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.

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.   

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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. 

Morning Exercises

Joanna Perdomo 

Since the moment we met during SSP interviews, it was apparent that everyone on our team shared a passion for being active, be it by running, dancing, playing basketball, playing volleyball, swimming, or doing yoga. We therefore made it a priority to find a way to incorporate exercise into our schedule each day. Although the Gary Comer Youth Center is abuzz with summer camp programs, we managed to find a slot at 9:00am each morning when the basketball courts are free. Before we even start our daily reflections, we spend anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes running around the gym, shooting baskets, and challenging ourselves to break our growing record of how many times we can pass a volleyball without it falling on the floor (last I checked, we were up to 18!) 

I must admit that sports are not my forte, but I’ve been learning from my ever-so patient and extremely talented teammates how to spike, set, and serve the volleyball and how to properly shoot a basketball…apparently my granny shot wasn’t up to snuff. In return, I get to teach them body-bending yoga poses that stretch us out and center us for the day ahead.

Morning exercise has become one of my favorite parts of each day. It energizes me for a day of creating, learning, and acting on our ideas. It challenges me to hone new skills and leave my comfort zone to enter the sports arena. It binds us as teammates. Most importantly, it keeps us healthy, happy, and whole.

Trials and Tribulations

Benjamin Trnka

As interesting and useful asset-mapping was, it was also an uncomfortable experience. I know that I already stand out in the community – for the simple fact that I’m white and working in a predominantly black neighborhood – but equipped with my camera and notebook, I (along with the rest of the team) was greeted with mixed responses in the community.

One elderly woman seemed skeptical to hear about our involvement in the community, but after walking with her and explaining our summer plans, she seemed to warm up to the idea. The owner of one of the grocery stores we toured was immediately skittish and pushy upon my arrival, but after learning that our group is University-affiliated suddenly changed his tune and became extremely hospitable and helpful. But who really stood out were the three guys that drove by us as we headed back to our school.

“Hey – f*** you!” they yelled at us as we crossed the street … without any provocation. But in some way, maybe we did provoke them. After all, we were a group of strangers taking notes in a community, and obviously university-affiliated (many people guessed this before we even introduced ourselves). It’s no wonder that people were suspicious of us. I’m just frustrated by the fact that this one group of guys didn’t even give us a chance. Not even a chance like the old lady gave to me, to explain myself and help assuage her fears. The girls were equally surprised and frustrated when they heard from us what happened.

“It’s not like we were doing anything wrong; we’re just trying to help out” stated one of the girls.

“If I had seen them, I would’ve given them a piece of my mind!” exclaimed another.

We all agreed that it wasn’t everyone in the community would react like this to us, but it is certainly something that we will continue to face as we interact with community members on our own.

Taking a line from David (from a slightly different context, but the sentiment still holds true): I wish that there was just some sort of gesture I could make, phrase I could quickly say, so that community members don’t immediately jump to the conclusion that we were judging them and imposing our own ideas. But perhaps that is exactly part of the challenge we anticipated when starting this summer and will continue to face– the challenge of showing people that we are genuinely interested in helping them help themselves, with no ulterior motives.

This is a challenge I’m willing to take on, and I believe is important to master. It takes time and visible actions to build up that sort of trust in a relationship, trust that we saw modeled by community leaders such as Sam Binion and others that have a huge head start on us with developing community relations. I’m just hoping that our team can begin building up some of that trust in the weeks to come, and remain sensitive to how we may be perceived, so that our work can remain sincere and effective.

Ben and Diamond doing shoulder stands and backbends

Check out that flexibility!

Grocery Stores

Tiara Harvey

The second week of the Summer Service Partnership Program was very interesting. We went out into the community towards 75th and cottage and went into different stores looking at different products: juice, chips, fruits, vegetables, etc. We discovered that corner stores in the neighborhood do not carry healthy fruits and vegetables. We also figured out that it would not be a good idea to put fruits or vegetables into the store because no one would buy them. Many community members are not sure about fruits and vegetables at local stores because they are new.

        

However, on the same particular day we went into a health store to see different products: naked juice, weight loss system, water pills, etc that is used for different reasons. Many products that were displayed in the store have a lot of protein, vitimains, and nutrients. For that reason, on that day we learned that there are multiple resources in the community that will leave you physically and maybe even emotionally healthy if you are having problems with your external and internal appearance.

Book Buddies

Diamond Gregory

One of the events that my team and I participated in was Book Buddies at the local community library on 72^nd & Ellis. The goal of Book Buddies is to build children’s confidence in their reading while allowing them to have fun. The program’s purpose is to build a loyal relationship between the teens and their buddies. My buddy’s name is Jason, he’s 10 years old. He wanted to read a WWE magazine because he loves WWE wrestling. This is something my buddy and I had in common because I absolutely loved WWE wrestling when I was at that age. This commonality made the reading part with my buddy fun and interesting. We read interviews on different wrestling stars, and when WWE wrestling even started. After the reading section Jason and I ate lunch and the rest of the teens and their buddies did too. Then, when lunch part of the day was over we played games. Jason wonted to play Sorry. David, my SSP team leader, and another kid also played with us. Later down the line we switched around and played Sorry with another group of Buddies. In all, this Tuesday was extremely fun.

Community Exploration

Diamond Gregory

My first week in the Summer Service Partnership Program was a handful. There was a lot of get to knowing new people, taking in tons of information about Greater Grand Crossing, and the experience of trying new things. There were a couple of things that I didn’t like about this week, but tons of things I loved.

One of the things I loved was that I loved was that I got to learn about Greater Grand Crossing this week. I learn that there are a lot of positive people, and positive things being done in the community that don't get the recognition they deserve. Everything bad in the community is being brought forth and highlighted, when it really should be the other way around.

Last Thursday my team and I took a community tour with Sam Binion. As we walked through the neighborhood blocks he introduced us to a couple of adults and teens who made a different in Greater Grand Grossing. The seniors and adults use to get together every year to create a Block Club party or a Back to school Jam; as a way to get residents in the area to come together to have fun and mingle in a safe environment. The teens in the area are also doing healthy thing for the community. Some actually choose to say no to the local drug dealer and, instead, picked up a basketball in order to stay active. And all while we were listening to their stories it seems as if the tools that were brought into the community to be helpful are really turning out to be more useless.

For example: tenants are describing the local youth center and grocery store as “money hungry”. Saying that the rise in prices for food and demand for membership has become too much to handle. People in the community feel as if these reliable tools are NOT for them. There for, these locals have to search for safe places for their children to hang out and play, and other grocery store with low priced food outside of their own community. Residents of the Greater Grand Crossing are relying on themselves and other locals to help make healthy decision a community. They can’t rely on the Centers and local grocery store to be safe and accessible. Greater Grand Crossing is a community that wants to change but doesn’t have the power and resources.

So it’s my duty as a community leader to create a project that would lead them towards a safer and healthier lifestyle.

Gary Comer Youth Center

Benjamin Trnka

When identifying assets within a community, it’s difficult to ignore Gary Comer Youth Center & College Prep (GCYC & GCCP) within the neighborhood of Greater Grand Crossing (GGC). The polychromatic walls of this money-infused complex contrast with the beige boards that plaster so many vacant lots in the area. This surrounding area, known affectionately as ‘Pocket Town’ (for its gang affiliation) is isolated from the rest of the Greater Grand Crossing due to its physical location, and more recently because of the creation of GCYC and GCCP. As we interviewed local community members with the aid and added commentary of Sam Binion – ‘Mayor of Pocket Town,’ respected community member and friend of the late Gary Comer – we realized that the center was becoming isolated within the pocket itself.

“They built it for the community, but now I’m not so sure,” stated a concerned senior citizen in the local neighborhood, a thought echoed by many other residents. Evidently, when the late Comer passed away, the center became less for the community members and more for business. With rising summer camp costs, alleged favoritism and exclusivity, some have gone so far as to say that the late Comer would fire all of the current administration were he still alive.

For a center with a 24 hour health center, reasonably priced farmers market, and full exercise facilities, you begin to wonder why the neighbors travel as so far as downtown to see a doctor, resort to buying fast food and can’t find facilities for recreation. At this point, there is no clear fault to be blamed, but some gap in communication and accessibility must be bridged in order for the community members to reap the benefits of such an asset.      

Pocket Town

Marissa Smith

The first week of SSP was very informative. On the first day I was able to understand the mission of the program: to go out into the neighborhood and make change for the better, help the neighborhood become more sustainable then what it is. The rest of the week was really for my group and I to get a better understanding of Greater Grand Crossing A.K.A Pocket Town. Greater Grand Crossing is know as Pocket Town because in a certain area there is only one way in and one way out which resembles a pocket.

Yes! that does seem a little bit boring but it wasn't. On Wednesday we all went to the farmers market, and even though I thought it was going to be boring it was actually pretty fun. We were able to talk to a gardener and learn what she grows. What was very interesting to me was that I didn't know many people never tasted or heard of mustard greens. I was able to get a better feel of what is really new to people. 

On Thursday, my group took a tour with Sam of the Pocket to get a better feel of the neighborhood. Sam is like the mayor of Pocket Town, everyone comes to him for help and he always finds a way to get it done. He is the communities voice. Even though I am over here for the school year, I never knew the stories behind the neighborhood. As we were walking around, we were able to talk to many of the residents of the neighborhood. As we talked to them I was able to understand the bitter-sweet relationship between Gary Comer and the community. It’s sweet because many people believed it gave many kids and opportunity to become more active. Its bitter, because many people believe that the mission of the Youth Center has changed. At first the center was built for the community and accepted many people, but now the center is money hungry. They are money  hungry because the summer camp should have a  reasonable rice ($55) since many of the families don't have a lot of money. Instead they have have ridiculous prices that many people cannot pay ($220). 

The community feels as if Gary Comer is taking over and lost  the reason why the center  is founded. If I can figure out a way to bridge the gap between  the Center and the community, that would be my project for the summer. I want the communities voice to be heard, and to create a sustainable relationship between the two.

Preventative Medicine

David Goese

"Preventative medicine" is the health field dedicated to reducing the incidence of disease for our patients. There are more people now than ever who are obese, have heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and other chronic, preventable health conditions. In other words, preventative medicine isn't working. It is one of my life goals to join the many, many smart and talented people who together are on a quest to make prevention effective. When viewed through a social entrepreneurial mindset, solving problems of health requires a deep understanding of the role of social determinants of health in terms of the health processes they encourage or discourage. One of the primary goals in a social entrepreneurial venture would be to understand the target market and the problem, including their nuances, well. Social justice would place the venture in a place that experiences health problems the worst. In the last week, SSP has convinced me of the importance of knowing one's community well in terms of the quest for developing positive, active preventative health.

The modern field of medicine is highly specialized. Those who do not specialize practice as primary care physicians, but even these nonspecialists still tend to have certain areas in which they are more proficient. My thought now is that there is not enough medical emphasis on prevention in terms of resources spent. Why is it that we don't do preventative medicine well? Part of it--as noted through my experiences in SSP this past week--is that we as medical schools and doctors do not truly get to know our patients well.

I realized this after talking with community members earlier this week. On a walking tour with Mr. Sam Binion, a figure of public trust, a community activist, and a friend of the neighborhood, we heard from community members what some of their own problems were. A few things made this special. The neighborhood people, as an extension of trust toward Mr. Binion, opened up to us. This doesn't often happen as powerfully as it did for us on Thursday. We connected relatively well granted the short time scale and scope of contact with the community (note: I don't know if that's for sure how it was interpreted by the community members, but that's how I felt). What I found fascinating was that much--perhaps almost all--of the information I deemed "important to health" came from conversations outside what is normally considered part of normal conversation of doctors.  I could see that spending more time with community members, one would be able to understand how to most effectively recommend to them how to stay healthy.

What we learn about in academia is informed by research. This is extremely important. However, in the context of community health, health care disparities, and preventative medicine, what we know and what we learn from research is fatally incomplete. For those doctors being trained in preventative health and community health, there should be an opportunity in the training period for a semi-structured learning experience outside the university, and outside of academia, out in the community, and outside of being in the doctor's office. I'd argue that the more background, the better in terms of thinking of preventative medicine solutions.

We have the opportunity for more conversations with community members in the SSP program. This is the first true week of the summer, and we have grazed the surface of some community health issues, and it has been transformational. I am unbelievably excited to delve deeper and learn about how we can encourage people in the Greater Grand Crossing community to live at peak health and avoid disease.