GEMS Builds Connections Through Art
Last week the GEMS women, used paint to express the different emotions and situations that the young ladies have experienced. Each canvas was rotated in a circle between each GEM, each girl got to leave their mark on someone else's canvas. As the girls shared, it was a reminder that the GEMS room is a safe space where you can come as you are.
They are a community of women who love and support each other through this journey of life. The young ladies have shared their joys and pains, and it was beautiful because that's what GEMS stands for: empowering young ladies to use their stories of hope, joy, pain, and endurance. Both middle school and high school GEMS did a great job of being honest and open and using some of our values through the activity.
Seeking Healing - Walk With Adam Toledo
As a tribute to Adam’s life, the Walk With Adam Toledo was held on April 18. The walk was community-organized, lead, and attended. With multiple local businesses donating more than 4,000 flowers for the event. Elie Amador, who has been involved with New Life since childhood and now is one of our Pan De Vida Assistant’s said, “I got to watch our huge pile of flowers grow and grow throughout the weekend. Which was a special thing to me as I started to process everything, the flowers became a visual for unity.” She went on to say, “peace is what we want and we are going to get it together”. Hear more about the Walk With Adam Toledo in the video Real America with Jorge Ramos.
We are stronger together and we have to heal together. There have been many different opinions on what actions should be taken to help the healing start on a systematic level. These different viewpoints in the community have been highlighted well in this article by the Chicago Tribune. However, we have seen what proactive violence prevention through street outreach, mentoring, and authentic relationships can do.
We need change that invests first in youth in a way that sees the youth as family, as themselves, and as our future. As Benny Estrada, the director of Street outreach, shares in the article “[Police departments] want to put them in jail and we want to keep them out of jail.” We want our youth to know they have people in their corner, who love them, who will fight for them, and who will walk with them every step of the way. This is our commitment.
Learning to Mourn
This month we lost a friend and classmate. Although she wasn’t a program participant at The Vine, she was known and loved by many in our community and at the Chicago Public School that we partner heavily within the Humboldt Park Community. Jaslyn Adams was only seven years old and her life was cut short by the brokenness and violence that is present in our lives every day. The week following her death, many of our students and their parents needed time to process this deep loss.
The staff at New Life Centers created intentional space each day and then also informally throughout the day for the students to ask questions, share anything and everything on their hearts, and support them through this tragic loss.
Amidst the pain, beauty was born. As the students processed and mourned, one family brought a poster in for everyone to write notes of sympathy. It was a small gesture but brought so much meaning to the week. The poster and balloons were then brought to a balloon release in memory of Jaslyn. Community members shared about her life, prayers were said, and a call to action was given to grow as a community together through this loss.
Please join us as we continue to pray for healing in our community and for sweet Jaslyn’s family.
The Hope Squad
Even though in-person and web programming at Illinois Youth Corrections (IYC), St Charles has been happening during this season of Covid, the partners gathering together hasn’t happened since before Covid. As a means to connect with each other, the Hope Squad recently got to meet over pizza and bowling!
To reconnect, and share stories about the work they have been going at the juvenile prison. We’d like to reintroduce you to the team doing restorative justice programming to incarcerated youth at IYC St. Charles (from left to right):
- Michael Rodriguez from Segundo Belvis Ruiz Cultural Center teaches Latin percussion classes.
- Shaneika Tolliver from New Life Centers is a Reentry and Family Engagement Coordinator.
- Amy Williams from New Life Centers is the Project Coordinator for IYC St Charles Project.
- Joseph Mapp from Precious Blood Ministry of Reconciliation who leads Peace Circles.
- Andrew Sentamu from Abantu Arts Fusion teaches Art classes
- Nina Lopez from New Life Centers is the Director of Operations
- David Todd from Groomfly Barbers teaches Barber workshops on Mondays
Not present in the photo are Ozivell Ecfors from Ozilamont Photography and Media Solutions who teaches theater classes and the students from the University of Chicago IOP who do the Bridge Writing Program.
They would love the continue to pray for New Life Staff, and the instructors as they mentor, teach and bring hope to the youth in the St Charles juvenile facility.
Adam Toledo, a Letter of Lament
‘“Jesus wept.” (John 11:35)
Chicagoland, we failed Adam Toledo, we are failing each other, and we are failing ourselves.
Words cannot express the grief and sorrow we feel at Adam’s tragic death. Our collective grief reverberates through our bodies only beginning to absorb the trauma of a 13-year old boy shot and killed by police. We remember Adam’s life and mourn his death; all through a constant onslaught of hurt, anger, opinions, noise, blame, and guilt. And despite it all, we are left with his loss.
Loss for the Toledo family, our families, our neighborhood, our city, and our world.
Without Adam – a son, brother, student, neighbor, friend, and image-bearer of God.
There is no righting this pain.
We need accountability.
We ask for your accountability where we are failing to love, serve, and protect the young people in our community through our actions and inactions.
We demand accountability of the Chicago Police Department through a transparent investigation and just application of the law.
And we need so much more.
We need time to grieve and mourn.
We need to heal from our trauma.
We need each other.
We need justice.
We need peace.
We need to transform our unjust and racist systems.
We cannot normalize the sin of racial inequity that makes Chicago the city with the largest life-expectancy gap in this country.
We cannot normalize the killings of black and brown bodies by the very department our tax dollars fund to protect us.
We cannot normalize the disinvestment from communities of color that starves young people from opportunities to realize their dreams.
We need to reimagine.
We need to recreate.
It is easy to sit and give opinions, rant, and blame one another; but, there’s a lot of work to do and the work is hard.
The work of love.
The work of justice.
The work of healing.
Toledo Family, we commit to do better.
Chicagoland, we need to do better, together.
"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." - Martin Luther King, Jr.
We Can Heal Together
At the end of Black History Month, The Vine students started discussing how they can use their differences from their lives, backgrounds, and cultures to be stronger together. For our project, we started by spending an afternoon matching our skin tones to different types of paint colors like cinnamon, caramel, beige, chocolate, etc. After we each matched our skin tones, we used primary colors to mix together through handshakes to make new colors together.
The excitement in the room was palpable as they watched blue and red become purple, red and yellow become orange. As we finished the project, we thought throughout our differences can help each other when we are struggling. When one person is having a tough day, another can help them heal through a hug, kind words, or sharing some hot chips. We all have struggled this year but we are also all healing together too.
Basketball Programs Bring People Together
Basketball is more than just a sport. It’s a space to learn, grow, and collaborate. Jayden Hurtado, a player on the La Villita basketball team, has been reflecting on what this sport means to him. Even with COVID-19’s restrictions, disorganization, and uncertainties, Jayden had the discipline and drive to continuously improve his skills on and off the court. "I have noticed progress each time I play, good or bad I take something away from each game," said Jayden.
When asked about his favorite moments on the court he said ”building bonds with new people and getting a chance to play basketball. It’s honestly great meeting new players and coaches because everyone has one thing in common which is the love for the sport, and that’s the bigger picture.” Basketball brings people together. It reminds us to work together, have fun, and strive for more.
The Vine Students Make the Best of the Snow
With the Chicagoland winter storms providing 10 inches of snow, this month has been all about the kids enjoying it! E-learning can be a repetitive and draining process, because of this the youth are having a hard time keeping a positive view. Yet, the snow has been a welcomed break in the middle of e-learning. It seems so simple but, it has brought so much joy and laughter to the youth. The creativity that the youth have shown with the snow is quite impressive. They have made snowmen and chairs of snow using milk crates for molds. They’ve made obstacles courses and small hills to slide down, and of course, forts to use in epic snowball fights! The snow has reminded and taught us that with every little resource and blessing we receive it’s our choice of how we use it. The youth are using the snow to its fullest.