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Category: Equity

Project RISE 2018

Two summers ago, Family Matters’ Boys to Men program launched an employment initiative, Project RISE, in partnership with the Community Church of Wilmette. Now in its third year, and with the support of the City of Chicago’s Chicagobility Summer Internship Project, Project RISE expanded this summer to include 31 youth.

Project RISE works to address biases and barriers that impede access to the workplace—deepening an understanding of how to leverage youths’ strengths and build relationships across ages, ethnicities, and socio-economic backgrounds. The program encompasses leadership, financial literacy, resiliency skills training and employment readiness, including the mock interviews and resume support given by members of the church’s congregation.

Mock Interviews

This summer’s participants worked 15 – 20 hours per week and had the opportunity to earn up to $450 in total. Teens were also provided a nutritious daily snack.

Community business partners included Sol Café, Little Beans, Neon, Urban Warrior, V-Tone Fitness, Neon CRM, Heartland Café, Ya Mon Jerk Grill, and the United Church of Rogers Park – all of which provided safe and supportive learning environments for youth.

Exposure to Possible Career Paths

Project RISE also afforded youth an opportunity to attend six field trips and to host four guest speakers. Guest speakers’ presentation topics focused on banking and personal investment strategies.

Field trips exposed youth to a diverse array of postsecondary college or career tracks and included:

–   Morningstar, Inc. (to deepen their understanding of financial literacy and the power of personal savings).

–   WNBA Chicago Sky game (including a “meet and greet” with a player and the coaches to learn more about sports management).

–   Exelon (to learn from a panel of diverse employees about their experiences as people of color in corporate America).

–   Specialty Print Communications (to get a “behind the scenes” look at direct marketing and the company’s innovative online and manufacturing operations).

–   Oakton Community College (to be introduced to the offerings of two-year schools: two-year degrees, certificate programs, and how one can take alternative paths by combining the two – i.e. obtaining an EMT certificate to fund a nursing degree).

Project RISE youth leaning in and asking questions in the Morningstar Board Room

Reaction from Teens

When asked to name one skill gained during the Project RISE experience that they are most proud of, youth shared:

“Teamwork.”

“Getting along with new people I meet.”

“Better listening.”

“Working hard so I can get what I want.”

“My communication skills.”

“Patience and understanding my limits, and finding a way to go beyond them.”

Project RISE continued to provide youth a forum to build transformative relationships, created opportunities for leadership development, and fostered teachable moments. We are excited to continue to grow the Project RISE program in the coming year!

If you are interested in hosting Family Matters teens at your workplace, or in supporting the program in a different way, please contact Chris at chris@familymatterschicago.org. To make a contribution, visit our donation page here.

Teen Filmmakers Start a Conversation

Members of Boys to Men (Family Matters’ Teen Boys Program) have hosted four community screenings of their film, Silence the Violence, a documentary that looks at the multiple causes of gun violence through the eyes of young men in Chicago. The film is a culmination of roundtable discussions with the police and the community at large.

Silence the Violence was filmed in Rogers Park and includes stories from all around Chicago. It was produced by Chris Spence, Family Matters’ Director of Teen Boys and Youth Engagement, and members of Boys to Men. Funding for the film was generously provided by the Community Church of Wilmette.

The young men in the film provide courageous, genuine reflections about life and death. They maintain that the violence is an issue of easy access to firearms and lack of access to alternatives to violence. The result is a powerfully arranged collection of everyday footage, statistics, 911 calls, and personalization of what have come to be all-too-familiar news stories.

Through the screenings and panel discussions, Family Matters seeks to offer Rogers Park youth a platform for relating their experiences of discrimination, sharing their opinions on the issue of gun violence, and providing other youth an opportunity to offer insight on promoting peace within our neighborhood and city.

“The experience I had at the theater was amazing. It gave me a platform to show other people how minority youth, including myself, struggle in the neighborhood we live in and to tell our personal story. Being on stage answering questions from the audience made me feel as if I was a spokesperson, speaking on behalf of the people in my community.”  

– Elijah, Boys to Men member

The four screenings (held at the Community Church of Wilmette, Centered Studios, and the New 400 Theaters) were followed by panel discussions, which engaged diverse audiences in constructive dialogue with the young men. Given participant responses, we believe that they emerged with a deeper understanding of these complex issues.

“The screening was a great thing. I love the way I got to talk about our community problems and to find a solution. We need all the help we can get to make our community a better place.”

– Derek, Boys to Men member

Proceeds from the screenings support Project RISE, which offers internships for the youth at local businesses.

We are hopeful that the screenings have inspired future opportunities for collaboration and justice-oriented action.

If you or someone you know is interested in hosting a group screening of the film, please contact Amanda Reuter at amanda@familymatterschicago.org. We would also welcome feedback from anyone who attended one of the screenings.

If you would like to make a contribution to support Boys to Men, please follow this link.

Family Matters’ Road to Equity

The road to equity began long before us, and the journey is ongoing. For the 2017-2018 program year, Family Matters has updated its mission, vision, and core value statements to reflect the fact that we are now viewing the work we do through the targeted lens of eliminating racism and oppression. In doing so, we sought the input of youth, parents, the Board, volunteers, and staff and hosted a community Peace Circle to ensure all voices were represented. Our intent is to add more voices to the conversation to address the following justice issues:

Efforts to close the educational gap—Much of the disparity in test scores between youth of color and white youth can be traced to the limited resources of under-performing schools in the area. At Family Matters we offer individualized, culturally relevant academic tutor-mentoring to support youth in reaching their highest potentials, receiving equitable opportunities, and achieving outcomes for college- and career-readiness.

Disproportionally high rates of suspension—According to the Brown Center Report (BRC) on Education, African-American youth are suspended at a rate 13.4% higher than their white peers. The goal of our Alternative to Suspension program is to transform the suspension period into a positive, reflective, and valuable experience for youth by providing a safe space, holistic counseling, and a restorative approach to resolving conflict.

Swimming access and inequities—Historical segregation, persistent stereotypes, and lack of access and instruction have kept many of the youth in the North of Howard neighborhood from the opportunity to swim. Family Matters’ Making Waves program, in partnership with the YMCA, is changing that—providing swimming and water safety lessons weekly.

Youth employment opportunities—One of the most effective means of preventing neighborhood violence and promoting peace is employment. With the support of Northwestern University, a CPR certification program was offered to 20 youth in January, opening up pathways for job options. Also, Project RISE, the summer employment initiative of the Teen Programs, will continue, and we hope to expand it to a full-year program.

Community engagement projects—The argument could be made that focusing on social justice issues is a luxury available only to those with substantial resources. We at Family Matters think that it is vital to the lives of Family Matters youth to learn how social change can be effected through community service. Check out our website to learn of the many community engagement projects youth from K – 12 grades are spearheading!

Co-creating a safe space for all—Peaceful dialogues are underway as the Boys to Men program members have begun to screen their documentary “Silence the Violence” around the community. Trainings on our model, Principles of Leadership, are also intentionally focused on facilitating personal and collective justice—through developing strong relationships, meaningful communication, and safe environments—for courageous social change.

In the Family Matters community, we inspire each other as our expectations for equity elevate. We are counting on others in the community to push us to aim higher and higher. To this end, we have created a “Staff Picks” list of our team’s favorite social-change books, songs, podcasts, movies, and more as a way to deepen understanding of the social justice issues. Distributing this list is our way of reaching out and inviting responses, including the addition of our supporters’ personal favorites.

Staff Picks on the Topic of Equity

Books

White Rage by Carol Anderson

Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson

Waking up White, and Finding Myself in the Story of Race by Debby Irving

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson

12 Years a Slave by Solomon Northup

I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai

Yurguru by Marimba Ani

The Moral Imagination: The Art and Soul of Building Peace by John Paul Lederach

A People’s History of Chicago by Kevin Coval

Creating True Peace by Thich Nhat Hanh

Integrating Mindfulness into Anti-Oppression Pedagogy by Beth Berila

Unequal City: Race, Schools, and Perceptions of Injustice by Carla Shedd

Beautiful, Also, Are the Souls of My Black Sisters: A History of the Black Woman in America by Jeanne Noble

Black Men: Obsolete, Single, Dangerous? The Afrikan American Family in Transition by Haki Madhubuti

Honoring Genius: Gwendolyn Brooks by Haki Madhubuti

By Any Means Necessary Malcolm X: Real, Not Reinvented edited by Herb Boyd, Ron Daniels, Maulana Karenga, and Haki Madhubuti

Liberation Narratives by Haki Madhubuti

Walking in Circles by Barbara Sizemore

2000 Seasons by Ayi Kwei Armah

Books by Audre Lorde


Podcasts

Bronzeville

Code Switch

On Being by Krista Tippett

This American Life – “Three Miles” https://www.thisamericanlife.org/550/three-miles 

Snap Judgement – “Senior Year Mix Tape” http://snapjudgment.org/senior-year-mixtape 

 

Films

13th

Get Out

Moonlight

Sankofa

Quilumbo

Remember the Titans


Articles

https://onbeing.org/blog/what-i-said-when-my-white-friend-asked-for-my-black-opinion-on-white-privilege/

Sojourners –  (https://sojo.net/)

Videos and Music
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=43gm3CJePn0

https://www.wbez.org/shows/morning-shift/the-physical-long-term-effects-of-childhood-trauma/68f8d847-492b-4a82-9f43-e332461a780a

https://www.ted.com/talks/nadine_burke_harris_how_childhood_trauma_affects_health_across_a_lifetime?utm_campaign=tedspread–b&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare

 

The Band-Aid Activity

This fall, Family Connections is addressing the concept of Educational Equity. To introduce the youth (ages 8-12) to the concept of equity, members participated in a “Band-Aid” activity:

Each youth chose an injury card from a basket. The injuries ranged from a scratched finger to a stomach ache to a shark bite. After reading the injury aloud, each child was given a band-aid to treat the ailment. The youth then answered a series of questions, including: “Is it fair that everyone received a band-aid?” and “Did you receive the treatment that you needed?”

At first, the children said that the band-aid treatment was not fair, because the individual with the stomach ache, for example, needed medicine and not a band-aid. They discussed the concept of equality and fairness, sharing that everyone receiving the exact same thing is, in fact, “fair.”

“Equity” is defined as all individuals getting what they need, as opposed to “equality,” where everyone receives the same treatment.” The youth were invited to share other examples of people receiving “equitable” treatment, instead of “equal” treatment. As they transitioned into afternoon tutoring, they were invited to think about their individual needs regarding academic support, and encouraged to seek what they need at Family Matters, whether it be a break during homework completion or an opportunity to research a personal interest with the support of their tutors.

If you have an example of Equity vs. Equality, we’d love to hear it!

Making Waves

by Chris Spence, Director of Youth Engagement at Family Matters

A recent survey by USA Swimming reveals that nearly 40 percent of White children have little-to-no swimming abilities; however that staggering percentage is minuscule when compared to the 70 percent of Black children who cannot swim. Sixty percent of Hispanic children face the same concern.”

The reason for this has nothing to do with physical differences and everything to do with lack of access. Swimming should be a skill offered to everyone. However, it’s a privilege afforded to those who live near a pool or accessible natural body of water, and who can afford to pay for lessons. This excludes inner city children who lack one or both of those opportunities.

The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention reports drowning as the second leading cause of injury-related death among children under the age of 15. Other studies show that Black children from ages five to 19 drown in swimming pools nearly five times more often than White children. The painful stereotype of African-Americans’ poor swimming skills is one reminder of the trouble a child can face.

Family Connections youth swimming during Spring Break

The world was also reminded in 2010, when six African-American teenagers from Louisiana drowned in Shreveport’s Red River. The teens (from two different families) were found dead after trying to save a friend from rough waters.

Sadly, parents and friends watched in horror as the teens drowned in up to 20 feet of water because they, too, couldn’t swim.

“None of us could swim,” Marilyn Robinson, a friend of the families, told the Shreveport Times, adding that she watched helplessly as the victims went under. “They were yelling, ‘Help me, help me. Somebody please help me.’ There was nothing I could do but watch them drown, one by one.”

A trip to the lake during Family Matters' summer programming

Today, nearly 60 years after the abolishment of Jim Crow laws that kept African Americans from pools and safe swimming places, many children still never get the chance to swim.

When racial integration finally became a mandate, many areas responded by closing public pools so they didn’t have to mix, creating a bigger social divide that transcended race because if you didn’t have the money to go to a country club or private pool, you either didn’t learn to swim, or you tried to learn from an untrained friend or family member in rivers, lakes and even ponds.

That’s the history, and it has undoubtedly contributed to where we are today, to this troubling acceptance that swimming — an important life skill — isn’t for everybody.

The historic separation of African Americans from pools is a problem that affects the elite world of competitive swimming. Despite Simone Manuel’s Olympic gold-medal success last summer, only three of 45 swimmers on the 2016 U.S. Olympic team were black. And out of 107 historically black colleges and universities, not one has a functioning 50-meter pool. Howard University is the only historically black college or university with a competitive swim team. With few role models and scarce opportunities to swim, too many black children see swimming as an inaccessible and uninviting sport.

Making Waves at Family Matters

In addition to safety concerns, an inability to swim bars children from being qualified for a variety of summer employment and career opportunities, ranging from lifeguards to camp counsellors.

This fall, Family Matters Boys 2 Men program, in partnership with the Evanston YMCA, plans to change that with their Making Waves Program.

The eight-week program will kick off in September, and will teach ten young men basic water safety tips and how to swim, which is a priority, especially in the wake of a recent tragic drowning of a neighborhood youth.

Family Matters is incredibly grateful to the YMCA for this opportunity, and plans to continue to expand the program to include additional youth members.