Tag: Englewood

This Woman Fought The Tough Chicago Streets and Won

Posted on by robbie

Sally Hazelgrove grew up in the safe, affluent Chicago suburb of Naperville, but that didn’t stop her from moving her family to one of the city’s worst neighborhoods.
After hearing story after story about gun violence in the crime-riddled community of Englewood on Chicago’s South Side, Hazelgrove decided she wanted to help make a difference in the lives of the children there. She first began volunteering and participating in Department of Children and Family Services programs but was determined to figure out what could get young men off the streets.
“I surveyed the boys on the corners,” said Hazelgrove. “I had my little pad and paper, and asked them what would get them off the corner. Something they wanted to do that they don’t have access to that would get them off the block for a few hours so they’re safe.”
The answer came in the form of boxing, and Hazelgrove hatched a plan to create a boxing club. Though she had no experience, Hazelgrove began boxing training before inviting students from a local elementary school to join her in 2009. Such was the beginnings for the Crushers Club, a boxing club to help rehabilitate Englewood and West Englewood’s youth and give them a safe and strong alternative to gangs.
In 2012, Hazelgrove won a $100,000 grant as well as a year of management support from A Better Chicago, which enabled her to expand the club and hire and train some of the boys as mentors for other students. Now, based in the Zion M.B. Church, the Crushers Club employs 21 boys between the ages of 14 and 24. The boys are not only providing support to other students, but also gaining valuable work experience.
“A lot of the boys that come here haven’t had a job before or even know someone who has modeled that for them,” said Hazelgrove. “We want their mistakes to come out here. Being late, conduct, clothing, engagement; we weed out the bad habits. After a year to three years here, they’ll go out and get another job, and not make the same mistakes there.”
But Hazelgrove hasn’t limited her support to boxing. Joseph “Jo-Jo” Cook was a young boy when Hazelgrove met him, warning her to go inside just before a shooting was about to happen. Recognizing his creative spirit, she pledged to open a studio for him if he would give up a life on the street. Keeping her promise, Hazelgrove built The Voice of Englewood Studio.
“A lot of people have lost hope, and we’re trying to bring people in and give them another option for what they can do in their life,” said Cook. “We got some guys who don’t even care about losing their life. But it feels safe here.”
Creating that sense of safety amid the fraught community is what drives Hazelgrove to keep fighting for the youth through the Crushers Club.

“I have to find a light that burns brighter than the street,” she said. “I have to find something just as exciting.”

MORE: This Inspiring Former Inmate Teaches Yoga in an Unlikely Spot

Watch How a Group of Noncustodial Fathers Are Helping Each Other Become Better Dads

Posted on by robbie

On the second floor of the Dawson Technical Institute on Chicago’s South Side, a dozen African-American men sit around a conference table discussing the trials of fatherhood. “I see some of me in a few of my sons. Mostly the bad stuff, but I’m trying to change that,” says Eugene Bradford, a father of 18 kids with 13 different mothers. Others around the table nod in agreement. The meeting is a weekly group-counseling session, the centerpiece of the Fathers, Families and Healthy Communities (FFHC) program, a nonprofit in Chicago that helps African-American noncustodial fathers play more significant roles in their children’s lives. Sequane Lawrence, who holds a master’s degree in community economic development, founded the program over a decade ago to help African American men with a variety of social services. In 2011, he decided to focus specifically on reconnecting noncustodial fathers to their children, which he believes is a key strategy to combat the cycle of poverty in African-American communities, where nearly 70 percent of children are born into single-parent families. “When a father’s engaged, they are better off. They graduate from high school, girls are less likely to get pregnant,” Lawrence says. “To put it in a more positive way, they become really productive members of their community.”
Bradford sought help from the group a few months ago after he missed child-support payments and, following Illinois state law, had his driver’s license revoked. FFHC has been working on refinancing Bradford’s child support and helping him get his license back, but Bradford says he has received more from the program than expected. He says the group sessions in particular have taught him to connect in new ways with a number of his children. “It’s been enlightening since the first day,” he says. (Bradford’s case — 18 kids with 13 mothers — is an extreme example of an FFHC father, according to Lawrence. The typical man who arrives on FFHC’s doorstep is in his 30s with two or three children from different mothers.) Since FFHC started three years ago, Lawrence says he has helped around 150 fathers manage child-support payments, find work and improve relations with their children.

This Supportive Startup Hires Veterans to Help Organizations Go Digital

Posted on by robbie

To say that the government of Englewood, New Jersey had a paper problem was an understatement. Stacks of forms were backed up in the city’s construction office — creating a headache for people trying to obtain building permits. And that wasn’t the only problem that the department had. Since the office was only open during regular business hours, it was difficult for permit-seekers with full-time jobs to come in to fill out forms and check on how the permit process was progressing.
City workers weren’t in denial about the inefficiency of their office, either. Englewood city manager Tim Dacey told Miles Ma of NewJersey.com that obtaining a construction permit was “a very time-consuming, paper-oriented process.”
So they contacted Bright Star, a startup that specializes in helping businesses transition from paper-based transactions to digital ones. But Bright Star isn’t just any startup. It’s a nonprofit that hires veterans to do the digitization work. Dorothy Nicholson founded Bright Star in 2008 after seeing her veteran family members and friends struggle with transitioning to civilian life. Nicholson told Ma, “There really was no leeway to enable them to slowly get back to the practice of working with other people.”
She wants Bright Star to provide that support and understanding for veterans through such programs as job sharing. That way, if a veteran can’t hold a full-time job, he or she can work a part-time one. Nicholson also allows employees to miss work for the physical therapy, counseling, or medical appointments — all things that many returning veterans need to attend. Additionally, Bright Star has a job sampling program through which employees can give different jobs a try until they find the right fit.
Bright Star has updated Englewood’s construction office, and now each building inspector in the city has an iPad to use to efficiently complete forms. Beginning on May 13, digital permitting will be available for all Englewood residents. And as for the veterans that Bright Star employs, “Yeah, there’s a bottom line that you’ve got to be aware of,” Nicholson told Ma, “but at the same time the humanity of helping soldiers needs to be a priority.”
It sounds like Nicholson is a woman with her priorities straight.
MORE: These Rocking Bands are Offering Veterans a Dream Job