Thank you, SSP 2012!

Thank you to all the participants in SSP 2012 for an inspiring summer. It has been a privilege to watch you learn and grow, and contribute to your communities in so many ways. The lessons I learned from you this summer were on team work, leadership, and the importance of building social relationships to promote healthier neighborhoods.

Team Woodlawn—it was great hanging out with you in the Museum of Science and Industry for the Community Fitness program.  In your team project, you squarely faced issues of dysfunctional social  connections, focusing on the anti-bullying poster campaign and workshops.  Great job with the posters! Each one showed so much creativity.  Sharing your favorite Woodlawn resources with other members of the community builds social connections within the community.

Team South Chicago—it was always a pleasure to see you in the Chicago Family Health Center lunchroom., as you planned new ways to combat teen pregnancy. Your “preventing pregnancy” brochure is high quality and teen friendly (wat is dis?), and the choose your own adventure sex ed story is super well done.  I’m looking forward to reading the next version!

Team Greater Grand Crossing—what? I’m sorry, I can’t hear you☺ It was awesome to see all of you at the mic at the STEP walk event—making your voices heard in a very literal way.  You addressed building neighborhood relations—in your audia documentary, and in organizing STEP walk.  Great job!

The South Side is lucky to have so much talent and intelligence applied to figuring out new ways to create healthier urban communities, now and in the future.

Best,
Dr. Jones

Back to School Jam

Benjamin Trnka

This Saturday, David and I volunteered at one of the largest community events that Greater Grand Crossing organizes every year – The Back to School Jam. At this 9th annual event, largely funded and supported by Revere CARE (a community organization focused on restoring the community from various angles), we spoke with characters that we had met throughout our GGC experience and interacted with seemingly thousands of community kids. Our booth was also a great hit, set up to advertise our STEP (Strength Through Exercise Program) Community Walk and promote healthy behaviors by giving out UHI goodies in return for completing exercise challenges.

The event was focused on preparing kids for school, arming them with both tangible materials (school supplies) and motivation from family and peers. But the event had another meaning in the community as well: it was one day in the year where there was no community violence and instead just a fun and safe environment for community members of all ages support its future generations.

This isn’t to say that the sanctity of the park space wasn’t broken, however. Some teenagers came to the event and smoked pot in the corner of the playground, and even threatened Youth Center employees. As one of the Youth Center employees pointed out, it was plain sad that such teens would come to a community event like this, spurting mean words and spreading their deleterious behaviors. These are not the examples that we should set out for the young children there.

Aside from the couple disconcerting incidents like that, which served to remind me that the community was far from perfect, we saw a lot of beautiful things at the event. Firstly, it was exciting to see all the community members that we had been collaborating with throughout the summer in one place. The employees from the Youth Center, Revere CARE members, a Pastor whom we had interviewed, the ‘Major’ of Pocket Town, and even a local photographer were all there, supporting the community. The amount of love and time they had put into making the event a success was truly beautiful and inspirational, and provided such a welcome atmosphere to a community that needs much more of that energy.

I hope that we’re able to bring that same positive energy to the community when we do our culminating community walk this upcoming Thursday. It’s been a huge push to create such an event, but we’re all truly optimistic about how the event will turn out, and hope that it’s something that the community and Youth Center hold onto for a long time. Every community deserves that sense of comfort and collective love, and I hope that our project further catalyzes the creation of that environment.

Op-Ed: Beyond First Impressions

Tom Couri

In 0.25 seconds a Google News Search of “Woodlawn Chicago” generates the following hits near the top of the page: “Man Critically Hurt In Woodlawn Drive-By”; Cops: Gunman kills 1, fires on police, no officers hurt”; Teen shot in gang-related attack in Woodlawn neighborhood”. There are about 1,100 results but I don’t bother to sift through them. How often do we look beyond the first few hits in an online search? What we first see is usually what sticks with us, and for Woodlawn, what sticks isn’t anything positive. Violence, murders, drive-bys. But this summer I saw with my own eyes many of the assets and great things going on in Woodlawn that are all too often glossed over or ignored in the media.

I worked with a fellow medical student, an undergraduate, and three high school students from Woodlawn this summer in the Summer Service Partnership, a program dedicated to community engagement, volunteering, and community health in different South Side neighborhoods. We explored Woodlawn, focusing on the assets of the community, not the negatives and downsides we hear about incessantly.

I remember vividly the first day I spent with the high school students. I asked them what their impressions of Woodlawn were. They said things like violence, murders, drive-bys. I don’t recall any positive things said, any mention of neighborhood assets that made them proud to call Woodlawn home. Honestly, their descriptions matched what I had in mind. In the entire academic year I had just completed at the University of Chicago, I had visited Woodlawn once. Woodlawn borders my neighborhood, Hyde Park, and a fifteen-minute walk from my apartment takes me to Woodlawn. Yet the Google searches, rumors, and news stories scared me enough to barely set foot in Woodlawn.

This summer changed my mistaken notions. Exploring and volunteering in Woodlawn exposed us all to the vibrant community that is Woodlawn. We met with Joyce and Rudy Nimocks, two longtime Woodlawn residents who are passionately committed to the future of Woodlawn and are modeling Woodlawn after the Harlem Children’s Zone. We met and took a cooking class with Gabrielle Darvassy, the tireless owner of the restaurant B’Gabs Goodies. She offers free healthy cooking classes to children in the community and working to end Woodlawn’s status as a food desert. We volunteered at 1^st Presbyterian Church in the soup kitchen and food pantry. The church partners with a community garden across the street to give free, locally-grown produce to those visiting the food pantry. The list of great people and places we learned about is endless. One of the best moments of the summer was hearing the high school students say, “We didn’t know about all of these resources in Woodlawn.” I thought the same thing.

Woodlawn does have serious issues with violence. But we can’t let violence overshadow all of the wonderful people and places in this great community.

Center on Halsted

On Wednesday, we went and toured the Center on Halsted, a wonderful building full of community resources located in Boystown. For more information about the center, its website can be found here: http://www.centeronhalsted.org/

Final Presentations

Esther Schoenfeld

The highlight of this week was, of course, the presentations. It was incredible to see all the hard work everyone has done. Some highlights for me were hearing Team Greater Grand Crossing’s awesome audio documentary, and seeing the pictures of Tiara, Marissa, and Diamond going door to door to recruit seniors for STEP. Team South Chicago’s sexual health pamphlet was both chock full of important information, and (due to its hilarious use of chat speak) teen-friendly. It was a real pleasure to see the high school students speaking with such confidence, pride, and enthusiasm about their accomplishments. Last but not least, my own team’s high school students did a fantastic job and I’m so proud of them. The highlight of the night was when Mr. Kemp (from the Woodlawn Charter School) came with his wife. We had met with him earlier that week and discovered, to our great relief, that he was completely on board with our project. When we talked at the presentation, he gave us even better news. Not only will our curriculum definitely be used, but he is planning to implement a month long anti-bullying campaign at the high school! I’ve mentioned that I have had my doubts about our project, but I now feel like it couldn’t have gone any better.

At this point in the program, I want to experience first-hand the accomplishments of SSP. On Friday, Team Woodlawn went out to Hoops in the Hood to support our colleagues. We watched thrilling basketball games, ate Betty Jo Nichols’ delicious banana pudding, and, most excitingly, saw youth with embarrassed faces take the pamphlets and free condoms. I hope to attend Team Greater Grand Crossing’s STEP event this Thursday! (Sadly, I will be out of the country during Team Woodlawn’s Health Fair.)

Of course, Friday was also sad for us, because it was Rebecca’s last day of the program. We decided that we didn’t really have to say good bye because we are going to get together again as soon as everyone’s back. Maybe we’ll shave another “W” into Tom’s face…

Goodbye, First Presbyterian

Tom Couri

We volunteered for the last time at the First Presbyterian Church last week. After volunteering at several different sites in Woodlawn, from a homeless shelter to a children’s day camp, what was constant was the soup kitchen and food pantry at First Presbyterian. Two aspects of our experience there made First Presbyterian the ideal choice for service learning: how our help was really needed and the great people with whom we worked. The soup kitchen is held weekly, on Tuesdays, but we came on every other Tuesday, when no other church group would send volunteers. Because of this lack of personnel, we were busy and felt useful to the church. From making the food, preparing the plates, passing out the dishes, and cleaning up, we participated in all facets of the soup kitchen experience.

Leaving last Tuesday and saying good bye to our fellow soup kitchen volunteers reminded me of how great First Presbyterian really is. I got to know one volunteer in particular. He’s a member of a different church in Woodlawn, one with many more members and a higher profile, but he decided to come to First Presbyterian and help out because he admired how they reached out to the community and, with limited resources, made a difference through programs like the soup kitchen, food pantry, and senior exercise. We were both equally sad to see our time ending at First Presbyterian. We exchanged contact information and said we would see each other again. Will we? I hope so. It’s easy to get wrapped up in the everyday of school, classes, and studying once fall starts. But First Presbyterian’s mission of service really resonated with me. Either on my own or with a group such as a Day of Service from the medical school, I’ll be back.

           

My Favorite Memory

Carl Mangrum


My favorite memory of SSP so far was actually my first day. I met Wujun and she was awesome. I also met my team leaders along with team Woodlawn. That day was super fun. We went to a event that they held on campus and they were just giving out free food so we went and ate until we were full. After we finished eating, we played in a moon bounce but it was more like a race course to see who could get out the other side first and I was the undefeated champion. Once after we finished that, we began to head downtown to the cultural center. It was amazing and so many different things stood out to me, like the historical homes in the city. I mean I know people just walk pass them everyday and don’t even realize that it is historical. Overall I enjoyed myself, and this day stood out to me the most so that’s why it’s my favorite day.

The Gift of Stress Relief

Joanna Perdomo

Last Wednesday’s field trip day was based on stress reduction and integrative medicine. Our team planned the day’s activities with the hopes that the yoga, meditation, and exploration of Chinatown we had in store would serve as great relaxing activities at a time when projects were in full swing and stress was mounting. Although our original plan was to hold our morning’s activities (yoga and a mindfulness based meditation session) in the beautiful and serene Osaka Japanese Gardens in Jackson Park, due to impending rain, we made a last minute change of plans and scheduled the morning’s events in Rockefeller Chapel. We were a bit down about having to switch the locale, as the Osaka Gardens were something we had looked forward to sharing with everyone, but upon entering Rockefeller Chapel, it quickly occurred to me that this switch was not only going to be okay, but might even turn out to be for the better. 

The morning light was pouring through the stained glass windows, casting a majestic glow on every part of the empty chapel. There was a palpable sense of tranquility, spirituality, and sacredness in the air, setting the perfect scene for a morning of clearing our minds and honoring our bodies. We were fortunate to gain permission to use the altar for our yoga session. Greg, a wonderful yoga instructor who teaches community yoga classes at Chicago Family Health South, led us in a short but powerful yoga session that calmed my mind and relaxed my body. While I have done yoga for a few years and in different settings, the altar of Rockefeller Chapel was by far the most special setting in which I have practiced. Rolling onto our backs at the end of class and looking up at the ornately decorated ceiling hovering from high above, I was struck by a sense of awe, humility, and gratefulness that stayed with me throughout the day and beyond.

After yoga, we moved outside onto the lawn of the Chapel where a beautiful breeze awaited. Spread out on our yoga mats in the grass, we had the privilege of learning the principles of mindfulness based stress reduction from Dr. Sonia Oyola. Dr. Oyola’s infectious smile, positive spirit, and warm wisdom enveloped our group. Through her kind and thoughtful activities she honored our stresses, fears, and coping mechanisms and then led us in my favorite part of the day, a “body scan”: a form of meditation in which we worked our way from feet to head, becoming keenly aware of each part of our body, letting go of imperfections and treasuring abilities. When I opened my eyes from this exercise I felt completely centered, grounded, and at peace. It was incredible how just a few minutes of dedicated concentration could alter my mindset.

I am so grateful to Greg and Dr. Oyola for sharing their gifts and talents with us and allowing us not only a morning of stress relief and relaxation, but for providing us with the tools and confidence to incorporate these simple yet powerful physical and mental exercises into our daily lives. I hope that we are all able to continue to use these methods ourselves and teach them to our friends and families to foster healthier and less stressful lives.   

Teaching and Learning how to Dance

Mariah Ryce


Week six of SSP was very fun and productive. Elise and I are super close to finishing our choose-your-own-adventure book and can’t wait to present it to everyone. But this week the day that stood out to me the most was Tuesday. On Tuesday at 1:30 p.m we went to go volunteer at the South Chicago YMCA. Octavia, Chris, and Carl taught basketball while Elise and I taught dance, and Danny took pictures of everybody. I had a lot of fun teaching the “ Move Your Body” dance by Beyonce to the girls. In the dance there is constant movement. The basic move in the dance is running. Many of the girls got tired within the first few steps. And I don’t blame them because the first time I learned this dance freshman year, I was super exhausted.


But the good thing is that they were quick learners and enjoyed doing the dance. Once we were finished teaching them the entire dance, we did a cool-down stretch to get their heart rates back to normal. Instead of leaving right away, the girls showed us two of their own dances. One dance was to “Take Care” by Drake and Rihanna and the other dance was to “Snapbacks and Tattoos”. I’m not really sure who the artist is because I really do not listen to alot of rap music at all. Then we convinced Danny to dougie for them and Octavia as well.


We left and they thanked us for our time. It was a great experience teaching a dance class and actually it was my first one that I have ever taught. I would definitely like to go back and teach again.

Sweet Potatoes in Chinatown!

© Olivia Singleton

Alternative Medicine

Ben Trnka

The largest event to prepare for this week was certainly the fieldtrip that our team organized on Wednesday focused on stress-reduction and alternative medicine. One aspect of the experience also centered around Chinatown and Asian culture, in which much of alternative medicine is studied and practiced. In preparation for the day, I went with David to explore the many assets of the Chinatown community, so that we could later accurately represent it to the rest of the team.

The trip around Chinatown was truly amazing and eye-opening. I find it incredible how many of these locations I have visited throughout the school year, but never fully explored or understood until this summer, and I believe that many of the students felt that way too. Firstly, it was the number and scope of all the herbal medical stores that really surprised me in Chinatown. According to one shopkeeper, the herbal medicine recipes are tailored towards each person out of 300 ingredients based on pulse, their tongue and one other factor. Even as we saw the old Chinese man carefully layer 6 different ingredients into an elegant little package, the whole thing seemed like magic to me. This amazement continued as we found birds’ nests, seahorses, shark fins and even deer tails being sold in various shops.

This overwhelming variety helped me gain an appreciation for the intricacy that is the art and science of eastern herbal medicine, and certainly has piqued my curiosity to learn more about it. It almost seems logical in my mind that if natural remedies are as effective as synthetic ones in managing symptoms, that they’re worth exploring and giving a try.

Aside from just the herbal medicine shops, the various temples, monuments and kitchen-ware stores that we saw really helped me see how that community was so self-sufficient and tight-knit. I’m glad to have had this experience, and will appreciate this community even more the next time I step foot in it.

Chinatown Adventures

Olivia Singleton


This week was super hot. Wednesday was pretty fun. I got to experience Yoga. Personally, I don't like yoga because the positions are awkward, and I don't find it relaxing. After the yoga session, we did some sort of mental meditation, in which was very interesting. Later, we left for Chinatown. We went to Joy Yee's restaurant for lunch. Since the food was so good, I had seconds. After lunch, we explored Chinatown in the sweltering heat. Even though I was extremely hot, I had fun looking at the different shops. I thought the photo scavenger hunt was a bit tricky and annoying, because the owners kept saying No Pictures, No Pictures! I found that quite funny because we took pictures anyway. Overall I had a fun experience at Chinatown.

Learning to Relax

Aliyah Singleton


This Wednesday was designed by team GGC and based around de-stressing and integrative medicine. It was such a relaxing day in which we started out with yoga and meditation. The yoga was nice, but I didn't enjoy all of it. I did find the breathing techniques relaxing and calming and I believe that I could incorporate those techniques into my daily life. Also, I was excited to receive a new yoga mat. Later in the day we went to Chinatown and ate a very delicious lunch at Joy Yee's. I really enjoyed the chicken and lettuce wraps as the appetizer. After lunch we all had our own smoothies with tapioca pearls at the bottom of the cup. I had a strawberry-banana smoothie with tapioca pearls and the tapioca was disgusting. Rebecca laughed at me because of my very disgusted face and reaction to the tapioca. We also explored the rest of Chinatown during a scavenger hunt. I did not enjoy the scavenger hunt because it was scorchingly hot outside and in each store the owners did not allow pictures to be taken. Overall, the day was fun and I learned about some Chinese culture and relaxation methods. 

Wrapping Up

Sierra James


Tuesday, my team went to volunteer for the last time at the soup Kitchen. I enjoyed the time we spent at the soup kitchen and was very sad our time had to come to an end. Later that day we went to go to put our posters on glossy paper at Fedex. My poster didn't come out the way I had planned. My hand writing messes up my poster of twitter badly. My hand drawn poster looked like a kindergartener did it. Some of my lines weren't straight and my boxes looked like rectangles. Olivia and Aliyah's posters came out amazing. I liked how the glossy paper made the colors shine on the posters. While the posters were printing my group stopped by many places we have before. Some people didn't turn in the information we needed for our resource book of Woodlawn. Most of the community members filled the information packet right then and there. Our project was finally coming to an end and looking very good. I am proud of the work I have done over the summer.   

Photo Scavenger Hunt

Carl Mangrum


Something that was interesting to me this week was yesterday. Yesterday we did a photo hunt where we had to go looking for items that were on the list. What made it so different was the location: we were in Chinatown. We were there because we had lunch there, which was awesome by the way. After lunch, we began the game.

First thing we did was split up into small groups and went with different members from different neighborhood teams so that the game would be fair for everyone. Fortunately, our team had a slight advantage. David, who is a team leader for Greater Grand Crossing, knew where most of the items on the list were located because he was part of the group that set up the photo hunt. Honestly, it really wasn’t a game to win. It was more of a sightseeing game. I say this because a winner couldn’t even be declared.

If I had to say my favorite moment, it would have to be when Mariah and I were playing playing with all the different kind of swords. That was so amazing. There were big swords, little swords, heavy swords, and light swords. There were even some swords that were different in style. My team was awesome and we just had fun.

My only complaint was the heat but I know that everyone was hot so I just had to suck it up and participate as best as I could. Then again, I really wasn’t complaining all day because GGC gave us these smoothes that were just so tasteful and super good. It kept us cool and refreshed as well. The only thing I had a problem with were the tapioca pearls that were put into the smoothes. Everyone didn’t like them so they spat them out.

Devon to India

Olivia Singleton

This week was great. Wednesday was Team Woodlawn's field trip. It was very interesting to see the different Indian things. We talked to Indian immigrants. They explained the many great aspect of their life and why they came to America.  most importantly they came for better opportunities. Later we explored Devon Ave. it was filled with color and culture. The shops we went in, the owners were nice. The shops were filled with saris and jewelry. Leaving the shops, we went to Hema's Kitchen. Arriving I had mixed feelings about eating Indian food. I expected it to be very spicy and gross. As soon as I got my first plate it was shocking to say that I actually liked it.  The naan, chicken, and rice was very good. I very happy that I liked the food. The most anticipated aspect of the day for me was the henna tattoo. I received one and it was so pretty. Visiting Devon Ave, gave me another reason to visit India once I'm older.

Connecting with the community through Book Buddies

Joanna Perdomo

Every week we volunteer at the Greater Grand Crossing Library as a part of the Book Buddies Program. We were very fortunate to have found this program in our second day of SSP. David, Ben, and I were exploring the neighborhood and visited the library where we spoke to the library managers who told us that Book Buddies, a program where teens mentor kids ages 5-12 in reading, was unfortunately going to go on hiatus for the summer unless a group of teens came along to take the lead. The following week we presented the volunteer opportunity to Marissa, Diamond, and Tiara, and they were excited to pursue it. Since our second week together, we have been going to the library every Tuesday afternoon. In addition to reading with the young kids from the neighborhood, the girls also teach the kids how to prepare a healthy snack, which they make recipe cards for beforehand, and lead the kids in active games.  

We have been volunteering at Book Buddies for a month, and this week I had two experiences that affirmed what a wonderful and fortunate opportunity it has been for our group. First, at Book Buddies this Tuesday one of the parents who has three of his children in the program had a long conversation with David and I about healthy eating, promoting healthy habits, and most excitingly, how he and his kids have been using the recipe cards in their home. The girls had been questioning whether making the recipe cards every week was a worthwhile endeavor, or whether the kids were just throwing them away, so hearing that they were actually being used and that there was a desire for more was a great feeling for our team. The second thing that happened this week was that we ran into three of the Book Buddies kids while walking around the neighborhood on Thursday afternoon. We talked with them for a while and then they followed us back to GCYC where we played volleyball into the evening.  I was so excited to have run into the kids on a non-Book Buddies day, and this occurrence shed light on the fact that in the short time we’ve spend in Greater Grand Crossing we’ve begun to make friends and forge bonds with the people and places in the neighborhood. With three weeks of SSP left, I hope that through Book Buddies and our budding exercise program, these community connections only continue to strengthen.

Cultural appreciation

Aliyah Singleton

Aliyah, Olivia, Rebecca, Wujun, Sierra, and
Esther getting their henna tattoos!

Wednesday was a very cultural and exciting day for me. Team Woodlawn planned the entire day to explore Indian culture on Devon Ave. In the morning, three Indian women from different parts of India explained their migration and their life in America. It was interesting to hear about how most Indians move to America to find better business and educational opportunities, rather than to escape persecution, violence, or poverty. I loved how the women said that even though they chose to stay in America they still stick to their respective cultures by wearing traditional Indian clothing, eating Indian food, teaching their children their native languages, and practicing their religious traditions. They also told us of some cool places to check out on Devon, which happened to be very fun. Later in the day we ate at a famous Indian restaurant, "Hema's Kitchen". The food there was delicious and my favorite was the garlic naan. We explored many clothing and jewelry shops where I bought some pretty blue and gold colored bangles. Its very common to see mangos at many of the grocery stores and food shops. I don't like mangos at all, but Tom encouraged me to try a mango lassi when he bought one and it was surprisingly good. Although trying lots of Indian foods was fun and new, my favorite part of the day was getting a henna tattoo. It was very quick and fun and pretty. I plan on going back to Devon to try more exciting things related to Indian culture.

Devon Street

Henna Tattoos!

Octavia Griffin



This week the best day was when we went to Devon Street. I feel that was the best day because we experienced a new culture and this is important because the American culture is not the only culture in the United States. First we listened to the lives of Indian females, and we all learned that they all have similar beliefs. In addition, we learned that they broke down India into many different countries by language and culture. After listening to their stories we went in and out of different stores and I learned that they have different foods and fruits they eat such as lychee. Lychee is a fruit that is like a grape, but you have to peel it first. I personally liked the fruit. In addition we ate other things such as there peanuts which had spices in it. The peanuts did not taste like American nuts. After walking around and window shopping we ate at a restaurant called Hema's Kitchen. the food at the restaurant was amazing; other people didn't like it but I did because it was a new experience and I like spicy food. The last adventurous thing we did was get Henna Tattoos. That was a great experience because I never had a fake tattoo before and it was fun getting it with people I enjoy being around.

Males and Teen Pregnancy

Carl Mangrum


My project plan is to inform young males on teen pregnancy. I will be explaining to to them the importance and their roles with pregnancy. I think this is a good idea because most of the time when a teen couple gets pregnant, the male is usually shadowed out and all of the attention is placed on the female. So I will be teaching males how to use a condom, the importance of a condom, and why it is a good idea to use a condom. Also, I will include locations for where to find free condoms. I will be creating a brochure and the brochure will just inform the males on teen pregnancy. In order to do all this I had to do lots of research but it was pretty easy. It did require me to go to multiple websites for information. Furthermore, I called many places to ask them questions about their organizations and if they provided free condoms to their community. I got most of all my work done for my part of the project and I can’t wait to finalize it.

Lessons in asset-based community development

Benjamin Trnka

This Thursday, I went to a talk in the Bowman Society lecture series with a daunting title, but which greatly related to the work that SSP has been doing this summer. The talk, entitled “Using Community Based Participatory Action Research (CBPAR) to Address Health Disparities & the Social Determinants of Health: Examples of Community & System Change Interventions” showed how asset-based community development could be put into action in a very creative and empowering way.

The speaker, Professor Aida Giachello provided tangible examples of working with community members, both on the side of research and advocacy. First, she gave the example of a rural town plagued by a nearby plant’s pollution of the environment with carcinogenic chemicals. What became part of the process was actually training the people of the town to carry out the door-to-door surveys, type them in, and ultimately present them during a press conference on behalf of the town. What I found interesting and humbling was that Dr. Giachello did not participate in the press conference at all – she had simply empowered the members of the community to make change that they could take ownership of.

Equally powerful and impressive was the creation of an anti-diabetes coalition in southern Illinois. By bringing together different members of the community over a meal, she was able to foster a connection between community members to get the ball rolling on innovative and multi-faceted approach to combating diabetes in the community – including healthy eating programs and subsidies, educational pamphlets, trained screenings, and even bumper-stickers to help advertise their cause.

The examples truly spoke to how cooperativeness and empowerment of community members and local resources can be used to create sustainable and impactful change. Good lessons for any aspiring SSPer.

Superpower: Nurturing healthy relationships

Sierra James

If I had a super power, my power would be to be able to help people with their relationships.  Relationships are what make up the atmosphere and tension in the room.  If you and another person do not get along with one another then it would create an awkward moment or start a fight.  That’s when my super power comes in to help.  My community has lots of violence which is created by how people communicate with one another.  Some people feel disrespected or hurt by things people do.  Gangs fight over respect of people, places, and things.  If someone in a gang feels you disrespected them in any way, then a never ending war is created.  With my super power, I would help them reach an understanding so the violence rate would go down.  

Since my power deals with relationships, I would help the people in my community develop healthy relationships.  Not just with people they know but with people they don’t know.  These are people I believe they have more in common with than they seem to think. People would start coming together to become one and not separate cliques.  Most people stay in different parts of the community and stay away from one another because they don’t know how to develop healthy relationships.  Having healthy relationships in the community gives time to focus on more important things, like bettering the community with jobs, health, housing and entertainment.  Then more people want to come live in Woodlawn.  This would mean a better looking community and more healthy connections.

Insuring birth control

Elise Madrid

Yesterday we met with Lee Hasselbacher who is a policy coordinator from the Family Planning and Contraceptive Research section at the University of Chicago. We had a very informative meeting and she was able to help the high schoolers come up with multiple ideas on how their projects might be implemented. It was great to see them very involved and asking questions. She also gave us a rundown on the innovative new ways they are looking into to teach sex education.


She also talked about how, come this August, health insurers will be required to cover birth control along with other women’s preventive services with no co-pay. I had heard about this before, but was unsure it would actually happen. Now just weeks away from the start date it seems like this will be a reality. While some women may not see this benefit for months I think it is a great step forward as some forms of birth control can run up to $40/month, and more effective forms of birth control such as IUDs can have a high cost even with insurance. If you would like to read more, here is an older article on the topic.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/08/01/free.birth.control/index.html

However, this policy fails to help those that are uninsured who may need free birth control the most. Some teenagers who are insured may also be reluctant to use their parent’s insurance out of fear that they will find out they are using birth control. This is one of the reasons why I’m excited for our project to map out what low-cost options there are in the South Chicago community for women trying to access birth control.

Healthy Surprises

Olivia Singleton


This week, Wednesday was a fun day! We had the opportunity to visit a cooking class with Chef Betty.  She made lasagna with no meat or salt. In all actuality, I imagined it to be gross and bland. Turns out it was pretty good.  Healthy eating seems to be restricted to only fruits and vegetables, nothing more or less. That being said, many people only know healthy foods being fruits and vegetables, so most doesn't want to eat it. I learned that healthy eating is more than what I may see or hear about. Healthy eating can have meat, dairy, and other things. If children or adults realize that healthy eating isn't hard, most people will try to look and feel better.

Cooking Class

Aliyah Singleton

This past Wednesday was another day of trying new foods, and in my opinion it was the best new food experience so far. We went to Chicago Family Health Center up participate in a cooking class led by Chef Betty Nichols. Chef Betty was very funny, exciting, and ready to teach us her delicious vegetarian lasagna recipe. I loved how she got everyone involved with the class by having volunteers chop and stir vegetables. She also got her audience engaged in talking about different vegetables and what they do for the body. What I found vey interesting about Chef Betty is that she doesn't cook with salt or many seasonings and oils because she uses the natural properties of vegetables to give food flavor and moisture. 


I think her ideas are very healthy and smart because it's unnecessary to add fats, salts, and oils to foods that are meant to be healthy. When she and the volunteers finished prepping the lasagna and put it in the oven, she let us serve ourselves the vegetarian lasagna that she had already cooked. I can admit that I was a little hesitant to eat it because of all the squash, sweet potatoes, and broccoli, but when I ate it, it was really good. The lasagna was better than most meat lasagnas I've tried before, and I was so excited to learn this because I'm pretty sure I would even be able to cook this. I am also very scared to cook meat because I think I will get salmonella, but after learning this I now know a recipe for a delicious, vegetarian home-cooked meal.

Sierra Creepin'

Stories from the soup kitchen

Rebecca Harris

On Tuesday, Team Woodlawn volunteered at the soup kitchen at First Presbyterian Church on 64th and Kimbark.  The church is very active in the community and has many different programs to help feed the needy. The kitchen is open for members of the community to come in and have a full lunch on Tuesdays.  On Thursdays, the church also prepares bagged lunches to hand out.  Produce from the garden across the street (which we volunteered at on Thursday) is often dispensed in these lunches.  The Reverend and other church members are also working on ways to develop a kitchen based on Panera's pay-what-you-can locations, in which a person can come in to eat a nice dinner and do what the name suggests: pay what they can.  Those who can afford to pay can pay, and those who cannot do not have to.

For the soup kitchen on Tuesday, our team arrived in the late morning to start preparing lunches.  After setting the tables, cutting up watermelons, and making coleslaw, we set up an assembly line to put together plates of food for people to eat.  When the doors open, everyone comes in, sits down, and says grace, and then the volunteers serve the lunches.  The room is filled with men, women, and children alike.  This week, there was ample food, so it felt good to serve seconds and thirds and fourths as everyone filled their bellies.

Fireworks as seen from Promontory Point. 

One of the most interesting parts of volunteering at the soup kitchen for me has been talking with the volunteers and listening to their stories.  In particular, I was discussing with one volunteer what we had done to celebrate the fourth of July.  When I asked her if she had watched any fireworks, she responded, “Oh nooo.”  She explained that she always stayed inside for fireworks because they scare her; she never knows if the loud noises are fireworks or gunshots.  The picture that she painted in my mind of her two young grandchildren clinging to her as the fireworks exploded outside is a picture that I will never forget.  

Taste of Chicago

Friday, Teams South Chicago and Woodlawn went to the Taste of Chicago on Friday afternoon. It was the first time Olivia, Aliyah,  and Sierra!

Danny and Octavia waiting for the bus.

Mariah and Octavia smiling for the camera.

At the Taste of Chicago on a cloudy/rainy Friday afternoon.

The Abundance Project

Tom Couri 

One of my favorite aspects of the community exploration that we’ve done this summer has been really delving into Woodlawn and seeing how so many of the resources are linked together. There’s a sense of commonality and shared knowledge and resources. This has never been more evident to me than at our volunteer site this week, the 64^th and Kimbark community garden.

The garden is located on vacant land owned by the 1^st Presbyterian Church. The garden is part of the Abundance Project, a Woodlawn community project aiming to unite the community as a whole and improve access to jobs, education, and general quality of life. The Abundance Project, much like SSP, strives to focus on the assest of the community, the good things that are in abundance, as opposed to the needs. Meg works for the Abundance Project and is the head gardener, and she led us on a tour throughout the garden. 

As I walked through the front entrance, I passed Mr. Sterling, a Woodlawn resident who farms half of the garden himself and is very good at it, as evidenced by his plentiful crops and tall plants. I later learned that he buries fish underneath his plants to enrich the soil. In Meg’s part of the garden she showed us all of the different crops she’s growing: cucumbers, tomatoes, greens, lettuce, and a corner of apple trees. She pointed across the street to 1^st Presbyterian Church, where a group of people milled around the entrance listening to jazz music. She explained that they were waiting in line for the food pantry (where we will be volunteering next week). 

What she said next amazed me: some of the produce grown in her garden goes into the food packages given away at the food pantry. The intersection of partnerships in the community, continual local re-investment back into the community, and the implications on community health of locally grown, organic fruit and vegetables is an inspiration. As if on cue, the commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health waltzed into the garden to hear about the project. We worked the garden for the rest of the morning. Before we left I spoke to Mr. Sterling, who confirmed the effectiveness of fish burials by pointing to his overflowing plots. It seemed an appropriate sight at a garden run by the Abundance Project.

Behavioral Change

Esther Schoenfeld

On Wednesday, Michael Quinn, a researcher at the University of Chicago’s Department of Medicine, gave our group a lecture on behavioral change. The lecture was meant to get us to think about how to effectively persuade people to change their behavior, and how to incorporate this information into our projects.

As Dr. Quinn pointed out, people don’t generally change their ways when bullied or nagged into it. They need to want it. They need, as Dr. Quinn put it in his presentation, conviction, confidence, and self-determination. Not only that, but there are many steps in a process of change: pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, maintenance, and identification. When trying to change someone’s behavior, it is important to know which stage he or she is at. If you want to convince someone to stop smoking tobacco, for example, but the person is at the pre-contemplation phase--he or she hasn’t started thinking about quitting--then it is ineffective, and even counterproductive, to start by providing the person with a plan to quit. It is better to gently offer the person some literature about the issue, so that he or she can move to the contemplation phase.

Personally, I am most interested in the contemplation phase, the phase in which a person has begun to think about changing, and isn’t sure whether or not they want to change. Dr. Quinn said that this is a stage that provokes ambivalence, discomfort, and anxiety. This struck a chord with me. In my own experience of trying to change a bad hair-pulling habit, I have come across this anxiety many times. For me, it is two-fold. The first source of anxiety is that I might, as I have in the past, try to change but fail. Second, and more irrationally, I don’t want to address the problem for fear that I’ll find out that I have already done deep and irreparable damage to my body.

Pulling hair is relatively benign. But my experience with it gives me empathy for people who are trying to change unhealthy behaviors. The process is not a completely rational one; there is a lot of complicated emotion at play. A doctor cannot simply present a logical argument in favor of change, and expect a patient to do it. The doctor’s role is much more difficult and complex than that. Realizing this is going to be really important not only for our projects, but for most of my endeavors in the future--regardless of what career I pursue.

Speed Bumps and Solutions

Diamond Gregory    

Out of all four weeks of being in the Summer Service Partnership, Wednesday and Thursday (July 11 & 12) were the toughest days ever. As a group we hit a hug bump in terms of our ideas and the way our projects for the community should go. The big group asked a lot of questions that our group (team Greater Grand Crossing) could not yet answer. So Thursday my team and I went back to the drawing board to reconstruct all of our projects. Prior to that, we attended a meeting with the head of the Youth Center, Ms. Ayoke, who gave us a lot of resources to go to for each one of our ideas. 

One of the resources she suggested was Uplift, a program ran by Ms. Thompson, which is basically a fitness program for seniors. This goes hand-in-hand with the senior walk idea we had to get senior active. The Legacy program the Youth Center is holding will also be a good resource for our Senior Check-In idea. We’re thinking that we can use the students in this program to help us fill the slots so that students and seniors can work together one-on-one. Therefore, the meeting our group plan together at noon was for us to basically put each resource Ms. Ayoke suggested with one of our projects. At the end of the day, I felt confident that our community project will go extremely well. 

Team Bonding

Octavia Griffin


This week was great, I have learned so many things about the people I've been working with. After creating our community projects we play a game of Taboo...and let me tell you we all have competitive spirits. I've learned that my team is really smart - not saying that they are dumb - but I learned that they are really intelligent. After playing the game, we listened to a song called Friday, and let me tell you it was the worstest song I have ever heard. I mean really we know that it is Friday and we know that Thursday comes before Friday. The song made me want to scream, but Swerve in coolin it .. :)

Birthday Fun

Mariah Ryce


I feel that this week was a very productive week. We got a lot done with our project. We finally chose a solid topic: teen pregnancy. We chose teen pregnancy because it was the biggest problem we noticed in our community and schools. We got a chance to see exactly what we wanted to do for our individual projects. For my individual project, I would like to have a workshop at Epic on teen pregnancy. I would have a panel of teen mothers talk about how difficult it is to have a child in their life while balancing school.  Also, I am planning on staging role-play and choose-your-own-adventure stories that expresses the importance of safe sex. I would like to show that teens don’t have to give into peer pressure and that they can make their own decisions.

But in doing all of this, I believe that Monday was still the best day because it was Chris's birthday. So we took him out to lunch to celebrate. We met up with team Woodlawn so they could come and celebrate with us too. Before we went to lunch, we went to go get sundaes on campus. You get a chance to customize it the way you want to. I customized mine with cookies and cream ice cream, salted peanuts and of course chocolate sauce. I always enjoy hanging out with team Woodlawn and going to different events on campus. It gives me a chance to get to know them better as well as have some fun. 


Once we were finished, we walked to Harold’s Chicken to go get lunch. We ordered there and then walked back to campus to eat, 'cause Harold’s was very hot! We even got a chance to see Tom’s sister's wedding pictures. I had a lot of fun eating lunch with them but then it was time to get back to work. I worked with Chris and Elise on ideas in moving our project forward, and brainstorming which activities we can do at the YMCA when we volunteer. Elise and I looked into doing a Zumba fitness with the kids. I have never done Zumba fitness before, so I am excited to to learn and teach the youth of the community something fun to do.

Photos from South Chicago

EPIC Academy students walking around the South Chicago neighborhood.

Sadly, the grass immediately north of Chicago Family Health Center is unkempt.

A view from the front of EPIC Academy.

Corn grown by EPIC Academy students. The EPIC garden was a past SSP project!

Wilting lettuce in the garden.

Vegetables in the EPIC garden.

Octavia and Danny eating salads and being healthy!

All-SSP Lunch!

All-SSP lunch on Monday! It's good to all be together and bond.

The students from Team Woodlawn looking fly as always.

Olivia cooling down in the shade with her stunnah shades.

Bones and Lasagna

Octavia Griffin

Something that I found interesting during the Betty Nichols presentation was that females stop growing their bones at the early age of 30! I found this interesting because I thought you stopped growing bone around the age of 50 or 60. One thing I learned from the cooking demonstration was how to cook Garden Style Lasagna with no meat or salt. It was delicious!

Gardening Woes

Sierra James

Today my group volunteered at a community garden. The garden is located at 64th and Kimbark. The front of the garden was very organized and pretty. Then the back was very different and that’s the part we worked on. Meg owned the back part. She planted pumpkins, tomatoes, corn, greens, and cucumbers. Part of my team went to go get barrels full of wood chips. They were supposed to pick up weeds then lay wood chips on top. The other half, including me watered plants. It may seem like it’s not a lot to do but it was. We constantly went back to fill the containers with water. On top of that it was very hot outside with many bugs. Mud constantly got on my legs, hands, and feet. This is, once again, something I wouldn’t want to do again. I wished I was working at the soup kitchen across the street, like on Tuesday. The whole outside nature thing is not for me. I am thankful for this experience because it helps me to learn that working outside isn’t for me. What I have learned from this experience is how to garden.

St. Martin's

Rebecca Harris

This past Thursday, Team Woodlawn volunteered at St. Martin de Porres House of Hope, a homeless shelter for women and children affected by substance abuse.  We were fortunate to have the opportunity to work with Miss Amanda, who runs a daycare for the children of the shelter and the children of previous shelter residents.  When we arrived, all that was on our minds was the unbearable heat.  We walked into the classroom to find a few fans running, which hardly could stop the sweat from pouring down our faces.  But there was music blasting in the room, and we were greeted by seven happy little preschool children dancing and singing along.  Our moods quickly improved, and we spent the next few hours dancing around the room, singing songs, clapping hands, and reading stories.  The smiles and energy that the children had were contagious.

Perhaps my favorite part of the day was when we sat down to lunch with Miss Amanda.  Amidst serving the kids food and cleaning up spills, she told us her life’s story.  She was a mother to sixteen children and had been a heroin addict for twenty years when she first arrived at St. Martin’s.  But she finally decided that she wanted to turn her life around and got clean.  Now, in addition to working with the kids of the shelter, she is going back to school and has a 4.0 grade point average.  She has seven grandchildren, and her face beamed with pride as she introduced us to one of her grandsons.  Her story was truly inspirational, and it was an honor to be able to work with her.

B'Gabs Goodies

This is Team Woodlawn at B'Gabs Goodies, a raw vegan deli that many of us have mentioned in previous posts. The owner, Gabrielle (center), has supported us and our project so much!

B'Gabs Goodies is part of Experimental Station, an awesome institution in Woodlawn. From its mission statement:

"The Experimental Station is an independent, not-for-profit incubator of innovative cultural projects and small-scale enterprises. Its facilities provide essential resources enabling vulnerable initiatives to stabilize and flourish. These resources include: office, exhibition, and other workspace at discounted rents; information networks; tools and technical support. The Experimental Station seeks to maintain a diverse and interdisciplinary balance of participants and activities and to generate events, lectures, and exhibitions which are free and open to the public. Areas of primary interest include, but are not limited to, art, ecology, cultural criticism, independent publishing and alternative models of education."

Check it out at experimentalstation.org

The beginnings of a documentary

Marissa Smith


Tuesday was very informative. Me and Ben were able to figure out a plan for my documentary project. We figured out that we should talk to certain people about the documentary and see what they think about it. We also figured out what materials we will need. The hard part of it all was figuring out how the project will stay sustainable. The way we figured out how to make it sustainable is by making sure it is presented at different events by G.C.C.P &G.C.Y.C. We also made long Schedule on what we will do for the rest of the weeks ahead. Overall, I got a lot of work done for the project. This project is going to be very successful.

Organizational Meetings

Benjamin Trnka 

One of the most interesting points during this week was attending the block club and other organizational meetings this week. I first went to the 71st and Ingleside block club meeting and was pleasantly surprised to see how officially the meeting was run, and how much on top of their game the 4 elderly ladies leading the meeting were. 

I was glad to see how much personal involvement they had with the community - including advocacy in the local courts, attendance of beat meetings and ward meetings, and from what I understood, one, a great relationship with the local Aldermans as well. They were equally enthusiastic in supporting our project ideas, and had many connections to local residents and other community leadership. 

In the second meeting I attended: SOBNO - The South Oakwood Brookhaven Neighborhood Organization - I met a group of equally enthusiastic and involved elderly women. I was glad to see that this time around, as well, GCYC had sent a staff member to keep the community updated on events. In terms of keeping good communication between the center and the community, this seemed to be a great first step. 

Block Club Meeting

Joanna Perdomo 

On Thursday night, David, Ben, and I had the privilege of attending the 71^st & Ingleside Block Club Meeting. We had initially heard about the meeting on our neighborhood tour with Mr. Sam Binion, and we knew that going to the meeting would be a great way to learn more about the goings-on of the neighborhood right behind GCYC, as well as provide us with a chance to see if the neighbors were interested in partnering with us for some of our projects.

The block club meeting was held at 7:00pm in a conference room at the Youth Center. We entered the room to find three ladies seated around the head of a large rectangular table: Valerie, the secretary, Gladys, the president, and Millicent, an active club member. The meeting began with an opening prayer in which we all held hands—a gesture that demonstrated the solidarity of the block club and made me feel welcomed into their fold. Then, Gladys called the meeting to order. I was enamored by the formality of the meeting. Even though there were just four members (Joyce showed up late) in attendance, Robert’s Rules were in full force, and these ladies took the matters at hand extremely seriously. From discussing recent crimes in the neighborhood, to combating the pesky opossum that was terrorizing the block, to planning out the scrumptious menu for their back-to-school picnic, every issue was thoroughly discussed and resolved before moving onto the next one. It was readily apparent and extremely inspiring to see how much these women invested in and cared about their community. Through their combination of business-like seriousness and friendly humor, they actively make their neighborhood a better place for all of its residents. 

We had the opportunity to hear from the women at the meeting about their neighborhood health concerns: the need for a nearby clinic for quick check-ups, desires for a nutritional education program, and a wish that there would be more programming to combat stress. We also were able to share our ideas for a senior walking program and documentary to bridge the gaps between the neighborhood and GCYC with them, and both ideas were met with enthusiasm. 

It was wonderful to begin establishing partnerships for our projects, but what I gained most from attending the block club meeting was a palpable sense of the incredible power, strength, and impact that a small group of committed community members can possess. Their dedicated work and positive spirits have made their block club the most active in the area. Even though their meeting attendance was small in number and their area of impact was just one square block, it was not the quantitative outcomes that mattered. This club provided them a solid platform to be empowered and in control to effect change in their neighborhood. I am honored to have been able to learn from and share an evening with these incredible community activists, and with warm goodbyes and hopes of sharing banana bread and fried chicken in the future, I know that our relationship with the 71^st and Ingleside Block Club is only beginning.