Bensenville Credits Youth Soccer League For Steep Decline In Crime
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Bensenville says its youth soccer league is largely responsible for a 90 percent drop in crime around four apartment complexes.
The dramatic drop in crime around four apartment buildings is over the past three years, says Bensenville Village President Frank Soto.
And it was three years ago when the youth soccer league started - and got hundreds of families, most of them Spanish-speaking - on the same page, as their children played the game popular in so many of their native countries.
"It gave a sense of community to the parents that are there, certainly the children that are there and created kind of a neighborhood where, before people might not have communicated with each other - to now where most of the people know each other and see each other every weekend," Soto said.
Soto says another thing that helped cut the crime rate in those four apartment complexes was the village encouraging the landlords to start renting to more families - and fewer transients.
The youth soccer league is for boys and girls, and the village of Bensenville finances the bulk of it, says Soto.
He says 50 volunteers help run the program, and the 2015 season begins in May.
Children from 5 years old through high school age play on Saturday, and there's an adult league which plays Sundays.