RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, throughout the history of our nation, there have been incidents of conflict between law enforcement and civilians; and
WHEREAS, in recent years, the City of Chicago has had numerous incidents of conflict arising out of contact between the Chicago Police Department and the residents of Chicago; and
WHEREAS, the City of Chicago is working to address these issues of conflict that have been growing over the previous years, by developing initiatives to help reform social injustice in our communities; and
WHEREAS, the City's civic, governmental, and religious leaders need to come together to solve the current problems in social justice to move forward in a productive way; and
WHEREAS, one initiative that has shown great success is to invest in mentoring the youth in an effort to discourage young individuals from joining gangs; and
WHEREAS, Dwayne Bryant, who developed the mentoring program, Inner Vision International, has mentored over 15,000 youth in our City resulting in significant improvements in their academic achievements and behavior; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Bryant was inspired by a conversation with elementary school students on the Southside to create "The STOP" - Improving Police and Community Relations, as a resource for students, parents, teachers and law enforcement to begin constructive dialogue; and
WHEREAS, with the recent increase of U.S. police officers involved in shootings from routine stops, "The STOP," was created to help educate youth to stop, observe and reflect during an encounter with law enforcement; and
WHEREAS, "The STOP" teaches youth how to interact with police, encourage thought-provoking conversations and intelligent action between families, communities and law enforcement, provide a framework for parents, teachers and community leaders to engage in meaningful dialogue with youth about their expectations in life; and
WHEREAS, "The STOP" initiative offers practical solutions to bridge the gap between the community and law enfo...
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