A Tour Of Maywood

Maywood is rich in history and it is so amazing to have our firehouse right in the middle of it! On Saturday our Co-Founder/Executive Director, Jasmine, led a dialogue on the brand of Maywood.

As a group, our mentees discussed: “What is the narrative of Maywood and how it makes us feel?” She led them through a dialogue in acknowledging that communities don’t just experience disinvestment without a reason, and she encouraged them to look at the root, and then to identify how we can come up with community-led asset based solutions. Jasmine believes to do this well, we need to look back at our history and consider the context of who and what Maywood is today.

We all hopped into a van, where Jasmine took the mentees on a tour of Maywood. This tour allowed for them to “see” Maywood’s challenges, like the lack of economic development, not having a grocery store and more. However, this tour allowed for our mentees to sit in the tension of our challenges while also seeing all the good that has happened in past decades, as well as, what is currently happening on a grassroots level. We often hear from outside communities: “Where are the leaders?” So it’s very important to Jasmine and TFD, that we dismantle this lie by sharing all of the amazing residents, organizations, faith communities, and more who are working together towards a better Maywood.

Some key highlights our mentees were able to learn about was The Freedom House, a home that was a part of the underground railroad. They visited Fred Hampton’s childhood home and they learned all about the contributions he made in Maywood as a teen. They learned about Bessie Coleman, and her flying over Maywood, during a time when in America’s history she wasn’t allowed to get her pilot license because of her skin color. We learned despite Jim Crow laws and segregation, we had a thriving Black-own business community which contributed greatly toward Maywood as a whole. And even after white flight, our Black neighbors have continued to fight and advocate for equity and equality in Maywood, which continues to remain a majority Black community since the 1970’s.

So we celebrate, honor and acknowledge all of it’s beauty here in Maywood.

Photo credit: Mariah

En Pilsen Community Building

Carlo from En Pilsen led a workshop with our Mentees on how to become closer to your community. He explained to our mentees how important community is and shared ways to become closer to your neighbors. Using local hashtags on Instagram and other social media platforms can connect you to other people within your neighborhood. In Pilsen, Carlo began a clean up and restoration at a community garden to allow neighbors to connect and become closer to their community, which similar to what we have in Maywood. You can find out more about the work that Carlo is doing within in Pilsen on Instagram.

Photo Credit: Mariah

Milkshakes to Marketing

Have you tried the Milkshake app? Well, our mentees did on Saturday! Lu’Cretia, our Creative Project Manager, led a workshop with our mentees and each individual created a free mini website on their phones. After taking some time to design their websites, our Mentees shared their websites with one another. Milkshake is such a great and inexpensive tool for our Mentees to create a website that will benefit them as they create and build their brands.

Photo credit: Mariah

Understanding Your Brand

To start a brand, you need to understand the brand that you want to build. On Day 2 of marketing Lu’Cretia, our Creative Project Manager, initiated a dialogue with our mentees about how to better understand their potential brands. Different videos were played to demonstrate how different celebrities use their values to establish their brands. She discussed how Lil Nas X uses his platform to create music, but also partners with other brands, like Nike, to create products that target his audience.

Our Mentees created their own social media selfceare manifesto that included: what they want to gain from social media, how long they want to spend on each platform, and what they want to share on their platform. This workshop was a success and super informative!

Photo. Credit: Mariah

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: