Making Connections Chicago
Making Connections Chicago
In West Chicago, where rates of violence are high and economic investment and employment opportunities are limited, poverty, trauma, and stress are widespread, especially among the community’s youngest residents.
How would relationships and communities change if we replaced fear with trust? In West Chicago, the Chicago Making Connections coalition asked this question and chose safe places to play as the change lab. With a vision of men and boys of color feeling a sense of belonging, ownership, and safety in a thriving community, Chicago Making Connections has created safe environments for play, mentorship, and community action.
How They're Solving the Problem
How They're Solving the Problem
Coalition Partners are collaborating to:
- Lead afterschool coaching and mentoring programs in the North Lawndale and South Lawndale neighborhoods of West Chicago. These programs offer sports like basketball as well as support and mentoring to help young men be better able to communicate their needs, understand their emotions, and problem solve.
- Empower young men to lead the development and implementation of these programs, called Legends of Lawndale and La Villita Warriors, through a Youth Board of Directors.
- Create meaningful employment opportunities for men 16-65 as coaches and mentors of younger men.
- Position Sinai Hospital, the area’s only level-one trauma center, as an agent of community change who is involved before violence occurs, instead of only afterward through their emergency department.
Impact
Impact
Legends of Lawndale has improved the mental health and wellbeing of boys and young men of color in Chicago neighborhoods where violence and trauma are the norm. By creating safe spaces for play, peer-support programs and meaningful employment opportunities, the program has improved social connectedness and healthy relationships among men. It has also promoted civic engagement and advocacy.
Participating Organizations
Lawndale Christian Legal Center
Youth Guidance
YMCA-YSVP (Youth Safety and Violence Prevention)
Beyond the Ball
Catholic Charities
Southwest Organizing Project
Instituto Del Progresso Latino
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