Sep 8, 2009 5:46 am US/Central
Local Youth Find Guidance At Cabrini Connections
Group Provides Mentors, Tutors For Kids From Cabrini-Green Area And Around The City
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Shaquille Strauther, 16, examines some footage for the video club at the Cabrini Connections program. The program provides mentorship for youth in the Cabrini-Green area and elsewhere in the city.
CBS
A mentor can be a powerful figure in a young person's life, but are mentors hard to come by in certain neighborhoods?
One local group says they are, and they have set out to change that in the shadow of the notorious Cabrini-Green public housing development.
Cabrini Connections is headquartered in the basement of a red brick building at 800 W. Huron St., just a few blocks south of the sprawling high-rise development.
When CBS 2's Anne State visited recently, she found some kids exercising their creativity with mentor Michael Alexander.
They belong to a video club, and they were making a horror film. In a corner of the room, surrounded by upside-down chairs, they talk about a story line possibly involving ghosts, vampires, and zombies. One of the aspiring filmmakers is 16-year-old Shaquille Strauther.
"I want to learn how to edit, like movies." Strauther said. And in video club that day, that's exactly what he was getting to do.
Cabrini Connections' YouTube Channel
Cabrini Connections is described as a tutoring and mentoring program for kids in the Cabrini-Green area, bounded roughly by North Avenue, Halsted Street, Chicago Avenue and the Brown-Purple Line 'L' tracks. But the program now serves kids from all over Chicago.
Past members of the video club made a documentary called, "Cabrini-Green: This Is What I Know." It contrasts the images of the Cabrini-Green project seen on the news, which often revolve around gangs and crime, with testimonials from Cabrini residents.
"We had neighbors that were outgoing; friendly. We were able to play out in the back," one person interviewed in the video says.
The program that helped create this video is meant to be a sort of bridge, says Founder Dan Bassill:
He says the mission is "connecting you with people and idea and influences beyond your neighborhood."
Not only that, each of the kids has a personal tutor. That is something Jon-Nita Blake says she didn't have before.
"Things I didn't understand I would talk to teachers, but sometimes teachers aren't always available," Blake said.
Bassill says his group gets private and public funding, including a $40,000 grant from the city. But at the moment, he said, "We're broke."
Bassill is hoping a big donor will step up to the plate and help finance the programs. He says they teach kids teamwork and social skills, and give them a safe place to go.
The program is made up of volunteers, but he still has five or six staffers. The payroll costs are about $200,000 a year.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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