The maps, JR program is designed to improve community attitudes toward police and decrease youth crime and violence by engaging the youth with their community through positive interactions and…

The Village of Maywood Police Department was awarded a $621,000 project grant from the Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention under the Congressionally Recommended Awards program (CFDA 16.753) to implement the MAPS, JR program. MAPS, JR is designed to improve community attitudes toward police, decrease youth crime and violence, and engage youth through positive interactions and skills-building activities. Developed in collaboration with local leaders and organizations, MAPS, JR aims to strengthen police-youth relationships and support violence prevention efforts in the greater Chicago region through non-law enforcement activities meeting the needs of youth, such as religious, athletic, school, and employment programs. Performance is scheduled from March 15, 2022 to October 31, 2023 in Maywood, Illinois.

The maps, JR program is designed to improve community attitudes toward police and decrease youth crime and violence by engaging the youth with their community through positive interactions and building youth skills. This program was developed in collaboration with local leaders and community-based organizations to meet the needs of the youth. Given the strained relationship between the community and police in the nation as a whole and in the broader chicago region specifically and the level of juvenile crime in the chicago region, the maps, JR program is needed to improve positive relationships with the community via non-law-enforcement activities that support the needs of youth. The ojjdp literature review on interactions between youth and law enforcement from january 2018 indicated that research shows that "…youths' attitudes toward law enforcement directly influence their willingness to engage with the police….however, involvement in conventional activities, such as religious activities, athletics, school activities, and employment, has been shown to have a positive effect on attitudes toward police." the program hopes to improve police-youth relationships by improving attitudes toward the police, engaging youth in positive activities, and increasing local law enforcement's effectiveness at violence prevention.