Mayor Brandon Johnson has argued repeatedly that investing in young people — not throwing the book at them and their parents — is the answer to the perennial problem of teen takeovers.
On Wednesday, the mayor got a big assist in that effort, courtesy of the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago.
Seven “Ys” across the city — Irving Park, Kelly Hall, Lake View, McCormick, Rauner Family, South Side and West Garfield Park — are offering free summer memberships to thousands of teens between the age of 12 and 18.
Starting Monday and continuing through Aug. 31, young people between the ages of 12 and 18 can walk into any one of those YMCAs and get a free membership card. They simply need proof of residency and need to be accompanied by an adult.
Adam Alonso, president and CEO of the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago, said there’s too much talk about teen takeovers and not enough about “teen opportunity” and giving young people “safe spaces to meet and connect.”
“That should be our narrative. Not everything that’s wrong. Not everything that’s broken. But what’s right, what’s available to our young people,” Alonso told reporters at the South Side YMCA, 6330 S. Stony Island Ave.
“This is an opportunity to step into the moment and lead… Sign up, bring your friends… Use our fitness centers, our pools, our gyms, our fields, completely free of charge.”
Alonso acknowledged being “a little bit nervous because we’ve never done this.” He’s hoping as many as 5,000 young people take advantage of the free membership opportunity.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Alonso added. “We might have 10,000 young people show up and sign up. That would be an amazing problem to have.”
The number of takers could be on the high end if restless teens hear the sales pitch delivered by 18-year-old Maurice Allen. He’s been coming to the Y every day since he was a shy high school freshman.
“I started because I love sports — all sports. But what kept me coming back was everything else, Allen said. “The teen programs, the people. My friends are there… We play basketball. We work out. We hang out. It became my place.”
Allen said the teen program changed his life by helping a shy kid who wasn’t very social make “real friends, come out of my shell,” and prepare for adult responsibilities.
“The Y helped me get my Social Security job. It helped me prepare for a job interview at Wendy’s. And I got the job. They arranged my transportation to get there. Now they’re helping me learn how to drive. Whatever you need, they find a way to help make it happen,” Allen said.
Johnson joked that if he had known the Y offered free driving lessons, “I would have dropped my son off.”
Turning serious — and a bit emotional — the mayor recalled the days when he worked for the Y and saw how summer program fees “made it hard for some families” living in Cabrini Green.
“Young people would come into the Y and, unfortunately, were not able to stay and participate in programming because their parents did not have enough to feed them and provide opportunities for them,” the mayor said.
“And so, for all of those individuals that want to point fingers at our young people and point fingers at our families — if you do not know what it’s like to wake up in Chicago and you can barely make the ends meet, then stop judging our families and stop judging our young people. Stop it.”
After a Memorial Day weekend marred by teen takeovers turned violent, City Council support is building for a revised curfew ordinance, additional parental responsibility measures and for an attempt to hold social media companies accountable.
But Johnson reiterated Wednesday that the better answer is “life-changing” opportunities like summer jobs and the YMCA’s offer of free summer membership.
“These partnerships… play a role in how we reduce violence,” he said.
As a preacher’s son and a self-declared “person of faith,” Johnson said he is “living out the creed of what Jesus Christ said.”
“We do not reject young people. We do not turn them away… We can hold young people accountable. They want to be held accountable. But if you do not provide opportunity for young people, then you are rejecting young people,” he said.