(MCT) — CHICAGO — Whenever a young parishioner asks for a ride home from his Back of the Yards church or evening basketball practice, the Rev. David Kelly obliges without question. He knows the youth is just looking for safe passage from one gang territory to another in what has become an increasingly violent neighborhood this year.

But just 10 miles south in Englewood, a neighborhood notorious for violence, resident and community activist Cynthia Lomax has noticed quieter weekends and fewer sidewalk memorials to murder victims. She’s spotted more uniformed and plainclothes police officers patrolling the streets, their large, boxy vehicles an easy tell.