Final Group Presentations

Last week was exciting. The one thing I liked the most is when we presented our projects to all the groups and our families. It was very interesting to see what all the groups accomplished throughout their neighborhood. I was very happy with my group presentation and all the positive feedback that we got. Everyone loved our videos on abuse : sexual,verbal,& physical. I learned a lot about all the 3 different neighborhoods. I learned about the resources and how their topic is very important in their community. The videos that each group made was very funny and helpful. After everything we all received our certificates for completing the program. I must admit I was very happy to receive my certificate.

Last week at the Cara Program

Last week my team and I went to the Cara Program and learned how things work there while participating with the group in the morning welcome. The program is for adults ages from age 21-65 to help them find and hold jobs. After visiting the Cara Program, we went out to eat lunch and talked about our day so far. Later that night Amara and Dave went back to the Gary Comer Youth Center and presented our project on abuse. Dave even got a chance to pass out our pamphlets and talked to many people about our project!

This Interesting Week

This week has been very interesting. Yesterday I attended a cooking class where a lady,Betty Nichols, taught us how to cook different types of vegetables such as portabella mushrooms, and watermelon. It was very cool to try some food that I never tasted.

Today, was really fun because we shot videos for our project. My partners and I shot videos of us talking about the different types of abuse that we are focusing on. Then we had a skit about physical abuse, in which Alan and Amara were the actors. We also finished the pamphlet that we had been working on all week- which we will pass out to doctors in the South Side who may have patients dealing with abuse.

Where we are

The neighborhood that we are working in this summer is the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago. It is a neighborhood with many resources and assets, the biggest and most pertinent to the youth being the Gary Comer Youth Center.

My two favorite site visits include visiting the Theaster Gates Home which is located int eh Greater Grand crossing community and which hold a lot of community arts and history. It was very interesting learning about the thing that Theaster Gates is doing in the community and through his homes. (pictures attached)

My second favorite site visit was going to Pilsen, having delicious authentic Mexican food at Nuevo Leon and most importantly having a chance to visit the National Museum of Mexican Art. It was truly a wonderful experience, and it was a great way to learn about Chicago as well as bond with the whole group. I especially liked the paintings in the Museum and the pico de gallo in the restaurant. I even got a chance to snag a skirt at the local thrift store.

I have really liked going to conferences with the our team and watching the students interact with adults and learn about the health care issues affecting Chicago, what people are saying about them and what people are doing to help. I have also liked being able to talk and bond with all the students in the program because they really are an interesting and smart group.

I have learned a lot about program development and the importance of working with community members, and forming alliances with groups that are already known and working the community. I have also learned a lot about working with High School students, and am still learning more on that front. I have learned that while the South Side may have its flaws there are many people who care about it and its residents and are working hard to fix the problems.

Our project will be on increasing awareness about abuse, sexual, physical, and verbal, among youth in the Greater Grand Crossing Community. We will be creating awareness videos, as well as making pamphlets to distribute to community members, doctors, and parents.

Teen dating dangers

Last Monday we had a speaker come and talk to the group about teen dating and the violence behind teen dating. Dr. Oyola talked to us about the physical and verbal abuse in teen relationships and how it is a way to get away from the abuser. She even told us about making safety codes so that our loved ones and friends would know when we are in danger. Some of the information that she gave was really helpful for our project on abuse.

It was good to talk with Dr. Oyola, as she gave us good information and helped us to remember why it was important that we were tackling the issue of abuse.

We also worked on our intro video editing and started making a pamphlet that we will give to doctors and parents in the neighborhood. We then discussed expectations for the week and the plans we had for the week.

Teen Safety Day in the GGC Community

Two weeks ago the Gary Comer Youth Center held a community safety day of which the Greater Grand Crossing team attended. It was very informative and also quite fun. They had safety presentations on how to be safe while driving, self defense, drug and alcohol abstinence, and how to be safe during sexual activities. I must say we had a blast learning and enjoying the raffles and performances. I had the ultimate performance experience as I also took to the stage to perform for safety day. The crowd cheered loudly for me and at the end of the day we all realized that this is was what our community is about. It was great for all of us to come together and having fun while learning about the community in which we live.

Dave Pitts

Pilsen Neighborhood

Last Wednesday my group and I explored the Pilsen neighborhood, which myself and many of the group members had never been to. We went to a Mexican museum where we saw some very interesting things about the Mexican culture- including where they came from and how they lived. I thought that was very interesting because I had never seen some of those things before. After we left there we walked down a couple of streets to a Mexican restaurant where we tried different foods. We had food like tacos , quesadillas, guacamole, beans and rice and tortilla chips. The food was pretty good and it felt good to try something new. Then when we left the neighborhood and came back to U of C campus we had a speaker by the name of Dr. Monica Vela. She talked to us about having health insurance and making sure you go to college and finish school so you can have a well paid job that offers health insurance. Her discussion was also about health disparities, particularly in the South Side of Chicago. Once we got done with the presenter we all walked over to the Woodlawn Social Services Center where we had yoga with our instructor. This day was very long and hot but I also thought it was very interesting and exciting.

- Kishonna Hall

Calm after the storm

Today was a wash. Everything we planned to do today was cancelled. I was so bored today, however, after the storm was over the day picked up. We edited some video clips in the incredible Mac Lab. It was so awesome. All in all, today panned out to be productive.

What we have been up to

It’s been an interesting couple of weeks. Early mornings, fun expeditions, and long days. So much has happened in the past two weeks that it would take me five pages and not enough pictures to illustrate it to you.

We have definitely gotten to know each other better, fleshed out our project topic, and even managed to squeeze in a game of volleyball.

I will share the highlight of these past few weeks.

Perhaps my most favorite working moment was when we decided to focus on physical, verbal/emotional and sexual abuse among teens in the Greater Grand Crossing area.

I also really loved filming and walking through the 63^rd street beach with the GGC group and writing stories to work on our reading and writing skills.

Also did I mention our epic game of volleyball with the entire SSP group.

So far it has been a great mixture of work and fun. That is the beauty of partnerships, a chance to experience more than one aspect of life.

*A picture of Alan and I at the 63rd street beach, we desperately need a group picture

Horrible Day.!

Today was a bad day. My mother and I drove all the way to the U of C bookstore to find out that our car was riding on a flat tire. Next, it poured down rained on us. Thirdly, we missed our co-worker Kishonna due to her being sick!

Gosh today was such a horrible day, but my team leaders kept us busy with educational videos and blogging. After work, I'm going to Best Buy to buy a new camera and Ipod touch because I deserve it:)

Hope tomorrow will be a much better day!

Second Week

We are in our second week of SSP 2011 and things are getting real, fast. First let me introduce myself, I am Amara, and will be working with Alan (who posted the welcome below) as a coordinator for SSP 2011. Now back to the program.

During the first week (last week) of SSP we decided that this summer we would focus on abuse in the Greater Grand Crossing community. At first we weren't sure what type and aspect of abuse we would focus on- while many people we spoke to thought we were referring to drug abuse. However after having discussed some goals for this week, including talking with a social worker at Gary Comer Youth Center, we are thinking about narrowing down our area of interest. Perhaps we will focus on physical and verbal abuse as it relates to mental health in teenagers. However, that is a mouthful and nothing has been set in stone. Hopefully by Friday we will have a better idea of what we will be focusing on.

First Post

Welcome to the Blog of Dave Pitts Jr! I am a Gary Comer College Preparatory student, and I am working with the Summer Service Partnership at the University of Chicago to find ways to enrich the Greater Grand Crossing community. Last week on Monday, June 20 2011, my team and I met for the first time at the University of Chicago's bookstore. The first day was a great deal of fun I must say. We all got to know each other by playing icebreaker games such as: Human Knot, Two truth and a lie, and talking about our lives. It took us approximately forty-five minutes to untangle ourselves. We brought a whole new meaning to working closely with each other as we maneuvered around each other. After lunch, my team went to Theater Gates' home where we met a young lady by the name of Hallie. She explained what their mission in the community was, what they were doing to help the community, and what problems they faced with trying to help the community as an outsider. She was very helpful. Finally, we came back to the bookstore and headed home for the day. I have a feeling that this is definitely going to be an interesting summer. I'm looking forward to completing our project! Stay tuned for more post.

First week at the ssp program

Hey my name is Cache' Wallace and I am a current high school student working in a program called Summer Partnership Program and this program is designed to rise awareness and help the community with the things that it is lacking. On Friday my team and I got our health screening to start voluteering at the University of Chicago Hospital. What type of tests did we take? We got TB testing, blood was drawn, and we also took a color blind test--it was so cool! We had to bring in TB and shot records and of course I was super prepared with my records. Lucky for me I didn't have to take a TB shot. Also on that day we just hung out and watched the Woodlawn Team present powerpoints about their lives which were interesting. I'm looking forward to getting started on our project about "abuse". We will be focusing on mental and physical "abuse". Can't wait to get started! I know it will be lots of fun.

Urban Health Initiative Summit

Hi, my name is Kishonna Hall and this past Thursday I attended the Urban Health Initiative summit at the Apostolic Church Of God, on 6320 S. Dorchester. The purpose of the summit was to try to find ways to improve the health of the communities on the South Side of Chicago. There were many people there trying to help increase health access in the community. At the summit there was a breakout session where they split up all the people and put us in different groups and in random rooms. The session was very interesting because everyone brought up some very interesting points about how we should start working in the community by interacting with the citizens and just basically trying to get involved and used to the community. I had never experienced anything like the summit in my life and i actually enjoyed it. The people were very friendly and the food was delicious! I am very grateful for experiencing something so important that is trying to change my community.

Welcome to the 2011 Summer Service Partnership!

Hi everyone! It's sunny, occasionally stormy, and heating up in Chicago, meaning only one thing: summer! And with all of our glorious time away from our respective schools, it's once again time to couple Gary Comer College Prep, University of Chicago, and Pritzker Medical School students to forge an alliance in community health project creation.

My name is Alan Schurle, and I represent the medical school on our team. I'm joined by my University of Chicago colleague Amara Ugwu, a rising third year majoring in Policy with an abiding interest in healthcare. Our high school partners are Kishonna Hall; Dave Pitts, Jr.; and Caché Wallace--all of whom are rising Juniors at Gary Comer College Prep.

We look forward to blogging on our exploits in the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood as we create an asset map, choose an area of health concern, and move towards completing our project by the end of this summer.

We know it will go fast--time always does when you're having fun!