Senior Stories | A Collaboration With Quinn Center

This past fall, our mentees collaborated with Quinn Center to highlight the stories of seniors in our community. Our partnership with the Quinn Center and seniors was to amplify community members’ voices. Maywood is an inter-generational community and TFD values the stories of those that have built the community up. Our mentees learned about an earlier Maywood and those that have lived here for decades. We brought in 4 community members to tell us about their journey in the Proviso District and how it has impacted them, as well as what future they hope for. Here are their stories.

Mazell Skyes

Martha Minich

Lynessa Greer

Alice Ocrey

check out some behind the scenes from this film project:

Belief & Leadership

Photo Credit: @amieisfan

On Day 2 of mentorship, we had the opportunity to partner once again with @jaleelanthonytv for a Belief & Leadership workshop. It was so amazing to see how invested and engaged our mentees were. We love to see notebooks being filled up with knowledge learned from creatives we bring into the firehouse. Today, Jaleel discussed what leadership really means. His prompt LEADER helped the mentees reach deeper into their minds. LEADER represents, L- Love, E- Experience, A- Appreciate, D- Discipline, E- Environment, and R- Relationships. Discipline is something Jaleel heavily emphasized. Our mentees took home lots of new information and inspiration. We can’t wait for them to learn more throughout these next 12 weeks.

Photo Credit: @amieisfan

Maywood Mural Unveiling

Photo Credit: Saffron Hurt

On Sunday, October 24rd, Maywood Youth Mentoring, had it’s unveiling of the new murals for the peace garden. Teens and young adults within the community were selected to create beautiful artwork that will be displayed at the garden on the topic of” Community Love.” One of the selected youth was Dakota Lopez, who created a beautiful piece on continuing growth. TFD had a previous mentee, Saffron Hurt, photograph this event and show off the great work these individuals have created. Saffron says, “It was a warm homey experience. Everyone was so nice and to see them take pride in improving Maywood through the garden warmed my heart".

At TFD, our goal is to center Maywoodian led organizations and residents who are working constantly to improve the community.

Photo Credit: Saffron Hurt

Video Group Project

Photo Credit: Mentees

This workshop led by Jeremy, is a collaboration with the Quinn Center in highlighting stories of the seniors within the community. The Quinn Center is a community partner that TFD has the opportunity to collaborate with from time to time. The mentees learned how to prepare for a video shoot and interview. They also had the chance to film and lead the interviews themselves. One of the best ways to grow and learn is by doing, which the mentees did a lot of in this project. We can’t wait to share with you the completed project, and stories of our in our community!

Photo Credit: Mentees

Belief And Leadership

Photo Credit: Jasmine

For today’s workshop, the mentees had a guest speaker, Jaleel Anthony, who shared his inspirational story about how he wanted to make a difference and help to improve his community and assist the people in it. He also shared how setting goals are important and how to do so, as well as having a positive belief in yourself and your potential. The mentees enjoyed the opportunity to gain new knowledge from a fellow young adult from the community and how to become the best version of themselves. Be sure to follow Jaleel on IG: @jaleelanthonytv

Photo Credit: Jasmine