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City Committee Endorses Funding For Youth Engagement Initiative

They announced the Evanston Youth Initiative, with its mission "to unite resources to help develop and support productive, skilled and contributing Evanston black youth and families." (See the April 19 issue of the RoundTable)

Alderman Lionel Jean-Baptiste, 2nd Ward, who attended that meeting, said at the time that government should be more aggressive about helping with disengaged youth: "My belief is that government must step up to provide some kind of accountability, because the private sector will not step up to do it. Governments have an obligation to give support and job training."

At the Nov. 20 Human Services Committee meeting, Ald. Jean-Baptiste recalled the April gathering after City staff presented the Youth Engagement Initiative.

A report presented to the committee found an "overwhelming number of youth ages 14-23" felt an "extreme sense of disconnect as members of the Evanston community."

The plan, developed by the City's youth engagement team, composed of City staff members, is intended to fulfill two goals of the City's recently adopted strategic plan: generating marketable job skills for Evanston residents and engaging Evanston youth and young adults and providing opportunities for them to become active and productive citizens.

With murmurs of assent from the audience of some 40 persons, Ald. Jean-Baptiste said, "Last year we allocated a bunch of money for trees. We have to make the youth of this community a priority now."

Each of  the five aldermen on the committee - Ald. Jean-Baptiste, as well as Steve Bernstein, 4th Ward; Delores Holmes, 5th Ward; Edmund Moran, 6th Ward; and Elizabeth Tisdahl, 7th Ward - said they would support the funding request of roughly $160,000 in the upcoming budget hearings.

Assistant City Manager Judith Aiello said, "If we had unlimited funds, we'd love to have a teen center. But we think that through reshuffling of present funds we can add more drop-in times for teens [at the community centers]."

Ms. Aiello also said that the first year's priorities are adding a female to the police outreach team, hiring a youth coordinator and appropriate support services, enhancing a work-study program with Evanston Township High School (a pilot program is in place for this semester), developing a "Teens and Technology" program, creating a job-training network and holding a youth summit.

On hold but in the planning stages, she said, is an apprentice program, to be funded with fines assessed in connection with the Minority/Women/Evanston-based Business program. Additional measures would be creating a Youth Division at the City, which could include a youth council and a resurrected youth commission (the City had such a commission in the 1980s); establishing connections with hard-to- reach populations; and using an assessment tool to evaluate the success of the various aspects of the program.

 "Going to downtown Evanston is often a negative experience because of how [youth] are perceived by other Evanston residents. They feel like they are constantly being stereotyped. ... Though many of these feelings can be associated with the persistent racial divide that exists in Evanston, these feelings also extend territorially within the same race." - Report after interviews with more than 100 Evanston youth

Sheila McCorkle, a public interest fellow from Northwestern University, presented the results of several weeks of her meetings with City staff and with representatives of agencies who serve youth, and interviews with more than 100 youth aged 14-23.

Among her findings were the following:

· An "overwhelming number of youth ages 14-23" said they felt an "extreme sense of disconnect as members of the Evanston community."  The report said many youth sense hostile feelings when they leave their own neighborhoods. "Going to downtown Evanston is often a negative experience because of how [youth] are perceived by other Evanston residents. They feel like they are constantly being stereotyped. ... Though many of these feelings can be associated with the persistent racial divide that exists in Evanston, these feelings also extend territorially within the same race."

• Youth deplored the lack of programs tailored to their interests, needs and economic limitations. Some said they had "aged out" of social service programs; others said they could not afford to participate in some recreational activities. There were concrete suggestions for a recreational center, with roller-skating, bowling or video games, or a combination of those activities. 

· Most of the youth Ms. McCorkle spoke to said  they would like to have a job, but many were reluctant to participate in job-readiness programs that did not guarantee employment, saying such programs were a "waste of time."

Ms. McCorkle also found that most of these youth "were generally unaware of the vocational/career programs available, had little knowledge of what types of careers they wished to pursue, what job opportunities and career fields existed and what steps were required to pursue such opportunities."

Noting the lack of recreational opportunities for youth, Ms. McCorkle's report stated, "The rising youth crime rates may be reflective of the lack of positive social outlets for the youth after school and on weekends. Evidence suggests that when there are positive youth social events occurring in a city, the youth-related crimes decreases substantially."

Audience member Martha Reed said one aspect of engaging youth had to be parental involvement. "I'm at the high school every day, and parents need to become more involved in their children's lives. They ought to come over [to the high school] and spend some time."

Ald. Bernstein said one thing that scared him about the report was the phrase "the persistent racial divide that exists in Evanston." 

Ald. Holmes said, "Yes we know it, the kids know it, and they're upset about it." She said it was time the community had a conversation about race.

Ald. Tisdahl thanked those who compiled the report "for telling us things we really didn't want to hear but know are true."

Ald. Bernstein said he understood the problems resulting from disengaged and unemployed youth and said, "We have to address these problems. ... We can't afford not to solve them."

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Local Scout Troop Celebrates 60 Years

Friendship appeared to be the draw for most of the scouts of 50 years or more. Members of the troop under Robert Dunn, scoutmaster from 1949 to 1951, and other scouts from the 1940s, counted the trip as a reunion. "When we came into scouting, it was 1947. Bob Dunn had just taken over the troop. These guys [the leaders] were on the GI bill going to Northwestern. ... We [the scouts] stayed friends, going camping up north every year. Now we still get together from time to time ..." said Dick Steinmetz."...but we stay in hotels," a scout from the audience finished the sentence.

Brothers Geoff Cubbage, left, and Kent Cubbage said the chance to get away to the woods and be in the outdoors attracted them to scouting.

"I have an important message for you scouts," Mr. Dunn said, addressing the present members of Troop 924. "Your scouting adventure, promised on page one of your scout book, is just beginning."

Ben Bridges recalled his first cookout with the troop. "We were having fried chicken, cooked in butter over an open flame, with no top on the skillet. I said to myself that this meal had little chance of being good." Mr. Bridges, whose family operated a restaurant on Dempster Street specializing in fried chicken, brought his skills to the troop. "Next time," he said, "we had a good iron skillet with a top; the chicken was fried in Crisco - and we ate very well."

Dave Rodelius, who became an Eagle Scout in 1948 and has returned to active participation in the troop with his grandson, said scouting "gave us a lot of time to spend with our dads and helped us learn to get along with people." He recalled being in the drum corps that played for the City's centennial in Fountain Square, "and we also played for Charles Gates Dawes."

In the age of electronic gadgetry and instant gratification, the promise and the challenge of outdoor adventures are still lures, said scouts Geoff Cubbage, Kent Cubbage and Conor Desmond. "It was a chance to get away, to play in the woods," said Eagle Scout Geoff Cubbage, who now attends Grinnell College. "...[T]o be in nature," added his brother, Kent, who is earning an M.F.A. degree at Florida State University.

"We go out to the wilderness. We tell the kids to turn off their video games and cell phones. They spend so much time plugged into a wall - there is an appeal to going outside," said Mr. Desmond, also an Eagle Scout, who attends the University of Illinois.

Dale Leibforth, yet another Eagle Scout from Troop 924, teaches math and coaches girls lacrosse at Evanston Township High School. He said in scouting he "learned to work with a lot of people, learned a lot of life lessons" and that  he tries to "give the same kind of enjoyment" to his students and his players."

The 80th anniversary celebration was the brainchild of two women  - scoutmaster Helga Bush and scout "mom" Linda Federer. "The troop was flagging for a while, and we missed our 75th celebration," said Ms. Federer, whose son is a member of the troop. "Helga took on the responsibility of leadership, and from seven boys we grew to 19. We decided if we made it, we'd celebrate at 80." Particularly important for both - and for the troop - were the contributions of long-time scout and troop supporter Al Jackson. "We wanted to be sure he was part of the celebration," said Ms. Federer.

As for the future of these scouts, Ms. Bush says, "Things are exciting. Boys are bringing in their friends to join the troop." Although she is the official scoutmaster, she says she shares the job with her husband, Steve. "We're making it fun again," she said. "I love the adventure."

Kids and Loud Music Produce Bad Vibes for Aldermen

By Mary Helt Gavin

Annoyed by her family's experiences with loud car radios in the neighborhood and beset by calls from constituents angered over window-rattling, house-shaking vibrations from tricked-out amps in cars, Alderman Anjana Hansen, 9th Ward, has asked the Human Service Committee to put some teeth into the City's anti-noise ordinance.

Ald. Hansen made a formal request at the Nov. 20 meeting, suggesting "something with more of a bite, similar to Chicago's loud-car ordinance." The stiffer penalties she proposed included impounding the cars of violators and imposing a fine of $50 per violation - about five times the present amount for a loud-radio violation and closer to the fines imposed by Chicago for such violations. Under Chicago's loud car-ordinance, the car is subject to impoundment and the fines are $50 for a first offense, $100 for a second and $500 for a third offense within a one-year period.

At present it is "unlawful for any person within the City to make, continue or cause to be made or continued, any loud, unnecessary or unusual noise which either annoys, disturbs, injures or endangers the comfort, repose, convenience health, peace or safety of others…" The sources of sounds subject to the ordinance include vehicles (horns, alarms and exhaust noise as well as radios), animals (loudly barking dogs or squawking birds) construction and lawn equipment, pagers, amplifiers and sound systems (which are permitted at certain times and under certain conditions).

The ordinance as it stands is difficult to enforce, Acting Police Chief Dennis Nilsson told members of the Committee at their meeting on Nov. 20. "When people see the police car, that 400-amp sound gets turned down to 25 amps," he said, but added that some violation notices are issued.

Because Ald. Hansen's proposal was a discussion item, no draft ordinance was presented; members of the committee and the audience weighed in on the problem as well the proposal.

Northwestern University graduate student Kristin Dahl, who lives on Callan Avenue, said she has to wear earplugs in her apartment even during the day to block out the noise and vibrations from cars on the street at all hours.

Alderman Lionel Jean-Baptiste, 2nd Ward, expressed some reservations. "With the ambiguity of finding the exact car [in violation], I think the police will stop the black youth. I think we should let the youth in on this. We need to give notice to the community, give the youth some consideration."

Ald. Hansen said, "People are already on notice, because the police are enforcing the code. I would say ‘no' to [community input]. Ninety-nine percent of high school kids would probably say they didn't like that kind of ordinance."

She added, "One of the goals of penalty-type ordinances is deterrence. If you put such an ordinance on the books, you step up the fines, and they will learn something."

From the audience Lorraine Hughes suggested posting notices about the ordinance at the City limits and other places.

Alderman Delores Holmes, 5th Ward, asked, "Could we develop guidelines about amplifiers? The real offenders are not using just radios. It's the speakers and the amplifiers that make the house shake."

Alderman Edmund Moran, 6th Ward, said, "I think noise pollution is a big problem in our world. Alderman Jean-Baptiste, if you want to get community input, that's okay, but if people are acting badly, I'm not ready to hear them say, ‘I can't turn down my radio.'

"I think we should ask the legal department to give us some options."

Alderman Steve Bernstein, 4th Ward, said he felt the proposals were "too vague to enforce and prosecute successfully." Musing on the examples of cars' shaking windows and rattling peace of mind, as well as the previous hour's discussion of disengaged youth in Evanston, the alderman said, "Maybe [the loud noise] is a function of youth. They can't hear. Maybe their ears are going, and they need the vibrations." He also said, "Loud music may be our youth crying out for engagement."

Alderman Elizabeth Tisdahl, 7th Ward, appeared to support both increasing the fines and involving youth. "I'm not likely to be persuaded to vote no," she said, "but I'd like to hear what they have to say and start engaging them in City government."

The committee will take up discussion of the ordinance perhaps early next year.

Tire-Slashing

There have been reports of 14 northwest Evanston tire-slashings in the past few days: six occurrences at 1715 Central St., seven in the 2600 block of Poplar Ave. (along the Metra tracks) and one in the 2100 block of Forestview Road. There was also a report of a car hit by a rock at Emerson Street and Dodge Avenue.