Greater Grand Crossing Youth Hopeful of Neighborhood Recovery
Raven Nance
Published: July 17, 2012
As a STEP-UP Fellow from Illinois State University, I have had the opportunity to intern in the GAGDC office, working with Aurora Cruz who presides over the Neighborhood Recovery Initiative (NRI) program in Greater Grand Crossing. My favorite part of interning with the GAGDC office and more specifically the NRI program has definitely been communicating directly with representative members of NRI’s Mentoring + Jobs program.
On Wednesday, July 11th, I went to the GGC’s weekly NRI meeting where I was at first overwhelmed by the great number of members who were there in that room. The members had just heard from a speaker who talked about Stopping Relationship Violence. I learned from the representatives I spoke with that they take the positive messages heard during Wednesday meetings and reproduce that valuable information to members throughout their community on Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings (and early afternoons).
After letting the members know who I was and why I was there, I asked for about 5 volunteers to take a few minutes to sit down and talk with me about their experiences as employed youth of the Mentoring + Jobs program. I was fortunate to speak with Lisa Cobbs 18, Jasmine Carter 19, Aaliyah Sunton 16, Gerita Wright 19, and Denzel Shaw 20- all of them offering me a lot of valuable insight into the Mentoring + Jobs program. Cobbs reported that the NRI program has had a positive impact on her because through it, she has learned better ways to communicate with people. Similarly, the other representatives agreed that what they do as part of the NRI program helps them to work on their socializing skills. They talked about how much they appreciate the people who actually stop to hear what they have to say and who give them positive feedback about what they are doing. Of course, as with anything in life, the youth do receive several negative responses as they are trying to pass out their fliers and share their positive messages, but they have learned not to let those negative responses get to them because there is someone else down the line who will listen to them.
When I asked the representatives if they recommend the NRI program to their friends and family members, Wright reported that she recommended the program to one of her parents because they like to talk just like she does, which is great because a large part of what they do is communicate with lots of (random) people.
The representatives really appreciate that the NRI program came to their community to give them an opportunity to do good things and get paid for it. They would love to get the positive messages out even more by speaking at colleges, day cares, etc.
One of the last comments made by the representatives was the relief they feel knowing that they can comfortably come to one of their mentors about what’s going on in their lives because they can understand where they are coming from.
I also had the opportunity to speak with two of the mentors employed by NRI: Sharon Keys and Curly Hall. Keys and Hall both attested that even if the general public does not give their full attention or respect to the youth in the NRI program, the program is definitely helping those youth whom they employ. Hall reported that the program is “a blessing to the youth because it builds another character that people said they didn’t have.” They love seeing how well the youth perform on the weekends when they are out in the general public spreading the positive messages they received and practiced.
I really enjoyed talking with the youth and mentors of the NRI Mentoring + Jobs program. I think that this truly is a uniquely awesome opportunity for all parties involved and I’m really happy that different communities throughout Chicago are doing this. I commend the youth for spending part of their weekends out in the heat for hours to help members of their community by spreading positive messages that all of us should really take in, and for taking the positive feedback along with some of the rudeness or lack of support that they receive from some of their community members that they try to reach out to; it definitely is not easy to accept rejection, but these outstanding youth have learned to take it gracefully and to still be respectful to the negative persons they encounter while doing their job. And they go back out and try again the next week.
Though I only spent a short amount of time speaking with the youth representatives, I am proud of them and I love what they are doing. It is programs like the Neighborhood Recovery Initiative that restore hope in our future and the youth who will be in control.