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Back of the Yards Community Profile
Assessing underage drinking using the Strategic Prevention Framework of the Illinois Statewide Incentive Grant
Dear Community Partners,
I was born and raised in the Back of the Yards neighborhood. As many Chicagoans do, I feel a strong connec-‐on and affinity for my community. Growing up in Back of the Yards helped shape me to become the person I
am today. Also, the Back of the Yards has always been an immigrant community where hope for the future is at a premium. Because of that strong connec on and to pass hope on to future genera ons, I believe it is impor-‐tant to undertake the Strategic Preven on Framework Project. Underage drinking is one of many serious issues facing the community. The Back of the Yards is a very young underserved neighborhood. It is cri cal to guide the many young people to give them an understanding of what gives life and what does not give life. Having a mentor, a posi ve role model, an en re community commi ed to peace and educa on, can make all the dif-‐ference in choices young people make. For this, I invite you to join us in changing the underage drinking issue in Back of the Yards. In this booklet you will see a profile describing Back of the Yards, including demographics and a descrip on of the underage drinking problem in the community.
There are many difficult issues to deal with in the community and my hope is that this project will not only tackle underage drinking but will also deal with the violence that is o en the result of drinking. Economic strife in the family environment challenges the rela onship of many couples. Unfortunately, they turn to alcohol or drugs to try and avoid the reali es of life. Children learn from their parents and they grow up in an environ-‐ment where alcohol consump on is o en the norm. Domes c violence is o en the end result of this type of behavior and violence is also expressed on the street because of this.
The Back of the Yards is a very young immigrant community with limited resources. It is also one of the few neighborhoods in the city of Chicago with a strong produc ve alliance of not-‐for-‐profits, schools, parishes and other community based organiza ons. Principals, pastors, neighborhood directors and business leaders gather on a monthly basis to collaborate in finding ways to reduce violence and make the community a safer place for all of our families.
My hope for this project is that it will be another tool that allows us to bring peace in our neighborhood and promote the educa on of every child. We want them to keep their dream alive. We know that when children have dreams they are more likely to walk away from violence and serve others for peace.
Last year we provided 57 college scholarships to youth from our community with all of the money being raised locally. Every year we have a youth summit which brings together children from all the schools in our commu-‐nity with the intent to break down barriers and get them to know each other. We marched for peace. All of this is done to encourage our young people to be peacemakers and leaders in our neighborhood. Lives have been saved and our youth have been given opportuni es to succeed. But there is s ll more work to do – and I invite you to join us.
Sincerely, Paul Lopez, President of the Peace and Educa on Coali on Back of the Yards, New City
Peace and Educa on Coali on
Mission Statement: The mission of the Peace and Educa on Coali on (PEC) is to foster rela onships between local community stakeholders. The Coali on members work to create a united vision to help our children, especially those trapped in a cycle of poverty and violence. The coali on serves at-‐risk and high-‐risk youth by promo ng peace and educa on in the Back of the Yards, New City community. We strive to guide our children with hope, a future and opportuni es to reach their poten al.
Peace and Educa on Coali on History: In November of 1997, six principals represen ng the neighborhood schools, leaders of faith-‐based neighborhood ins tu ons, neighborhood community-‐based organiza ons (CBO’s), schools, parks, law enforcement officials, community businesses, elected officials, and other interest-‐ed par es met for the first me around the issue of violence in the community. For the past few years prior to the Coali on’s forma on, twenty to twenty-‐five youth were buried, fallen vic ms of neighborhood violence. This is the issue that united the efforts of the group later to become the not-‐for-‐profit group known as the Peace and Educa on Coali on of the Back of the Yards, New City. This group and other interested par es have met monthly since November, 1997 to address issues surrounding the youth and their families most-‐in-‐need and develop strategies to address those needs to provide a healthier and safer neighborhood. This Coali on progressed in their efforts and a ained a not-‐for-‐profit status in 2004. As a 501(c) 3 with no administra ve overhead, the growing demands of needed funding for projects require assistance through grants, dona ons, and other fundraising efforts. The leadership is commi ed through their deep passion for the Back of the Yards and the families within. The Board of Directors are all founding members and do not receive compensa-‐on for their effort.
Current Services: The Peace and Educa on Coali on serves youth and families within the community through a variety of avenues including, but not limited to:
• 16 – 21 year old drops-‐outs can return to school and receive a high school diploma at one of PEC’s two alterna ve high school campuses.• 6th – 8th grade students are brought together twice a year for a Youth Sum-‐ mit to discuss community as well as adolescent issues.• Parent training through “Padres Ayudando Padres” (Parents Helping Parents) and Girls and Boys Town Common Sense Paren ng.• GED and ESL classes, high school bridge program and employment through a partnership with Ins tuto del Progresso La no.• Family housing needs through Neighborhood Housing Services.• A er School Programming through Holy Cross Church and Cesar Chavez 21st Century Grant.• Mul -‐Systemic Therapy through Youth Outreach Services.• Counseling, Street Interven on and Day Care through Catholic Chari es.• Youth Mentoring through Holy Cross Church and Girls & Boys Town of Nebraska, as well as collabora on with several area agencies.• Annual Basketball & Soccer Tournaments through the local public schools and Chicago Park District.
The Community of Back of the Yards
History: The Back of the Yards/New City is a neighborhood primed with history. Upton Sinclair’s, The Jungle depicts the rich history of this neighborhood. The paramount challenge this neighborhood faces is the over-‐whelming poverty and peripheral issues of poverty within the community. As a gateway community, many of the cons tuents have ‘pending’ documenta on issues. Without appropriate documenta on, access to food subsidy, adequate housing, healthcare and gainful employment is difficult at best. Gangs, drugs, and violence thrive in this type of environment. Finally, con nuing an educa on while acquiring a second language pres-‐ents addi onal challenges. The Back of the Yards/New City is a ten by ten block area that is home to more than 5,000 elementary age students. Nearly 100% of the school age popula on qualifies for Free and Reduced Lunch indica ng a high poverty index. Almost 70% of the popula on is under the age of eighteen.
FIGURE 1-‐BACK OF THE YARDS COMMUNITY SERVICE AREA
What Does Our Community Look Like?
The Back of the Yards community encompasses most of the larger community area of New City. The area is predominantly La no; in 2005 it is es mated that the La no popula on was 55% of the total popula on. Between 2000 and 2005 it is es mated this popula on increased by 6.3 percent. The African-‐American and White popula ons decreased by more than 10% during this me period. This data suggests that the La no popula on in Back of the Yards is increasing heavily. Another important considera on to take into account is that the youth popula on in the community is increasing at a 6.5 percent. Given the suspected high levels of undocumented residents of the community, it is a probability that informa on about these residents is not captured in this data.
In addi on, the data in this graph also shows that the popula on of youth ages 18 to 24 is increasing at 6.5 per-‐cent. Due to this increase, to avoid youth involvement in violent ac vi es in the community and to stop the prevalence of gang ac vity it is important to increase community service programming that not only fosters a er schools ac vi es but also enriches and enhances youth’s poten al in order to prevent their possible involvement gang and violent ac vi es. The data in the graphics below has been obtained from the 2005 Census. This informa on does not present the current demographics of the community but instead it is an es mate based on the data obtained from 2005. FIGURE 2-‐BACK OF THE YARDS, NEW CITY DEMOGRAPHICS
New City2005 Est % of
TotalChange 2000-05
Median Household Income
27,533 2%
Employed, Total (Pop 16+)
15,516 54% 1%
Employed, Males (Pop 16+)
9,119 32% 0.20%
Employed, Females (Pop 16+)
6,397 22% -2.6%
Unemployed, Male 1118 4% -21%Unemployed, Female 1198 4% -10.50%Not in the Labor Force Male (Pop 16+)
6,807 24% 4.1
Not in the Labor Force Female (Pop 16+)
9,009 31% -2
New City2005 Est % of
TotalChange 2000-05
Total Population 49,909 100.0%
White 15,857 31.8% -11.3Black or African Ameri-can
16,590 33.2% -10.3
Asian 229 0.5% 5.5Hispanic Or Latino 27,576 55.3% 6.3White Non Hispanic 5,719 11.5% -15.8Other Population 17,233 34.5% 13.8
Age 18-24 7,022 14.1% 6.5Female Householder, No Husband Present
3,559 7.1% -2.9
Female Householder, No Husband Present with Children Under 18
2,178 4.4% -2.6
Only 54% of those over 16 are employed, com-‐pared to an employment rate of 61% in Chicago. The median income of $27,533 is only 67% of Chicago’s. This data suggests that almost half the popula on in this community is unemployed. In addi on, a 4.1 percent increase of the number of males not in the labor force makes the unemploy-‐ment issue in the community of great concern.
FIGURE 3-‐ INCOME AND EMPLOYMENT
In the Back of the Yards, 51.3% of people of age 25 and older have less than a high school diploma and another 24.7 percent have only a high school diploma. On a pos-‐i ve note, this data suggest that 14.2% of people of age 25 and older have a ended college, which is an increase of 2.8 percent between 2000 and 2005.
The data in this chart reveals two very strong indicators in the Back of the Yards, New City community. The first indicator is the large percentage of primarily Spanish speaking community members that reside in the community. The data indicates that 51% of the community. According to data from the 2005 US census, the percentage o he popula on that speaks Spanish at home is increasing by 4.6% annually. The second factor to no ce is that the popula-‐on of this same community that speak
English as a first language at home is decreasing at a rapid rate. According to the data from the 2005 US census this popula-‐on has decreased by 9.7 percent between
2000 and 2005. This indicates that new members of this community speak Spanish as a primary language
New CityEDUCATIONAL AT-TAINMENT (Pop 25+)
2005 Est % of Total
Change 2000-05
Less than high school 12,674 51.3% -6.8High school (Pop 25+) 6,116 24.7% -2.4Some college (Pop 25+) 3,501 14.2% 2.8Associate degree (Pop 25+)
783 3.2% 0.9
Bachelor’s degree (Pop 25+)
1,078 4.4% 5.2
Graduate Degree (Pop 25+)
573 2.3% 6.7
FIGURE 4-‐EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
New CityLANGUAGE SPOKEN AT HOME (Pop 5+)
2005 Est % of Total
Change 2000-05
Speaks English 21,198 48.7% -9.7Speaks Spanish 22,207 51.0% 4.6Speaks Other Indo-Euro-pean Languages
984 2.3% -3.5
Speaks Asian or Pacific Island Language
98 0.2% 3.2
Speaks Other Language 146 0.3% -5.8
FIGURE 5-‐ LANGUAGES SPOKEN
The Strategic Preven on Framework Process
The Strategic Preven on Framework (SPF) is an underage drinking preven on tool designed to help commu-‐ni es across the State of Illinois to build the infrastructure necessary to ba le underage drinking at a local level. The SPF is based on a five step model process which can be adapted to fit the needs of every commu-‐nity.
In the Back of the Yards, the SPF has been an integral element for gathering data at the elementary and high school level. In the first step of this model, the assessment phase, data was acquired primarily through the administra on of the Illinois Youth Survey, which is an instrument designed to provide informa on on the accurate rates of substance abuse for youth in the community. It measures key risk factors, in addi on to providing insights to youth violence. In this phase, data was also gathered by an environmental scan of the community in which the retail availability of alcohol was assessed by observing the retail establishments that sell liquor. In addi on, some key factors that contribute to youth underage drinking were also assessed; these include community norms, social access to alcohol, price of alcohol, enforcement of policies against underage drinking, and media promo on of alcohol.
The capacity phase has been essen al in developing the support and collabora on of community stake-‐holders represen ng the non-‐profit, faith-‐based, private, educa on, government, and health sectors. This phase provided the community with tools that helped develop leadership and par cipa on from community members. Par cularly, the SPF Sub-‐commi ee of the Peace and Educa on Coali on has grown from five ini al members to nineteen members presently collabora ng together to jointly tackle the underage drink-‐ing issue in the community. In the planning process, the members of the SPF Sub-‐commi ee have dedicated their me and effort to crea ng a strategic plan that not only outlines the underage drinking problem in the community but also provides strategies to reduce underage drinking in the community. Given their efforts, the next phase, implementa on, will be achieved through a process of networking and community out-‐reach. Ins tu ons from all different sectors in the community have agreed to collaborate to work united in the strategy implementa on process in order to make a greater impact in the community. Then in the last phase, evalua on, all the efforts by the community will be evaluated to determine if in fact the SPF sub-‐com-‐mi ee was successful in reducing underage drinking in the community.
Describing the Underage Drinking Problem in Back of the Yards
According to IYS data, youth in the Back of the Yards are beginning to drink at young ages and are also re-‐por ng incidents of binge drinking. In 2006, the 6th grade 30 day use rate for the Back of the Yards (12.7%) is lower than the City of Chicago use rate of 18%. Worryingly, for the Back of the Yards, the 8th grade 30 day use rate is over 3 mes the 6th grade, whereas for the City, the 30 day use rate only increases by about 50% between 6th and 8th grade. In 2006, 36.2% of 8th grade Back of the Yard youth reported drinking in the past 30 days, which is higher than the City of Chicago 30 day use rate of 21%. This indicates that in Back of the Yards, the heaviest problem resides with the 8th grade 30 day increase rate from 12.7% in 6th graders to 36.2% in 8th graders. Research tells us that the younger youth start drinking, the more likely they will be to develop problems with alcohol use (and the accompanying host of other problems) as an adult, such as mari-‐juana, and other drug use. That 12.7% of Back of the Yards youth report drinking in the 6th grade is cause for concern, but the large increase of youth repor ng alcohol use in the 8th grade is even more worrisome. By 10th grade, almost half of youth surveyed in Back of the Yards (46%) reported using alcohol in the past 30 days. Clearly the trend is that the use rate increases in higher grades, but as the City data shows, the trend across me is also of increasing use. Between 2004 and 2006, the percentage of youth who reported drink-‐ing in the 6th grade doubled. If this trend is mirrored in the Back of the Yards for 2006 to 2008, this would mean a quarter of 6th graders surveyed (25.4%) would report using alcohol in the past 30 days.
Unfortunately, one of the issues in the community that has an immediate and las ng impact on the youth is violence. Research has shown that violence and alcohol use are in mately related. If the violence isn’t caused by arguments exacerbated by impaired judgment, then perhaps the alcohol is used to dull the pain caused by grief and fear.
Par ally due to the Community’s large Hispanic popula on, the culture of the Back of the Yards community
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
National (2007) Chicago (2006) Back of the Yards (2008)
FIGURE 6-‐ 8th GRADE 30 DAY ALCOHOL USE RATE
This brochure was created with funding from the State of Illinois
Department of Human Services- Division of Community Based Prevention
has a certain tolerance of alcohol use by minors. Alcohol is o en present at family par es, and o en the youth are permi ed access to alcohol at these events. Addi onally, even if the use is not permi ed, these family func ons provide easy access to alcohol without the parents’ permission. Also, the idea that drinking alcohol makes a boy a man and that real men can handle their alcohol con nue to pervade not only this community, but the society at large. This idea does not explain the increased use of alcohol by La na girls. One suggested explana on for this is the increased produc on and marke ng of fruity malt beverages, such as Mike’s Hard Lemonade or Smirnoff Ice. Though the alcohol industry denies marke ng to youth, they con nue to produce beverages that look and taste like candy or soda. Research has shown that Hispanic youth see more alcohol adver sements than other youth, and they seem to be responding to these ad campaigns. Ul mately, the so-‐cial access youth have to alcohol mostly happens at family gatherings and par es. Thus, community norms and social access greatly influence to the consump on of alcohol by youth in Back of the Yards.
Preven on Strategies
Under the Strategic Preven on Framework, the Peace and Educa on Coali on has developed three main strategies for decreasing 30-‐day alcohol use rate of 8th graders in Back of the Yards to the city average for 8th graders. Each strategy is meant to achieve a specific preven on objec ve by addressing one or more of the intervening variables priori zed during the strategic planning process.
Strategy Objec ve (for June 2010) Intervening Variable
Communica on Campaign (Parent Patrol)
1. A 5% decrease of 8th graders repor ng acquisi on of alcohol from their parents.
Social AccessSocial Norms
(Parent Patrol)2. A 7% increase in 8th graders repor ng their parent/guardian talked to them about drug/alcohol use.
Social Norms
(Marke ng Campaign)3. A 10% increase in 8th graders hearing preven on messages within the past 12 months.
Social Norms
(Marke ng Campaign) 4. A 4% decrease of youth between the ages 13-‐17 repor ng access to alcohol from friends.
Social AccessSocial Norms
Party Patrol 5. A 3% decrease of youth between the ages 13-‐17 repor ng access to alcohol at par es.
Social AccessEnforcement
Compliance Checks 6. A 2% decrease of youth between the ages of 13-‐17 repor ng access to alcohol from retail outlets by using compliance checks and innova ve punishments and sanc ons.
EnforcementRetail Access
Preven on as Social Capital Development
Although the table above highlights the strategies and their specific purposes, it does not illustrate how these strategies will work and how they will also build the community’s capacity to prevent violence, improve educa on, or address other issues of importance. In order to understand exactly how these strategies can achieve all of this, it is useful to think about the preven on strategies as strategies for social capital development in the community.
Social capital is a term that refers to social networks and the norms and sanc ons that govern their character. Examples of social networks range from families, to poli cal par es, to soccer leagues. In order to gain or maintain successful access to any of these networks, its members must behave and act in an acceptable way to others within the network. Without behavioral guidelines (norms) and sanc ons for those who do no comply with norms, stability and trust are hard to achieve and social networks disintegrate or fragment. In summary,
the concept of social capital illustrates that communi es are not made up of atomized individuals, nor are they a homogeneous block of people. Rather, communi es are made up of a variety of social networks and the nature of rela onships within these networks greatly affects with whom and how community members interact.
Studies show that communi es with healthy and diverse amounts of social capital are more likely to mobilize and take collec ve ac on when faced with a common problem. This is why social capital is so important to preven on efforts in the Back of the Yards community. However, there are few exis ng social networks, community social norms, and effec ve sanc ons that prevent youth from consuming alcohol. This is why our preven on strategies not only seek to achieve specific objec ves of the SPF framework; they also build the social capital infrastructure needed for community ac on.
While the Communica on Campaign has four specific preven on objec ves, it also seeks to create new networks of parents and students at 6 area elementary schools that can mobilize for ac on, disseminate preven on messages, and foster new norms that encourage non-‐use of alcohol by youth in the community. By establishing volunteer parent patrols at each school, and implemen ng a social norms marke ng campaign aimed especially at youth, the Peace and Educa on Coali on will help foster norms in the community through new grassroots networks that are essen al to reducing access to alcohol at par es, at home, and in the wider community.
Modeling the Parent Patrol Network
While PEC can establish norms through its communica on campaigns, it does not have the authority to sanc on those who do not comply with these norms, making new community norms much less effec ve. However, by crea ng closer links to the Police Department, it can work through allies at District 9 to implement effec ve sanc ons that will aide the preven on objec ves and building stronger social capital.
The Party Patrol strategy will allow PEC to create sanc ons for youth who drink at par es by employing off-‐duty police officers to search for par es where minors might be on Saturday nights. A hotline manned by HAS
PEC
Chavez Parent Patrol
SanMiguelParent Patrol
SewardParent Patrol
Daley ParentPatrol
HedgesParentPatrolParents
Community members
LaraParentPatrol
staff will also be established for members of the parent patrol and other concerned community members to call if they have any ps about underage drinking par es. HAS staff then ps off the party patrol, the patrol confirms the presence of minors at a party and calls uniformed officers to officially enforce underage drinking laws. Youth who are caught viola ng the law will then be sanc oned by performing community service for the Coali on.
The second sanc on-‐crea ng strategy seeks to ensure retailer compliance of all appropriate laws and training associated with selling alcohol to minors. Again, PEC will partner with District 9 to carry out the enforcement. In contrast to the Party Patrol strategy, however, the Compliance Checks strategy does not seek to create a new system of sanc ons. Rather, it ensures that District 9 police are enforcing the established laws surrounding the preven on of youth from buying alcohol, seeking to sanc on retailers, not youth.
Social Capital Objec ves
In summary, the preven on strategies not only seek to decrease 30-‐day use rates of 8th graders in the Back of the Yards community, they also seek to create a community with strong social capital. The networks, norms, and sanc ons that are necessary for the successful implementa on of our preven on strategies will also create the social infrastructure that fosters healthy behaviors and rela onships in the Back of the Yards community.
Commun
ity Levels
New Networks New Norms New Sanc ons
Community-‐ wide
-‐Youth Network-‐CPD-‐PEC-‐Parents-‐PEC
-‐Youth donn’t drink at par es
-‐Retailers don’t sell to minors
-‐Retailers who do not meet compliance checks are punished
-‐Youth caught drinking at par es will be punished
School -‐Parent Patrols-‐Parents communicate with each other at school
Family/Household
-‐Youth shouldn’t drink alcohol
-‐Parents should talk to the children about dangers of alcohol/drug use
-‐Families establish consequences for children caught drinking
From be er performance of social service agencies to improvements in health outcomes, studies show that communi es benefit in a variety of ways from strong social capital. In our case, developing social capital in Back of the Yards is not just a preven on strategy for youth alcohol consump on. Developing social capital can also lead to more effec ve strategies for violence preven on and be er educa onal outcomes for children. In general, it increases a community’s capacity to solve the problems it faces.