Peace Fellows Tour University of Chicago Crime Lab
On Friday, August 30, the Chicago Peace Fellows toured the University of Chicago Urban Labs to learn more about the work of the Crime Lab, hosted by Kimberly Smith, associate director of criminal justice initiatives.
Kim talked about how the Crime Lab started with the idea to leverage the intellectual capital of the University of Chicago to address violence in Chicago. In 2007, the University was reeling from the shooting death on their campus of an international student during an attempted robbery. Their solution was to ask what the University’s faculty members were good at and how could they use their talents to serve their surrounding community.
[quote]The University of Chicago is the home of more Nobel Prize winners than any other institution in the world, and the school is a hub for research of many kinds, scientific to historical. Could they use those techniques to encourage research on the causes and solutions to violence in the communities that surround the university?[/quote]
They began to work with community organizations to add value by providing research and evaluation support. They identified one organization that was producing tremendous results and helped them grow their programming, and they are working with several other groups across the city that are tackling issues of violence in the city to identify effective strategies.
Much of the meeting was spent fielding questions from the Chicago Peace Fellows about how the Crime Lab does its work. They asked about the Crime Lab’s work with the Chicago Police Department, particularly how the Crime Lab is working to support officers and their relationship to the community. Robert Biekman wanted to know about the Crime Lab’s analysis of the federal consent decree that is designed to change the policies and procedures of the Chicago Police Department.
Dr. Sokoni Karanja asked about accessing data on community policing programs, which began a conversation about data sharing and how the Crime Lab provides data to grassroots organizations to measure impact. Many of the Chicago Peace Fellows have been doing tremendous work in their respective communities for years and were open to utilizing the support of the University's researchers to document their efforts and learn more about what’s most effective.
The meeting was a great demonstration of how communities can work with institutions to solidify best practices and identify promising solutions to the myriad of issues that communities across Chicago face.
Peace Fellows Explore Decolonizing Philanthropy with Edgar Villanueva
In his book, “Decolonizing Wealth: Indigenous Wisdom to Heal Divides and Restore Balance,” Edgar Villanueva makes a strong and needed critique of traditional philanthropy. In many ways, his analysis is similar to that made by my late brother, Phillip Jackson, who was the founding director of the Black Star Project.
Phillip was an important inspiration to Edgar, and Phillip’s influence is powerfully reflected in the book. In 2016, my brother led a major local and national campaign taking the foundation world to task for policies that have exacerbated the extraordinary poverty of communities of color in the richest nation in the world.
As one example, Phillip decried as “modern-day redlining” the tiny percentage of grants to Black organizations from the Chicago-based John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. He believed that funders ought not to pat themselves on the back if they are unwilling to acknowledge and provide direct support to the Black and Brown communities that continue to suffer in the margins of the great wealth in this city and country. This wealth, after all, was made possible by public policies that disenfranchised people of color and kept our neighborhoods poor and vulnerable.
[quote]Edgar read about my brother’s work as he was writing his book and interviewed Phillip as part of his research. Unfortunately, Phillip passed away November 4, 2018, before the two men could meet in person.[/quote]
But from his family home in North Carolina, I recently had the great pleasure of meeting Edgar during a video roundtable that included the current cohort of Chicago Peace Fellows (of which I am a member), the international alumni of GATHER, and several staff of the Goldin Institute. Since my brother’s passing, I have continued his work as the executive director of the Black Star Project and I am certain that Phillip would be delighted and proud of Edgar’s vision for a new approach to more fairly and humanely distribute the tremendous wealth of foundations in this country.
Part one of “Decolonizing Wealth” addresses how philanthropy mirrors colonialism, sometimes doing more harm than good, and the importance of hearing the stories of colonized people with a respectful and open heart. Within the chapters of part two, Edgar outlines seven critical steps—Grieve, Apologize, Listen, Relate, Represent, Invest and Repair—to healing centuries-old trauma. He asks: 1) What if money could be medicine instead of what divides us? and 2) What if, rather than using wealth to cause further harm, we followed these “Seven Steps to Healing?”
During our roundtable discussion on August 23rd, Edgar talked about how indigenous wisdom has shaped his life and perspective on philanthropy. Chicago Peace Fellows Robert Biekman asked about the role of spirituality in philanthropy, and Dr. Sokoni Karanja, who attended a peace walk with Edgar many years ago, asked if social workers today should take a more activist/organizing roles in philanthropy. International GATHER alumnus Yusuph Masanja received advice on managing a fundraising issue.
Edgar acknowledged the good work of all of the Fellows and offered some recommendations for the use of restorative justice and methods of truth and reconciliation in their efforts. He also encouraged Fellows to build personal relationships with funders as they move forward together.
Edgar Villanueva understands decolonizing as a lifelong journey, and is thankful to his Native elders and to those who came before him, like Phillip, who shaped his early thinking on what philanthropy should and can do to right historical wrongs.
It was my great joy to meet him and to learn from his thoughtful and stimulating new book!
Peace Fellows Present to Partnership for Safe and Peaceful Communities
On July 24, a delegation of Chicago Peace Fellows presented their work together thus far to a large meeting of 2019 grantees as well as the funders of the Partnership for Safe and Peaceful Communities, a coalition of more than 40 Chicago philanthropies and donors who have provided grants to community groups trying to reduce violence in disproportionately affected neighborhoods on the South and West sides.
The Peace Fellows were part of the agenda for the conclave at the Hatchery, a spacious new not-for-profit on the West Side that provides training as well as modern facilities to aspiring food entrepreneurs, including equipment for cooking, freezing and storage as well as events.
Attending on behalf of the Goldin Institute were Fellows Maria Velasquez, Robert Biekman, Jacqueline Moore, Pamela Butts, Jamila Trimuel, and Gloria Smith along with artist Cecil McDonald, who is documenting the program in video and photography, Lisa Dush, a professor at DePaul University who is conducting a professional evaluation of the GATHER software and curriculum, and Goldin staff members Oz Ozburn and Burrell Poe.
Burrell began with a brief summary of the genesis of the Peace Fellows, explaining that Goldin staff conducted extensive interviews with previous grantees of the Partnership to find out what they needed and how a curriculum could serve them. All of the Peace Fellows are previous grantees of the Partnership, and many have received current grants as well.
Each of the Fellows then took turns presenting different aspects of the program, interjecting their personal experiences and observations at appropriate moments along the way.
Maria described the strong sense of camaraderie among the Fellows, and extolled the practical benefits of collaboration and sharing:
[quote]I’m just so happy to be a part of this cohort, because it makes our communities strong. -- Maria Velazquez[/quote]
Robert explained that he was thrilled to discover that the Peace Fellows curriculum was focused on action, rather than theory, as well as accountability that came through honest collaboration and support. In his work as a pastor and organizer, Robert has participated in many different programs and fellowships, but he often lost interest as they proved impractical or didn’t sufficiently involve community residents. He remained highly involved with the Peace Fellows, however, because it provides access to places and people who would not be available otherwise. In particular, the curriculum has allowed him to continue the connections he established with young men in different stages of the criminal justice system beyond the short terms of the grants from the Partnership. He has even been able to build bridges between different groups working on violence-related issues from multiple angles and involve them in efforts to craft solutions.
[quote]Using the tools that GATHER has provided in the curriculum and also working with Peace Fellows, it has allowed me to take that moment and make it into a movement, to go from a place where we are doing community outreach to do community engagement, to be able to build the kind of relationships that provide long term sustainability for the efforts we are engaged in. -- Robert Biekman[/quote]
Robert continued, “GATHER has allowed me to create a community of practice with all of those who are directly impacted by the issues of our community, to gather us together to see what are the real key issues and most importantly to invite them to participate in making the changes that are necessary because those who are closest to the problem often have the best solutions.”
“So often, we do this work, and we do it by ourselves, and for me what this has provided is a watering hole where I’m able to go in the midst of all the other work we do in order to drink deeply with others who are doing the work we are doing. That gives us a personal sustainability to each of us.”
Gloria said that the individual Peace Fellows are all part of broader group of community-based organizations that often work together. She recently moved to Chicago after the death of her brother, Phillip Jackson, and took over as executive director of the organization he founded, the Black Star Project. She has hit the ground running, maintaining and even expanding partnerships and initiatives, and on one day, Gloria found that she had three commitments for the same day, so she asked another Peace Fellow, Velvian Boswell, to stand in for her. She was greatly appreciative for that level of support from the Peace Fellows.
[quote]“We’re all connected. We’re all a network of hope. -- Gloria Smith[/quote]
Pamela Butts echoed the sentiment that the collaboration with her peers – people with similar experiences in community work – has been extremely rewarding: “Peace Fellows has given us an opportunity to develop relationships, resources and opportunities we never dreamed of.”
[quote]These are folks who have been out there on the front lines for years just doing the work just because people have needs. -- Pamela Butts[/quote]
Jamila said she had participated in multiple fellowships and residencies, and wasn’t inclined to apply for another one, but when she received the e-mail from the Goldin Institute during a college tour with the girls in her program, she thought the Peace Fellows would be different. She was intrigued by the prospect of working with other organizers in Chicago:
[quote]I wanted to connect more with people on the ground. It’s hard to find that kind of learning community here in Chicago. -- Jamila Trimuel[/quote]
“I took a pause (to check out the Peace Fellows) because I realized for the first time I would be part of a fellowship program where there would be people who are on the ground who are from communities, who love Chicago like I love Chicago and who want to ensure that Chicago is a better place to live and to serve.”
Jamila recounted several emotional meetings, including one where the Peace Fellows advised the staff at the Field Museum of Natural History about the future presentation of an exhibit with a racist and colonialist past. On another group outing to a neighborhood, the Peace Fellows saw a police action, while across the street children were playing, a sad juxtaposition that reflected the realities for too many families in Chicago.
“We know we’re here to stay we’re here to make a true, lifelong difference in our communities and that’s what’s so special about Chicago Peace Fellows,” Jamila summed up.
Jacquelyn explained that the Peace Fellows had agreed on a set of guiding principles that were used to evaluate all proposals for summer projects, which would be supported by a fund assembled by the Goldin Institute. Among other principles, the group agreed the summer projects should promote peace, embrace new challenges and accountability, and include authentic community participation.
Ultimately, the group approved eight different projects, all of which incorporate multiple principles, ranging from information fairs to help ex-offenders expunge their records to a retreat for the Fellows to practice self-care and reflection.
“The projects are all very different. Collectively, they serve the entire city, are a great opportunity to show off what we’ve learned while we’re promoting peace and giving all of you guys the opportunity to partner with us,” Jacquelyn said.
Peace Fellows visit 10 Point Coalition in Indianapolis
On Tuesday, July 23rd, Chicago Peace Fellow Robert Beikman and his organization, Alternatives to Incarceration Collaborative, took a group of youths involved in his restorative justice program to Indianapolis to learn about the 10 Point Coalition and the work they do to tackle the issue of violence in their city.
The day started with a conversation with the Rev. Charles Harrison and Indianapolis Police Chief Bryan Roach, who talked about how the program started. The 10 Point Coalition started in Boston in 1992 as a response to violence in that city as a partnership between the police, clergy and community youth organizations to conduct outreach and connect with community members who are most at risk of being a victim or perpetrator of violence. The partnership encourages community leaders to work with police to prevent acts of violence from occurring by providing services such as mentorship, housing, and jobs.
Robert Biekman and his Alternatives to Incarceration team came to learn about the lessons of their actions. The group toured the neighborhood to get a feel of what it looks like in Indianapolis and some of the challenges they face around poverty, gangs and substance abuse. On the tour, an Indianapolis police officer got out of his car to join the tour and talked about his experience working with the program. Since the program began, there has been a decrease in violence in some of their most difficult communities.
[quote]They attribute the drop in violence to better relationships between the police and community. The tour really highlighted the severe challenges faced by the community and some of the similarities with Chicago neighborhoods such as Roseland.[/quote]
The young people that Robert brought from Chicago are a part of a program that provides an alternative to incarceration and teaches them how to be community leaders. All of the youth have been involved with the criminal justice system and the program partners with the courts to keep them out of jail. They attend training and do community service as an alternative to being incarcerated for low-level crimes, and the program helps them chart a new path.
10 Point participants voiced their concerns with the police and community leaders in Indianapolis about the hopelessness they face in Chicago and how violence is so widespread. Many feel that because of issues of hostility, it is difficult to chart a new path. Robert and the Rev. Harrison worked hard to assuage these fears and reinforce the idea that changing their lifestyles is worth the peace and freedom it brings. Overall, everyone involved found it a valuable experience.
To learn more, check out the local news coverage from Indianapolis which features a video review of the meeting.
Peace Fellow Spotlight: Robin Cline
How has Gather informed the work that you do? Have you made any meaningful connections between Gather and your work?
These past few weeks, I’ve been reading “Winners Take All,” by Anand Giridharadas. This book, a sort of “emperor's new clothes” take on how social innovation projects are packaged in the modern context of wealth, philanthropy, and big technology, is not an enjoyable read. The book presents person after person involved in social innovation projects that at first glance are projects touted for the greater good, but upon closer inspection are problematized by deep power imbalances.
While making my way through this good but troubling read, I was spending time with neighborhood leaders from parts of Chicago struggling with violence in their communities. The book didn’t talk about people like us. In “Winners Take All,” there was no mention of the urgent and sometimes invisible work of boots-on-the-ground work folks do, bringing people together, connecting with those in need, being a bright spot resource for communities, noticing and connecting community assets.
[quote]I am thankful for the Peace Fellows opportunity to brighten the light on the invisible work we do in our communities, but most importantly, for making us visible to each other. I’ve gotten a lot of tidbits of wisdom in these last few months simply by being in the presence of the other fellows, but also from literal things they have said. -- Robin Cline[/quote]
A recent new friend from the Peace Fellows, Diane Latiker, shared that she tells teens she works with, “We don’t do what we don’t want to do.” I understood what she meant right away. That as a culture, we are we excited to shop for the shoes we want, we know how to crave the food we want, we know how to want certain things. But we are less skilled in knowing how to want important things, like peace in our communities, and civic action. As part of the Chicago Peace Fellows, I appreciate the time to think about how to activate and steward civic desire. And on the other hand, another Peace Fellow, Jacquelyn Moore, when speaking of desire, said, “Passion is not a business plan.”
Identifying and activating the passion, then putting tools behind it, came up over and over again in our conversations. The biggest advice from all the Fellows that was more implicit than stated was, “Don’t stop. Keep doing. That’s what we do.”
As we embark on making decisions about our Chicago Peace Fellows summer projects, I gather the advice, the experience, and the new shared language we have about technical and sticky problems, and am eager to “Not stop. Keep doing, because that’s we do.” I look forward to discovering how we make the space and set the conditions for peacemaking in our neighborhoods. GATHER has given us the gift of time to attune ourselves to others in this city who are doing the vital work of acknowledging and lifting up both the pain and the peace that exist alongside each other in our city. GATHER has given us a chance to work together, nudge each other with new shared language, help each other, and make what we do stronger.
What are some important updates in your current work?
I am lucky to work for two organizations doing community cohesion work in Chicago. I work for NeighborSpace, a land trust in Chicago that supports community-managed leaders in many neighborhoods throughout Chicago. Summer is a particularly vibrant time for NeighborSpace, as you can imagine. Neighborhood leaders are gearing up to host community builds, garden celebrations, skill shares, and planting days all over the city. We are particularly excited about this summer as our community partners kick off both nature play/build projects and programming in Little Village, neighborhood farms in Bronzeville, and urban ag projects in Englewood. I also lead the organization Opera-Matic, a participatory arts group based in Humboldt Park. We are presenting a three-part summer series in three Chicago Park District parks entitled “Lost and Found.”
This project highlights for families and neighbors the ways in which we honor both the loss we experience as a community and the empowerment we mobilize as a group when we remember our shared places together. At “Lost and Found” events this summer, we will sing, remember, find things, and enjoy each other.
Solving Tough Issues through Community Parliaments in Uganda
Warm greetings from Uganda!
On Saturday, April 20, Youth Leadership for Restoration and Development (YOLRED) organized a community dialogue, called a ‘Kabake,’ where the community was granted a platform to share their experiences and derive solutions. The dialogue was attended by, among others, local council leaders, the police, child rights activists, business men and women, and the general community.
In the Layibi Division of the Gulu Municipality, there had been an epidemic of rape, robbery and violent attacks, especially on women in Library Parish. The community was engulfed in fear and hopelessness. Women could not walk out of their houses past sun-set if they were to avoid rape and attacks. Those in business had their property and money robbed, even in broad daylight, by a known gang who threatened them with violence or murder. And yet both the police and local leaders could not help the situation.
Mrs. Beatrice Ayat, a member of the local council and secretary for community service and production who represented the division chairperson, said the situation in the area had gotten out of hand because the perpetrators of violent crimes who started as children and would only steal from people had grown up and gained confidence to attack directly.
Ayat said they openly robbed people and raped women, threatening to beat the victims or torch their houses if the crimes were reported.
[quote]“I am so thankful to YOLRED for organizing this dialogue. When we have a problem in our community and we meet and discuss, we can always find a solution,” Ayat said.[/quote]
The officer in charge of Layibi Division police station, Assistant Inspector of Police Wilbert Adekere, said as police, they have been aware of the insecurity in the area but could not take any action because no member of the community was opening up to tell them who the perpetrators were.
Assistant Inspector Adekere consequently invited members of the affected community to secretly walk into his office and tip him on any security problem.
The Honourable Rose Aparo, a member of the local council, said she was going to forward the people’s plight to the council for discussion. She expressed confidence that the council would arrive to a logical conclusion that would save the community.
Mr. Odong Walter (We-yoo), the Community Sensitization Officer, said he was going to meet with the area Local Councilor One and his executives to forge a lasting solution to the problem. Collins Chwa Kisembo, the Counsellor and Monitoring and Evaluation Officer at YOLRED, appreciated the community for attending the meeting in large numbers. T
The former child soldiers also had the opportunity to share their experiences and receive healing in what we called testimonial therapy, which aims to heal the traumas and symptoms of depression, low mood and PTSD within the vulnerable populations.
In addition to sharing news from our recent Community Parliament, we are pleased to provide an exciting update on the project for which we raised funds through Indiegogo: the construction of a community resource center to offer counselling, training and recreational services to the victims. Some days it feels impossible to get this up and running, but we remembered one thing that was also core during our GATHER class that "adaptive challenges require changes in values, beliefs and approaches to work."
To that end, we have set off with a group savings and loan plan with the hope of driving the group towards a self-reliant, participatory development that should be sustainable. "Start with what you have" is the principle we applied for the construction of the community resource center. The Indiegogo funds we raised during GATHER for this project was not enough to acquire the land by itself, but we are building on these donations from around the world with local support.
[quote] We are happy to report that together we were already able to secure a piece of land, where we plan to have a permanent headquarters for YOLRED![/quote]
My sincere thanks for the support the entire team at the Goldin Institute gave us during our GATHER course, especially with the Indiegogo campaign, which made all the above development possible. I will share additional updates as we progress on our services to the community and the development of our headquarters.
Best regards,
Geoffrey
Peace Fellow Spotlight: Pastor Robert Biekman
How has Gather informed the work that you do? Have you made any meaningful connections between Gather and your work?
I am grateful to the Chicago Peace Fellows for not only increasing my personal capacity as a leader but also increasing the Chicago Alternatives to Incarceration’s Collaborative organizational capacity as well. The skills I have learned and been reminded of through the Chicago Peace Fellows have been invaluable.
The adage, “If I only knew then what I know now!” is so fitting for my experience as a Peace Fellow thus far.
It’s good to be at many tables but I have a deep desire to increase my effectiveness as a leader and that’s what being a CPF is allowing me to do. Chicago Peace Fellows has connected the dots on aspects, work and concepts of this that I had an intuitive knowledge of, but now I possess the language to do the kind of “code-switching” necessary to articulate and communicate it to others more effectively.
[quote]You had me at “community of practice.” This is one of the most profound concepts that I have embraced; especially since a goal of the Chicago ATI Collaborative is to have system/community stakeholders work together. We are creating a community of practice![/quote]
The people in the cohort are extremely gifted and tremendously passionate. I have learned the concept of mind-mapping from one CPF and received both direct and indirect affirmation from them all. I look forward to meeting with them at the “workshop watering hole” and being blessed as well as restored for the next leg of the journey.
In their own way, each of them I have spoken to are “making bricks without straw.” I am blessed to have met them. Several of them will be working with the Chicago ATI Collaborative youth as a means of exposing the youth to the programs and services they offer.
What are some important updates in your current work?
- Received grant from United Methodist Church General Board of Church and Society
- Received Safe and Peaceful Communities Grant
- Met with Cook County Juvenile Probation to develop summer cohort Planning an orientation with youth and program service providers on June 6th or 10th for the Summer cohort.
Advisors Meet to Discuss the Chicago Peace Fellows Progress
Advisors to the Goldin Institute’s Chicago Peace Fellows initiative came together over dinner April 30 to hear updates about the Fellows and discuss the implications of their work in a context of the city’s ongoing crisis of violence.
Over plates of pasta at a restaurant across the street from City Hall, Goldin Institute Executive Director Travis Rejman, Program Coordinator Burrell Poe and Special Advisor Gabe Gonzalez briefed the attendees on the Peace Fellows’ progress through the capacity-building curriculum the Goldin Institute created based on our 17 years of experience working with grassroots organizers around the world.
The Peace Fellows initiative was launched earlier this year with the support of the Conant Family Foundation to connect and equip 19 prior grantees from the Chicago Fund for Safe and Peaceful Communities who were provided with a stipend as well as an iPad pre-loaded with the GATHER learning software authored by the Goldin Institute.
John Zeigler, director of DePaul University’s Egan Office of Urban Education and Community Partnerships, participated in the Peace Fellows workshop dedicated to “asset mapping,” and came away impressed. Asset mapping - creating geographic representations of community-based resources - must be done methodically to be effective, he cautioned, but many of the Peace Fellows had long histories in their neighborhoods, which they used to inform their maps.
[quote]“Many people in the room were legends in their own right. What was rich in the conversation was that they could connect stories to their assets. What I heard was knitting together their stories so they became a map.” -- John Zeigler [/quote]
Deborah Bennett, a senior program officer at the Polk Bros. Foundation, one of the philanthropies participating in the Fund for Safe and Peaceful communities and supporter of the Peace Fellows program, said interviews with prior grantees revealed that many felt isolated, even from other organizers who were in the same neighborhood. They were focused mainly on their day-to-day struggles and were rarely able to get an overview of their own communities, let alone the city as a whole.
Deborah shared, "What we learned was that they really appreciated the value of bringing people together so they could figure out what was going on in their communities.” Deborah was certain, therefore, that the Peace Fellows would be able to help each other in their work even as they met with people in key institutions and shaped their understanding of life in the neighborhoods.
[quote]“We’re lifting up the ideas of those most impacted by violence.” -- Deborah Bennett[/quote]
Mimi Frankel, a member of the Frankel Family Foundation’s Board of Directors and the Goldin Institute’s Board of Advisors, questioned the efficacy of traditional approaches to counteracting gangs and illegal drug trafficking, and suggested greater involvement from the corporate sector.
[quote]“Businesses are out there and they’re looking for a way to be involved." -- Mimi Frankel [/quote]
Teny Gross, executive director of the Institute for Non-Violence, said Chicago was behind other large cities such as New York or Los Angeles in developing strategies for reducing violence, but was optimistic that the key players were in place and major change would soon be realized.
The dinner was also attended by Leslie Ramyk, executive director of the Conant Family Foundation; Lisa Dush, a DePaul University professor who is conducting an academic evaluation of GATHER; Keith Lewis from the University of Illinois at Chicago; Leif Elsmo, executive director of community & external affairs at University of Chicago Medicine; Teresa Zeigler; Gia Biagi, director of Urbanism and Civic Impact at Studio Gang; and Goldin Institute Chief of Staff Oz Ozburn.
UNSUNG HEROES: Becoming a Chicago Peace Fellow
The part of the South Shore community that I represent has a large number of multi-unit apartment buildings with a very transient population. The need for family services was explored by our late pastor, Dr. Ronald J. Behm, who instituted day care services at both the church and our community center. With the increase in violence, our outreach initiative I AM MY BROTHER’S KEEPER UNITY DAY, founded by the Rev. Bailey M. Gant, sought to address this issue believing we could “change the culture, stop the violence.”
In other words, if we provide safe, positive alternatives for our youth, they will have more of a chance to be productive members of society.
[quote]Becoming a Chicago Peace Fellow is a timely, refreshing opportunity in that it has helped me to learn more about myself and my leadership style, validated my life’s work, and connected me with passionate community leaders throughout the city who are dedicated to providing a unified approach to understanding and promoting positive initiatives to combat violence. Our collaborative efforts will surely make a difference.[/quote]
As we take the time to connect with our community peace partners through neighborhood walks, I have particularly embraced the theory of Asset Based Community Development. This paradigm shift encourages us to consider the assets in our community rather than the deficits. I immediately was drawn to this concept and explored ideas of how I can approach community members, civic leaders and businesses as we work toward our unified goals of peacemaking.
I very much enjoyed attending University of Chicago Crime Lab Executive Director Jens Ludwig’s presentation at the City Club of Chicago with other Peace Fellows. Ludwig cited crime statistics and inferred that a stronger, more positive relationship with the police department could make a difference. After that, I had the opportunity to engage in several conversations with policemen in my district, resulting in my agreement to be more active in CAPS meetings to address the concerns and present ideas of how we can build a stronger presence in our community.
Chicago Peace Fellows Map What's Working
Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) lies at the heart of the work of Goldin Institute and GATHER. The Chicago Peace Fellows got some time to hear from one of the biggest proponents of the philosophy, John Zeigler, who serves at faculty for the ABCD Institute as well Director of the Steans Center at DePaul University in Chicago.
In his opening remarks to the Peace Fellows during the Asset Mapping workshop, he discussed several aspects of ABCD and how it is a transformational way of viewing communities.
[quote]“In mapping, you have to understand the story, every community has a story. Who’s story is a map telling?” - John Ziegler [/quote]
We then got to learn about the assets that are present in the communities of the Chicago Peace Fellows. Each Chicago Peace Fellow shared an asset map of their communities and what they consider assets. The Fellows each chose many different ways of expressing their assets in the community. Many chose different assets such as churches, schools, and/or businesses. Others chose influential members of their communities and service providers. Parks and other built parts of the environment made their way to maps from Little Village to Roseland.
Chicago Peace Fellow Diane Latiker shared her map and focused on the wide range of assets, including informal gathering spaces in the neighborhood. As one example, Diane shared, “Old Fashioned Donuts has been in the community for decades. I am proud that people come from around the world to eat donuts here.”
The last part of the workshop was a robust conversation about how their maps intersect and what kind of information would be important for a shared asset map. They talked about ways that their organizations overlap such as similar services provided and overlapping service areas. Many talked about capturing information related to informal community leaders and informal gatherings. The Chicago Peace Fellows expressed that a shared asset map would include how they are connected to each other and how they can support one another.