Resolving These Days of Violence

One of our most requested programs in Cook County is Conflict Resolution for Youth. Schools across the county express their difficulty in getting past conflicts to reach education each day. Students come to schools with complex issues including hunger, broken families, homelessness, fear, anger, and a lack of social interaction that previous generations take for granted.  Another child was shot last night - this time on Chicago's South Side - and today students and administrators from Simeon Career Academy (where a Saturday student was gunned down last weekend) protested lax gun laws at the state building rather than attending classes. The toll is now 22.   Besides dismay, I can offer a couple of websites to help parents and children, teachers and administrators to work toward non-violent resolutions. We need to work toward a world when baseball hats, affiliations, words, or looks are not the impetus for violence.  

• Character Education:http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/ce/
• Out on a Limb (2nd-4th grade): http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/conflict/