997 Participants at El Grito 5K 2018!
We were anticipating 700 runners/walkers to participate in this event and we surpassed that amount with 997 participants! It was a beautiful day and an awesome atmosphere for everyone to come together and celebrate Mexican Independence Day. We enjoyed Zumba warm-up, Mariachi during the race and tamales afterwards. A big thank you to our sponsors and volunteers that helped make this event a huge success!
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Water Battle at the Park!
Our after-school program, The Vine, and R City celebrated their two year partnership by planning an epic water battle for the youth from both programs! The teams attempted to unfreeze and wear frozen t-shirts, got drenched in our water relays and ran our hearts out in team races. It was an incredible day at the park, full of healthy competition and so much laughter.
The Vine and R City have continued to work together to make a difference in the neighborhood of Humboldt Park with the goal of helping youth and young adults to understand how a relationship with Christ can transform their lives. This day is just another example of how we seek to collaborate to have a greater impact on our city. We cannot do this work alone and need our partner organizations as well as our prayer warriors and funders to continue to push towards the same goal: To connect youth and young adults to Christ and community!
Running Forward Youth Conquer the Half Marathon!
We are so proud of our 18 youth that successfully completed the Chicago Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon. For 11 of them it was their first time running 13.1 miles. The parents of the runners were able to come and support them as well, which lifted their spirits on the course as they passed a familiar face in the crowd.
During the Half Marathon, Running Forward youth displayed the F.A.S.T. values that we have established for our running group: Faithful to God | Aspire to be a game-changer | Remain Steadfast |Endure Tests and prevail.
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Summer Fun in Little Village!
New Life Centers is partnering with Beyond the Ball to offer family activities to the community 4 nights a week until school starts. The goal is to create fun and safe spaces for Little Village residents during the summer. All of our events are free and open to community residents. Many have come out to participate in the sports and children activities that we offer and enjoy free food and music.
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Youth CrossOver to Success
CrossOver is a basketball program that helps teens build ball-handling skills, teamwork, and work experience while preparing to cross over from high school to success. The objectives of Crossover are to use the game of basketball to spur students on to a physically, emotionally and mentally disciplined life. Through the program students learn the important values of teamwork, hard work, leadership, punctuality, goal setting, and peer encouragement. This is emphasized throughout program through open discussion, drills, competitions, etc. in order to give teens different perspectives as to their application in life and the value of keeping each other accountable to accomplish a common goal.
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Running Forward Enjoys Peaceful Run on Lakefront Trail
Running Forward youth enjoyed a 4 mile run on the Lakefront Trail this past week. It was a nice change from running in the busy neighborhood of Little Village. We had a debriefing session afterwards and youth shared that they really enjoyed the experience and that they would love to do it again. All smiles and content hearts after a great run on the Lakefront Trail!
Urban Life Skills Receives Award for Innovation in Mentoring
On May 18th New Life Centers was recognized by Mentor Illinois with the 2018 Innovation in Mentoring Award. This was given for all the mentoring innovations we have implemented in the Urban Life Skills Program. Thanks to our staff for all their hard work!
Little League Kicks Off the Season With Record Amount of Players
Little Village Little League has officially started! Our opening day was May 5th and it was a huge success. We have 185 youth participating in our baseball league which is the most we have ever had since Little League started 7 years ago. It was a beautiful day with lots of games and good food that families brought to share with everyone.
Many thanks to volunteers and sponsors who make this league possible!
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Youth Clean Streets in Little Village
During Spring Break our youth involved in our Open Gym nights engaged in caring and serving their community of Little Village by taking to the streets and helping clean our neighborhood. Our youth were accompanied by other youth from New Hope Community Church and from New Life Community Church- Lawndale campus. Youth served together to help clean Lawndale Avenue from the historic 26th Street to 31st street which included both Little Village Academy Campus and Gary Elementary School Campus, where many of our youth attend. This event helped edify the youth by bringing the community together and showing them the strength that youth have in order to make a visible difference in Little Village.
Celebrating Our Volunteer Mentors
We are very thankful for all the volunteers that play a role at New Life Centers. Volunteers are key to the work that is done. Their faithfulness was celebrated at our annual Volunteer Spring Brunch, earlier this month.
Our volunteers serve in a variety of capacities from tutors, program support, sport referees, to volunteer mentors.
They each bring giftings and passions that add uniqueness and depth to our programs.
We are always looking for qualified volunteers to help support the work. With summer around the corner there will be openings for new volunteers to join the team.