“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” – MLK

Don’t lose hope. This season has been one of the most challenging of my 20 years in the work.
Pain. Hurt. Pandemic. Violence. Racism.Death all around, from both violence and COVID-19, unprecedented economic crisis, thousands of our neighbors losing their jobs, and people in need of basic supplies including food and shelter. And all this is on top of underlying injustices, division, and racism.Never have I seen such devastation, but never have I been more hopeful.Across the city people are showing up…for our neighborhoods, families, young people, and black communities.

I celebrate miracles. As tensions rise in our neighborhoods, city, and nation, our team has witnessed God bring peace to spaces of hatred and darkness. We know God has been looking out for us. Thank you to everyone who has been checking in and praying for us during this time.

I celebrate peacemaking. I’m grateful for bold collaboration with many community members, leaders, and young people across our neighborhoods and Chicago doing this work through unity marches, rallies, press conferences, and more. Our team has been mediating in the neighborhood and between neighborhood groups, and creating space for dialogue, mutuality, healing, and relationships. Over tacos and soft ball, of course!

Please join me in praying for justice and against all the injustices that got us here…we have a long road of healing…let’s begin to heal. It’s going to be a marathon.

I celebrate building the beloved community.  Our city is in a lot of pain right now and we have a lot of work to do together in order to heal. This starts with me. We are starting by looking at our own hearts and listening better to others, to begin this work. As an organization, we are committed to steps to do better too: see our Public Apology & Statement here.

I celebrate love in action. As school semesters come to an end, we are working on systems changes, to prioritize youth leadership and continue creating spaces for our city to heal. At a city-wide level, we continue on daily calls with the mayor and alderman to advocate for expanding life-on-life mentorship in violence prevention across the city.

In the meantime, many volunteers and partner continue the faithful work of food distribution to meet the increasing need for food. Each week 6,000 families are receiving food. That’s 30,000 individuals! This is possible all because we’re all hands on deck together…neighbors, partner agencies, churches, restaurants, Chicago Police Department, ALL OF US! This isn’t New Life only, this is all of us. Thanks to the hundreds of volunteers giving each day, you give me hope.

I invite you. We are stronger together includes you! Hope will take all of us in our spaces to be willing to do the work of love. I encourage you to

  1. Listen
  2. Pray
  3. Acknowledge that we need to do better
  4. Go, and do.

We are the beloved community!

Please keep the youth, our neighborhoods, and our city in your prayers. Love you all.