North Lawndale
For decades, the North Lawndale community has been seen by outsiders as a neighborhood of the permanent underclass. Social ills such as economic poverty, academic under-achievement, inadequate health care, criminal activity, and substandard housing have dominated people’s perception of the Lawndale community. Community residents and neighborhood leaders, however, have had a very different message: “North Lawndale is a community of opportunity and hope.”
Incredible work has been done in the areas of affordable housing, economic development, quality health care, educational reform, and community beautification and this once “blighted community” is finally being recognized as a place of revitalization and hope. Although the social ills of poverty and unemployment have not vanished, residents and community agencies are now focusing on our assets as the building blocks of health community development.
Recent Updates
- YMEN Africa Trip, Spring 2013
- “This is the greatest trip of my life…..” Four YMEN High School senior leaders spent 13 days this Spring traveling to Uganda to work with Partners in Mission. During this trip, we had the opportunity to spend time at the Kamwenge Secondary and Vocational School (KSVS) where YMEN has roofed buildings, sponsored students, and brought [...] Read More
- Building lifelong networks of support
- Sammie has been in the YMEN program for 4 years. He is one of the program’s most dedicated participants. YMEN has offered Sammie many opportunities through business and education programs. Sammie has been on about 90% of the YMEN trips and his favorite was South Dakota. The trips have been beneficial for Sammie because he [...] Read More
- The Gimp
- Our students have had a chance to learn about image manipulation. Seeing as how we are always in the mood to save money, we use the GNU Image Manipulation Program — otherwise known as the Gimp. For those who aren’t completely up on the Gimp, it’s a free version of Adobe Photoshop-like software. Not Photoshop, [...] Read More
