On July 13, The Paving the Way Project hosted their 9th annual Summer Cool Down. The Summer Cool Down was an event designed to promote fun and safety in the Washington Park community and was supported by the 2024 Chicago Peace Fellows as part of their Summer Projects. Planning for the Summer Cool Down was led by 2024 Chicago Peace Fellow, Antonio Davis, the Founder and Executive Director of the Paving the Way Project.
The Summer Cool Down was part of this series of Summer Projects organized and hosted by the 2024 Chicago Peace Fellows to apply lessons learned through the GATHER curriculum to build peace within their communities. Throughout their fellowship, the Chicago Peace Fellows had a series of planning meetings where they set the scope of their Summer Projects: determining which beneficiaries to target, choosing potential community partners, and drafting a program. After determining projects and team members, the Peace Fellows voted on how to spend a shared stipend across various projects and then met on their own to plan. The 9th Annual Summer Cool Down was one of the projects that the 2024 Fellows voted to fund, alongside six other shared projects.
History of the Summer Cool Down
The first Summer Cool Down was held in 2015 and was also organized by Antonio and the Paving the Way Project. Initially, the event served as a way to reduce tensions between two rival gangs that were affecting community members. Antonio describes the situation: “It started in front of my church. We were smack in the middle of two gang territories and at the time when we first started [the Summer Cool Down] they were fighting.” Antonio was able to communicate with members of both sides and find out that they each had something that the other was lacking: one side was interested in using a park and basketball courts that were in the other side’s territory, and the other side was interested in using a mall that was in opposing territory. Antonio saw this as an opportunity to ask: “How can we deal with this? How can we make our space a neutral ground?”.
Antonio was able to use the self-interests of both gangs to create a safe space where they could work on resolving their conflicts. The event started out small, with a basketball court and waterslide for members of the community to use. However there still wasn’t a lot of interaction between the two sides, so Antonio addressed them: “It started out hard because one side would come and once they left the other side would come. So I said ‘Come on y’all, I kept my promise so I want y’all to keep your promise, so interact.’ So then we created a basketball tournament with a cash prize, […] which at least got them together to play basketball.” The event ended up being a success, with 50-75 members of the community coming together, including community members not involved in either gang. As a safe space was starting to be established, Antonio knew he could scale the event up further.
The Summer Cool Down has steadily grown since, and now serves a much broader audience. Antonio explains, “Our attendance started growing from 100 in attendance, to 200, to 300, until this year when we topped it with 500 in attendance. It has become a staple and a tradition for our organization and the community. The kids look forward to it and the parents look forward to it.” After the first two years, Antonio felt like there was no longer a need to hire security, and instead spent more on attractions. While the initial event may have revolved around resolving neighborhood conflicts, the Summer Cool Down now revolves around creating a safe and fun environment for the Washington Park community.
Fun and Resources for the Community
At the Summer Cool Down, there is a combination of free entertainment and resources for the community. Each year, Antonio finds more water slides, jump houses, and carnival rides to add to the event: “The carnival doesn’t come to this neighborhood, so I’m going to turn this into a carnival.” Other organizations are also invited to share resources with the community: “The third and fourth year we started adding resource partners to come serve the community, so having thirty resource partners this year was hot.” Organizations provided a range of offerings, including insurance options, mental health resources, job resources, health resources, and more.
This year was also the first year that the City of Chicago was involved in the event. Antonio met some city officials at a Task Force meeting about community development in Parkway Gardens and learned that the city can help events with essential planning such as tables, port-o-potties, barricades, and other amenities that he usually pays for. “Now every year we will have some items we will get from the city. I was also able to share those resources with my community partners for their events.”
Over the last nine years, the Summer Cool Down has grown into a staple of the Washington Park neighborhood, providing a safe place for families to have fun and come together as a community. Antonio emphasizes: “The biggest thing accomplished through the Summer Cool Down was safety and fun. You want to come to an event where there are no problems, where you can let your kids be kids, where you can relax. I think we have accomplished that in the nine years where we have been doing this.” In the coming years, Antonio would like to see the Summer Cool Down continue to grow: “For the tenth anniversary, I want to hold the Summer Cool Down in Washington Park. That would not only give access for more attendees, but would give me more space for all of the things that I can bring to the community, such as a stage and live entertainment.”
