Page 36 - February 2020 FOP Magazine

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“We want them to learn to be proud of where they come from,” he professes. “They understand that where you stay and where you live is what you make of it. And how you can affect the property value.”
Underneath the plethora of programs
that promote youth group activities, there
is so much one-to-one interaction that makes all the difference. Martinez had a profound one in early February. A mom brought her son into the district after he
had been kicked out school. Turns out he lived in a shelter with her and his three sis-
ters on the South Side. They ride the bus every day to the Austin neighborhood where mom works in a church. After setting up a monitoring program, Martinez took him into the district community room where PlaySta- tions and Xboxes are set up for the Hip-Hop Tuesday event 015 hosts every week.
“I told him he could hang out here with me on Tuesday if he did better in school,” Marti- nez shares. “All of a sudden he wasn’t worried about being here anymore. It was not like a scared straight situation. It’s bad enough that he has to live in a shelter, so we were able to give him an example of how to overcome the negative effects.”
The kids are alright
If any questions arise about whether the kid stuff works, well there’s plenty of evidence about that, too. Some of it comes in the form of the letters posted on a wall in the CAPS office at 007.
“We get lots of letters kids have writ- ten,” McClain reports. “Messages like ‘love you,’ ‘You kept it 100 with us’ and ‘You made us realize the police are real people.’”
Chicago Police Officers’ youth move- ment enables them to have life-chang- ing experiences of their own, to do things they never thought they could do. McClain played Santa at the district hol-
iday party, where the gift that keeps on giving was the hugs and high-fives he received that day.
Afterward, they took some of toys they had collected for the party and toured the community in an enclosed
golf cart the district had rented to pass out the gifts. And more hugs.
“It’s indescribable,” McClain reveals, referring both to that experience and the feeling he gets from working for the kids.
“Everybody would say it’s heartwarming and awesome. Just to see the happiness and joy, honestly, it helps build the brand of the Department.”
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36 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ FEBRUARY 2020