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UNITY Squad Claretian Associates will be highlighting a UNITY Squad member each month to share their transformation into young leaders.  Zakiyah Holders is a UNITY Squad member since the Spring of 2022. Zakiyah is 14 years old, a freshman at Gary Comer College Prep and is on the honor roll. “Zakiyah has grown into a leader since she joined the program in March of 2022. I like the confidence, self-assurance and awareness that she has developed since joining UNITY Squad,” said Youth and Family Coordinator Pamesha Robinson. Learn more about Zakiyah and her time in the UNITY Squad program here. At first Zakiyah was shy joining UNITY Squad, but afterwards she felt welcomed. “I was very shy when I first came here. Ms. Robinson and everybody [UNITY Squad members] were nice to me and I felt comfortable,” said Zakiyah. Zakiyah was invited to join UNITY Squad by a friend at school. UNITY Squad was a chance for Zakiyah to be with people her age and to branch out too. “I wanted to hang out with people my age. When I came to UNITY Squad I could hang out and talk about my problems,” said Zakiyah. Zakiyah continued to come to UNITY Squad during the summer for the One Summer Chicago program. Her favorite part of UNITY Squad is helping overall. “I like helping the seniors and with the events,” said Zakiyah. During the summer, the youth and South Chicago SALUD Center Seniors gardened together. They planted fruits and vegetables seeds in garden beds. UNITY Squad has been beneficial to Zakiyah because of the stipend and the guidance from Pamesha. “UNITY Squad has helped me out a lot because Ms. Robinson has given me advise on how to solve my problems,” said Zakiyah. Zakiyah is a valuable member to UNITY Squad because of her leadership and friendliness with new members. “She embraces new members. Everybody will come to her with questions. If we had a UNITY Squad Ambassador, it would be her,” said Pamesha.  Youth are welcomed to join UNITY Squad every Tuesday and Thursday at the SALUD Center in the Teen Drop-In Space. UNITY Squad concluded their nutrition class from the University of Illinois Urbana- Champaign. Each week the youth learned how to cook healthy meals. The youth earned a cook book and certificate for completing the class. For more information on UNITY Squad contact Pamesha at probinson@claretianassociates.org  South Chicago Neighborhood Network The South Chicago Neighborhood Network held their annual Winter Wonderland Networking event at the SALUD Center for current and future partners. SCNN partners came together for brunch and team building exercises and activities to set goals with each other.  Seniors Loneliness Project The South Chicago Neighborhood Network (SCNN) partnered with Advocate Aurora Health to have a Senior Loneliness project class. For six weeks, seniors attended classes to learn how to overcome loneliness. Classes were held at the SALUD Center at Villa Guadalupe Senior Services. Learn more about the classes here. The classes were divided into two groups and met on Tuesdays and Thursdays at the SALUD Center and Villa Guadalupe. The seniors earned different techniques to overcome loneliness. “We wanted to teach the seniors how to be their own company,” said Program Manager Tiarra Owens. The seniors also learned how to connect with others again by play games and getting to know each other. “We taught the seniors how to open up to other people. Many built new friendships in class,” said Tiarra. When group discussions happened, the seniors bounded over trauma issues. “A lot of the seniors had trauma situations in their lives and it made them receptive to be around people or even building relationships,” said Tiarra. The classes provided the participants to be open to socializing with more people. At the conclusion of the six weeks, participants earned a certificate of completion and a stipend. Each group had an end of class celebration. The UNITY Squad members had the chance to help and serve the seniors at Villa Guadalupe for their celebration. “It gave the youth and seniors the opportunity to get to know each other,” said Tiarra.  Mayor Press Conference For Ground Breaking Claretian Associates was a part of the ground breaking for the Commercial Avenue Corridor Improvement project in South Chicago with Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT), and local leaders. The streetscape improvement project is a part of the INVEST South/West Initiative. Read more about the project below in the press release.  Seniors The seniors from the South Chicago SALUD Center had a Christmas party in the community room. A Michael Jackson impersonator entertained the evening with music. The seniors are now volunteering at the food distributions once a month. “It's a way to get the seniors more involved and active,” said Social Service Coordinator Wendy Steward.  We’re Building The first two New Homes are complete. The third New Home is currently in bidding for a builder and will be selected this month. Claretian Associates has selected a general contractor for the SACRED development and is preparing to enter the permitting process.
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 Claretian Associates is grateful for your support this Giving Tuesday and throughout the year. Please donate to Claretian Associates to continue our work with local youth, seniors and families. Our programs are not possible without generous donors like you.
 Claretian Associates CEO Angela Hurlock Honored at the Enterprise 40th Anniversary National Conference CEO Angela Hurlock was honored at The Impactful 40 honorees at the Enterprise 40th Anniversary National Conference. Enterprise is honored 40 individuals who have helped break boundaries and strengthen communities over the past 40 years. Read more about Angela as an honoree here.  Annual Trauma-Informed Symposium The South Chicago Neighborhood Network held a virtual Trauma-Informed Symposium, Bruised But Not Broken, attended by 182 people. The keynote speaker was Sonia Toledo from Dignity for Children, Inc. Each day featured a different topic including the impact of trauma within schools, economic divestment on mental health, trauma on persons with disabilities, and post-traumatic stress. The University of Chicago hosted a Community Grand Rounds on the second day. This is the fifth year the South Chicago Neighborhood Network held the trauma-informed Symposium. “It's important that we continue to hold these workshops in order to learn more about trauma to assist community members and ourselves in our work, and be resilient,” said Program Manager Tiarra Owens. The symposium helps SCNN to determine the trainings or workshops that should be offered in the community. Each day of the symposium was recorded and videos are available here. Next year, SCNN hopes to have the symposium in person. Harvest Fest
The South Chicago Neighborhood Network (SCNN), UNITY Squad held the first annual Harvest Fest in the multipurpose event space at the SALUD Center. 65 children, youth and community members attended. Youth participated in potato sack races, two legged races, and pumpkin decorating. Resource vendors attended including South Shore Works, Red Cross, Family Rescue, and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Food Nutrias Extension Program. Attendees enjoyed music from a live DJ and sandwiches from local restaurant.  Seniors The South Chicago SALUD Center Seniors had a Harvest Fest. Oak Street Health provided music from a local guitarist. Seniors enjoyed their time together while eating pizza, listening to music and dancing.  We’re Building A tenant has moved into the first completed New Home on 92nd Brandon. The New Home on Burley will be completed and occupied within the next month. Bidding will begin soon for the New Home on 91st and Brandon. A general contractor has been selected for the SACRED development. Claretian Associates is preparing their permitting process and hopes to break ground in late summer 2023.  Rest In Peace Michelle Thomas
Michelle Thomas, Program Manager for Safe Passage passed away suddenly on Nov. 9 2022. Michelle worked for Claretian Associates for 14 years. Throughout Michelle’s time at Claretian Associates, she worked for Safe Passage as a Community Watcher, Base Operator, and Program Coordinator and most recently was promoted to Program Manager. Michelle had a warm personality and a contagious laughter. Our hearts go out to Michelle’s family at this difficult time. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers. Promotions at Communities Partnering 4 Peace (CP4P) Claretian Associates welcomes James Sims as the new CP4P Program Manager and Suncheka Henderson as CP4P Case Manager and Victims Advocate. CP4P is a street outreach program which works with high-risk individuals to prevent and intervene violence.
Learn more about James and Suncheka at CP4P and their past experience below. As CP4P Program Manager, James builds relationships with local dignitaries such as congressman, alderman, and police commanders in order to work together and reduce violence. James started as a violence interrupter with Cure Violence (Cease Fire), who at the time partnered with Claretian Associates in the South Shore neighborhood. “When I first started, I was on the fence about the position. As the first year went on, I saw myself show passion for this work [violence prevention],” said James. James became a violence interrupter because he wanted to be a better role model for his children. “I had to be a better father, role model and to some people in the community, a better big brother,” said James. In 2019, Claretian Associates partnered with Metropolitan Family Services for CP4P and James applied for a Case Manager position. “I wanted to do more to help, so I applied for the case manager position,” said James. During that time James went back to school for Social Work at Northeastern University. James motivated himself to return to school to show his CP4P participants that it was possible to get an education.  James graduated in 2020 from the Metropolitan Peace Academy, an 18-week training program for professionals already in the field of outreach work, and earned the Professionalism Award because of his hard work and dedication while in the training program and returning to school for his bachelor’s degree. Later on, James became a Supervisor for CP4P and was promoted afterwards to CP4P Program Coordinator and most recently to CP4P Program Manager. “I bring motivation and leadership to the team. I build leaders amongst the team,” said James. Suncheka started volunteering with Cure Violence and later on with CP4P before she became an outreach worker in 2020. As case manager, Suncheka connects and refers clients/participants to resources. Suncheka also enrolls clients/participants in educational and job readiness programs. Suncheka is a CP4P Victim Advocate as well. As CP4P Victim Advocate, she supports victims of gun violence and their families. “I connect with victims and their families and offer them different services,” said Suncheka. Suncheka became involved in violence prevention work because of the passing of her oldest cousin. “He was my oldest male cousin; he was 21 years old. I lost him due to gun violence,” said Suncheka. Since then, Suncheka always wanted to be a part of an organization that prevented violence. Aside from working for CP4P, Suncheka has her own organization, Let Your Sun Shyne. In her organization she has coordinated meal distributions, clothes drives, tutoring and more. Suncheka thought her position at CP4P was tailor-made for her because of her own community service. Suncheka hopes to bring a fresh outlook and new ideas to her position, and a change to the community.  Center for Changing Lives Co-locates to the SALUD Center Center for Changing Lives (CCL) has moved into the SALUD Center offices. CCL is a nonprofit financial opportunity center and a HUD approved housing counseling agency, located in the Logan Square neighborhood and now a has co-location at the SALUD Center. CCL is one of 14 financial opportunity centers in the city, but only two are fully bilingual. “For CCL it's really important that all of our material and programming is linguistically and culturally relevant. Every service we offer can be received in either English or Spanish,” said CCL Director of Resource Development Paula Cripps-Vallejo. CCL rooted on the Northwest side of Chicago since 1989. For many years CCL has serviced the Latino and Black/African American community and advocated to ensure systemic barriers are removed. CCL offers coaching three main areas: financial with HUD approved housing counseling, employment coaching, and resource developing coaching. One of their newest areas is small business and entrepreneur coaching since 2021. “Our three overall goals are to work with community to achieve economic vitality, community wellbeing, and Black and Brown solidarity,” said Paula. CCL and Claretian Associates will be partnering to serve and ensure community members in South Chicago and other neighboring communities, have resources to reach their goals. “We are excited to take roots on the Southeast to serve the Latino and African American community even more vibrantly in Chicago,” said Paula. In 2020 CCL and Claretian Associates partnered to provide rental assistance and financial awareness to community members. CCL and Claretian Associates are collaborating to have a resume building workshop at the SALUD Center. Learn more about CCL here.  Resume Workshop Claretian Associates and Center for Changing Lives will have Resume Building Workshop on October 27 at 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. at the SALUD Center. Learn how to create an outstanding resume, cover letter, and more. Lunch will also be provided. For more information contact Youth and Family Coordinator Pamesha Robinson at probinson@claretianassociates.org Register here.  Harvest Fest On October 28, the South Chicago Neighborhood Network, UNITY Squad youth program will have a Harvest Fest at the SALUD Center in the multi-purpose event space. Join UNITY Squad for potato sack racing, pumpkin decorating, smores, music, food, raffles and more. For more information contact Youth and Family Coordinator Pamesha Robinson at probinson@claretianassociates.org Yoga
The free yoga classes have concluded at the SALUD Center. The South Chicago Neighborhood Network and Yoga Care partnered for six weeks to offer free yoga classes on Saturdays. Each class was designed to have a different theme. Chair Yoga had the most attendees for the remaining three weeks of yoga. In the future SCNN would like to continue offering free yoga classes.  Seniors The South Chicago SALUD Center Seniors received a donation of books and DVDs from Girl Scout Troop 60758. Girl Scout Stephanie Lopez completed a service project of collecting books and DVDs and chose to donate to the seniors of the SALUD Center. The community room now has books and DVDs for the residents to check out.  We’re Building The New Home on 92nd and Brandon is completed. The second New Home development is near completion. The Peloton and Precore equipment were installed in the fitness center. Claretian Associates is working on plans to open the fitness center.  UNITY Squad Afterschool Programming UNITY Squad is still recruiting for Squad Up afterschool programming. Youth ages 13-18 are welcomed every Tuesday and Thursday from 4 p.m.- 5 p.m. For the next six weeks youth will receive nutrient classes from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Youth will learn and make healthy snacks. For more information contact Youth and Family Coordinator Pamesha Robinson at probinson@claretianassociates.org.  Senior Walking The SALUD Center offers senior walking every Wednesday from 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. in the multipurpose event space, at no cost. For more information contact SALUD Center Program Manager April Morris at aprilm@claretianassociates.org. |
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