Our Chicago: Town hall on keeping Latino youth safe, demands for investment in wake of Adam Toledo shooting

CHICAGO (WLS) -- ABC 7, Chicago's No. 1 station for news, presented a digital town hall exploring ways to keep Latino youth safe and engaged in programs that deter gang participation and prevent tragic situations such as the one involving Adam Toledo.

ABC 7 Vice President of Community Engagement Diana Palomar moderated this hourlong event available on abc7chicago.com Thursday, April 22, at 2:00 p.m.

The Little Village neighborhood in South Lawndale, where Toledo lived and died, was rated the second-highest Chicago neighborhood in terms of economic hardship according to the Chicago Community Area Economic Hardship Index. The recent police-involved fatal shooting of 13-year-old Toledo crystalizes the need for adequate services, resources and opportunities to give Latino youth support and guidance that will help keep them off the street, away from danger.

ABC 7's Vice President of Community Engagement Diana Palomar will lead this week's robust digital town discussion with community leaders, including some from Little Village ("La Villita"), who represent organizations whose goal it is to protect and nurture Latino youth while educating the public on the difficult issues they face every day. The panel will dig deeper into available programs helping this community's next generation and the critical need for increased funding for Chicago Public Schools in Little Village to help produce outstanding students and citizens. The panel will also explore how social services can be improved to strengthen Latino youth and provide paths to prepare them to take their place as productive members of this city's future population, labor force and leadership.

Guest panelists:

-Ric Estrada, Metropolitan Family Services

-Alex Linares, Great Cities Institute at the University of Illinois at Chicago

-Andres Alvear, BUILD Inc.

-Karina Ayala-Bermejo, Instituto del Progreso Latino

The virtual town hall will also be exclusively streamed live on ABC 7's Facebook Live, YouTube, ABC 7's app and ABC 7's connected TV apps on Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Android TV and Roku.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/abc7chicago

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abc7Chicago/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/abc7Chicago/

PREVIOUS TOWN HALLS:

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About ABC7/WLS-TV Chicago

ABC7/WLS-TV Chicago is the No. 1 local news source and most-watched television station in Chicago. With top-rated daily newscasts spanning decades and the largest social media presence in the market with more than 2.3 million Facebook followers, ABC7 Eyewitness News provides breaking news, investigative reporting, weather, politics, traffic and sports in the multiplatform space to Chicago, the suburbs and northwest Indiana. Named Best News Operation by the Associated Press for four consecutive years, the station produces 41 hours of local news weekly and Chicago's only local weekday entertainment talk show, "Windy City LIVE," as well as its highest-rated New Year's Eve special. ABC7's award-winning programs such as "Heart and Soul," "The Ñ Beat" and "Asian Influences" showcase the city's diversity, while being the only Chicago station producing and broadcasting parades representing Chicago's rich cultural history. In addition to producing town halls focused on current social issues, the station has a long and proud tradition of broadcasting political candidate debates keeping Chicago's electorate informed. ABC7's outreach efforts include annual partnerships with the Red Cross for life-saving blood drives and, most recently, spearheading an effort to raise more than $1.5 million for area food pantries.