Alex Kotlowitz

In 2010, 66 children died of gunfire in Chicago, and hundreds more were injured. Staggering statistics like this show that gang violence in the Windy City has grown out of control. CeaseFire, a community organization with a public-health approach, tries to lead Chicago's youth away from a life of crime. To do that, the group employs "interrupters," former gang members who actually go to the scene of a conflict and try to resolve it in a non-violent way. And it's all chronicled in a recent documentary film called "The Interrupters."

On Tuesday evening following his Floriday primary victory, Mitt Romney told Soledad O'Brien that, "I’m not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there. If it needs repair I'll fix it." The following day, The Takeaway followed up with a segment about the changing face of poverty in America. As part of a continuing conversation about this topic, Ron Robinson joins the program. Robinson is a homeless father of twins who lost his job at AT&T in 2010, and has been moving his family in and out of homeless shelters in Detroit, Michigan ever since. Alex Kotlowitz, journalist, author of the book "There Are No Children Here," and producer of "The Interrupters" also addresses the subject. 

Producer-director Steve James and author-turned-producer Alex Kotlowitz talk about their creative partnership and the documentary “The Interrupters,” inspired by Kotlowitz’s New York Times Magazine article. The film focuses on former gang members who disrupt violent situations as they happen. “The Interrupters” opens at the IFC Center on July 29.

Home foreclosure rates nationwide surged 30% last month. But the next phase of the crisis is already starting in places Cleveland, where at least 10,000 foreclosed houses sit abandoned. Journalist Alex Kotlowitz wrote about this part of the crisis in his article "All Boarded Up" for the New York Times ...

The effects of the housing collapse are being felt acutely, daily, powerfully in Cleveland, Ohio. For a time, it led the nation in foreclosures, and now it’s a city that lives with on...

In a poetry class at an adult learning center on Chicago’s North Side, the teacher Susan House usually keeps things fairly subdued. But when former gang member Sifredo Torres walked in, his eyes met those of Diana Giraldo, and sparks flew. ...

In a poetry class at an adult learning center on Chicago’s North Side, the teacher Susan House usually keeps things fairly subdued. But when former gang member Sifredo Torres walked in, his eyes met those of Diana Giraldo, and sparks flew. From that moment on, every word Torres wrote ...

The story begins in a poetry class at an adult learning center on Chicago's North Side. The teacher, Susan House, usually keeps things fairly subdued. But one day, Sifredo Torres walks in. He's a former gang member working toward his GED. When his eyes meet those of Diana Giraldo, ...