Filed under: event | Tags: chicago, community, event, southwest youth collaborative, summer, writing, youth
Here is a recent e-mail from a local group called the Southwest Youth Collaborative, detailing their events that young people can take part in this summer.
Summer Happenings at the Southwest Youth Collaborative
Peace & Blessings Everyone!
All 40 SWYC adult and youth staff are currently on a 2-day intensive retreat where we are revisiting our 16 year history & core values, building relationships, and visioning and re-energizing for the upcoming summer and future.
A lot will be happening at the SWYC this summer and more info will be posted soon, but we want to let you know about a few programs that are currently open for registration. Keep an eye on our website for program & event updates.
Summer Youth Liberation Institute (SYLI) Freedom School
Based on the Mississippi Freeom Schools of the Civil Rights Movement, the SWYC is offering it’s twelfth annual SYLI Freedom School, an intensive 7-week internship focused on developing intergenerational, multi-racial, and gender balanced leadership for social justice and institutional change around issues affecting youth and families. For the first time, SYLI Freedom School will be partnering with Youth Struggling for Survival (YSS) in Little Village and taking place at Little Village Social Justice High School!
June 30- August 15, ages 14-19
Monday – Friday,
9am – 2pm
@ Little Village Social Justice High School
Registration Contact: Laura Ramirez, 773.476.3534, laura@swyc.org
Vocalo Youth Radio
In Partnership with Chicago Public Radio, the Vocalo Youth Radio program will give teens the opportunity to produce original multi-media work — including audio documentaries, interviews, and personal stories — for broadcast on Vocalo.org (89.5 FM), a new Chicago radio station.
June 30- August 15, ages 14-19
Monday – Friday,
12pm – 4pm
@ SWYC Amandla Center
Registration Contact: Grant Buhr, 773.476.3534 x231, grant@swyc.org
Deadline: June 23rd
Chicago Lawn Writing Workshops
In partnership with the Neighborhood Writing Alliance, publishers of the Journal of Ordinary Thought, adults in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood are invited to join us at the SWYC Amandla center for weekly writing workshops. Classes are free & open to all adults. No experience is necessary.
June 30- August 15,
Mondays
6:30-8pm
@ SWYC Amandla Center
Registration Contact: Nanette, 773.684.2742
Audy Home Event Flyer:
Summer Orientation, Press Conference, & Staff-Youth Basketball Game Orientation for youth participants of all SWYC summer programs will take place on Thursday, June 26th from Noon-2pm at 6400. S. Kedzie Ave.
At 2pm, Generation Y Youth Activists will be holding a press conference in front of the Amandla Center to recognize the escalating violence & unrest in Chicago’s neighborhoods and promote the initiatives that SWYC and community allies are taking to offer healthy alternatives.
Following the press conference, all are welcome to march together with us to historic Marquette Park where we’ll be having a community BBQ and the much anticipated basketball match-up of the SWYC staff vs. the Coaching Club All-Stars!
Filed under: event | Tags: anti-violence, chicago, event, motivation speaking, poetry
On July 12, a special anti-violence event will be held in at Prairie State College in Chicago Heights, a suburb of Chicago. Entitled “A Night of Inspiration: Hope, Healing & Peace,” organizers look to reach out to youth and communities through motivational speaking, poetry and music. While the event is not free, proceeds will go to the 100 Men Association of University Park and the Beacon Hill Community Improvement Association.
Filed under: event, schools | Tags: anti-violence, arne duncan, chicago, funding, illinois, rally, rufus williams, soldier field, violence
Hot off the CPS press release:
CPS students will take center stage to talk about school funding and safety on Tuesday, June 10 at Soldier Field. The “Shout-Out for Schools” rally will give our city’s young people the opportunity to have their voices heard on the issues that affect their everyday lives and future opportunities. The event will be from 10 a.m. to noon, and about 35,000 students from all across the city have signed up for school-organized field trips to the “Shout-Out” rally.
“This is the time for our students to be heard on the critical issues of school funding and safer communities,” said Chicago Board of Education President Rufus Williams. “Every year, we fight in Springfield for a better funding system for our schools—one that is fair and that provides an increased and sustained investment in our students. Our legislators now need to hear from the people who are most affected by their failure to reform school funding.”
The state budget approved over the weekend and now under review by Gov. Rod Blagojevich is estimated to provide about $98 million in new revenue to the CPS. About $17 million of that funding is targeted for new programs. That means about $81 million of the revenue boost could be used by the CPS to reduce its $180 million budget gap, leaving a $99 million hole and forcing the school district to look for deeper cuts and additional revenue sources. Because of the uncertainty in Springfield, the CPS is expected to push approval of its Fiscal Year 2009 budget back to August.
The June 10 “Shout-Out for Schools” rally will feature speeches from many CPS students, as well as from education leaders from Chicago and across the state, and a call to action organized by students leaders involved in the Mikva Challenge program. The event will also include an entertainment lineup that features Kid Sista, Rich Kiddz, Kuumba Lynx, Uni, Ben One, and CPS student finalists from the “Louder Than A Bomb” poetry-slam competition.
Filed under: chicago, event, violence | Tags: abc, abc 7, chicago, special, television, violence
ABC 7 Chicago will host a special program entitled Stop the Violence: Conflicts & Resolution. The program is the third effort put together by the station that focuses on the violence plaguing too many young people in Chicago. I’m crossing my fingers that channel 7 does a better a job than the CBS2/WBBM violence special that left out the youth voice in its debate.
Stop the Violence will air tomorrow, May 22, at 6:30 p.m., with an encore presentation on Saturday, May 24, at 2:00 p.m.
Filed under: Miscellaneous, article, event, organizaion, research, teenagers, violence | Tags: career, fair, malcolm x college, poetry, slam, spoken word, tap roots, violence
Courtesy of MySpace
I wanted to share with readers the spoken word poetry of Tap Roots, Inc. They are a West Side group who performs for students, offering an uplifting, positive message that they hope will spark the minds of at least one child in the audience. Recently, they performed for public school students at the 10th annual Citywide Health Careers Fair. The following piece was dedicated to the parents of young victims of violence and the victims themselves.
Filed under: event | Tags: cbs, chicago, community, kennedy king college, south side, town hall, violence, wbbm
Saturday, WBBM Radio and CBS 2 Chicago will host a town hall on violence at Kennedy King College. The meeting, “Speaking Truth: A Town Hall Meeting On Violence,” will be at 10 pm and broadcast on both WBBM and CBS 2.
Filed under: chicago, event | Tags: ceasefire, chicago, neighborhood, outreach, violence
Tonight, from 7pm to 10pm, CeaseFire will target a series of blocks in Chicago’s North Lawndale Community and its surrounding neighborhoods to engage further residents on the block and discuss the efforts of violence interrupters, while potentially defusing any conflicts that may arise during these more violent hours and work to train residents in non-violent conflict.
Details:
Friday, May 9, 7pm – 10 pm
Christian Valley Baptist Church
1318 S. Homan
Filed under: article, chicago, event, legislation & initiatives, organizaion, research, schools, teenagers, violence | Tags: article, chicago, communities, daley, gangs, ny times, school, violence
The paper of record brought its attention to the second city with a recent article on the deaths of Chicago students and the steps being taken to prevent more deaths from happening. It offers a very detailed overview for those who might not be familiar with the story, but ultimately stakes out familiar territory. We get the impassioned quotes from schools CEO Arne Duncan and Mayor Daley, balance from an expert and community resident, and, last but not least, a student. In the end, the article asks nothing or challenges the reader or those being interviewed. I felt led on by the beginning of the article because I thought the focus of the article would stay with the community groups who are escorting Crane Technical High School students to school, but by paragraph four it had already moved on. Left out again is the fact that many of these shooters and gang members are as young as the victims or/and drop outs. Left out again is the mention of students trying to organize and lead in their communities, rather standing idle as politicians and other leaders do the talking. Left out again are more community groups and churches who are marching and leaving their doors open late to save those on both sides of the gun. Not given enough depth is the issue of poverty and outside factors that are at the root of this violence.
Props to CLTV and Alexander Russo for shining a different light.
Filed under: chicago, event, legislation & initiatives, schools, teenagers, violence | Tags: benito juarez high school, chicago, chicago police department, chicago sun-times, chicago tribune, church, crane technical high school, crime, daley, peace, ruben ivy, violence
This past weekend saw one of the most violent outbreaks across the city in recent memory. Reports vary on the total number of people who were shot between Friday and Sunday. The Chicago Sun-Times reports 37, while the Chicago Tribune and AP lists 32. What’s the same in each story is that six of the victims died, ranging in age from 18 to 65. The two youngest victims, Melvin Thomas and Rhonell Savala, were shot and killed right outside Free Salvation M.B. Churck on the South Side Friday night.
All but two of the shootings are reported to have been gang related. Police blame the rash of shootings on the warmer weather and gang tensions in different neighborhoods. They cited the last two years of the very same weekend to illustrate the cyclical nature of the violence. During the same weekend in 2007, 19 people were shot, while in 2006 the number was 21.
The shootings came in the wake of new report by the Chicago Police Department that showed crime down in the city for the first three months of the year, including a 1% drop in the murder rate in March of this year compared to March 2007. Police plan to deploy additional officers to what they call hot crime spots.
Overshadowed by the violence was the effort in communities to try and prevent it. One such event took place Saturday morning at Crane Technical High School, where student Ruben Ivy was shot killed one month ago. Students and other volunteers worked to clean the area around the high school and other designated blocks. In a press release, Ernest Gates, of the Near West Side Community Development Corp., stated:
“If something happens that involves a Crane student, there is a lot of negative coverage. The good kids are saying, ‘Hey, what about us?’ All the attention is placed on the kids with problems, but the vast majority of students are there to get an education and get on with their lives.”
Also on Saturday, La Dia de Los Ninos 3K Walk/Run was held to assist students at Benito Juarez High School with their future college education.
In addition, an e-mail campaign has recently surfaced calling for a citywide peace fast. No particular organization is mentioned, but it said to be the word of local-area ministers and clergy.
CITYWIDE PEACE FAST
‘A City United for Peace’
April 21st – 23rd, 2008
6:00am until 6:00pmThirty-one youths have lost their lives to gun violence this school year. Hence, the faith community of Chicago will corporately pray for unity and peace in our communities. Pastors and faith leaders are calling on all believers to deny themselves of something that will be a personal sacrifice from 6:00am until 6:00pm Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. You may deny yourself of food, meat, soft drinks, cell phones, or television but whatever you select should be something that is a sacrifice for YOU. Mark 9:29 says, ‘Some things come only by fasting and prayer!’ Therefore, we will fast and pray together as a city for three days for three specific things: 1. Provision, 2. Protection, and 3. Prevention. Jeremiah 29:7 says ‘Pray for the peace and prosperity of the city’. Violence anywhere is a threat to peace everywhere, so please JOIN US!
By all means, PLEASE share this email with everyone you know!
Thanks,
Proper Planning Prevents Poor Progress
