In the News
News articles and testimonials on the success of our Youth Zone.
"Throughout life it has become common that while a great student is often well accomplished, a good athlete is more celebrated. But for the youth today becoming a balanced student/athlete should always be the goal."
- by Darvolis Robinson, Near West Side CDC. January 2011.
“Since the program began in 2008, public violence has decreased 64.4% in our area. From 2009 to 2010 there was a 100% decrease in both homicide and aggravated battery. These improvements are unheard of and it demonstrates how our efforts have helped empower the community,” Gates said.
-by Near West Side CDC, Summer 2010.
Q: How can officiating have a positive effect in one’s life?
A: Officiating can allow one to see your country and more just because of your whistle. You get to meet people of all walks of life. It can become a career and a lifestyle. You can become a role model to kids who want to pursue other options when becoming a professional athlete seems out of reach; another profession around your sport of choice. But most importantly, to me, it shows how discipline can be added to a great creation such as basketball. With good officiating, basketball is a work of art! I guess it is my favorite pastime.
-by Darvolis Robinson, Near West Side CDC. Fall 2010.
"In a way, last month's basketball tournament, held at Crane High School and Malcolm X College before 400 to 600 spectators, was the culmination of the league's activities and ended with several players winning awards named after slain Chicago police Officers Thomas Wortham IV and Thor Soderberg, and Blair Holt, the 16-year-old gunned down on a Chicago Transit Authority bus."
-by Dawn Turner Tice, Chicago Tribune. September 14, 2010.
"We're seeing kids growing up who would be enemies just because of where they live. They form relationships in the sports realm that wouldn't have been there otherwise," said Castañeda whose program organizes basketball games at Little Village Lawndale High School."
-by John Davis, Chicago Tribune. April 14, 2009.