Chicago non-profit is named Future Ties because it is an investment in the kids

Jennifer Maddox is a Chicago police officer and founder of Future Ties, a non-profit after-school and summer programme that serves Chicago's South Side youth. She was selected as one of 10 honorees in the L'Oreal Paris Women of Worth programme. Photo: Tribune News Service

More than two decades ago, as a rookie Chicago police officer assigned to the South Side, Jennifer Maddox found herself regularly called to the Parkway Gardens housing complex in Woodlawn, mostly responding to kids getting into trouble.

“I was inside there literally every day,” she said. “We saw there were no safe places, or any places, to play. They were getting in trouble because of that. They were finding their own fun.”