SUN promotes nonviolence, working to make
What is SUN?
Background
The first year of the project was a planning
period. SUN convened a series of 12 community meetings in South Chicago to
determine residents’ perceptions of violence in the neighborhood; over 140
members of the
·Violence is seen as a normal part of
everyday life;
·Domestic violence is considered the norm and is
fully accepted in many families;
·Violence significantly impacts residents’
freedom to move from place to place -- residents can not walk to the bank or grocery
store without being afraid;
·Residents feel that they always have to look
over their shoulders while on the street;
·Hearing gunfire is a normal occurrence;
·Windows of homes and apartments are regularly
shot out;
·Residents feel threatened, hopeless and
powerless.
These common resident perceptions have guided
subsequent work of SUN. The second step of the project was the development of a
Local Planning Group of 20 community residents and leaders. The group learned about
violence and violence prevention and confirmed the epidemic proportions of
violence in the community. The SUN Planning Group developed a mission statement
and goals for the project and recommended specific intervention strategies to
reduce violence in
Vision Statements
In response to identified risk factors for
violence in
·The community will support cultural and
societal attitudes that promote nonviolence;
·The community will
provide positive supports and programming for young people;
·
·Residents will have access to community
resources that teach, reinforce, and/or support healthy coping skills and
effective stress management.
Recommendations of violence prevention programming were developed to address each vision statement.
Recommendations
SUN efforts during the second year of funding will focus on continued planning as well as implementation of programming recommended by the planning group. Recommendations center on the four vision statements:
1. The community will support cultural and societal attitudes that promote nonviolence.
SUN will design and implement a public education campaign promoting nonviolence messages to the community. The campaign will include a slogan and a logo to address a specific area of concern, such as nonviolent conflict resolution, prevention of intimate partner violence, zero tolerance of gang activity, or building healthy families. The specific message to be promoted through this campaign will be developed by residents participating in a SUN subcommittee. A consistent message will be communicated through a variety of media that may include:
·Community safety signs distributed to
households in the target area for display in the windows of people’s
homes;
·Community murals and artistic signs designed
and painted by local residents;
·A calendar with pictures of the community and a
nonviolence message;
·Articles and advertising in a local newspaper;
·Posters and fliers displayed through local
businesses;
·Directories of community resources;
·Public service announcements on radio and
television stations.
2. The community will provide positive supports and programming for young people.
A SUN subcommittee will study and recommend school-based violence prevention strategies, including both in-school and after-school programming. The work of this group will include exploration of additional funding strategies for school-based violence prevention. Programming options to be explored include:
·School-based community centers to provide
comprehensive programming to the community during non-school hours;
·Surveys of local schools, churches and other
institutions in order to identify violence prevention programming currently
being implemented in the community;
·“Safe Night” activities as positive evening
alternatives for youth to participate in recreation and nonviolence education;
·A whole-school approach to violence prevention
which would include student discipline, nonviolence curricula, and developing a
school climate to promote nonviolence.
3. South
In order to respond to this vision statement, MFS will develop the SUN Institute as a community resource center on nonviolence. The Institute will be staffed by a full-time Social Worker to design and implement programming to be offered to families and to serve as a resource person to link families with needed resources and services. Possible resources to be offered to families by the institute will include:
·training on dealing with neighborhood safety
issues;
·workshops on stress and anger management;
·classes on parenting skills;
·training on anger management and nonviolent
conflict resolution;
·support groups in Spanish and English for
children and adults exposed to violence in the home.
4. Residents will have access to community resources that teach, reinforce, and/or support healthy coping skills and effective stress management.
SUN Institute programming will also address coping skills and stress management. The Institute Social Worker will design and implement programming and will serve as a resource person to link community leaders, educators and organizations with needed resources and services. Possible resources to be offered to the community by the Institute will include:
·training for administrators, educators, and
clergy to facilitate recognizing and responding to staff, students,
parishioners and clients who find themselves in domestic violence situations;
·staff development for teachers on dealing with
student safety issues, classroom management and nonviolent conflict resolution;
·workshops on stress and anger management;
·linking local schools and other organizations
with already existing materials and curricula on nonviolence.
Collaborators
Community Residents: Veronica Blaylock, Ester Cabrales, Michelle DeLaPaz, Jean Delatyree, James Gutierrez, Wilfred Lopez, Louise Lowery, Arther Lyles, Annette MacLin, Nelly Martinez, Carol Morris, Ramona Navarro, Don Norwood, Diana Razo, Susana Razo, Brigitte Robinson, Anita Rosso, Chela Ruiz, Maria Rudisch, Armando Soto, Duwella Stevenson, Darnella Thompson, Sandra Velazquez, Edward Whetstone, Carolyn Young, Linton S. Young
Casa Notre Dame: Joann Persch, Pat Murphy (also community residents)
Chicago Police Department: Margie Reid-Pittman (also community resident)
Claretian Associates: Jeanne Duffy, Peggy Mejias
El Valor Children and
Family Rescue:
Metropolitan Family Services,
Mr. Malo Youth Center: Al Reyes
Save Our Neighborhood Community Organization: Dora Espinoza, Doug Seubert (also community residents)
Metropolitan Family Services: Laurie Sedio, Executive Director and Michelle Scheidt, Project Director
Please note, this project ended several years ago, however, if you’d like more information, you can contact:
Metropolitan
Family Services
South Chicago United for Nonviolence
3029 East 91st Street
Chicago, IL 60617
or
Paul
Schewe, Ph.D., Principle Investigator
email: Schewepa@uic.edu
"We are tired of watching the violence
and seeing people leave our community because they are afraid to live here. It
is time we work together to take back our neighborhood."
-- Sandra Velazquez, community resident and SUN Planning Group Member
This publication was supported by Grant Number U81/CCU517819-02 from the Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of CDC.