My Block, My Hood, My City

Last updated

My Block, My Hood, My City
NicknameM3
Founded atChicago, Illinois
Type Nonprofit
Location
  • USA
Website https://www.formyblock.org/

My Block, My Hood, My City, also known as M3, [1] is a non-profit organization in Chicago that mentors underprivileged youth through educational programs and field trips. [2] The organization focuses on providing opportunities in STEM, arts & culture, citizenry & volunteerism, health, community development, culinary arts, and entrepreneurship. [3]

Contents

Background

My Block, My Hood, My City was founded in 2013 by Jahmal Cole. [3] The idea to create the organization stemmed from Cole’s memory of taking a bus from North Chicago to Texas, in which he realized the diversity of the country. [2] While volunteering at the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center, Cole noticed the lack of exposure detainees from the South and West sides of Chicago had of other neighborhoods, which also motivated him to start the organization. [4]

In addition to founding M3, Cole has received several awards and recognition including the Chicago Ideas Award by Mayor Rahm Emanuel in 2011, a certificate by the Illinois Office of Volunteerism and Community Service in 2012, and the Chicago Urban League Award in 2016. [3] He has also written several books about disparities in Chicago neighborhoods, with his most recent one titled It's Not Regular. [5] He currently resides in the Chatham neighborhood of Chicago with his wife and daughter. [2]

Demographics

My Block, My Hood, My City caters mainly to teens from the South and West sides of Chicago, although a version of the Explorers' Program has been offered to adults in the past. [4] The nonprofit aims to serve students from neighborhoods with high rates of crime and poverty, such as Englewood. [2] Many of the organization’s fundraising efforts benefit the larger Chicago community, including micro-grants given to community leaders [6] and donations to Black-owned businesses. [7]

Programs

Explorers' Program

Children from underprivileged neighborhoods are given tours of different parts of the city to explore Chicago's culture. Field trips include sailing, cooking, or attending art museums. [8] Most field trips, however, are focused on entrepreneurship, and cost about $1,500 each. [4] When the Explorer’s Program first launched in 2016, 75 teens participated in field trips across the city. [2] Currently, the program serves 150 teens per year for a total of 10 explorations. [4] Students are selected to join the Explorers' program based on recommendations from school officials, especially those with low attendance rates. [4]

Additionally, the youth-led scooter tour program was created in 2018 to provide summer jobs for young people as tour guides of the west side Chicago neighborhoods. [9] During these tours, attendees are led around North Lawndale to visit historical sites and local spots. [10] The program is run by Nathaniel Viets-VanLear, the program manager of My Block, My Hood, My City. [9]

Youth-Senior Connect

The Youth-Senior Connect program was created in 2020 to help teens and young adults who are aiming to work in the medical field. [11] The program connects them with the city's elderly as a summer job to serve as care-takers and deliver groceries. [11] My Block, My Hood, My City received 2,500 requests from seniors for help. [11]

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, My Block, My Hood, My City hosted drives to collect PPE for the city's elderly. [12] Each of the 1,000 safety kits that were assembled and delivered included two masks, hand sanitizer, and five pairs of latex gloves. [12]

Fundraisers and grants

M3 is funded primarily through online sales of merchandise such as hoodies and t-shirts. [2] These merchandise sales contribute about $50,000 to M3 each year. [4]

Hit the Hood Grant

In 2020, My Block, My Hood, My City fundraised $80,000 through their Hit the Hood Grant to help combat violence in Chicago. [6] The grants were distributed in $2,500 micro-grants to community leaders across the city. [6] During the summer of 2020, M3 started the My Community Table fundraiser in which they teamed up with restaurants across the city, with money from takeout meals donated to the grant. [13]

Small Business Relief Fund

The Small Business Relief Fund started in July 2020 in response to small businesses damaged by COVID-19, looting, or vandalism. [7] More than 230 businesses reached out to M3 for assistance and $1,000,000 was raised in two days for the fund. [7] Donations are submitted online through the My Block, My Hood, My City website [7] and businesses can apply for up to a $7,500 grant. [14] While funds are given to a variety of businesses, this fund primarily focuses on black-owned businesses [7] in the south and west sides of Chicago. [15] With this relief fund, Cole also hopes to train small businesses across Chicago in online commerce and digital marketing. [7]

Annual 5K Run

In 2019, My Block, My Hood, My City hosted its first 5K run at Marquette Park. [16] Proceeds help fund the Explorers' program. [16] In 2020, the race was held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [17] In the virtual race, participants chose a run group and were randomly assigned a neighborhood to run in at their own pace. [17]

Partnerships

My Block, My Hood, My City has partnered with black-owned small businesses in the Chicago metropolitan area, including Semicolon Bookstore & Gallery. [18] The Chicago Bulls and Blackhawks also partnered with My Block, My Hood, My City to help clean up Chicago’s West Side. [1] Celebrities like Usher have also been seen wearing the organization's merchandise. [4]

The nonprofit group joined forces with My Community Table to raise money for local businesses as well as the organization’s #HitTheHood program. [13] My Block, My Hood, My City has also been active in the Black Lives Matter movement. The group organized a rally in Chicago in remembrance of victims of police brutality including Breonna Taylor. [19]

In June 2017, My Block, My Hood, My City helped create virtual tours of Chicago neighborhoods with the help of Google as an extension of the Explorers' Program. My Block, My Hood, My City teens received technological mentorship from Google, and the tech company received virtual reality footage from the teens who lived in Chicago neighborhoods. [20]

Volunteering

My Block, My Hood, My City has been involved in various volunteering opportunities throughout Chicago neighborhoods. They have branched out beyond civic missions and have gathered volunteers to clean up surrounding neighborhoods, including areas like Chatham, Chicago. [8] They have organized volunteers to aid in snow removal in underserved communities. [21] In addition, My Block, My Hood, My City gathered volunteers to help clean up retail stores that were damaged during the George Floyd protests in Chicago [22] and has assembled volunteers to help at the Chicago Farmworks in East Garfield Park to plant and mulch crops in the community garden, in order to someday feed hundreds of people. [23]

Related Research Articles

Hull House 19th and 20th-century settlement house in the United States

Hull House was a settlement house in Chicago, Illinois, United States that was co-founded in 1889 by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr. Located on the Near West Side of the city, Hull House opened to serve recently arrived European immigrants. By 1911, Hull House had expanded to 13 buildings. In 1912 the Hull House complex was completed with the addition of a summer camp, the Bowen Country Club. With its innovative social, educational, and artistic programs, Hull House became the standard bearer for the movement that had grown nationally, by 1920, to almost 500 settlement houses.

University of Illinois Chicago Public university in Chicago

The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) is a public research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its campus is in the Near West Side community area, adjacent to the Chicago Loop. The second campus established under the University of Illinois system, UIC is also the largest university in the Chicago metropolitan area, having more than 33,000 students enrolled in 16 colleges. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity."

Lake View, Chicago Community area in Chicago

Lakeview, also spelled Lake View, is one of the 77 community areas of Chicago, Illinois, in the city's North Side. It is bordered by West Diversey Parkway on the south, West Irving Park Road on the north, North Ravenswood Avenue on the west, and the shore of Lake Michigan on the east. The Uptown community area is to Lakeview's north, Lincoln Square to its northwest, North Center to its west, and Lincoln Park to its south. The 2020 population of Lakeview was 103,050 residents, making it the second largest of the Chicago community areas by population.

DoSomething

DoSomething is a global nonprofit organization with the goal of motivating young people to make positive change both online and offline through campaigns that make an impact. The organization's CEO is DeNora Getachew.

Chicago Architecture Center

The Chicago Architecture Center (CAC), formerly the Chicago Architecture Foundation, is a nonprofit cultural organization based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, whose mission is to inspire people to discover why design matters. Founded in 1966, its programs include public tours and programs, most notably the docent-led architecture cruise on the Chicago River, and other tours in the Chicago area. The river cruise is ranked in the top ten tours in the U.S. by TripAdvisor users. CAC includes conference and exhibition space, including a scale model of downtown Chicago.

Learning for Life

Learning for Life (LFL) is a United States school and work-site based youth program that is an affiliate of the Boy Scouts of America. It utilizes programs designed for schools and community-based organizations that are designed to prepare youth for the complexities of contemporary society and to enhance their self-confidence, motivation, and self-esteem, and for careers.

SBP (nonprofit organization) American disaster relief organization

SBP is a nonprofit, disaster relief organization. After temporarily volunteering in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina, Liz McCartney and Zack Rosenburg returned permanently in March 2006 and founded the project. The organization eventually expanded to include offices in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Joplin, Missouri, Columbia, South Carolina, New Jersey, New York, and West Virginia. By August 2017, SBP had rebuilt over 1,200 homes nationwide, including 600 in New Orleans. They have collaborated extensively with Toyota and Americorps. As a result of its accomplishments, the organization and its founders have been recognized by Senator Mary Landrieu, CNN, and President Barack Obama.

The Bedford-Stuyvesant Volunteer Ambulance Corps (BSVAC) is America's first minority volunteer ambulance corps, founded in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York in 1988 by James Robinson. BSVAC- was established organically in response to the lack of citywide first aid services coming to the area. Although the majority of all homicides in New York City occur within the confines of this neighborhood, BSVAC remains the dominant ambulance service.

Prairie Avenue District United States historic place

The Prairie Avenue District is a historic district in the Near South Side community area of Chicago, Illinois. It includes the 1800 and 1900 blocks of South Prairie Avenue and the 1800 block of South Indiana, and 211-217 East Cullerton. It was the site of the Battle of Fort Dearborn and became the city's most fashionable residential district after the Great Chicago Fire. It was designated a Chicago Landmark on December 27, 1979. The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 15, 1972. The John J. Glessner House, designed and built by Henry Hobson Richardson in 1885–1886 at 1800 S. Prairie Avenue, has been restored as a historic house museum, and is open for public tours. In 2006, the Prairie District Neighborhood Alliance, a non-profit organization was formed to provide representation for thousands of South Loop residents, including the Prairie Avenue District, Central Station, Museum Park, Motor Row, and the South Michigan Avenue Corridor, as well as other areas of the Near South Side.

Avalon Regal Theater

The Avalon Regal Theater is a music hall located at 1641 East 79th Street, bordered by the Avalon Park and South Shore neighborhoods on the south side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. It is a noted venue for African-American performers. The theater opened in August 1927.

Harlem Childrens Zone

The Harlem Children's Zone (HCZ) is a nonprofit organization for poverty-stricken children and families living in Harlem, providing free support in the form of parenting workshops, a preschool program, three charter schools, and child-oriented health programs for thousands of children and families. The HCZ is "aimed at doing nothing less than breaking the cycle of generational poverty for the thousands of children and families it serves."

Jewish Council on Urban Affairs

Jewish Council on Urban Affairs (JCUA) is a nonprofit organization based in Chicago that mobilizes the Jewish community of the region to advance racial and economic justice. JCUA partners with diverse community groups across the city and state to combat racism, antisemitism, poverty and other forms of systemic oppression, through grassroots community organizing, youth education programs, and community development.

MorningSide, Detroit

MorningSide is a neighborhood on the east side of Detroit, Michigan. The area is bounded by Harper Avenue and Interstate 94 on the north, Mack Avenue to the south, East Outer Drive and Whittier on the east and Alter Road and East Outer Drive to the west. The local association that shares the name MorningSide with the community is a collaboration of residents working together to take care of this area.

Dorothy Mae Richardson was an African American community activist who is credited with introducing a new model of community development in the late 1960s when she led a resident campaign for better housing in her neighborhood on the Central North Side of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The Barack Obama Foundation is a Chicago-based nonprofit organization founded in 2014. It oversees the creation of the Barack Obama Presidential Center, runs the My Brother's Keeper Alliance, and operates a scholarship program through the University of Chicago's Harris School of Public Policy.

GirlForward is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 2011 by Blair Brettschneider. It is dedicated to empowering refugee girls aged 12 to 21 from over 30 different countries, who have resettled in areas around Chicago, Illinois, and Austin, Texas. GirlForward uses three core programs to assist refugee girls: the Mentoring Program, the Education Program and the Safe Spaces Program. All three provide English language instruction, financial literacy, and opportunities to meet friends and role models in the community. GirlForward also provides tutoring and mentors to guide the girls throughout their schooling.

Urban Growers Collective is a non-profit organization that builds urban farms, gardens, and provides fresh foods primarily in underprivileged areas in the West and South Side of Chicago. The organization was founded in Chicago, Illinois in 2017 by Erika Allen and Laurell Sims. As of 2019, there are eight urban farms that have been created and are run by Urban Growers Collective.

2022 United States House of Representatives elections in Illinois

The 2022 United States House of Representatives elections in Illinois will be held on November 8, 2022, to elect the 17 U.S. Representatives from the state of Illinois, one from each of the state's 17 congressional districts. The elections coincided with the 2022 U.S. Senate race in Illinois, as well as other elections to the House of Representatives, other elections to the United States Senate and various state and local elections.

Alt space Nonprofit organization

alt_ is an artist-led, faith based, 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in Chicago, Illinois. The organization provides support to communities that have been affected by violence, crime, financial hardships, displacement, or systemic oppression through art and tangible acts of service. The campaigns led by alt_ primarily support communities of color in Chicago's south and west sides. Founded by artists Jon Veal and Jordan Campbell in 2019.

George Floyd Square Location of the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, U.S.

George Floyd Square is a memorial site and occupied protest at the intersection of East 38th Street and Chicago Avenue in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The street intersection is where Derek Chauvin, a White police officer with the Minneapolis Police Department, restrained George Floyd, an unarmed 46-year-old Black man, by kneeling on his neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds after Floyd was handcuffed and lying face down outside the Cup Foods convenience store on May 25, 2020. The murder of Floyd, which was captured on video by bystanders and circulated widely in the media, sparked a global protest movement about police violence and structural racism. Soon after Floyd's murder, people left memorials to him there. The intersection was held for over a year as an occupation protest by people who had erected barricades to block vehicular traffic and transformed the space with amenities, social services, and public art of Floyd and that of other racial justice themes.

References

  1. 1 2 "Chicago Bulls and Blackhawks Partner with My Block My Hood My City (M3) to Launch "Supporting Westhaven Park: Block by Block" Program". Chicago Bulls. Retrieved October 26, 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Jahmal Cole is Challenging Perceptions One Block at a Time". WTTW News. Retrieved October 26, 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 "Jahmal Cole's Biography". The HistoryMakers. Retrieved October 26, 2020.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Jackson, Cheryl V. "My Block, My Hood, My City uses hoodies to expand teens' horizons". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved October 26, 2020.
  5. ↑ "It's Not Regular: In New Book, Organizer Jahmal Cole Shows Inequities Hiding In Plain Sight On South, West Sides". Block Club Chicago. January 13, 2020. Retrieved November 29, 2020.
  6. 1 2 3 "My Block, My Hood, My City Giving Out Micro-Grants To Encourage Community, Prevent Violence". July 2, 2020. Retrieved October 26, 2020.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "My Block, My Hood, My City Raises $1 Million In Just 2 Days For Small Businesses Hurt By Looting, Vandalism". Block Club Chicago. June 10, 2020. Retrieved November 3, 2020.
  8. 1 2 Lacey, Catherine. "The Youth Mentor". Chicago magazine. Retrieved October 26, 2020.
  9. 1 2 "My Block, My Hood, My City Teens Give Outsiders A New Perspective On West Side Neighborhood With Scooter Tour". Block Club Chicago. July 15, 2019. Retrieved November 3, 2020.
  10. ↑ "Teen-Led Tours Of North Lawndale Still Have Spots Open For This Weekend". Block Club Chicago. July 27, 2018. Retrieved November 28, 2020.
  11. 1 2 3 "My Block, My Hood, My City Summer Job Program Will Connect Teens With Seniors In Need During Pandemic". Block Club Chicago. May 7, 2020. Retrieved November 3, 2020.
  12. 1 2 "My Block, My Hood, My City Needs Volunteers To Deliver Masks And Gloves To Seniors This Weekend". Block Club Chicago. July 8, 2020. Retrieved November 29, 2020.
  13. 1 2 Cauguiran, Cate (July 14, 2020). "My Block, My Hood, My City and My Community Table team up to raise funds to prevent Chicago violence". ABC7 Chicago. Retrieved October 26, 2020.
  14. ↑ Esposito, Stefano (June 24, 2020). "Local organization offering grants to small businesses hurt by the pandemic, looting". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved November 29, 2020.
  15. ↑ "South Side Businesses Devastated By Coronavirus And Looting Get Lifeline Thanks To My Block, My Hood, My City Grants". Block Club Chicago. August 24, 2020. Retrieved November 29, 2020.
  16. 1 2 "My Block, My Hood, My City Hosting 5K With 400 Runners And Walkers Expected". Block Club Chicago. August 13, 2019. Retrieved October 26, 2020.
  17. 1 2 "My Block, My Hood, My City 5k". CHICAGO RUN. Retrieved November 3, 2020.
  18. ↑ Hope, Leah (September 22, 2020). "West Town's Semicolon bookstore thought COVID-19 would close it forever until Instagram followers stepped in". ABC7 Chicago. Retrieved October 26, 2020.
  19. ↑ "Rally to remember Breonna Taylor, police shooting victims". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved October 26, 2020.
  20. ↑ "Chicago Teens To Help Google Make Virtual Expeditions Of City Neighborhoods". DNAinfo Chicago. Retrieved November 30, 2020.
  21. ↑ WLS (January 19, 2019). "My Block, My Hood, My City to offer volunteer snow removal". ABC7 Chicago. Retrieved October 26, 2020.
  22. ↑ Larson, James Fallon,Kristin; Fallon, James; Larson, Kristin (June 3, 2020). "Taking Care of His Block". WWD. Retrieved October 26, 2020.
  23. ↑ "His mission: Build a better, more connected Chicago one block at a time". WGN-TV. May 2, 2018. Retrieved November 30, 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.