A Look At Teamwork Englewood In 2014

Rashanah Baldwin
Published: December 31, 2014

News From Teamwork Englewood:

2014 has been an exciting year for Teamwork Englewood - full of accomplishments, exciting initiatives, critical community partnerships and the launch of several successful empowering programs for the Englewood Community.

Since 2003, Teamwork Englewood has been working to improve the quality of life for residents of Greater Englewood in striving to make their community stronger and more sustainable. Teamwork Englewood serves as the lead agency for the New Communities Program, a community development initiative of LISC Chicago. Teamwork Englewood proudly works with community leaders, partner organizations, youth and families to make positive changes in the community.

In July, 2014, Teamwork Englewood welcomed Perry Gunn as the new Executive Director. Gunn is no stranger to the community as he comes to Teamwork Englewood with more than two decades in the non-profit sector. Gunn says the "goal is to build on the assets of the community in order to create a fantastic place to live, work, and do business." Gunn plans to push Teamwork Englewood to the next level by continuing to empower residents by equipping them with valuable resources and skills needed to compete in the new economy.

Teamwork Englewood constantly remains at the forefront of the daily happenings and affairs impacting Englewood.

TWE offers four core programs: Re-Entry Program, Smart Communities Program, Live United Youth Mentoring Program and Safe Passage.

Programs

Smart Communities Program:

Smart Communities works to increase digital access and use by families as well as businesses. Teamwork Englewood provides technology classes, computer literacy classes, Englewood Portal trainings and has a computer lab open to the public.

The Englewood Portal is a digital tool for residents and organizations to tell their own story, connect with residents, share the latest events and the "Good In Englewood" news happening in Greater Englewood via the Englewoodportal.org.

One of the biggest successes from Smart Communities has been Englewood Codes, taught by Demond Drummer (Tech Organizer) through a series of computer literacy and web coding classes at Teamwork Englewood. In the Summer of 2013, as a 10-week project, Drummer says the program was created to teach students about basic HTML, CSS and JavaScript code - the languages that power the web.

“The best way Chicago can stay competitive is to grow the city’s tech talent from the neighborhoods,” says Drummer. From the success and the demand for more, Englewood Codes continued in 2014 as a 6-week summer project for a select group of youth from the 2013 program cycle. The Englewood Codes youth designed Englewood's own Kusanya Cafe's new website.

The increasing desire from the community to learn more on web coding led to Englewood Code Camp for adults.
Englewood Code Camp was created as a week-long introduction to HTML, CSS and Twitter Bootstrap.

LargeLots.org
Teamwork Englewood facilitated the launch of the Large Lot Program pilot in the Green Healthy Neighborhoods planning area, resulting in the transfer of 320 city-owned vacant lots to local property owners (a ten-fold increase from 2013 transfers).

The creation of the Largelots.org website was initiated by Teamwork Englewood, built by DataMade, and funded by LISC Chicago. Largelots.org was created to make the process of buying city-owned $1 dollar lots easier for Chicago residents.

Re-Entry Resource

In 2014, Re-Entry assisted over 5,000 clients in obtaining workforce training, housing assistance, health service, mental health counseling and other services as needed.

The Re-Entry program helps "returning citizens" formerly incarcerated in the Illinois Dept. of Corrections facilities get a second chance in life by receiving life skills instruction and case management services. "We help them hone in on the skills needed to secure employment by providing them with the needed tools to pursue educational goals. Our program also helps a small population of people with a criminal record to expunge and seal their record," according to Johnny Outlaw, Director of Re-Entry.

Maanasi Laird, Re-Entry Lead Intake Case Manager, says her team works effortlessly and has placed as many as 200-plus clients in jobs in 2014. According to Laird, working as an Intake Case Manager is a rewarding opportunity that allows her to serve the community selflessly and helps to provide opportunities to those looking to start over in life.

Laird mentions that the needs of their clients are taken serious and every client is top priority.

Safe Passage works throughout the school year to protect CPS students in the Englewood community. "Our workers take a proactive stance in protecting against child predators and sex offenders while making sure our students are not in harms way," according to Rosalind Moore, Director of Programs.

The primary role of a Community Watcher is to assist in ensuring the safety of Englewood students as they travel to and from school for classes and after school activities.

Live United Youth Mentoring Development:

Our program provides males and females youth between the ages 10-18 years old a variety of asset based programming focused on academic success and restorative justice activities. "We believe our program is unique because we target middle schoolers and teenagers," says Michael Tidmore, Live United Youth Mentoring Program Project Coordinator. Our youth learn to develop critical thinking skills, workforce development skills and learn about financial responsibility.

Our youth come from diverse backgrounds often times dealing with extreme family issues, hardships and sometimes loss of family members. "The proudest moment is seeing the youth experience their own personal break throughs and still manage to push ahead in life to succeed," says Kendria Mitchell, Youth Mentoring Program Project Coordinator. Mitchell adds, "The Peace Circle" is often the place and space where the youth come together to share their experience, offer advice to one another and uplift each other.

Teamwork Englewood's Team

Perry Gunn, Executive Director

Rosalind Moore, Director of Programs

Johnny Outlaw, Director of Re-Entry

Maanasi Laird, Re-Entry Lead Intake Case Manager

Michael Tidmore, Youth Mentoring Program Project Coordinator

DSC 0337
Kendria Mitchell, Youth Mentoring Program Project Coordinator

Demond Drummer, Tech Organizer

Rashanah Baldwin, Englewood Portal Manager and Multimedia Consultant

Addison Shields, Accountant/Book Keeper

Rita Lewis, Administrative Assistant

Robert “Red” Ross Community Ambassador

Angelique Johnson-Grant Funds Manager

Board of Directors
? Elder Willard L. Payton-President
? Diahann Sinclair-Treasurer
? Tiffany Sledge- Secretary
? Gregory Whitehead
? Lewis Myers
? Saul Klibanow
? Pastor Dwayne Grant
? Leon Jackson
? Rev. Albert Shears
? Henry P. Wilson
? Marva Hall

Happy Holidays!