable hands-on computer experience. I am currently a Computer
Information Systems major at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa. I am
forever thankful to the Club for providing me with this opportunity.

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Acknowledgments

The Bureau of Justice Assistance would like to express its appreciation to
the Robert Taylor Boys and Girls Club of Chicago, the Boys and Girls
Clubs of Chicago, and the Boys and Girls Clubs of America for their
cooperation and support in preparing this article. We would especially like
to thank Ken Dunkin, Club Director at Robert Taylor, and his staff who
took time away from their important work to meet with us. We would also
like to thank Robbie Callaway and Steve Salem at the Washington, D.C.,
office of the Boys and Girls Clubs of America for their review and support
of the publication of this article. Most important, we would like to thank
the children at the Robert Taylor Boys and Girls Club, who allowed us to
invade their worlds and see, hear, and get to know their Club. The children
made researching and writing this article fun and reminded us of the value
and importance of programs like this.

A special thanks goes to Rebecca Morris for her research and editorial
assistance with this article.

The Bureau of Justice Assistance is a component of the Office of Justice
Programs, which also includes the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the
National Institute of Justice, the Office of Juvenile Justice and
Delinquency Prevention, and the Office for Victims of Crime.

NCJ 174442