good afternoon. we will jump right in. i am arnie duncan and i'm going to do some quick context of the work we are doing and why. we are always very real. sometimes a little raw. it is so important that we are honest and authentic. context for chicago and why i

do this work when i lived in chicago public schools might hardest part of the job was the number of kids that were shot and killed during the 7 and a half years we averaged one child killed every two weeks. going to funerals in their homes and going to schools where there is an empty chair and trying to make sense of this was the hardest part of my job. in hindsight i felt it was rock-bottom and could not get worse. in the seven years my family and i were in d.c. things got worse. and fact the past year chicago public schools, september through june that 59 kids killed. more than one every two weeks killed. last year in chicago there were 650 homicides. almost 3000 people shot. something i accessed called the clear rate that is the percent of crimes against solved. in chicago if you kill someone

that has about 26 percent clear rate. so 74 literally get away with murder. if you just shoot someone and don't tell them it's a three or four percent clear rate was 95, 97 percent consequences. chicago has very strict gun laws but unfortunately they live right next to indiana and lots of guns important to the community for many different places. for me going home, this was a crisis in the city. and stop whispering because i think we have brought delicates of their childhood. the level of fear our kids live with every single day is extraordinary. they struggle to get back and forth to school. i've always tried to preach think long term and think about college. if you just try to survive every day that is like a foreign language it doesn't make sense. i grew up playing basketball on the south and west side.

you can't do ththat anymore. most of the possible empty. to me it is just not fair. every crisis gives an opportunity. for me as i start to think about what to do the actual parts of that really attracted me. one is that things are so bad that many of our guys are looking to change and do something different and get out of the streetlight. and tnumber two there's a myth that folks selling drugs and making money but they're making next to nothing. so what we started 16 omonths ago with a cohort of guys on the far south side -- we found guys most at risk of being shot and that is 75 percent of young black men 17 to 24. and we hired them. and we work in a cohort with them. some of our guys were shooting at each other prior to that. we had to let on.

we do hard skills, soft skills, trauma care, substance abuse. a lot of our guys have done and school diplomas. two of them are in college. our goal is to keep them for you and then spin the and provided traffic from the street the violence and that's not into the economy. we started back in september. he started working mr. mrs. jones in march of 17. they been working with a group of guys for almost a year. a good time to reflect, i will stop there and we will jump into the conversation. i don't take this lightly i was a mr. and mrs. jones are walking the saints. the six cohorts of dimes now. the first one we have a small thing that we can ourselves. every other cohort has been led by community partners, churches, nonprofits, our goal is to build capacity in communities to take on and did

this work. i will start with mrs. jones. background and why you left >> good afternoon. my name is wendy john and i am the e founder and executive director the center roseland. actually i have owned the building, a former dichicago public school teacher who wanted to do something different in my community. and escontinue to help young people. i have been there 22 years. my husband and i have worked with a number of young people in the community from elementary school father after 26 years old. the last 12 years we've been working with older youth between the ages of 16 and 26. client came into the community and we were so excited about helping them because usually, the edlittle funding weekend is

drop in four months or some youth program. the funding is funding the kids are back on the street doing the same thing that were before that. now we can offer people wraparound services and the type of services we know they need. it has been really i am sure you will get a chance to hear a little more from me but we will move it down. >> i am rogers jones. i am the director of operations but i am also the dean. as with anything, young man coming to the program. they want to know who are you, what you are about. and so one of the things we keep them, a question is, are you here to change the direction of your life? if they say they are, they act like they don't know what they want to change and we would say stick around with us and we

will see sif we can help you. we use a model to get inspired, make a change, change your attitude and your thinking and then you change your life. this helps us quite a bit. we try not to take on the mother and father feel that we are listeners. we have to listen what they're talking. we don't preach to them.i want to hear your story, what got you into it and where do you want to go? this has helped us and we are continuing this work. we are very grateful for this. we like all type of people we do not discriminate against anyone. we want them to do better and we work hard. for them to reach their goals. >> that is extraordinarily hard. one thing that is, we try lots of different things and there is not one simple answer.

i would argue one of the most important pieces is we have a life coach for everyone.you are one of the life coaches. that interesting background i will have him talk about his background but these are the guys who all day every day thinking how to help guys move from point a to point b. the transformation is not easy. it is not not linear.nd it is before we talk about the work let's talk a little about your background and what used to do and what you seare doing now an why and what changed. >> good evening everybody. i'm up in a roseland area in the same place and working out. i went to the penal system, that it was the best thing in the world at the time. spent over 15 years in four different states hethroughout t department of corrections. i made a lot of mistakes and i

thought to myself when i came home this last time, before i went? that is one thing i want to change my own. start doing the right thing. i worked with the program called cease-fire. stopping the violence and stop the shooting. i'm good at that and they give me an opportunity to interview for the life coaching job. it is all the same to stop the violence and i'm here to get back so they won't go through things that i went to. a lot of times you hear it. chicago and chicago -- it is bigger than the ones. whether his gun violence is almost like music to your ears. every night. i am just here to help these guys. we're just struggling with them. until you get to the point where they can make things

happen. >> nuke wraparound funds, using guns, loving guns. talk about that. >> i wanted to shoot everything up. i'll be honest with you. if you were in my mind it was going to happen for you? we don't care who you are with, when you get what you can go get. it's a sense of -- i came around guns early around 11:00 is all. doing shootings, my mama don't know what's going on. and then i think it's more of an addiction. looking drug addiction both sons it's a national addiction out there. just by ohearing the shots alo some of these guys inducements heartlessly got confused by shooting. the samosas new year's. i want to be vitiated. i want to shoot. once they become addicted get on the right drunken system to

get them away. that is what we are doing through this program. john awareness. teaching them competency and i'm happy to be part of it. what was different from the first time the second time for me to do something different. >> at this point i'll try not to become -- i have two -- in my back and if i had another problem i would have 25 degrees minimum to start. i don't want to go that route. six to 30 was enough. 85 percent is another thing. to break it down initially i think it kind of deterred me.

because your friends and your friends at the end of the day when you're in trouble. your client for mommy and relatives. and it is rough. cook okcounty jail is rough. it is really rough. we're dealing with an actual gang that has no loss to it anymore. when i came up, i am sure that you've heard this name, we had certain things i couldn't do. could not be outside on deelection day selling drugs. i couldn't not be in school. i couldn't even sell drugs without someone letting me know it's okay to solve them. right now there is no law, no structure. these guys are still representing or going to war for something that was already going on before they was born. most of these guys, 23, 24 years old. they are battling things that happened 30 years ago that they are carrying on through the legacy of the neighborhood. >> go ghto damien.

talk a little bit about what we're doing before, when you're going and what you are doing now. you can start there. a little background. >> how are you all doing? i am damien. i was really doing a little bit of everything. like shooting, selling drugs, people study going on my door, i'm steady going back and forth jail. like you said it's just stuff from a long time ago we just still carrying it onto the legacy. at some point you gotta realize that you're getting older and it's just time to grow iaup. especially the kids. i have two daughters. i have been shot up, staff and in jail i just did a year and 1/2. sometimes the growth and maturity of self i met mr. jones actually through -- he

said i you and again? and i wanted to tell him no. he said you shot somebody or did you get shot before?and i said i been shot but i didn't know if i could tell my shot somebody. he told me to come the next day.i met with him and i spoke with him. he was really cheerful cracking jokes. someone comfortable i could be around. i stay with it.every meeting we have. they put me in school to get my high school diploma. honestly, i didn't think i could get my high school diploma. dropped out of school like sophomore year. we without war low back. school was the last thing on my mind. i was not going to lie. they helped me get my high school diploma and i was really motivated and dedicated to it. he tells me to do anything i am

going to do it i am a real reliable guy. to help me get my license, i never thought i would get that either. i just, i just had an interview yesterday. i got the job though, so! [laughter] [applause] >> we do not plan not, that worked out great! [laughter] our guide is to spin guys off when they are ready. and we have guys working full-time in construction, law firm, and cold stone creamery came in with an offer. everyone's path is different. some people it might be 15 or 16 months. there is no straight path.

maleek, what we do the fourth, what are you doing now, what has the program been like? what happened last year? >> pretty much what i was doing a year before the program basically was out of control. and out of jail, selling drugs. catching cases. it was completely out of control. once i got into the program and i began to start making a change, things begin to come easy to me. you know what i am saying, the program -- first off, mr. and mrs. jones, that's my godfather and my god mama. i got shot in 2015. six times, i got shot in the back of my head, my hand and

three times in my back. and then i was incarcerated right after that for a gun charge. i really didn't have no direction. i really wasn't looking for no direction either. i have been in the program, they pretty much in shawnee my self-worth and there's an easier way than going out and picking up a gun, selling drugs. you don't have to worry about, it is real life black successful men. not deducting from the police and on enemies. they just showed me a brighter way and a brighter future. and like damien said, i end up getting my goal sanitation license, armed security license and a lot of other certificates. a lot of accomplishments that came through doing the program. overall i feel like i done did

a whole 360. >> most people and have not been shot. l what is it like to be shot and in your own blood? >> unexplainable. when you are questioning ask if you're going to live, am i going to see my mama tonight am i going to make it? no mother wants to bury their child. i don't want my mother to bury me. it was completely life-changing. sitting in your blood, you know what i'm sayin', laying there, not knowing what's left what's to come. so -- >> maleek how many of your guys the past couple of years have been shot and how many have been killed? >> the past six months we just

lost two friends back to back. and last week, one of my other friends just got killed so -- it is an ongoing cycle that, it isn't going to stop unless we break it. unless we change and make a difference in our community. >> what made you decide to change? >> i just felt like if i keep doing and keep going in a direction i was going and, i knew i was gentle the definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome. if i'm steady going to jail, it's not the law, is not the police anymore it's me. if i am steady, it's not no one else.

it's me! >> brandon, talk about what you were doing before and how things are going now. >> one year ago i was like kind of struggling to survive in the streets. i know income, no one to help me out. i was selling drugs and robbing to get money to get -- my mom thought she was going to have to hearing the bar would be in a jail cell. i was expelled from all schools. she would go and talk to them and i will get kicked out for fighting. it was rough. but since then and since the program, chicago cred, i've been on the righteous path and trying to make the moves in the right choices. mr. and mrs. johnson been a big help.my life coach, mr. hicks

has been a big help. not going to retaliate when something happens to asome closest to my family. that was the hardest thing. a few months ago my little brother was shot. it was hard not to retaliate and not go back in the streets and jeopardize myself. mr. jones, mrs. jones, mr. hicks and everyone they were in my head like stay focused, stay on the right path, everything will be okay and work out for itself. let's take a moment and walk people through pretty huge amount of violence is retaliation.these are battles that go 15, 20 years. the thing most heartbreaking is that the kids fighting the battles now and dying often don't even know why the battle started. it is just what they're doing. walk through how hard it is not to retaliate when that is how you have been n trained and raised on your life and how you struggle with that and when you decide ultimately not to.

once i think the hardest part of not retaliating is sitting down and thinking of everything going on. to see someone you love and not much pain, not close to dying, it is hard to stay focused. it is hard not to go make someone feel the same way that they made your loved ones feel. they kept me calm most, it was my daughter. me not wanting to lose her, miss out on her life, that is the main thing that kept me focused. >> for three guys, tell the audience the hardest thing about the year. what is been the toughest thing to work on this year? >> tthis year, the toughest thing to work on like i said was staying focused. keeping up the good work we have been keeping up. my fellow coworkers right here, ms. jones, gave us certificates

to the resume and background. my two most recent certificates of what i am most proud of. i just got a certificate for asbestos removal and lead abatement. those boosted my ego a little bit. >> what was the hardest part of transformation? >> what he said, the hardest thing was staying focused. when you're trying to change you have 1,000,001 things and 1,000,001 people trying to discourage you from the direction you want to go. the biggest thing is mind over matter. what is a priority to you? what is your dreams and your goals? you have to put yourself first. you know what i'm sayin'? you staying focused, keeping my head right and not letting

nobody else distract me hafrom the direction i want to go. >> what we really try to do is create a safe environment within the group. there hasn't been one fight on year. we had one crazy girlfriend a couple weeks ago but that was not one of our guys. but the guys are all going home to their same homes in the same neighborhood every single day. and we are not yet to the point of reducing neighborhood violence and that's what we are trying to do starting now. this year, damien, you get stabbed and was that dlike when you're trying to change and that is the reality still of where you live? the reality of your community? >> the hardest thing about that was retaliation. when i got stabbed i was in the store. i didn't even know was going to happen. i just turned around and a fight had just started right

there. me and him just got to fighting. i felt numb. i came out and i had a gray hoodie on. when i came out, it was a a new hoodie. it was full of blood. unattractive it's my grandma, she is an rn. i thought i was going to get patched up and go kill him. but then when i got there she said you have to go to the hospital right now. i drove myself to the hospital. they transferred me because my lung was punctured. the hardest thing was the retaliation. for something to happen to me like, i thought that was kind of crazy. it was retaliation.

staying focused. grandma, she called mr. jones to trying to make sure keep him on the right track. you are the only person in his head right now. you are really close to him so -- i think mr. jones, i thank him for everything. >> i have two questions. what is the best thing about being a life coach, the hardest thing about being a light lunch and then i go back to the jail every month and we recruit guys coming out to come into the program to try and stop the cycle. two times ago you came back. talk about the life coaching part and what's it like going to a place where he spent too much time? >> life coaching is not the easiest job in the world. far from it! [laughter] it is almost on explanatory. you're talking about

retaliation. i am a basement detective, all and i need to know it's going on. here's what you don't understand. when devin kelley become more a coward. now i fight want to keep them off the streets. he gets stabbed, then we can want to do something else. that is a client in itself. even with being shot. life coaching is fun. i have my fun moments. it is a struggle. i have an easy. one of my worst fears, is not seeing them one day. waking up, not getting a phone call. we have been blessed, no fights, a few incidents here and there but for the most part it is a brotherhood. the county jail thing, it was

one of the experiences that i am actually in the county jail with my street clothes on. i'm on -- and the, this is something else. it's almost like being a basketball player. you never ever practice in ayyo family on the court and you isay, why am i here? and i figured that i had to deliver. come to find out the guys that was in the group who was talking to us from the neighborhood. that i was born and raised in. a lot of times you have to look at these guys, it doesn't mean that they are a thug. a lot of them are very intelligent. because as you look at them

there looking at you a certain way. that's it. and you never get a second chance to make a first impression. i am proud of my guys. speaking of life coaches, these two unlikely jews. have others that life coach. you probably are and just don't know it. it is a gift. you just have to figure out what yours is. >> three guys, i was asked the question and it's funny, i -- a pay cut or a pay increase? >> it was a pay cut. >> why do you say it was a pay cut? >> it was the smartest thing to be to be honest. i don't have to look over my shoulder, i don't worry about going to jail or being on the corner, i have a car that can be explained for by get older. i can show check stubs no.

you can do that when you are selling drugs. >>? pay cut. me, it was a but it was worth it at the same time because the things i had to do before, the risks and other things as a lookout for i don't have to anymore. i don't have to worry about police, no one robbing me, no one -- i just feel like, it was the smartest thing i contented, take the pay cut. >> i say it was a pay increase for me. i won't lie. i said that because all of the money, i had to find out, i stayed finding out. i had to get my grandmas door fixed, i got kids. i didn't know how i was going to get the money.

it was a pay increase. i know the money coming now. i know every two weeks there is a check. i know my car, this morning i woke up and -- >> it's usually 50-50 for our guys. sometimes it is a pay cut insert for this is a pay increase. i will go down the line. let's step back and look at the bigger picture. in a perfect world i would like to see chicago have no homicide. it is probably unrealistic. i want chicago to be more normal, not such an anomaly. just to give you a sense of what an outlier, how insane it is right now. chicago is the third-largest city in the country. we have way more homicide and way more shootings than new york and la combined. for us to be normal based upon population relative, right now

we have 650 homicide last year. we have to go to 92. we need a body count reduction of cluster 500. that is the kind of change that we need just to be normal. not such an outlier. when you go down the line. the big picture stepping back chicago to get to a place that is not so crazy. what is going to take the city to do? what do we need to give? >> first, i am thinking about my own son. we are the parents of four sons. the two youngest ones have never walked to a corner store. now friends on their block.

because it was just dangerous. this community we talk about, roseland is predominantly an african-american community that i moved into years ago. my family was the first black family on the block. i watched the change of, went to high school, went to college, came back. i put my business there. i committed to the community i think it's important. it is so easy to move away but i just committed. i just wanted to stay there and see this thing turn around. when i think about what is hard, it's more than just reaching the young man. it is like we have to do like a holistic approach. they are not just waking up in the morning saying i think i want to shoot someone today or i want to sell drugs today. there is a lot of this

function. at the end of the day i think that these young men and others in the community what were your sons and daughters walk. they want healthy life, they want to feel safe and they want to be successful. if given the opportunity, they can turn their lives around. i think a lot of african-american communities across chicago, there is a huge deficit. cawe are trying to fill some of that with quick programming, people that care and opportunities. i think it will take a lot more opportunity from organizations like chicago cred and then having the resources to change our lives. to be able to touch more young men. i think that is a mway that we could have more success. >> mrs. jones, how do we take this down on the scale across the city? -- mr. jones? >> i think one thing is to

encourage other young people, not only young people the people older like myself. young people, you have to really take a look at them and start listening to them. i used to preach all the time, don't do this, don't do that. you have to listen to their stories. llisten to these young men rig here. i know who they were when they first came to the program. i know some of the things they did. that did not scare me. i thought they came in the program because they wanted some help. it is a great honor for them to come into the program and get a high school diploma. it is something that they accomplish. a lot of young people in our community, they do not finish. but it is r not because they la the intelligence. they lack someone pushing them.

i think when we look at ourselves and we think if we come from a nice home and we didn't have our children go to jail, it is up to us to step back and say, let's help somebody else like somebody helped us. somebody helped me to go to school. somebody helped me with a job. i cannot look at these men that come to the program and turn my back to them. it is not fair. circumstances are not the same and it is important. i see them sitting here on this panel, the brookings institute, talking to you, expressing himself. they are not scared, they are telling real life stories! these things really happen in their lives. but what makes me feel part is that they have accomplished things. certificates, they feel good

about themselves, they got a haircut, they are smart, they have money in their pocket, they are hungry. all of these things, i am very proud. we have to say let's help organizations like chicago cred. what can i do to help young people? i hope that you will take this and help us. help others. >> i think we need to start focusing on some of these at risk young women. everywhere you go, every city, every state, at risk young men, at risk young men. you don't realize that these men are at risk because the females, i'm just being honest with you. give rival gangs having a baby by the same woman. unplanned parenting. i just think we focus a lot on the young men. the system already got a chokehold on them. i mean a noose!

they are already walking and fair skin of the police. whether you have hsl or not. you still going to bother me from a year ago that i was out there. they have the rival gangs, those guys don't care that you have a job are in a program. they don't care about none of that. we flew all the way here to washington. we can be anywhere in the world that we are here with y'all. we came here to see y'all, to deliver. start focusing on some of these young women. >> answer either question. either had to be taken down to scale or what do you want this audience, we will open it up after these questions. what do you want this audience to know while thinking and walking out of here? >> i will is the first question. i say, more programs like chicago cred.

because the generation nowadays, only joining gangs for protection, essentially belonging and protection. a sense of belonging. and a lack of role models. chicago cred came in and i got a role model from my life coach mr. and mrs. jones. even though she is not a man she still like a role model for me. i think there should be more programs like chicago cred. >> basically more programs like chicago cred. because i feel like chicago cred is the only program they offered us. the only program that is

guaranteeing the hold onto us and make sure that we get jobs initially have high school diploma, the only program that gave us life coaches, gave us -- the only program! i just feel like, we need this program. we need this program to stay around and keep our youth. keep us alive! if you ain't busy, that is an idle man. and then when you are idle, if 1,000,001 things to think about. this is detrimental to people. you have 1,000,001 things to think about. i just feel like chicago cred offered us so much to the point that we need to keep these programs, key findings programs, keep pushing. we've mr. hicks right here, he is an amazing life coach! i can call this minute 1:00 in

the morning, 4:00 in the morning, 3 o'clock, he is up! i can call him anytime he is picking up for me, he is there for me. i tell him i'm in a predicament i cannot get myself out. he is coming for me. i just feel like that's all we got right here. y'all, it's probably going to be more youth dead, more youth in the county, more youth in the penitentiary. this is our hope. >> i think like they said, we deftly share more programs but i think it should start younger. she reached out to the youth. before there at risk. starting elementary schools. the things that some people teach the youngest and leads to chaos and out of control. i feel that if we reach the youth and raise our kids the right way, then their generation will be better than

our generation. >> let's open up to the audience.>> personally want to thank you for the stories. i appreciate that. my question, you mentioned that you have been in prison several times. what is it like when you come out of prison? how do people treat you? is there any support that is provided to you? is it basically impossible to get a job when you have a prison record? how can we do a better job helping people getting out of prison? >> nothing is impossible. otherwise we wouldn't be here. you have got to have confidence in yourself. coming home from the penitentiary, county jail, most guys come home with low self-esteem, no money, primus no family to go to. you are bitter, you just have

to come from focus. the streets have the strongest grip on your life. you can go from walking to church on sunday to going to the store and come out a gang member. and it is just that quick because the lifestyle is so enticing. and then you have to think when you come home from prison, what is there for someone with april officer taking around everywhere you go? or a -- you have a program for these guys, that is all they got. it's either this or that. for the most part, these guys, they are still strong. you have to offer them something that you never had. like me. i never had a job. i never cared to have one.i

have guns! if any money i'm going to get it. so when your mindset changes you have to start looking. and again, society look at criminals like they are the worst in the world. people here have got away with stuff. let's be honest! you just ain't been caught. some guys didn't do the time but they do the time. so you pick your poison. you have to understand there is something individual, regardless of what people think they are about, then something deep down inside, you just have to help them. [inaudible question] >> you made a pointed statement talking about the streets not wanting to let go. but the experiences that all of you have get under gothe skin.

my question to you, all of you running the program, what are we doing to not only just provide the help from education and economic mobility but also the healing that has to come with the trauma that has been experienced, from the violence. that they have been a part of? >> we are very fortunate to have an amazing psychologist on our team. our guys also have cognitive behavioral therapy. we do a lot of circles. and so, we do have a team of very qualified people that are addressing the trauma with all of our young men. in this just part of the program. a very important piece. >> we are doing a ton but i promise you we are not doing enough.

this is present, this is every single day, so now guys, this is deep. we have our guns write autobiographies and tell their stories which is very tough and extraordinarily powerful in healing. we are doing as much as we can but it is still not enough. >> i want to touch on this. we had a wonderful program where the guys actually wrote memoirs. it was truly an amazing thing for them to unload that trauma. it was healing as well. i wish we had brought example. it is a great part of the program. [inaudible question] >> maleek, i will put you on the spot. >> i can't really explain it to

y'all. being shot six times, and i got shot in the back of my head, my hand, my back, my arm. and to top it all off, it took me a whole year to get back completely to what i was. so it's like the trauma and the waking up in the middle of the night, i still don't sleep good all the time.you know what i'm sayin'? lli can't really tell you how i feel? you know what i'm sayin'? you have to be my shoes to experience it. i wouldn't want nobody to experience that. if you experience the pain i felt, wondering, what was i going to come home to my mama? what made it so bad, my son was four months. it had of the girl that was six months pregnant with my daughter. my kids wouldn't have even knew me. i would have been nothing but a figure of their imagination. they would have had nothing but

a picture to show. this is how my daddy look. they would have had nothing but stories.the trauma, can't sleep, not eating, wondering if this person or that person -- i can't really explain it. but one thing i can say, they gave me an outlet. like they said, we have a therapist, life coaches, people here that are trying to help us heal. -- but i basically have to heal at my own pace. >> good afternoon. i am ebony rose thompson. i'm here with -- i am sure that you seen all of the coverage in the news around parkland. and the mass shootings and the conversation around gun violence, and that type of

balance. how do we open up the conversation? we talked about violence for enough communities claim that because d.c. is home for me. there are a lot of kids that look like me and look like you all in places here face a lot of trauma and violence daily. but they not part of that conversation. what will help open peoples eyes to see that certain things that all hakids should have? >> i will take this one very quickly. we sent down six of our high school teams this past saturday to spend department kids. and it was transformational on both sides. they're going to come visit us in may, the march on the 24th, one of our high school kids is going to speak. and so we are building those bridges. i think the diversity of that movement, raising the status, i am more hopeful on the issue that i have ever been. i will say that the parkland

kids totally -- helping them with the movement. >> first and foremost gentlemen, like you said earlier, it does take a lot of courage to not retaliate and also be able to walk in your neighborhood where your eipeers and neighbors know that you have not retaliated.first and foremost isolate you to have the courage to walk down the street every day with your head's up. my question pertains to, are you all aware in chicago cred any sort of analysis between how much a murder cost we met in the district will look at before the investigation of a murder, it is a little under half $1 million. the cost to the city overall per murder. have you seen any programs that have been able to measure the cost of someone being murdered to them saying listen, in the district because $500,000 for

the city before they even start the investigation or prosecution and the gelling of someone, maybe just saving one person is like a $500,000 to be put into a program like chicago cred. are you aware of any programs that have d made any analysis i that direction? >> we do that analysis before we study. every homicide cost the city between 1.3 and 1.4 million. the gel is 55 or $60,000 per year. our cost per head is more than that. every pretty good case. and to be clear over time is basically around one year. the goal, the rest of their lives in mainstream society. this is not a ongoing investment from the public ssector. this is often the private side. and that is a separate conversation why chicago should be doing more but that is another day. do not forget the emotional piece of this, the financial savings to society is

staggering. >> thank you. i am on the list for a letter meetings that happen it is the first one that i came to so i can greet you all and let you all know that people are thinking about you here in dc. d.c. used to be that city. with that high number. like we know, i don't know how many from washington are in this place but i am, i know about the numbers, i know about all of that. my question to you all, anyone can answer it. how do you feel when you see the outpouring of support when 50 people were killed and 600 are just not spoken about in

chicago? everyone changes their facebook profile and there is a mass shooting. i just keep thinking about chicago. what about 500, what about 550? what about 600? emasculating, 40 white people were killed at a concert. god bless all of them! but what about the 600 poor black people kill the chicago year after year after year? how do you feel about that? >> i think being from chicago is kind of like the norm to us. out-of-state is the norm to y'all also. another shooting. at the end of the day, i just believe in a nutshell we need to pay more attention to social media. because if you look at these mass shootings there was a possibility for this to be stopped. if you look into the social media or this or that, we overlook the smallest thing and it lebecomes huge. as far as chicago, of course we

are sick of it. i'm sick of hearing -- we have a funeral home, you do not have to get out of your car, you can drive through! like burger king. you want to see your partner? pull up, roll the window down and look, keep going. i mean the people selling the casket, i'm sure they don't have a problem with it. it is just us. they are not the ones getting put in the casket. it doesn't matter, white or black, it is still sad because they didn't have to do with nothing.can you imagine someone running in here right now with assault rifles?what are you going to do? it is unimaginable. never think it will happen to us. that's why the program is so good. we don't have guys i think that they are invisible anymore. they start thinking you know what, i can do something better. sometimes you have to look in that mirror. that means a lot. the mirror you look at every

morning, don't wash your face only. talk to yourself. talk to yourself. >> hi, i am with the center for social policy. imagine working with community organizations.just curious about some of the strengths they community organizations bring and and also the biggest capacity building to allow other organizations to to this kind of work. [inaudible] >> one of the things i realize in doing this work is that, there are some resources in our community. i think one of the biggest challenges has been connecting the youth to these resources. i can remember just going to my local park and being able to participate in a number of different things that i carry with me through the course of my career. everything that i did from

volleyball, modern dance, all the great services i had as a kid carried me in life. at the time they were not calling that person an instructor, a mentor. it was just a volleyball coach or whatever. i'm going to answer the question. i think it is so important that we figure out better ways to connect with kids to all of these resources because a child that is connected is less likely to be involved in incidences of violent. my agency is a very small agency and we have pretty much networks with larger agencies in the community that would get funding. but again, the biggest challenge has been that the funding was just so small. or just only touched the tip of an issue with a kid and so, you just giving some kid a little money for the summer.

within the major issue still continues. we had to build capacity with small agencies because a lot of time the small agencies are doing for work. chicago cred is definitely a huge part of helping us build capacity. i think once this is over we will be able to sustain ourselves eneven longer and continue to help a lot of young people in the community.and also, whenever our agency has always -- it did not matter the size of funding that we got. we always figured out a way to share with other agencies in our community. if someone gave us something we would bring as many as 8 to 10 partners and. so ethat everybody -- because w cannot save all of the children but those eight communities, there's a partners are serving 100 kids one way or another. now we are serving 800 kids as

opposed to us just serving 50 kids in the agency. building capacity is huge. people working together is huge. thank you for your question. >> i would like to add a quick thing to that. if it happens, and they don't give us the money, sometimes, some kind of way we make it happen. it is the work we are dedicated to this work. >> for you do without the money. and we have! >> we have to close. just three quick final thoughts. first, i always it is not programs that change lives, it is relationships. it is not just these three relationships. whatever young men do to support each other and move in different ways is remarkable. -- peers who kept them from retaliating.

and his relationships not programs that change lives. second, it is s great that you are giving a second chance, i think for many of our guys this is a first chance. they're making a rational choice now because they never had other better rational choices? no one has to work with us. no one is assigned by the court or probation officers. every cohort we have, they say how do you find guys? we have a waiting list. what is the next waiting list? how many? >> 75 people.>>and another has hundred and 50 people. another thing i want to say, these guys are not the problem. they are actually the solution. i'm actually wildly optimistic about where we are going towards as a city. and we are doing our part to help, guys are putting down their guns and talking to their friends, bringing in the tinext group but ultimately it will lead the city to a different

place. i cannot prove it but we will come back for five years from now, i am convinced as a city we will be dramatically better. please give a round of applause. a plasma -- applies not [inaudible conversations]

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for complete schedule of our tucson coverage visit booktv, you can follow along on our social media sites, facebook, twitter and instagram asked booktv. scientist steven pinker explores the progression of humanity throughout history and argues people are in a better place now than ever before. singer-songwriter dolly parton talks about her book gifting program and reads and things from her book coat of many colors which she donated to the library of congress. this happens this weekend on booktv@c-span2. television for serious readers. we kick off this weekend with journalist celeste headlee who offers communication strategies to improve civil discourse. this