On Tuesday, nine high school and college students between the ages of 14 and 18 gathered on the West Side at Collins Academy High School in Douglass Park to prepare for the seven weeks ahead.
It was a training day for the teens who are part of My Block, My Hood, My City, an organization that encourages young Chicagoans to expand their knowledge of the city they live in. For its fifth year, “M3″ is bringing back its youth-led community walks program to help educate and entertain guests about the history of North Lawndale.
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Ernesto Gonzalez, marketing manager for My Block, My Hood, My City, said recruitment for the program starts at the beginning of the school year to attract high school freshmen for the following summer.
“It’s a way for them to step outside of their homes and step outside of their comfort zones,” Gonzalez said.
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This is the first summer since 2019 that the program is running at full capacity, with up to 40 guests.
During the summers of 2020 and 2021, the program ran with limited capacity, with one to three guests per teen, according to Gonzalez.
But before putting on their walking shoes and speaking in front of people they have not met before, the community walk leaders had to learn important skills such as voice projection, enunciation and confidence.
“This year is opened up so that the whole city and tourists can go on the community walk,” Gonzalez said. “People don’t usually go to North Lawndale, but North Lawndale has a lot to offer.”
Guests visit the streets where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. lived and served while he organized in Chicago, and they learn about the current organizations that continue the work at Stone Temple Church.
Chicago native Imani Muse returned from her first year at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa to intern at My Block, My Hood, My City and assist the teens with public speaking.
She led a group activity that made them all chuckle while they did it.
One by one, the teens took turns standing in front of the classroom to read a tongue twister off a computer screen: “How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?”
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The next activity was even more challenging. The group leaders were asked to introduce themselves in a park right outside of their school. They needed to be heard from a distance and over noises such as cars passing by or conversations within earshot.
Akira Young, 15, said meeting new people and public speaking are her favorite parts of the program.
“I was really afraid to talk to people at first,” Young said. “But the more and more I talk to people, the less nervous I am and it’s something that I look forward to.”
Young, who lives in Austin, said she was eager to learn more about the North Lawndale neighborhood.
“I didn’t know about all the stuff North Lawndale had to offer,” Young said. “I’d never experienced this side of my city.”
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It’s not all work, though. During the week, the group takes trips, such as going to a lasagna-making class.
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In the summer of 2019, two of the teens traveled to Spain and lived with a host family for two weeks.
“So many lessons can come from these community walks,” Gonzalez said. “We try to plant the seeds in them and let them make the decisions on what to do with that.”
Private tours take place Fridays and Saturdays. All proceeds are given back to the program to pay and support the participating youths.
Free walks for residents of the community are available once a week with “Westside Wednesdays.”
“I still get nervous when I get a new group of people,” Young said. “But the nerves shake off as I go along and at the end I breathe again and am happy I can say that I did it.”
