On Tuesday, communities all over Chicago participated in On the Table, an initiative of the Chicago Community Trust designed to bring people together to share a meal and a dialogue in the spirit of unifying community. ALSO, together with representatives from Nuestra Señora de las Americas Episcopal Church, hosted a “mealtime conversation” in Humboldt Park. Additionally, ALSO staff attended On the Table events in other communities. Executive Director Lori Crowder joined a Roseland gathering while Program Assistant Zarena Leblanc participated in Bronzeville. Read about the conversations below!

Roseland
About a dozen leaders representing community, business, media and higher education came together in Roseland to discuss the interplay of peace and power. The conversation, hosted by Diane Latiker, Executive Director of Kids Off the Block, centered on issues of a divided Chicago – a city where the proposed Lucas Museum and Millennium Park take precedence over safe streets and quality public education. Topics ranged from civic engagement on tax increment financing strategies and providing sustainable funding opportunities (not loans) for grassroots efforts to holding elected officials accountable and honoring the wisdom of community solutions to crime. Participants emphasized the need for elected officials and the Chicago Police Department to gain the community’s trust, and for Black and Hispanic communities to collaborate on strategies to solve problems at the neighborhood level. Participants also discussed the Black Lives Matter movement as an organizing strategy to address community concerns.

Bronzeville
On The Table 2016 brought around 50 attendees, their roles ranging from community leaders and advocates, youth advocates, young women and educators to the Carter G. Woodson Charter School on the South Side of Chicago. La’Keisha Sewell, Founder and Executive Director of Girls Like Me Project, Inc. hosted the event with a focus on the hyper-invisibility and negativity that surround young black women not only in Chicago but across the globe. A panel discussion led by 3 young women from the neighborhood, followed by table discussions on several questions and a read-out of the questions and answers yielded comments on the systematic degradation of Black and Brown girls when their personal stories are hidden behind institutional “successes.” Additionally, participants of the On The Table discussion agreed that more opportunities given and provided to marginalized young girls within and without their neighborhoods and the push for collaborative partnerships to move to action is needed to incite change in Chicago.

Humboldt Park
Over arroz blanco y pollo guisado, 17 members of the Humboldt Park community responded to the prompt: “What would make you feel safer in Humboldt Park?” ALSO staff shared the table with Nuestra Señora staff and congregants, former members of street organizations, representatives from BUILD, and youth participants from ALSO’s 10-10-10 Program. Almost all participants were born and raised in Humboldt Park and expressed a deep and urgent desire for peace and change. Discussion topics included the inability to trust the police, how to reach street-involved youth and their parents, and “changing the mindset” in Humboldt Park from accepting murders as the norm to prioritizing respect and culture. We called for more resources, free community spaces for youth to come together for sports, recreation, programming, and more opportunities for food and conversation.