Growing Together in Bronzeville
In March Markeyta and David Swanson participated in a week-long circle keepers training with the Community Justice for Youth Institute through a grant from our partners at the University of Chicago. This was part of our ongoing training in restorative practices as we work with our partners at The Urban Resilience Network to plan how to best support our young people in the Bronzeville community.
As our partnership grows with Jackie Robinson Elementary School they have asked, us to provide classroom volunteers to support their teachers. Through the structure of NCO and Markeyta’s leadership, we now have eight volunteers each week at Jackie Robinson!
Speaking of Jackie Robinson, later this month we will be planting their community gardens and then taking care of them through the summer. A member of New Community who is a farmer has been growing all of the seedlings for the garden in order to donate them to the school! Through a partner at the Illinois Institute of Technology, we are also looking into how the gardens could be integrated into the school’s curriculum. Finally, our community back-to-school-fair team is hard at work planning the fair for Saturday, August 25. Let us know if you’d like to volunteer with us that day.