HEALTHY HEARTS AND HEALTHY MINDS IN CHICAGO 

In Chicago’s poorest neighborhoods, as in so many others across the country, the infrastructure of civil society has broken down at the same time that many of the institutions counted on to replace it have been found wanting. How do we rebuild that crucial “third place” where young people from chaotic backgrounds can interact, learn, play, and hopefully forge their characters? Two educational centers in downtown Chicago seem to have an answer.

Walking through the gaily decorated classrooms of downtown Chicago’s Metro Achievement Center on a Saturday morning, a visitor might see inner-city girls prepping for college entrance exams, conducting a science experiment, or participating in an arts and crafts project. A short cab ride away on Chicago’s Near West Side, boys at the three-story brick Midtown Center might be working on an on-line newspaper, attending a college readiness seminar, or heading out to play basketball.

The Midtown Educational Foundation, a nonprofit which exists to support Midtown for boys and Metro for girls, was founded by a group of Chicago businessmen who wanted to provide an alternative to the streets for inner-city youth. Midtown and Metro offer after-school, weekend, and summer education and character-building programs to area 4th–12th graders attending public, private, and parochial schools. Both target disadvantaged minority children of average academic ability with college potential—the very children who are so often overlooked in the public school system.

The organization’s work is guided by the social teachings of the Catholic Church, but participation is open to children of all faiths, and all values instruction is nondenominational. In 1998, Midtown’s seven full-time
staff and 235 volunteers served 489 boys and Metro’s seven full-time staff and 163 volunteers served 392 girls.

Midtown and Metro share the same basic structure. The “One-on-One” program pairs 4th–6th graders with volunteer tutors for weekly individualized tutoring sessions. The volunteers—mainly young professionals but also some college students—receive training in mentoring and are encouraged to develop close relationships
with their students. The Achievement Program for 7th–8th graders emphasizes academic coursework aimed at enabling students to enter college prep high schools. The College Orientation Program for 9th–12th graders offers English, math, and science skills-building classes, college entrance exam preparation, and college and career-related activities. All children participate in short weekly character development classes, which address values like self-discipline, generosity, and honesty. They also meet briefly once a week with
volunteer advisors, who are there to listen, encourage, and act as positive role models.

The two centers incorporate an array of recreational, enrichment, and community service activities into their programming. Sports are a big draw for the boys at Midtown; singing, dance, drawing, and drama classes are popular at Metro. Other activities include Junior Achievement, toastmasters, science clubs sponsored by the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, book groups, sports outings, and such service projects as visiting nursing homes and delivering Christmas baskets. The foundation estimates that it costs $871 to put a child through a year of its programs.

Midtown and Metro sum up their approach to serving children with the initials A V.I.P. “A” stands for academics, “V” for the basic virtues that are taught alongside academics, “I” for individualized attention,
and “P” for the partnership between staff, volunteers, and parents. The foundation requires that parents “buy in” to its programs, both literally and figuratively, to ensure that the centers’ work gets reinforced at
home. Parents must attend entrance interviews and pay nominal application and tuition fees (which can be waived in hardship cases); they are also encouraged to participate in parenting programs.

The “A V.I.P.” approach certainly seems to pay off. According to the foundation, over 90 percent of its kids graduate from high school—a much higher rate than their inner-city peers—and of this number, an amazing two-thirds go on to college. An independent assessment of One-on-One by Dr. Joan Costello from the Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago described it as a “strong mentoring program” that “exudes vitality.” Visitors from as far afield as Hong Kong and Sicily have come to Chicago to study the programs, which have been profiled by the Financial Times, the BBC, and NBC. But perhaps the most telling tribute to Metro and Midtown is the frequency with which alums come back to serve as volunteers and staff.
One notable returnee is the foundation’s executive director, Jim Palos, a graduate of Columbia University and Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management.

Metro and Midtown rely almost entirely on private funding, with an impressive roster of donors including AT&T, the Chicago Bears Foundation, and Walgreens (which underwrites One-on-One). Bob Kornecki, president of the central region of Edelman Public Relations Worldwide, says he and his company give to the foundation because it provides a “super benefit to the community and the kids” through its partnership between staff, volunteers, and parents “to build these kids up and make them the best they can be.” A number of Kornecki’s employees volunteer at the centers, and he says the feedback he gets from them is “absolutely positive, fantastic.”

High school student Brandon Boler, a Midtown participant since grade school, willingly relates how he has benefited from his time there. The One-on-One program “boosted my confidence in reading out loud” and
the character development activities helped him become a better person, he reports. And finally, the sports programs taught him that even if you’re on a bad team, by practicing good sportsmanship you can “still be a winner.”