June 3, 2016

MEDIA ADVISORY

Humboldt Park Community  
Rallies to End Violence Through ALSO’s 21^st Annual Walk for Peace

CHICAGO – For the 21^st consecutive year, hundreds of people from across Chicago will join with the Alliance of Local Service Organizations (ALSO) and its partners and community members on Saturday, June 4, 2016 to Walk for Peace. This event will serve as the launch for ALSO’s Get IN Chicago Community Collaboration and Resident Empowerment Initiative grant. ALSO will partner with the Logan Square-Humboldt Park Ecumenical Alliance to mobilize community around safety.

ALSO is convening this event to prepare for a safe summer against spikes in violence unseen in over a decade. The theme of this year’s Walk is “Humboldt Park People Power,” engaging the community through dialogue and action around safety in Humboldt Park. ALSO recognizes that we are all witnesses to violence or potential violence and have the ability to prevent and intervene in ways that are safe for us and for others, asking individuals to join a concerned community collective to address violence in all its forms.

We will also highlight effective efforts to reduce violence in our city: from civic engagement through community and youth advisory boards and initiatives like ALSO’s subsidized employment program for at-risk youth, to the efforts of inspired individuals who work to create safety for those they know and those who they may not know. Finally, we will share strategies to continue violence prevention and intervention efforts to ensure that the City of Chicago is safe for everyone.

Date:                     June 4, 2016

Location:              YMCA McCormick Tribune (1834 North Lawndale Ave, Chicago, at the intersection of Lawndale and Cortland)

Time:                     10:30 am Participants Arrive

11:00 am Speakers Offer Remarks

11:30 am Begin Walk through the neighborhood

12:00 – 2:00 pm Celebration of Peace

Among the speakers highlighted will be; Ald. Roberto Maldonado, 2nd Ward (invited); Get IN Chicago Representatives, DePaul Egan Center Representatives, Administrator from YMCA; Pastor Bruce Ray, Kimball Ave. Church; as well as a variety of other agency leaders and elected officials.

Confirmed performers include: Emcee Jorge, En Fuego Dancers c/o Nuestra Senora de las Americas, Demiyon Eastling (Spoken Word Artist, Association House High School), Chicago Zumba Classes, Erick Macias (Caricature Artist), Lawren Carter (Spoken Word Artist)

The Post-Walk Celebration will include a 3-on-3 basketball tournament, free food, entertainment, raffles, games and activities for people of all ages. 

The mission of ALSO (www.also-chicago.org) is to end violence in the homes and streets of communities nationwide. Incorporated in 1998, ALSO was created to coordinate services for youth and families in the Logan Square community on Chicago’s Northwest Side. Becoming aware of the devastating impact of community violence on those families ALSO began to take action by implementing prevention programs to end street violence. In 2007, ALSO expanded its violence prevention and intervention efforts to include intimate partner violence. By working to end violence more broadly, ALSO began to see connections between violence on the streets and violence in the home.

Today, ALSO works both locally and nationally to end violence. By expanding its reach, ALSO informs its national work from a local perspective and brings knowledge and best practices from around the country to our neighborhoods in Chicago.