Community Center Makes COVID-19 Shots More Appealing and Accessible for Residents

The GAP Community Center has been featured in the news for the awesome work we have been doing with mobilizing vaccines. We recently received a grant from Chicagoland Vaccine Partnership and Health First Collaborative to be able to hire a new staff member who will help raise awareness of the vaccine in communities on the West side. This grant also allows us to have regular events to educate families on the COVID-19 vaccine, as well as distribute vaccines. We have hired Nilda Menendez to fill this role. We are excited to have her on the team and excited to see how the work of our community center will bless our neighbors. Click here to read the article by Block Club Chicago.

North Austin Community Center

We will be breaking ground very soon for our new community center in North Austin. This has been a joint effort between Grace and Peace Church and By the Hand Club for Kids that has been in the works for many years, and we are so excited to see it come to fruition. The North Austin Community Center (NACC) is scheduled to be built this Fall and include a variety of activities for the community, especially our youth, to engage in. There will be soccer fields, basketball courts, CrossFit stations, a walking track, a playground, and so much more. By the Hand will be creating an after-school program for academic assistance and mentoring for students between elementary age and high school age. Grace and Peace Church has also partnered with Young Life, a faith-based youth program, to provide youth with outdoor education programs as well. The goal of this center is to provide positive outlets for youth to engage in, and bring the people of Austin together to show all this community has to offer.

Juneteenth Celebration

A few weeks ago we hosted an event celebrating Juneteenth. We partnered with Lewis School of Excellence, Grace and Peach Church, and CPD 25th District to host an evening of live music, soul food, and a variety of activities for the families of our community. This event was sponsored by Let’s Link Chi and Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s Partnership for Safe and Peaceful Communities, an initiative to support year-round activities that center our neighborhood, fund youth programs, and provide resources for the safety of our community. We were also able to hand out free books donated by Oak Street Health. This evening also consisted of a mural unveiling for paintings of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Cesar Chavez, and Mother Theresa that are displayed at the Revive Center. We had 125 people join us in celebrating this day.

Austin Fresh Funds Chiquitos in the Kitchen for Two Years

We’re pleased to announce that we’ve been awarded a grant from Austin Fresh to fund our popular Chiquitos in the Kitchen program for two years! Austin Fresh is a one-million dollar annual fund by The Builders Initiative, The Christopher Family Foundation, and The Lumpkin Family Foundation. They set out to work collaboratively to expand healthy retail options, support community gardens and local food production, grow food enterprises, and protect and strengthen food assistance programs in the Austin neighborhood on Chicago’s West Side. We are one of seven grantees in Austin. Learn more about Austin Fresh and the other grantees here.

Chiquitos in the Kitchen (CIK) is a cooking and gardening program to empower students in Austin to engage with food creatively and sustainably in the garden, kitchen, around the table, and in the community. We piloted this program to huge success in summer 2020 thanks to the Partnership for Safe and Peaceful Communities, and now that work will continue year-round for at least the next two years!

Each week, students will receive boxes with ingredients and supplies to grow simple food at home. We’ll post instructional videos for cooking, gardening, and learning more about where food and recipes comes from. Each week, students will have a live video check-in with instructors. When it’s safe to do so, we’ll resume in-person learning and gardening on-site at The Revive Center. 

We’re excited to bring back Mary-Beth Johnson as the lead instructor for this program and partner with other growers and chefs in Austin and beyond to teach our students. Mary-Beth feels most at home in a kitchen, sharing a full spectrum concept on food—from where our food comes from, who local growers are, the historical implications of foods from different cultures, and of course, the skills and techniques that help us build flavor. She hopes to engage students of all ages to think about food critically as well as embrace and celebrate the unique eating cultures that everyone brings to the table.

The spring session of CIK will begin in March 2021 for eight weeks with a cohort of students in 4th-6th grades and another for students in 7th-10th grades called Juntos at the Table. Enrollment for Chiquitos in the Kitchen and Juntos at the Table will prioritize students living or going to school in Austin (zip codes 60651 and 60639) and be by referral only. If you’d like to volunteer to help out with Chiquitos in the Kitchen or Juntos at the Table, please contact Erica Martinez, GAPAdemics After School Program Director, at erica@gapcommunitycenter.org.

Let's Link North Austin

GAP Community Center and several community partners received funding from Let’s Link Chi, an effort to expand accessible, year-round neighborhood-centric activities, youth programming, and resources that keep residents safe. It’s funded by the Partnership for Safe and Peaceful Communities in collaboration with Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

GAPCC will host 10 socially-distant community events over 7 months at The Revive Center (1856 N LeClaire) and Lewis School of Excellence, just a few blocks away in North Austin. We’re excited to grow our partnership with Lewis as well as Grace and Peace Church, CPD 25th District, and Oak Street Health, our other partners on this initiative.

In November, we hosted a food box giveaway event at Lewis that served almost 200 families, and in December our annual Christmas Store distributed toys to 270 kids in 83 families! Lewis also hosted a drive-in movie night showing Jingle Jangle, with about 188 students and families in attendance. Future events will include a Black History month celebration, mural unveilings at both sites, and outside exercise & dance experiences.

We’re grateful to Let’s Link Chi and the Chicago Community Trust for awarding us this opportunity to make our communities safer. Later in 2021 you can look out for mural unveilings, Zumba in the park, cultural celebrations, and sports tournaments, especially as the weather gets nicer and the pandemic subsides with widespread vaccination.

Stay tuned for more details about how you can join!

Healing Illinois

We’re excited to share that we’ve received a grant from Healing Illinois, a statewide initiative of the Illinois Dept. of Human Services in partnership with Chicago Community Trust to foster positive dialogue on race relations and deliberative reckoning on systemic racism and disparities still faced by Black Illinoisans and other people of color.

Funds will support two public panel discussions on the theme of “Healing North Austin: Black & Brown in 2021” produced by Storied Media. These community conversations will explore the complex factors that impact relations between Black and Latino/a communities, with a focus on our neighborhood on the Northwest Side of Chicago. In addition, our staff will also receive top-notch cultural intelligence training as part of the grant.

Stay tuned for event dates and details!

Sippin' with the Seniors

GAP Community Center has launched a new monthly gathering for the senior citizens in our community. These folks have lived out their lives investing in the families and streets of North Austin and Belmont Cragin, and we want to give back and create fun places for them to connect, unwind, and have fun as they continue to pour out support for their families and neighbors.

The first gathering on October 29 was a painting activity led by our Co-Founder & CEO, Angelina Zayas. Seniors painted portraits of pumpkins, snacked on candy, and enjoyed the company of friends new and old. Partners from Oak Street Health also shared information about their opportunities to support senior health.

Sippin’ with the Seniors will begin as a monthly gathering with hopes of creating a more robust program schedule as we build momentum. The next activity will be Bingo on November 26 at noon. Check back later for more news and updates about senior activities at GAP Community Center.

Essence Girls Mentoring at GAPAdemics Summer Program

This year GAPAdemics Summer Program included a girls’ mentoring program called Essence. Listen to stories from the summer in the video below!

Beers for a Cause 2019

Please join us for our annual silent auction fundraiser event, Beers for a Cause, on Thursday, May 16 at Revolution Brewery & Taproom. Your ticket includes unlimited beer, snacks, a brewery tour, and the opportunity to bid on dozens of auction items!