Urban Life Skills Hosts First Neighborhood Volleyball Tournament
Urban Life Skills first high school volleyball tournament was a success. With four teams signing up for the one day tournament, we were all able to enjoy five hours of volleyball. There may be a relatively small community of volleyball within the neighborhood of Little Village, but those inside this network are close and friendly. Some of the high school students had never been to the New Life Centers gym for volleyball, but had expressed their interest in continuing to participate in ULS programming.
It was important to provide a safe and communal space for such an event and the demonstration of sportsmanship and leadership was apparent. Team captains on the court were communicating with their teammates respectfully and demonstrated respect for their counterparts as well. In retrospect, it all felt like a family where bread was broken, games were played, and fun was had.
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Lights, Camera, Action!
Youth from our New Life Centers program attended the premiere night for the #BelieveChicago Beacons of Hope Student Films. During Spring Break, they participated in an internship program with AT&T and joined other youth from around the city in filming and producing a documentary featuring people in the city that work to help lower the gun violence in Chicago by empowering youth. Youth had the chance to travel through different neighborhoods, learn about people’s stories and their work, while also learning different aspects of the film industry including utilizing film camera, understand the concept of lighting, and also how collaborate with a diverse group of students on a project. This documentary also featured one of our mentors and highlighted the work that New Life Centers does in our community!
We will announce when this documentary is released to the public!
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Resilience in the Boxing Ring
Andres, AKA Andy, became involved at New Life Centers through the in-school mentoring program. He joined boxing at the beginning of the summer and had his first official match this past Thursday at Simon’s Park Boxing Tournament. Although Andy did not win his first match, he showed great resilience by stating that he did not view his loss as something negative since he can learn from it and make the adjustments he needs in order to become a better boxer. It is this type of character development that we want to instill into our boxing program. Joined in ringside were Andy’s fellow peers and boxers from our program who showed great support during the match. They will get a chance to compete once more time in two weeks at Ada Park - stay tuned!
Look For Our Arise Creations Booth at CCDA Conference!
The Arise Creation's middle and high school girls will host a booth this year at the CCDA Conference in Chicago. The girls have been working hard to reach their goals both as individuals and as a team. Each day they are learning what it means to be rooted in God's truth, the theme of the CCDA Conference this year. They are excited to learn how to manage the Arise booth, interact with customers and use the register in the weeks leading up to the conference so that they can finally put into practice the things that they have been learning together this semester!
The girls have also enjoyed deepening their relationships with one another through events outside of the classroom, such as, attending the Blue Man Group, eating at Chipotle together and attending Open Studios. Thank you to everyone who has faithfully supported the girls so that they can continue to be empowered, encouraged and educated through our Arise Creations program!
If you will not be attending CCDA conference this year but would like to purchase jewelry from Arise creations please visit our Etsy site: https://www.etsy.com/shop/AriseCreations
Former The Vine Student Comes Back to Teach
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Diamond came to The Vine afterschool program at New Life Centers when she was in 1st grade. She struggled with school work and would become discouraged easily. The Vine teachers started encouraging Diamond’s mother to seek out additional support for her at school. We walked her through this process and her daughter was able to get an IEP (Individual Education Plan) at her school. Once she received this she began to flourish! The partnership between her family and the school combined with Diamond's renewed energy to learn resulted in a straight-A student by middle school. In 9th grade she continued to come to the Vine each week for homework help but started to pursue her passion for art. Two years later she is a JR. in high school and is dual enrolled in a community college. When she graduates high school, she will almost have her Associate degree!
Diamond and her mom have always been heavily involved at New Life Centers. They are always looking for ways to give back to the people who have become family to them. This year Diamond, her Aunt Tille and her mom are offering the children at The Vine a free 8-week art class with all the materials provided. The kids are ecstatic and every day they are asking if it is art class day again!
Citywide Basketball Tournament at Moody Bible Institute
The citywide basketball tournament, called Cross City Collab, was the first of its kind for New Life Centers. The event brought together a total of 20 teams from 12 different organizations and schools from Chicago. Moody Bible Institute graciously agreed to host this big event.
Not only did everyone enjoy a competitive basketball tournament; but each team heard a presentation of the gospel and was challenged personally as well. Over 225 people attended the event either as a player, spectator or volunteer![fusion_vimeo id="https://vimeo.com/285407983/5ebb7e0bba " alignment="" width="" height="" autoplay="false" api_params="" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class=""][/fusion_vimeo]
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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