Community Circle | Session 1

Last night, we hosted our first Community Circle at TFD! Last year, the team and some community members were trained in facilitating healing circles with Andrew from We Each Belong. A community healing circle is inspired by indigenous practices to promote health relationships as well as solve any tensions within a group of individuals.

Community Circles will be held once a month to build relationships with our neighbors. Join Jessica and Benjamin for fun games and meaningful conversation on Wednesday night (February 12th, 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM) for the next circle. Thank you to our participants in taking this first step with us to continue inviting healing within our communities.

Black and Brown Solidarity | Creative Dreaming, Second Session

We hosted our second creative dreaming session last night on black and brown solidarity. After dinner, we opened up with reminders of our values on what creates a safe space. The youth then answered some of our reflection questions on black and brown communities, some of the biases we may have, and what we can learn from them. Then we continued building on ideas and topics we came up with last session. For inspiration, Maya showed the youth some of the past creative projects TFD has done. Each youth took one topic we came up with last time and brainstormed some creative projects that related to the topic. After, they shared their ideas and commented on others they found interesting.

Thank you so much to everyone who came yesterday! We are still looking for more youth who are passionate about black and brown solidarity. Contact Maya (maya@thefirehousedream.orga) for more information. Our last dreaming session is March 6th, 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM.

Art Therapy at PMSA Mental Health Club

We are so excited to continue offering our programming through mental health club at PMSA. This month, Dana of Paint on Purpose led art therapy for the students. This session, the students painted cacti to resemble growth and purpose. Cacti are able to grow in harsh conditions even without water. Dana created this piece to resemble the how we are always working to a goal and we can still achieve growth even during hard time.

Thank you Dana for extending your resources to the PMSA students and thank you to the students for your participation!

Food Distribution | March 2022

Photo Credit: Saffron

Every 3rd Saturday of the month, God’s Heritage Full Gospel, Impact Church, Next Generation, & TFD gather for food distribution for people within the community. We are a coalition of neighboring organizations working together to provide for our community. These distributions are so important for both families and individuals since there are no local grocery stores in the area.

This month makes 2 years since TFD began this partnership! We are thankful that we are able to serve our community and those in need. We hope to see continued growth and partnership.

Photo Credit: Saffron

Senior Stories | A Collaboration With Quinn Center

This past fall, our mentees collaborated with Quinn Center to highlight the stories of seniors in our community. Our partnership with the Quinn Center and seniors was to amplify community members’ voices. Maywood is an inter-generational community and TFD values the stories of those that have built the community up. Our mentees learned about an earlier Maywood and those that have lived here for decades. We brought in 4 community members to tell us about their journey in the Proviso District and how it has impacted them, as well as what future they hope for. Here are their stories.

Mazell Skyes

Martha Minich

Lynessa Greer

Alice Ocrey

check out some behind the scenes from this film project: