Obama Administration To Allocate Funds To Curb Youth Violence In Urban Communities

The Obama Administration has vowed to set aside funding to try to curb youth violence in urban communities. The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Education Secretary Arne Duncan in Chicago. The Attorney General and Education Secretary were dispatched to Chicago in the wake of the brutal and senseless beating death of 16 year old honor roll student Derrion Albert at a Chicago area high school. Caught in a clash between two rival groups of students, Albert was attacked as he walked to his school bus stop on his way home from school. The beating captured on cell phone video, showed Albert being punched, stomped and beaten with wooden boards as onlookers watched and did nothing. Four teens have been arrested and charged with murder in Albert's death. The video was released nationwide and shocked the nation. Attorney General Holder and Secretary Duncan the former head of Chicago Public Schools, have pledged more federal dollars to help end what is largely an inner-city crisis, but neither offered specifics or outlined any new strategies on how the government would help quell the increase in the number of violent deaths among teens, The Associated Press reports. In his remarks, Attorney General Holder stated "Youth violence is not a Chicago problem, any more than it is a Black problem, a White problem or a Hispanic problem," he continued. "It is an American problem."



In a Department of Justice study on youth violence released earlier this week, about 60 percent of respondents said they had been exposed to violence in the past year, and nearly half had been assaulted at least once, Holder told AP.


The President is requesting $25 million in next year's budget for community-based crime prevention programs, the attorney general said. Duncan said an emergency grant of about $500,000 has been earmarked for the school Albert attended for counselors and other programs.