New Community Outreach creates restorative spaces for healing, reconciliation and flourishing.

We are a community based, non-profit organization committed to Bronzeville’s youth and community. We collaborate with residents and organizations on the South Side of Chicago to provide programs, host events and respond to community-identified opportunities.

Vision:

We envision a Bronzeville where youth and other community members meet trauma with restorative justice in order to renew the relationships (with ourselves, our neighbors, and our environments) which lead to our individual and collective flourishing.

Our commitment to restorative justice drives the work of our organization. Born out of the ministry of New Community Covenant Church, we lead restorative justice programming utilizing the circle process for high school students at Bronzeville high schools, maintain a community garden in order to provide fresh produce to our neighbors, and organizes & hosts a community-wide back-to-school fair, among other neighborhood initiatives.

Our work depends on trusted partnerships with neighborhood residents, community organizations, and schools in the greater Bronzeville community; we are intentional to allow space to be responsive to the needs of our community as they rise.

Read more about our programs and initiatives.

Everything we do is shaped by our values.

Values:

• Sankofa: We build on the foundation of our community’s history.
• Healing-Centered: We ground our practices in the understanding that holistic restoration from trauma occurs collectively in community and always with abundance (of strengths, skills, talents, interests, and competencies) as a starting point.
• Reconciliation: We confront violence, segregation, and racism as harms opposed to flourishing.
• Justice: We fight the root causes of inequity and poverty in pursuit of peace.
• Youth: We focus our efforts on uncovering opportunities and exposing challenges facing young people.
• Collaboration: We learn from, work with, and support our community partners.
• Receptivity: We assess and adapt our programs to maximize effectiveness.
• Hope: We orient our attitudes and efforts toward a hopeful future.

KEY School Year Program

The KEY Program utilizes the circle process, a restorative justice practice, which invites students to process their feelings, experiences, and circumstances in a designated, consistent safe space. The program addresses trauma of all kinds, specifically gun violence, and intentionally builds students’ toolbox of mindfulness, healthy coping skills, and opportunities to flourish by tapping into students’ strengths.

The KEY Program has been at Walter H. Dyett High School for the Performing Arts since 2018, at Daniel Hale Williams Preparatory School of Medicine since 2020, and at Bronzeville Scholastic Institute since 2021. In addition to weekly programming, KEY builds up leadership and community engagement in students through a community giveback project that is entirely designed and implemented by students. Using our original KEY curriculum, a restorative space invites students to increase their understanding and knowledge of their identity & community and the interconnected between the two.

The KEY Program continues to provide regular circles during the school week both in schools at our school partners and after school at our office; Saturday Sessions at our office; optional one-on-one mentoring; and tangible care for our youth in Bronzeville via care packages.

The 24-25 School Year is kicking off! We're excited to welcome students in all our program components at our partner schools. Also, don't forget that ALL HIGH-SCHOOL STUDENTS are invited to after-school sessions, which kick-off Thur, 9/26. See flyer below.

The following answers were shared in the 2023 EOY KEY Program Survey completed by KEY student participants:

For more information about the KEY Program, or to learn about bringing the program to your school, please email Sonia Wang.

Hear directly from our students about their experiences in the KEY Program:

The KEY Summer Leadership Program (SLP) is an invitation for young people to engage in restorative justice through reflection on their identity & feelings while developing leadership skills and learning about social [in]justice issues, Chicago the community, and being change agents. The program is centered around the planning & implementation of a community giveback project, giving youth the opportunity to engage with neighbors in a new way and understand their role in building a stronger, more resilient community.

During the 7-week program, SLP builds on the trusted community students have contributed to and grows their professionalism. Participation in this program will lead to a stipend as well as the opportunity to receive further training in restorative justice in order to serve as NCO KEY interns.

Congratulations to our 2024 SLP Cohort 5 for completing the summer program. For their capstone community impact project, students came to a consensus on increasing awareness of in-person predatory behaviors, also known as street harassment, because this is a topic that is not publicly discussed and there are not as many resources available.

After securing support from the Chicago Bulls through a formal pitch, the cohort planned a Youth Awareness Gathering at a local park on an afternoon that gathered about 40 youth and community members. The event involved cohort members sharing personal experiences with street harassment, and a guest speaker from Sexpectations, who provided expertise on the topic of predatory behaviors, naming what it can involve, why it is important to address, and how to effectively intervene as a bystander. Cohort members created a resource card with contact information of organizations that can support those who are impacted by predatory behaviors. These resource cards were distributed along with alarms that can be used if youth find themselves in situations where they feel vulnerable or are facing harm.

Congratulations to the 2024 KEY Summer Leadership Program Participants (Cohort 5), including two Interns on our 2024 SLP staff. Interns have a critical role in planning sessions, circle keeping, and supporting cohort members throughout the program.

Top Row L to R: Amirah R. (10), Kayla W. (10), An'zarea S. (11), Jabari C. (Intern, 12)
Middle Row L to R: Brianna W. (10), Ciara L. (11), Jasmein T. (9), Janessa S. (Intern, 11)
Bottom Rom L to R: L to R: Taryn R. (12), Justice D. (10), Shirley B. (11), Aaliyah M. (11)
Not Pictured: Mesiyah B. (9)
*Indicates grade level completed at end of SY23-24

The Garden to Table Program commits to growing as much food through our community garden and distributing fresh produce to our greater Bronzeville neighbors. NCO manages and maintains a community garden in partnership with Jackie Robinson Elementary School. This community garden is tended to by our volunteers and then weekly, we harvest to provide fresh produce to our neighbors through contactless distributions throughout the summer/fall season. Through additional partnerships, The Farm and New Community Covenant Church-Bronzeville, we will continue to distribute non-perishable care packages as well as provide additional produce to our Bronzeville neighbors on a regular basis.

The southside of Chicago continues to be a region where food deserts remain an obstacle to its residents. Through our garden program, we aim to contribute in a small way to make fresh produce available and accessible at no cost to all of our neighbors. There is no stipulation or requirements of community members in order to receive produce on distribution days.

If you are interested in receiving free produce, please join our message center by texting @NCOGarden to 81010 (see flier) to receive notifications. Distributions take place every Saturday from 10-11am at Robinson Elementary, through October.

If you are interested in volunteering with the Garden to Table program, please complete this sign up form.

Thank you to everyone for joining us for this year’s Back to School Fun Fair! We hosted almost 500 students, community members, partners, and volunteers. We’re grateful for all our amazing community partners, including Bright Star Community Outreach, Chicago Fire Department, Chicago Treasurer's Office, Hinsdale Covenant Church, Illinois Action for Children, Intonation, New Community Covenant Church, and Timothy Community Corporation, to name a few. And a special shout out to Jackie Robinson Elementary School! We’ll see you next year!

Check out photos from this year’s Back to School Fun Fair in Photos

Circle Keepers

The KEY Program Circle Keeper (CK) serves as a trauma-responsive support for youth by being in tune with the student participants, the community, and the current climate of our city. They are responsible for implementing the KEY Program with fidelity so that students have access to a designated, consistent safe space to process their emotions and experiences and to access various tools and opportunities in order to flourish. All staff have certification in circle keeping by an approved circle keeper training organization.

2024-2025 KEY Staff/Circle Keepers - (From left to right): Hope Hammond, Kate Carter, Dani Jones, Jonathan Norman, Pete Blodgett, Sonia Wang

Key Interns

KEY interns are current KEY high-school students who have completed our Summer Leadership Program and restorative justice training provided by NCO. Interns are team members who co-facilitate peace circles for their peers and commit to relationship building and cultivating a safe space throughout the KEY School Year Program.

2024-2025 KEY Staff/Interns - (From left to right): Hope Hammond (Intern Supervisor/Coach), Kayla Williams (11th), Janessa Savage (12th), Zorah McGee (12th), Amirah Raheem (11th)

Garden to Table Staff

The Garden Manager (GM) is the lead team member in the successful implementation of the Garden to Table Program, ensuring the growth and proper maintenance of our garden. Maggie Swanson (right) has been our GM since 2020. The NCO Garden Assistant Manager (GAM) works closely with GM, supporting all areas of the garden and GtT program. Sara Woody (center) has been a volunteer since 2021 and is rejoining us as a GAM since the last time she was on staff in 2022. We are excited to welcome Takara Harden (right), a volunteer in 2023 and stepping into the GAM staff position in 2024.

Fun Fair Planning Committee

The Annual Back to School Fun Fair is an opportunity for volunteer leaders to support the planning and implementation of the event. This includes community partner outreach, purchasing/creating needed materials, day of leadership, and so on. Our 2024 planning committee consists of (L to R) Daynah Parker (left), who has been leading in this capacity for the last two years, and Pete Blodgett (right), NCO's Community & Volunteer Engagement Manager.