Page 43 - February 2018 FOP Newsletter

Members Only Section
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17th looks to get homework club off the ground
n BY ERIKA WURST
Police officers know it’s not always easy to connect with teens.
Often, fear, stigma and preconceived notions keep the two worlds apart. In 017, CAPS officers are striving to change that. A new program kicked off in January that’s attempting to bring teens and officers together and help cater to a need in the com- munity.
The after school tutoring program for seventh through 10th graders runs for an hour each Thursday afternoon at the 17th Dis- trict headquarters. Local high school honor students are available to tutor students who might need a push academically. The tutors themselves earn community service credits toward their diplo- mas, while student seeking academic help get free services in a safe environment — in addition to interaction with officers.
“The big thing right now with the Police Department is that we want to start doing outreach with the youth,” said CAPS Officer Jerry Zanders. “We’re trying to come up with ideas to draw these kids to our station.”
CAPS Sergeant Debbie Iza came up with the idea to offer tutor- ing at the station. She said she was heavily influenced as a child by her time participating in the Police Explorers Program. To her colleagues, Iza would often boast about the good times she had around officers as an Explorer.
She mentioned how that time inspired her and how she wanted to do more outreach in her own community. The tutoring pro- gram seemed like a win-win situation for everyone involved.
Zanders said while the program hasn’t quite gotten off the ground as of yet — they have plenty of tutors but few students seeking services — he hopes to ramp up marketing efforts and draw more kids in the door. To do that, CAPS officers plan to hit the streets after school to personally invite students and parents to attend the tutoring program. They also plan to offer pizza, soda and games to play in order to keep things fun. Zanders said things are still being fine-tuned, but he’s optimistic the program will pick up steam soon.
“Our hope is to get a few kids in and see that mushroom into more,” he said. “This gives us an opportunity to interact with them. We want them to see us as positive role models.”
Getting personal with the local youth is something that officers in the 17th are passionate about. To Zanders, it’s about getting back to basics and really having facetime with the teens on the block. He said he’s seen the amount of interaction between of- ficers and local student wane over the years, and that it’s disap- pointing. Sure, there are officers in the schools and beat cops on the streets, but it’s one-to-one interactions that seem to be lack- ing.
“Our interaction with the youth is not as much there as we would like,” Zanders lamented. “Incorporating the tutoring pro- gram gives us a chance to reach out to the kids more than we have in the past.”
With a large Hispanic population predominant in the 17th, outreach is more important now than ever before.
“For the Hispanic kids, there’s a lot of fear, especially with them thinking we’re going to take in undocumented [residents],” Zan- ders said. “There’s that whole element there.” d
Stay, Learn, & Have Fun!
We are offering after school programs for kids from 7th grade through 10th grade. It will include many fun board games, drug and gang resistance awareness, HOME- WORK ASSISTANCE and a safe place for kids to go after school.
Children who attend quality after school programs achieve academic success and have better socialization skills.
When: Every Thursday from 4pm - 5pm
Where: 17thDistrictPoliceStation(CommunityRoom)
4650 N. Pulaski Rd.
This program is free. Please contact the CAPS office for enrollment information, or if you are interested in volunteering for this program.
017th District Community Police Office
450 N. Pulaski Road • 312-742-4588 • CAPS.017District@chicagopolice.org Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/CAPS.017
Follow us on Twitter: @ChicagoCAPS17
CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ FEBRUARY 2018 43