Program areas at New Life Centers of Chicagoland
Pan De Vida: In 2022, New Life Centers officially opened our indoor fresh market (El Mercadito). After much waiting, we had our grand opening in June 2022. El Mercadito provides food provision to the families in the community and the second floor of the hub will serve as a community learning center. In 2022, our distribution hubs across the neighborhood served 202,024 individuals. Every family receives 90 pounds of groceries each time they visit the food distribution hub. Our food pantry operates 5 days a week. We've started English literacy classes for community members and case management for families that visit our pantry through partnerships with other community organizations.
The Vine: The Vine Out-of-School time programming includes after school and summer camp options for youth in grades K-8th in the Humboldt Park neighborhood. It continues to be a space of hope, teaching, tutoring, and physical activity Monday through Friday year-round. We provide support and resources for 5 local elementary schools and have served over 80 students during this current school year and over 70 students last summer.
Urban Life Skills: Urban Life Skills continued to provide street outreach, crisis response, mediation, violence interruption, victim advocacy, case management, sports-based programming and mentoring for young people. We spent the year engaging our young people in small groups, one on one sessions, and programming. In 2022, 482 youth were engaged in 1-on-1 mentoring and 2,128 youth participated in mentoring programs and activities, with 1,860 youth participating in mentoring programs. The Street Outreach staff responded to 93% of all critical incidents in our service area and spent 2,322 hours canvassing the streets working with youth people.
La Semilla: La Semilla continues to be a safe space in the community for students in grades 1st - 8th. We serve about 40 students who attend local elementary schools during the school year and over 30 in our summer camp. Our focus is on building connections with young people through educational support, social-emotional learning, health/wellness, and physical activity. We have seen growth in our 1st grade - 2nd grade students who had to attend school virtually and missed out on those pre-academic skills. Our afterschool program promotes language and cognitive skills, opportunities to practice independence while collaborating with others, and encourages curiosity. We are excited to see young people become confident readers and thrive in social settings.