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“He said there are a lot of things that happen in Chicago, you see so many kids lose their lives at early ages ... He couldn’t even make it to 17,” the boy’s mentor said.
On day 79 of his rooftop vigil, Pastor Corey Brooks and CEO Vondale Singleton discuss how to help kids born with the odds stacked against them.
MORE In early December last year, a video captured part of a shootout and attempted carjacking. A retired firefighter died. Chicago police say one of the four suspects was 15 years old. Photo by NPR - Chicago Police Department/screenshot by NPR On a sunny January afternoon, Amy Blumenthal drove to her Chicago home after picking up groceries. She turned off a street and into an alley, backed her car into her garage and started unloading the bags. "All of a sudden, I heard something and looked up and there was a boy ...
"I went through the program and I know the work is very true," he said. "I understand you cannot have one foot in and one foot out." Terry was just 14 years old when he joined the mentoring program and now serves as the program's director. "If you engage them and try to teach them step by step that's all they need is just the guidance," he said. The mentoring program started at Gary Comer College Prep. Its founder told NBC 5 he had a rough childhood growing up. "My mom and my father they had me when they were teenagers," said Vondale Singleton. "My mom was 15 and my father was 19."