How we're trying to help:

• To provide youth with a positive role model for guidance, encouragement, support and advocacy 
• To come alongside the family by sup- porting them, encouraging them and seeking to nurture the relationship between them and their child 
• To be a community-based gang inter- vention agency that assists youth in leaving and refraining from gang in- volvement 
• To provide substance abuse treatment to assist our youth in living a substance free life 
• To offer educational assistance that strengthens the youth’s academic ability through one-on-one tutoring 
• To provide art therapy to help the youth manage physical and emotional problems by using creative activities to express emotions 
• To create a partnership with the Cook County Juvenile Court in order to im-plement the balanced and restorative justice (BARJ) paradigm in our com- munity 
• To provide recreational activities which encourage positive social interaction and a fun time 

What we offer:

• Mentoring - We provide mentors who serve as role models and someone who the youth can turn to for help and encouragement 
• Family Support - We seek to work with the whole family, along with the youth, and offer any assistance needed including opening our network of services
• Gang Intervention - We work with those youth who are gang involved and seek to help them leave and refrain from gangs
• Urban Life Skills - We teach the youth about the problems and challenges they face in the urban environment through our Urban Life Skills curriculum
• Substance Abuse Counseling - We provide professional substance abuse counseling and therapy to help the youth be freed from substance abuse and  addiction
• Tutoring - We desire to help the youth by assisting them in furthering their education through special attention, one-on-one tutoring
• Art Therapy - We offer professional art therapy to give the youth a creative outlet to express their emotions and to provide a way to explore their feelings through the arts
• Job Readiness Training - We seek to prepare the youth for the workforce by equipping them with skills in resume building, conducting and interview, and better preparing them for job opportunities
• Carpentry Skills Training - The ULS Productions Program seeks to equip the youth with practical carpentry skills to prepare them for work in the various trades.  The youth learn how to use tools, construct various projects, and also learn the basics of business
• Court Advocacy - We desire to keep juvenile delinquents from further penetrating the criminal justice system by advocating for them in court and by assisting them in accomplishing their probation orders such as community service and enrolling them in an educational institution
• Social Activities - We provide a wide variety of positive, enriching activities that give the youth a chance to have fun and enjoy themselves, while promoting positive social interaction

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Urban Life Skills Program Staff
The Urban Life Skills Program would not exist if it weren’t for the solid team of volunteers that have given countless hours of their time to this program.  There are over 20 mentors that make up the mentor staff.  They give 3 hours every Friday to the group sessions and then spend 3+ hours outside of Fridays with the kids.  They are all working full time and give to these youth because they want to see changes in their life and make a difference.  Not one mentor has been paid over the last 19 months.  This shows the high commitment of our staff to the youth.  There are very few agencies who can staff an entire program on purely volunteers and no budget, but the mentors continue to give.

We have a very diverse mentor team with a variety of backgrounds that provides an extensive pool of resources when it comes to teaching and training the youth.  Our mentors include medical personnel, former gang members, certified accountants, construction workers, business men, youth outreach workers, probation officers and many other walks of life.  Since some of our mentors are ex-gang members, they are a valuable resource for offering perspective and advice to the youth through past experience. 

Community Partnerships
We believe that we can be the most effective if we come alongside other community agencies and partner together to help these youth.   Over the past 10 months we have made many connections and built relationships that have helped us to grow and also assisted other agencies in their work.

Some of our partners include:

• Cook County Juvenile Court
• Cook County Latino Taskforce
• The Chicago School of Professional Psychology
• Local Schools including: 
• Farragut High School
• Kanoon Elementary School
• Castellanos Elementary School
• Spry Elementary School
• YMCA Street Intervention Program
• The Aspire Center
• Beyond the Ball
• Gateway Foundation
• Enlace Chicago
• The Violence Prevention Collaborative
• New Life Community Church

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The Little Village Neighborhood
The Little Village (La Villita) community, located in Chicago’s South Lawndale neighborhood, is home to more than 90,000 residents and represents the largest 
concentration of Mexican and Mexican Americans in the city of Chicago.   
 
Little Village has a population that is primarily working-class, Hispanic, first or second-generation in the U.S., Spanish-speaking, young, and male.  The median income  for Little Village families is 32% lower than the Chicago median of $38,625, with over one-fourth of our families living in extreme poverty (with incomes below $15,000). 
 
Little Village has one of the youngest populations in the city, with nearly 70% of the population under the age of 35.  The rising number of youth in the community creates a demand for more and better schools, parks, social services, and youth programs.  Especially in a neighborhood with the least amount of green space per capita in Chicago, access to recreational facilities and open space is limited, forcing youth to play in streets and alleys. More than 2,000 neighborhood young people are gang members; the ensuing violence hinders community development efforts.  

Gangs is a huge issue and is often declared the number one problem in the neighborhood.  Youth have to constantly be aware of what side of the neighborhood they are on and the gangs have taken more than 15 lives in 2008 alone.  There are very few agencies doing anything about the problem.  New Life Centers of Chicagoland seeks to create a gang intervention program that makes a true difference in the community.  As we partner with the Cook County Juvenile Court and other community agencies we can make a difference in our neighborhood.  

The Urban Life Skills Program History
For the last two and a half years, New Life Centers of Chicagoland (NLCC) has been partnering with the Juvenile Court in a variety of different ways to improve our community.  Through this partnership we are providing youth in our community additional opportunities to succeed.  Probation Officer Hector Escalera approached us in September 2007 and expressed an interest to partner together to reach out to at risk youth specifically those gang involved and on probation.  This partnership was most welcomed since juvenile justice and New Life both shared similar concerns about youth. 

In November 2007 we started a 10 week trial period to see what this partnership would look like.  Since then, we have seen some great successes and we are excited for the future.  There are continual improvements happening within the program and we are learning from the experience of the court, of the mentors, and of other community based agencies. 

We are committed to this program, our partnerships, and the many possibilities that will impact the success of these youth in our Little Village community.  NLCC is also actively participating in the Latino Task Force through the Juvenile Court.

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