CHICAGO (WLS) — A back-to-school picnic on Sunday on the South Side was about much more than just preparing for a new school year. It also aimed to protect young people in Chicago.
The Stop the Violence picnic in Brainerd Park comes a day after a shooting on the Southwest Side that left an 18-year-old man and a 15-year-old boy hospitalized.
The organizers of the event say they want to help young people avoid such situations by showing alternatives to violence.
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For 28 years, the Washington Heights community has celebrated back-to-school with a picnic in Brainerd Park. But it’s a picnic with a special twist, as organizers seek out at-risk youth and try to show them a better way.
The smell of barbecue wafted through Brainerd Park on Sunday as a DJ played music in the background. Children played on a bouncy castle and some of the older teens participated in a three-point basketball contest. It was all part of the Youth Advocate Program’s annual back-to-school anti-violence event.
“We use it for outreach,” said Ken Lewis, program director at Youth Advocate Programs. “We know the community is here. We know the participants we need to connect with are going to be here.”
It helps them advance their working lives and also has a positive impact on our community.
Ken Lewis, Youth Advocacy Programs
These participants include people like John Green, who was released last year at the age of 35 after serving 12 years in prison. He said he had no real skills until recently. For the past few months, he has been running his own landscaping business.
“Have you ever heard that everyone has things inside them that you didn’t know you could do?” Green said. “This program helps you bring that out. In landscaping, I didn’t know I liked grass so much. Until they showed me that I did.”
The Youth Advocate Programs, which enroll up to 40 participants each year, provide community volunteerism by pairing youth with elders and taking them out to clean up vacant lots in and around Washington Heights.
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“It helps them develop their workforce and also has a positive impact on our community,” Lewis said. “They may have been a problem area in the community before, but now they take pride in us going out and cleaning and maintaining the properties and making the community feel better.”
Building these connections takes time, however. This is where events like the annual back-to-school picnic come into play.
“Sometimes there is a gap between our elders and our youth, and this program bridges that gap and shows how we can do things,” said 21st District City Councilman Ronnie Mosley.
There are still ten spots available in the Youth Advocate Program for next year. Participants will be supervised for 12 months and will also take part in neighborhood beautification projects.
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