Teresa Córdova, director of the UIC Great Cities Institute and professor of urban planning and policy, was interviewed in an ABC 7 segment about Chicago gang violence in the wake of a 7-year-old girl being shot while trick-or-treating in Little Village.
“It’s the age-old phenomenon where people feel the need to defend their territory,” said Teresa Cordova, director of the University of Illinois – Chicago’s Great Cities Institute.
Cordova recently co-authored a report about gangs in Chicago. She said Little Village has the youngest population of all Chicago neighborhoods, and the two gangs there, like other gangs in the city, recruit young. She emphasized alternatives for kids to reduce gang activity.
“You have to provide more opportunity so that the choices that they make are better choices,” Cordova said.
