NLC Selected Beyond Sport Global Award Finalist
We are honored to receive word that our Little Village Summer Softball League has been named on the prestigious Official Shortlist for the Beyond Sport Global Awards 2017 for the Sport for Peace and Social Justice Award.
We been selected as one of 37 shortlisted organizations out of more than 300 entries worldwide that entered this year’s Awards. This year’s entries represent work from over 70 countries and 40 sports!
Blessed to know the hard work my team and many community agencies that partner with us is being recognized by this prestigious honor.
There will be an award ceremony in New York City in July. Thank you for all of your continued prayers and support.
- Matt and the Centers Team
Vote for John LaTorre as JrNBA Coach of the Year
Our very own John LaTorre is one of 8 semifinalists for the Jr NBA's Coach of the Year award.
Show your support and vote for @johnnybchicago by using #JrNBACOYCHI
[bctt tweet="I'm voting for @johnnybchicago from @NLCenters for Coach of the Year #JrNBACOYCHI" via="no"]
Full details from http://jr.nba.com/coachoftheyear/:
The Jr. NBA and Positive Coaching Alliance are proud to announce the 8 semifinalists for the national Coach of the Year award, due to their outstanding integrity, character, and leadership.
These semifinalists were selected because they have not only been successful in bettering their athletes on the court, but have also shown that their main focus was to make these athletes better people in their communities. These coaches have established and fostered meaningful relationships with their athletes and their families over the years, and have incorporated valuable life lessons into every aspect of basketball they coach.
Now we need your help to select the Top 3 Finalists. From May 8 to May 22, vote for your favorite coach on Twitter to see them recognized as the national Jr. NBA Coach of the Year! Specific hashtags for voting are included below each semifinalists’ photo.
Voting Rules
• Voting is open from May 8 – May 22, 2017 on Twitter only
• Tweet specific coach hashtag to count as one vote
• Retweets count as votes
• There is no limit on the amount of times users can vote per day
Benny and Jorge and the Quest for Peace
Wow...
God continues to bless the work at New Life Centers and open up new doors. On Friday morning the Chicago Tribune released an article featuring two of our mentors, Jorge Roque and Benny Estrada. It is front page in the Sunday morning print edition. You can read the whole article here:
www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-little-village-met-20170421-story.html
You can also see the video featuring them and the neighborhood:
www.facebook.com/
Jorge and Benny have been working for over 20 years with youth in Little Village, and it is great to see positive news coverage about our work and community.
The video has had over 300K views, 5K likes and shares, and the comments and feedback have been overwhelmingly positive.
In an effort to continue to grow our work, we have started a GoFundMe campaign to raise $30,000 for another van. Thanks to everyone who helped us raise the resources for our first van. Our programming has been packed and a second van is needed to safely transport youth around the city.
If you would like to give, please go to:
www.gofundme.com/benny-and-jorge-quest-for-peace
Thanks again for being a vital partner in our work. We couldn't do this work without you.
Thanks,
Matt DeMateo
Executive Director
New Life Centers of Chicagoland
#ThatsCub - Partnering with the Chicago Cubs
Beloved Community,
Recently our basketball programming was highlighted by the Chicago Bulls and last night we had the amazing opportunity to be featured by the Chicago Cubs. We are proud of all of the work that our team puts in to reach hundreds of youth each week through mentoring, education, and sports.
Last night we took 10 of our youth to the annual Cubs Charities Bricks and Ivy Gala. We were a featured partner at the event. Our kids greeted guests as they arrived, welcoming them to this great event. They met Tom Ricketts, got to talk with Kyle Hendricks, saw Theo Epstein, walked past Joe Maddon, Baez, Lester, Arrieta, Contreras, Almora, and also saw greats Ryne Sandberg, Lee Smith, and others. They were star struck! They ran around with Clark the Cub, met business owners, high fived guests, and smiled a lot.
Our baseball fields and Little League program were featured in their Gala video, check it out here:
[fusion_vimeo id="vimeo.com/214070258" width="" height="" autoplay="false" api_params="" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class=""][/fusion_vimeo]
We are blessed to partner with the Cubs and continue to build community across our great city.
As our work continues to be recognized we are continuing to grow. We are serving more youth than ever before and need more resources to continue to reach the kids on our waiting list. Will you partner with us and make a donation to this vital work?
Become a monthly partner or make a one time donation by going to www.newlifecenters.org/give.
Excited to continue to build community together.
Matt DeMateo
Executive Director
24 hours at New Life Centers
Dear Beloved Community,
As I was reflecting on the day I was so grateful for all the things that God has provided and all the amazing things that our team does each day. I wanted to give you a quick snapshot of the last 24 hours at New Life Centers. Life is full but we wouldn't have it any other way.
- 22 youth head to a Bulls game
- 50 youth play in 9th-10th grade basketball league
- Over 60 youth at after school program
- Our girls visit a bookstore to learn about leadership
- Completion of our annual financial audit ensuring we manage resources with utmost integrity
- Social entrepreneurship training
- Multiple teams play in our neighborhood basketball playoffs
- Youth head to the gym to lift weights
- Multiple one on one mentoring sessions
- 15 coaches come together to plan this years Little Village Little League
- Basketball training and apprenticeships for multiple youth
- Meetings with funders and neighborhood networks
- Leadership development and training as we grow and build neighborhood leaders and capacity
- Grant budgets submitted
- Strategy and development of a citywide violence prevention effort
- Data team working on tracking our outputs and outcomes
- Multiple meetings around strategy and growth as an agency
- Lots of memes sent between staff to keep us laughing and encouraging each other
- Deep conversations about the challenges we are facing
- Street intervention with a situation one of our youth is facing
- Late night emails to keep up with the tasks at hand
- Prayer and thanksgiving for all that God has done and is going to do
- A quick update on social media to tell the stories
Thanks for your prayers, encouragement, and support. Love you all.
Give, Pray, and Get Involved
Matt DeMateo
Executive Director
New Life Centers
2016 - What an Amazing Year!
Hello,
Just wanted to thank you so much for your continued prayers and support. In 2016, we engaged more youth and families than ever before. We have seen our team grow, our reach grow, and more youth being connecting with Christ and community through mentoring, education, and sports.
We saw our after school programs growing and expanding, Urban Life Skills being awarded top mentoring program in the state of IL, Crossover being recognized at the Chicago Bulls Gala and Jimmy Butler coming out twice to be with our kids including giving 20 of them a $500 shopping spree last week (www.espn.com/video/clip?id=18330172).
2016 was a very challenging year with the violence in our city. Our work is more important than ever. In early 2017, we will be expanding our team to reach even more youth. If you know someone who would be a great fit, check out: www.idealist.org/view/job/T5cNpdppdCxd/.
As we end our year, we have an amazing giving match opportunity. The Pritzker Pucker Family Foundation is matching any gifts given! This is your chance to double the impact of your giving to our important work.
Please go to www.newlifecenters.org/give and select Pritzker Matching Fund. Thanks so much!
Looking forward to an amazing 2017 together!
Matt and the New Life Centers team
New Life Centers Fall 2016 Video
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Our 2016 update video & Fall support campaign.
Join us in connecting youth and young adults with Christ and community:
[/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][fusion_builder_column type="1_2" last="no" spacing="yes" center_content="no" hide_on_mobile="no" background_color="" background_image="" background_repeat="no-repeat" background_position="left top" hover_type="none" link="" border_position="all" border_size="0px" border_color="" border_style="" padding="" margin_top="" margin_bottom="" animation_type="" animation_direction="" animation_speed="0.1" animation_offset="" class="" id=""][fusion_button link="https://newlifecenters.org/en/get-involved/" color="default" size="" stretch="" type="" shape="" target="_blank" title="" gradient_colors="|" gradient_hover_colors="|" accent_color="" accent_hover_color="" bevel_color="" border_width="" icon="" icon_position="left" icon_divider="no" modal="" animation_type="0" animation_direction="left" animation_speed="1" animation_offset="" alignment="center" class="" id=""]Get Involved[/fusion_button][/fusion_builder_column][fusion_builder_column type="1_2" last="yes" spacing="yes" center_content="no" hide_on_mobile="no" background_color="" background_image="" background_repeat="no-repeat" background_position="left top" hover_type="none" link="" border_position="all" border_size="0px" border_color="" border_style="" padding="" margin_top="" margin_bottom="" animation_type="" animation_direction="" animation_speed="0.1" animation_offset="" class="" id=""][fusion_button link="https://newlifecenters.org/en/give/" color="default" size="" stretch="" type="" shape="" target="_blank" title="" gradient_colors="|" gradient_hover_colors="|" accent_color="" accent_hover_color="" bevel_color="" border_width="" icon="" icon_position="left" icon_divider="no" modal="" animation_type="0" animation_direction="left" animation_speed="1" animation_offset="" alignment="center" class="" id=""]Give[/fusion_button][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
Chicago Bulls honor After School Matters
[fusion_builder_container background_color="" background_image="" background_parallax="none" enable_mobile="no" parallax_speed="0.3" background_repeat="no-repeat" background_position="left top" video_url="" video_aspect_ratio="16:9" video_webm="" video_mp4="" video_ogv="" video_preview_image="" overlay_color="" overlay_opacity="0.5" video_mute="yes" video_loop="yes" fade="no" border_size="0px" border_color="" border_style="" padding_top="20" padding_bottom="20" padding_left="" padding_right="" hundred_percent="no" equal_height_columns="no" hide_on_mobile="no" menu_anchor="" class="" id=""][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type="1_1" background_position="left top" background_color="" border_size="" border_color="" border_style="solid" spacing="yes" background_image="" background_repeat="no-repeat" padding="" margin_top="0px" margin_bottom="0px" class="" id="" animation_type="" animation_speed="0.3" animation_direction="left" hide_on_mobile="no" center_content="no" min_height="none"][fusion_youtube id="AZqo04y7Dyg" width="1280" height="720" autoplay="no" api_params="" class=""/][fusion_separator style_type="none" top_margin="10px" bottom_margin="10px" sep_color="" border_size="" icon="" icon_circle="" icon_circle_color="" width="" alignment="center" class="" id=""/][fusion_text]The Chicago Bulls honored After School Matters at their annual charity gala. It is great to partner with the Chicago Bulls and the work of our Crossover Program in Humboldt Park. Check out this video highlighting our program and the day that Jimmy Butler came to visit![/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
