Past Programs

Our mission is to provide children in underserved Chicago communities with lasting access to instrumental music instruction and ensemble play. We offer meaningful and positive life experiences based around music, such as taking healthy risks and experiencing accomplishment, nurturing and sharing one’s talents with your community, exploring and creating beauty, and creating relationships with positive, consistent mentors.

Boxing Out Negativity empowers youth to realize the best in themselves within a safe and supportive environment by providing afterschool and summer programming for North Lawndale’s highest-risk youth ages 8-17.  Boxing is used as a hook to maintain youths’ interest in programming designed to elicit character development and civic responsibility through training, mentorship, tutoring, motivational discussions, and other forms of engagement. 

Chicago Arts and Music Project exists to provide free El Sistema orchestral training in Chicago’s East Garfield Park neighborhood. Students rehearse six days every week at the Breakthrough Ministries FamilyPlex.

Focus Fairies mentors and teaches preteen and adolescent girls the skill set needed to enhance their lives. The program has lessons on an array of topics including: bullying, peer pressure, etiquette, depression, stress, body image, self-esteem, financial literacy, and safety.

PRETTY provides comprehensive sexual health and reproductive justice education to girls. The program serves as a prevention method to many of the ills that young girls in various cities face, including but not limited to sexual abuse, risky sexual behaviors, unplanned pregnancies, sex trafficking, predator awareness, contraction of sexually transmitted infections and mental abuse.

The South Chicago Dance Theatre (SCDT) is a multicultural organization aiming to preserve the art of dance through quality performances and educational opportunities. SCDT’s auxiliary programming includes the Youth Training Company, a free to the public First Fridays Community Workshop Series, the Autism Project, an After School Matters teen employment program, public school based performances, and the annual South Chicago Dance Festival.

The Chicago Eco House uses sustainability to alleviate poverty through the implementation of income-generating programming for at-risk youth at three sites: Englewood, Woodlawn, and West Garfield Park.

The Chicago Industrial Arts & Design Center offers hands-on, application-based education that compliments STEM/STEAM school curriculum, in addition to providing a learned vocational skill.

Debate It Forward’s mission is to utilize core debate skills as teaching tools to improve self-advocacy, harness analytical thinking, and develop respectful disagreement among young people. Programming focuses on weekly hour-long after-school debate classes in Chicago elementary and middle schools taught by paid college students.

The Bloc uses the discipline of boxing to provide Chicago teens with resources and opportunities to improve their community. Using boxing as a tool to attract teens, boxers are engaged in mentoring and tutoring services to push them to academic and social excellence.

Students Run CHI is a youth mentoring program that pairs high school students with adult mentors and coaches to train together for the Chicago Marathon. It teaches goal setting, responsibility, discipline, health and wellness through running. In 2016, 26 students crossed the Chicago Marathon finish line. The organization is 100% volunteer-driven and managed.

ChiMOP is dedicated to affecting positive social change in young students with limited access to the arts by providing them with quality, time intensive, socially motivated youth orchestra programming in a safe and fun environment. Instruments are rented to students at no cost for the duration of their involvement in the program.

Math Circles of Chicago seeks to provide 5th to 12th graders in all communities of Chicago with opportunities to actively participate in doing novel mathematics in order to increase their mathematical power and to promote a lifelong love of mathematics. Math Circles of Chicago programs are free and available afterschool with a goal to provide equitable access to those students living in Chicago and attending public schools.

Shift:Englewood Youth Orchestra began in 2014 with the realization that music could be a powerful intervention for children dealing with the everyday challenges of the Englewood neighborhood of Chicago. Students participate in intensive music programming for 9 hours a week after school, which consists of orchestral string ensemble work, bucket band rhythm instruction, and creative composition instruction designed to give students a voice and help them express themselves in a positive way.

Territory is an afterschool and summer design team program, putting young people to work in their own communities, using urban design to build community identity and re-imagine public spaces across Chicago. Team members learn design skills through activities, and each team completes an urban design, public art or placemaking project working in partnership with their host community, and each project is unique, reflecting the expertise of our team members and the needs of the community.

The mission of the Chicago Poetry Center is to promote poetry in Chicago-area communities, strengthen literacy and foster creativity through poetry, and support the careers of poets.

Founded in 2012, the Mariachi Heritage Foundation (MHF), a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, exists to affirm, celebrate and preserve the rich cultural heritage of mariachi music and other Mexican heritage arts.  MHF seeks to create opportunities for individuals and communities to celebrate, share and sustain the vitality of Mexico's performing arts traditions.  Our work promotes the importance of cultural heritage for strengthening ethnic identity and community.

M.U.S.I.C. Inc. Chicago was founded in 2011 by Sarah Dupuis and Joi Truman with a handful of used, child-sized violins and a desire to provide a unique opportunity for students in Chicago's west side communities. Their vision was to create a program that integrated high achieving music education and character development.

MY BLOCK, MY HOOD, MY CITY is a vessel to introduce Chicagoans to places in their city they've never seen or experienced. Providing mentoring workshops and monthly outings, these "Urban explorations" brings students from the Southside to different neighborhoods like Greektown and Uptown.

R CITY seeks to bring together the best of our city to build a path for families to walk from cradle to college to the glory of God. Located in a community enduring one of Chicago's highest homicide counts, R CITY is the community center of River City Community Church, the outpouring of nearly a decade of listening to and learning from the neighbors of West Humboldt Park.

Founded in July 2008 and based in Chicago, Illinois, Red Clay Dance is a professional touring company that creates and performs a diverse repertoire of Afro-contemporary dance which fuses traditional West African movement with contemporary dance forms.  The company is a trendsetter for uniting elite professional dance creation and performance with a social consciousness that spills from the stage to the community. Red Clay posses the unique ability to offer authentic engagement for dance through creating and performing work within marginalized communities.

How do we train our students in complex environments to continually hold a positive mindset?  How do we instill as sense of perseverance that enables them to create goals that lead to life achievements? Through the practice of artistic expression, positive mindfulness and social emotional core competencies, our students develop life skills that empower them to handle obstacles and continue to move forward with the rest of their life.

West Point's Mission is to engage urban youth through music instruction and performance; cultivating artistically connected, socially conscious, productive adults. 

Chicago LAMP is modeled after the National AMACHI Program, which provides assistance to children who are impacted by incarceration through mentoring. The AMACHI model was developed in 2000 by Reverend Dr. Wilson W. Goode, former Mayor of Philadelphia, and John Di Iulio, professor at the University of Pennsylvania. This model has been replicated in more than 250 cities across the nation and has proven successful in offering intervention that breaks the troublesome cycle of generational poverty and incarceration.

City Incite develops and administers fundamental programing that uplifts, teaches, and incites children, teens, adults, and seniors.  Our programs have gotten accepted into Chicago Public Schools--After School Matters, Chicago Housing Authority senior care centers, and various private community outreach organizations.

The mission of Diasporal Discoveries ("DD") is to expose youth to the diversity of the African Diaspora with a goal of connecting them to various cultures across the globe and expanding their horizons through cultural education and travel, both domestic and abroad.

Dream On Education is where education meets creativity and inspiration. We provide the best and brightest 6-8th graders in at-risk communities with all of our services: tutoring, mentoring, cultural exposure, and professional exposure.

Forward Momentum Chicago provides quality dance education programs to schools and communities with limited arts access. Programs are designed to not only increase dance skills and awareness, but to foster creativity, critical thinking, and social-emotional learning. From classroom residencies to formal studio training, Forward Momentum Chicago offers a variety of dance experiences for all ages and ability levels.

The mission of Harambee is to transform and encourage at-risk youth with the hope of the gospel of Jesus Christ and empower them to know and experience the value and dignity of work by training and mentoring in biblically-based work-ethic.

Lost Boyz services youth girls and boys ages 4 to 18 through our baseball/softball and SYL programs from February until August of every year. Our target population is focused primarily on ultra high-risk youth, incarcerated youth, alienated youth, low income youth, and abused youth. As a result of our efforts since 2008, over 210 children from the South Shore community and 32 children detained in the Illinois Youth Center (IYC) have stayed trouble free for a range of four to nine months while occupied with our athletic and youth leadership activities.

The Wood Family Foundation (WFF) works to improve the lives of children in and around Chicago by raising funds and awareness for its children's programs and other children's charities they support.

Automotive Mentoring Group is a non-profit organization, teaching young women and men the art of automobile restoration.

Chicago HOPES for Kids is a nonprofit organization that provides after school support for students living in homeless shelters throughout the city of Chicago.

GirlForward is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in Chicago that provides adolescent refugee girls with individual mentorship, educational programs and leadership opportunities.

Madonna Mission is a not-for-profit organization providing education and resettlement support programs for refugee individuals and families. It provides a center to assist refugees in their adjustment to their new home, and creates a community to learn life skills to achieve self-sufficiency while providing a safe place to develop and enrich bonds of friendship.

In the wake of the 2007 economic collapse, a group of college students asked not what their community could do for them, but what they could do for their community. Step by step, a local service initiative became a national student movement restoring the economic health of America.

The founder and Executive Director of Musical Arts Institute is bassist and music educator, Michael Manson. Working together with co-founder and Co-Executive Director, Lana Manson, the couple has organized an amazing team of professional musicians/educators to provide outstanding music instruction in Chicago's under served areas.

Since its inception, the Grace and Peace (GAP) Community Center has had a long history of hosting youth and children programs. The GAP church embraced the Safe Haven program in December 2010 and named it GAPademics. GAP understands how important it is for Hermosa community children to have a place to go after school to improve their learning skills, but also a fun and safe place to be during the dangerous summer months in the city.

The Living Works After-School Program seeks to foster development of the whole child by providing academic support, physical activity and extra-curricular activities that promote social and spiritual growth. They communicate on a regular basis with the teachers and parents of program participants in order to understand the needs and strengths of each child.

Supplies for Dreams is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that provides Chicago Public Schools students with critical resources and extra-curricular opportunities ranging from basic school supplies to field trips and one-on-one mentoring.

The Bella Cuisine Kids Cooking Club consists of local chefs who volunteer their time to travel throughout the community and offer healthy lifestyle cooking classes in a safe and nurturing environment. Their professional chefs guide your young chefs through each healthy recipe; step-by-step and provide them with "chefs' secrets" to making healthy food irresistible.

CYBC is a sports-based development program grounded in the sport of boxing and MMA, a unique platform to attract kids to succeed in the larger goal of building community awareness, as well as to helping kids achieve academic, professional, and personal success.

Embarc is a non-profit organization, providing unique cultural experiences and interactions to high school students from Chicago's most socially and economically isolated neighborhoods. The program forms partnerships with the public school system as well as local businesses and arts organizations in Chicago's thriving cultural community.

826CHI is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting students ages 6 to 18 with their creative and expository writing skills, and to helping teachers inspire their students to write.

Carlson Community Services operates the Magic After-school Place (MAP), which was begun in 2006 to meet the after-school care needs of working parents in the culturally and economically diverse Irving Park community.

The Chicago Ballet Center seeks to implement a hybrid of artistry, athleticism, and culture within the diverse communities of Chicago to help young people grow and develop as mature individuals, creative artists, and thoughtful community members.

Cool Classics! uses classic books to connect children to a unified world of reading, art, culture and ideas. An award-winning journalist, who substitute teaches in the Chicago Public Schools, designed Cool Classics! to mix pedagogy and play for small groups of elementary public school students in an after-school setting.

Hip-Hop Detoxx provides services for teens and young adults. Their solutions consider the social, emotional, healthy development of urban youth and the need for interplay between the community. They believe if the community is collaborative, the healthy development of urban youth is cultivated. Hip-Hop Detoxx's mission is to help strengthen socio-emotional life skills development amongst youth that are at risk of being predisposed to disproportionately high risk factors.

Project: VISION, Inc.'s mission is to provide youth in the Bridgeport / Chinatown areas of Chicago with tools for educational, professional, personal, interpersonal, and civic development.

The mission is to restore the path of youth engaging in negative behavior due to gang affiliation and activity by providing boxing, mentoring, spiritual development, media engagement, and love.

Beyond the Ball is an organization that uses the power of sport to change lives, give hope, reclaim space and develop a culture of opportunities for youth and families in Chicago. They develop youth through a number of programs that help change the negative norms present in neighborhoods and replace them with a positive culture. 

Chicago Training Center (CTC) strives to become a Chicago Institution for underserved youth. Through the competitive sport of rowing, the Chicago Training Center will develop leadership skills and provide opportunities for more at-risk youth to become physically fit. By providing supplemental health education and tutoring programs, the CTC will continue to help our teenage participants improve personal nutrition and reach their academic potential.

Our mission and vision is simple, impact the lives of today's youth through quality programming. Hence we partner  with the Chicago Public Schools and grassroot organizations and groups. 

Chicago Youth Development Program/Gonzo Soccer is a soccer and leadership academy founded in Chicago that provides girls ages 5-16 in underserved communities premier soccer training, academic assistance and valuable life skills that will foster their growth and empower them to reach their full potential as athletes and students.

Green Star Movement inspires students and community members to design and realize public art. This interactive process builds teamwork and self-esteem in the participants, and revitalizes urban neighborhoods.

Shanti Foundation creates high quality arts education experiences in which participants learn the basic skills and principles of an art form through a collaborative art-making experience.

Sunlight African Community Center's (SACC) mission is to aid and assist African immigrant youth in all aspects of community development and empowerment. We strive to provide a safe educational, social, recreational, and cultural haven for youth and adults. During the past eleven years, SACC has been serving the community's youth, ages 6 to 13, through the Echi-di-ime Youth Development Program, which provides after school and summer school programs.

The First Tee of Greater Chicago chapter is a 501 (c) 3 charitable foundation dedicated to teaching the golf and life skills curriculum to young people in a service area that covers: I-355 east to Lake Michigan, north to the Wisconsin border and south to Interstate 80.

The Peace Corner Youth Center organization is located in the Austin neighborhood on Chicago's Westside. Originally established to provide the neighborhood youth a safe haven from gang violence and drug dealing, The Peace Corner has grown into a community center that provides employment services, GED classes, basic skill development, basketball leagues, legal counseling, mentoring, tutoring, and hope for all that are willing to take a step in a positive direction.

The Young Men's Educational Network provides academic coaching, long-term mentoring, entrepreneurial training, summer camping, and college financial assistance for 100 young men, ages 12-18, in the North Lawndale community.

Art Therapy Connection (ATC) provides art psychotherapy to students within their school setting who have been identified as at risk of failure socially, emotionally and academically and who are currently not receiving any mental health services.

The Christ Center of Truth afterschool program "Gateway To Success" reaches out to the children and youth of Englewood. Homework help, tutoring in reading, writing and math by qualified staff.  We also include educational movies, interesting field trips in and out of Chicago, arts and crafts, spelling bees, light snacks and much more. 

Since 2001, CircEsteem's mission has been to unite youth from diverse racial, cultural, and economic backgrounds and help them build self-esteem and mutual respect through the practice of circus arts.

The mission of Erie Elementary Charter School (EECS) is to nurture and empower students to successfully and productively engage in the local community and broader society. EECS is a community where students, parents and educators work together to develop children who are confident in their culture and ethnic origin, bi-literate in Spanish and English, achieve academic excellence and are firmly placed on a path to higher education.

Graffiti Zone is an after-school arts program for underserved youth. Its purpose is to create a safe environment in which kids can connect with themselves and their community through art making and arts promotion. Graffiti Zone aims to make use of art as a powerful tool for change in the West Humboldt Park community of Chicago.

Hooked On Drums brings the upbeat, inspiring rhythms of African djembe drumming from the Malinke people in Guinea, West Africa to kids in urban Chicago. They offer Hooked On Drums classes and youth drum performances through the Chicago Park District, local schools and community organizations.

Intonation Music Workshop empowers children to become rock stars on every stage in life through innovative music education. Using donated instruments and a unique pop-band curriculum, our after-school and summer music program provides kids age 6-17 in Chicago's underserved communities with access to instruction and performance opportunities in a safe and positive environment.

JMI a Christian nonprofit which strives to help underserved respect the intellectual strength provided through education, and provide enrichment through the arts and athletics. Their programs and activities nurture and support academic success, build character and integrity, and promote the overall well being of our youth. We provide comprehensive and customized academic, social, mental, physical and vocational programs and mentoring to meet the needs of our participants.

New Life Centers of Chicagoland provide neighborhood-based Centers that connect youth and young adults with Christ and Community through mentoring, education, and sports.

OneGoal Graduation (formerly Urban Students Empowered) is an organization dedicated to providing low-income urban high school students with the resources, support, and network necessary to make higher education a reality. OneGoal Graduation fulfills this mission by providing comprehensive, program-based Fellowships to groups of students in low-income schools in Chicago and sets itself apart as one of the only college access programs in the country that invests in previously underperforming students.

SkyART's mission is to provide youth with an accessible, safe place to participate in quality visual arts programs. In pursuing this mission, they are guided by three core values: Youth Enrichment, Creativity, and Accessibility.

Of the more than 100 community art centers established by the WPA, the SSCAC is the only surviving art center and the oldest African-American art center in the United States. The mission of the SSCAC is to provide arts education to our local community, maintain and grow our permanent collection of original African-American artwork dating back to the 1940's, provide exhibition and gallery space to local artists, develop a body of collectors, and increase opportunities for African-American Artists. 

Bethel Family Programs of New Life Centers of Chicagoland empowers West Humboldt Park youth to live life to its fullest. After-school and summer programs provide children ages 4-12 with tutoring and activities to foster the whole child, as well as serving teens ages 13-19 with college preparation, technology training, and recreation. Play spaces for infants and career assistance for parents encourage the whole family to attend, working together to achieve their goals.

The Blue Sky Employment Program provides homeless and at-risk youth with twelve weeks of paid, supportive employment at Blue Sky Bakery & Caf?. Youth gain valuable experience in cooking, baking, maintaining a sanitary work environment, delivering catering orders, customer service and cash-handling.

For over 30 years, Centro Romero has been a community-based organization that serves the refugee immigrant population on the northeast side of Chicago. Its Youth Learning and Leadership Program provides intensive after-school programs for academic support, tutoring, recreational and cultural activities for children.

Since 1978 the Chicago Area Runners Association -- CARA, a non-profit organization has been dedicated to running advocacy in Chicago and suburbs.  Starting as the local running club, CARA has grown into the organization that championed the running movement across Chicagoland. We help runners run better, farther, faster and with more fun by clearing paths to a wealth of training, social, outreach and advocacy programs, while promoting friendships and personal fulfillment.

Cooperative Image Group provides public arts education programs for 500 youth, ages 8-21 using professional artists to provide after-school and summer fine arts and marketing training. They also provide community gardens for an estimated 200 residents in Humboldt Park and West Chicago. 

Coraz?n a Coraz?n is a non-profit organization that serves the Latino community. They offer one-on-one ESL tutoring and an after-school program, both of which are volunteer-based. Coraz?n believes that education is key to advancing and empowering our community and transforming the world, one person at a time.

Dime Child Foundation's mission is to provide resources and services to at-risk, low-income students that would ensure them hope for a promising future. Through programs that emphasize the importance of education, mentoring and leadership, youth are encouraged to seek their highest level of potential. 

The Hudson Academy Foundation provides a fitness martial arts program for residents of the Village of Robbins (south suburb) and surrounding communities. Other programming includes basketball, summer camp, before- and after-school care, and cheerleading for 50 children and youth, ages 4-16.

InnovaTeen's mission is to connect high school students with professional entrepreneurs and leaders in the business world. They seek to give a fun, hands-on experience of what it's like to create, build and work in a business.

Kids Off the Block's mission is to provide at-risk, low-income youth positive alternatives to gangs, drugs, truancy, violence, and the juvenile justice system.

KidzExpress provides educational and recreational field trips, tutoring, physical recreation, career and academic counseling, arts and crafts, life management skills, camps and retreats, and a post-high school education fund for 70 at-risk children and youth, ages 5-18, in Austin.

Make A Difference Youth Foundation Provides technology-oriented after school tutoring and extracurricular programs for elementary students, and college prep for high school students from across Chicago. 

M.A.D.E. is a non-profit charitable organization founded in 2001. Our main focus involves utilizing various multifunctional programs to assist at risk youth who range in age from 9-14 years old to establish a positive and productive lifestyle. Their mission is to develop at risk youth into leaders through Leadership Development Programs and create positive role models using sports.

Team programs address the need for establishing and maintaining structured activities for disadvantage, low-income, inner city children. Their programs provide a safe environment that foster positive peer interactions, teamwork, positive adult interactions, and respect for authority.

The Cambridge School's after-school program, The Ambassadors Club, seeks to increase self-discipline, parental involvement, and academic performance for 45 students, ages 3-8.

Union Avenue Community Outreach is a community youth outreach agency that seeks to promote and facilitate racial reconciliation and positive youth development through programs for youth from 7th grade to age 21 in Chicago's New City community.

Urban Initiative's mission is to empower Chicago?s youth to become agents of community change through academic success, healthy living, and leadership development. They drive systemic change by connecting stakeholders and strengthening the social fabric of the community.

Bethany Brethren Community Center runs youth programs focused on improving student achievement in the East Garfield Park community. The Center provides homework assistance and arts education four days a week during the school year and five days a week during school vacations and the summer for 100 elementary-age children.

Founded in 1989, the Cluster Tutoring Program provides free one-on-one tutoring to more than 60 school-age youth, grades one through 12, from the Austin community in Chicago.

Positive Paths vision is a community of culturally vital youth who are knowledgeable, capable, responsible, and respectful to themselves, their families, and the community. To attain this vision, Positive Paths mission is to create a safe, positive, and empowering environment for Native youth to learn and live in wellness.

In Chicago's East Garfield Park, where disinvestment has left the neighborhood devoid of opportunity and full of broken dreams, Breakthrough is restoring the broken networks of youth and families and empowering adults in the community to achieve self-sufficiency and break the cycle of poverty.

Chinese Mutual Aid's Youth Department provides after-school tutoring, leadership development, and other recreational activities for 94 immigrant and refugee children and youth, ages 4-19, in the Uptown community. 

Using a direct instructional approach that connects every day life to music, the DMDL Curriculum helps students improve perceptive listening, critical thinking and creative participation skills. Through practical application and integrated, standards-based content, the curriculum addresses national and state goals for reading, math and fine arts.

Girls on the Run inspires girls to be joyful, healthy, and confident using a fun, experience-based curriculum which creatively integrates running.

New Horizons for Youth serves 250, impoverished children and youth, kindergarten through college, living in Chicago's South and West Sides through out-of-school-time tutoring, life management skills workshops, recreational activities, and counseling. Meals and snacks are provided as well as parent education services. 

For more than 18 years, Open Studio Project has provided dynamic, award-winning arts programming in a welcoming atmosphere of supportive non-interference - free of all comment and critique.

Starfish Learning Center is a non-profit organization founded in 1997. They educate, empower, and mentor at-risk youth in the areas of character development, academic proficiency, spiritual formation and social-emotional intelligence, empowering them to overcome and eliminate the limiting factors that lead to at-risk behavior and to secure a bright and promising future.

The Beloved Community's Excellence in Education program provides evening and weekend tutoring, academic enrichment, college exploration, college application and admission support, college test preparation, and scholarship and financial aid counseling for 50 African-American youth, grades 6-12.

Chicago SCORES mission is to inspire a lasting dedication to education, healthy living and civic responsibility in urban children.

Girls in the Game (GIG) provides and promotes sports and fitness opportunities, nutrition and health education and leadership development to enhance the overall health and wellbeing of all girls in Chicago.

Saving a Childhood Foundation is organized to encourage children to chase their dreams and be productive members of their communities, SACF programs target at-risk youth, ages 7-18.

Based on the Montessori Philosophy, the South Harper Montessori School cares, nurtures and educates children utilizing hands-on, minds-on activity oriented strategies.

The mission of the Sue Duncan Children's Center is to transform the lives of children by nurturing their academic, athletic, and artistic growth. The Center builds safe, supportive communities that strengthen families and motivate children to succeed.

The JHP Community Center's mission is to help youth commit to a life-long pursuit of self-development through service to one another and their communities. This is done through youth-led programs, and the use of the comprehensive community and school-based curriculum called the A-CLASS Learning System.

The mission at Blessed Sacrament is to support and nurture the lives of the young people of North Lawndale so that they will grow to become happy and productive citizens. They do this by offering our youth a wide variety of educational, sports and recreational programming with a particular emphasis on programming emphasizing self-responsibility, accountability and personal achievement.

Pros Arts Studio is pro-art... and pro-community. Since 1978, they have brought artists and communities together through programs in the visual, performing, and media arts for all ages and all levels in schools, libraries, theaters, parks, and community centers.

The Southside Educational Center for Youth is committed to helping youth become responsible, productive, and engaged citizens.

The Learning Network Center, serving the Austin community, arguably the city's largest and most troubled neighborhood, the Learning Network Center has helped kids beat the odds since its founding in 1972.

Agape's Victory Club after-school program provides personalized needs assessment and opportunities for education enhancement, homework assistance, crafts, performing arts, physical fitness and social development.

Created in 1994 and administered by the AKArama Foundation, F.A.M.E. (Families As Mentoring Entities) is a community service, after school program serving students, grades 3rd through 6th, in the Dixon and Pirie elementary schools in the Chatham neighborhood.

Our mission is to be fully devoted to Jesus by opening our arms to those in search of the truth. We show God's love and concern for our fellow man at every opportunity. Through works of charity and opening our doors to listen and love, we feel that we are walking in the footsteps of Jesus Christ.

Open Book is one of the programs of the Institute of Positive Living. Open Book is a multifaceted after-school program for young adolescents in which participants are engaged in activities that encourage the development of reading, 
writing and critical thinking skills.

West Humboldt Park Center for Performing Arts (WHPCPA) brings music, dance, and drama to children living on the West Side of Chicago, from Kedzie to Pulaski and from Augusta to Ferdinand.