Waging Peace on War through 2020
Street Outreach is more than your average job - it’s a lifestyle. Relationships are built through blood, sweat, and tears over years and this one, in particular, was rife with grief and turmoil, as well as community building and healing. It began with an anticipation of well deserved accolades and opportunities to share our vision and work throughout the country. There is a saying that goes, “If you want God to laugh, tell him your plans.” The pandemic not only distorted our reality but it challenged the work in unimaginable ways. Improvisation was a necessary switch from in person weekly groups towards remote programming. We persisted engagement with our participants since our empathy understands that although they are labeled at-risk, we were all at-promise and full of hope at some point in our lives.
Covid-19 hit our community especially hard. We were the epicenter of the Chicago pandemic twice this year and were tasked with ensuring PPE was distributed to our neighbors. Our world was turned upside down once again as the murder of George Floyd amplified our profession to what felt like a year’s work condensed into five days: May 31st until the fourth of June was a week that lasted an infinite amount of time, waking up anticipating the unknown, yet rising to the occasion with an unwavering sense of duty that gave a whole new definition to the title of Essential Worker.
As the second half of the year began with downtown Chicago bridges being raised, uprisings spreading to neighborhoods, and our team working over 16 hour days, justice had not been served; we embarked on a new endeavor to organize community members, giving street outreach experience to become peacemakers in their communities and aide us in waging peace on war. The Pandemic exacerbated the fragile American economy as families lost jobs and our team blessed our neighborhood with food on a weekly basis; feeding our people is the basis of sustaining our economy instead of an imaginary social construct. From our team to yours, have a blessed New Year and remember that we will get through this, together.
Youth Boxers Train and Serve
HIT Boxing is a youth enrichment program that uses mentorship and the sport of boxing to build youth leaders. This season, the youth boxers have been spending time outside of the gym and helping out their community. Weekly they have been assisting Pan De Vida, our neighborhood food pantry, by building food boxes to be used for the food distribution. They have also been at work cleaning the building for youth attending our E-learning programming. Outside of this, the boxers have also been learning basic financial literacy skills from experts in the banking industry, as well as learning how to apply for college and for grants from government agencies. They had a chance to sit down with Rosario Dominguez, a news reporter from Univision, that was able to share her experience and her struggles in college as a first generation Latina and encouraged them to continue higher education after high school, whatever that may be.
The boxers have also been working on a community service event that they will lead at the end of this year. The boxers chose to do a project related to helping out the homeless population in Little Village. The boxers were able to fund raise over $185 dollar on their own and will plan on creating car packages and deliver them before the end of the month to those individuals experiencing homelessness. As one of the youth in our program said,
“Creo que es bueno ayudar a la gente porque hay mucha gente corriendo, especialmente porque la mayoría de la gente sufre de enfermedades mentales y desean que hubiera más gente dándoles y ayudándoles de cualquier forma posible. Además cosas como estas te hacen sentir bien y ellos lo aprecian y les da esperanza de volver a ponerse de pie algún día y para eso a veces nada mas necesitan a la gente”
- Jimmy, edad 16"I think it is good to help people because a lot of people are running, especially because a majority of people suffer from mental illnesses and wish that there were more people giving and helping them in any way possible. Things like this also help you feel good and they appreciate it. It gives them hope that one day they will be able to get on their feet again, and for that sometimes they just need people." (Translated)
- Jimmy, age 16
Reclaiming Little Village Campaign #LaVillitaEs
Youth participating in Reclaiming Little Village were able to start a social media campaign to raise awareness of what Little Village represents. Through participation over the summer, some of the youth were able to attain employment at the local Pan de Vida food pantry. Other youth continued on with their studies this Fall, embarking on their new collegiate journeys, and continue to spread the love which Little Village has to offer. Join our youth in spreading the love. #LittleVillageIs #LaVillitaEs
Running the Race Against Gun Violence
Thank you to all who supported our team to wage peace on violence! Last Saturday was a beautiful morning to Race Against Gun Violence with our partner, Strides for Peace. Some youth beat their PR's and tamales were served to celebrate the race to recognize the El Grito 5K we normally run with the community as part of Mexican Independence Day.
A special shout out to the amazing young people in Running Forward who inspire all of us with their commitment and example! Young people from Running Forward run together at least two times a week, with intentional growth in the sport, in faith, and in character. 19 young people ran our 200-miler last month and 13 ran the Race Against Gun Violence 5K.
Sammy is one of the runners who has always given all he has on the track/streets and has really grown as a runner. Because of other commitments, he was only able to train for two weeks for the collected 200 miler and still ran 10 miles at a 8:28 pace. Now that school has begun he has joined the cross country team and has ran his fastest 3 miles ever. He has been a great addition to the team as he reflects sound speech, purity, and faith. All characteristics we are learning from 1 Timothy 4:12.
Former Participant Leading Summer GEMS Programming
Our Girls Empowering Meaningful Stories program has been thriving as we continue working remotely in two days a week of online programming with our middle school and high school groups. We are super excited to be having a former GEM be one of the leaders this summer that is interacting and empowering our GEMS that attend the program!
Deciding on activities together with a weekly package drop-off of needed supplies, we are having a lot of fun. We have done things through Zoom like baking together, arts & crafts, fun challenges like a spicy noodle challenge which we were even able to get some parents in on. This time of us not being with each other in program via Zoom has definitely brought us closer together to talk about many different aspects of what is happening all around us. The GEMS do miss hanging out and having that one on one time together; but, we are making the best out of it!
La Semilla Summer Education Update
La Semilla Online Summer Program is in their final week! We decided to remain remote this summer to protect our youth, their families, and our community. We are dedicated to serving 19 enrolled families by providing online summer classes. This year, we’ve added 2 amazing new La Semilla instructors, 2 returning One Summer Chicago youth staff, and 1 intern from Moody Bible Institute. We provide 5 online classes: Baking/Cooking, Music, Arts & Crafts, Bible, and Sports from Home. Youth are given a passcode to join our private community group on Flip Grid where they have 3 days (M-W) to watch & engage with each activity.
Every Monday morning, I drop off summer packages of materials to their homes, and on Thursdays, we send out a zoom invitation for our Family Time discussions. It’s a great way for everyone to connect and share about their weeks. We miss being with our youth at New Life Centers. We are taking this pandemic seriously and have spent much time & thought in creating a summer program that will best serve our youth and their families. We are excited for the day we can reunite with our youth in person.
Youth Empowerment Program Develops Life Skills
YEP is an experiential mentoring program led by Jasmine Aguiar geared toward providing youth with practical hands on experiences including service projects, exploring Chicago, and life skills training. Youth partake in community service projects geared at relearning the nature and functionality of their own neighborhoods.
The community service projects not only allow youth to rebuild and redefine their purpose in their communities but also allows them to empathize and create solutions for those that are less fortunate. Interactive activities are created for youth to become tourists in the city of Chicago. Most youth have not been outside of their neighborhoods nor do they understand how others live that aren’t in their communities. This piece allows them to compare both the implicit and explicit inequality in both economic and social injustices. Lastly, We tie both components with a life skills piece that gives youth a space to better articulate their abilities by giving them resources on job readiness, career building, and overall social awareness.
This group is regularly looking for opportunities to support those without a home - please let us know if you have leads or donations they can distribute to the less fortunate.
Stronger Together: Resilient in Hope
Illinois Youth Centers programming has been halted again (due to Covid cases among staff) but for the 4 weeks we were back, it was water to the thirsty soul…for the youth and for us as providers. After months of web programming, being in person to connect with the youth was life giving. Seeing the smiles, sitting with them for hours to talk and bringing Popeye’s chicken sandwiches for those in the drumming classes was a needed change. We ran a contest for the youth and will be running weekly contests in the future to keep youth busy until we are welcomed back in person. Please pray for the staff, the youth and our program partners as we continue to navigate this season of Covid with our young people at IYC St. Charles.