Graffiti Zone Information
I. Organization’s mission, history and objectives.
Graffiti Zone is an after-school arts program in which youth can connect with themselves and their community through art making and arts promotion. Art is used as a tool to develop business skills, leadership skills, increase self-esteem, strengthen community involvement and encourage advanced education. Artist Jody Cooley founded Graffiti Zone in 2006 as a drop-in arts studio for children and teens in West Humboldt Park. The program was established in direct response to a pressing community need: to keep young people off the streets during the critical afterschool hours when drug and gang-related activity is at its peak. Cooley generated interest in the studio using street outreach methods common to social services organizations. Upon identifying at-risk youth hanging out on street corners, staff members invited them in to the studio to work on arts projects, learn new skills, and find support in a safe environment. Graffiti Zone now provides art classes, workshops and art shows at Cameron Elementary School, Rowe Clark and West Town Academy.
“So many of the kids on the streets are just bored and looking for something to do,” explains Cooley. “We wanted to provide them with something constructive to spend their time on, to keep them from getting involved in risky activities.”
With an outpouring of interest from youth in the community – and a never-ending need for quality afterschool programming – Graffiti Zone continues to grow and evolve. Throughout its history, it has remained flexible to meet the changing needs of its constituents. Now in its seventh year, Graffiti Zone offers a variety of programs and activities, in addition to its flagship drop-in studio. These include:
Afterschool arts programs and classes for children and teens;
Arts business activities, where students learn to put on their own art shows and generate income from their work;
Neighborhood beautification projects, including murals and lot cleanups;
The Humboldt Park Art Fair, an annual celebration of art, music, poetry and dance in the community;
An Artist-In-Residence program for young adults ages 18-26; and
Ongoing academic, career development and life skills support for all participants.
Many Graffiti Zone youth are victims of abuse and neglect, and the trauma that results from a culture of substance abuse, gang violence and community despair. For disadvantaged children and teens, the abstract idea of “the future” can seem distant, scary, or even unattainable.
Rather than asking children what they want to be when they grow up, Graffiti Zone encourages them to define what they want to be right now, in the present moment. What role do they want to play in the community? How can they avoid the problems, and be part of the solutions?
In keeping with its youth-centered approach, Graffiti Zone’s organizational objectives reflect input from its participants. They include the following:
Provide a safe space to be creative
Provide access to a variety of art mediums and resources
Provide opportunities for artists of all ages to show and sell their work
Introduce business and money management skills
Engage the community in the arts
Share resources and collaborate with artists, organizations and businesses
Provide support for academic success
Encourage secondary education
Offer opportunities for young people of all ages, including those transitioning to adulthood
With a new permanent location at 3722 West Chicago Avenue, the Graffiti Zone art studio is in the heart of the West Humboldt Park neighborhood. It is an accessible safe haven for young people who are confined to this troubled area of the city.
Notes on population served:
West Humboldt Park – particularly the stretch of Chicago Avenue where Graffiti Zone’s studio is located – is one of Chicago’s most impoverished, crime-ridden and underserved communities. Every day, young people in the neighborhood struggle with the threats of gangs, guns and drugs. Nearly every Graffiti Zone participant reports having lost a loved one(s) to gang violence. West Humboldt Park is a community made up almost entirely of minorities, and Graffiti Zone serves a population that is approximately 80% African-American and 20% Latino.
According to the Chicago Tribune’s Crime in Chicago Report for the Humboldt Park Community Area, covering the period of October 2012 to October 2013:
913 violent crimes took place, including 19 homicides and 307 instances of battery;
2,358 property crimes took place, including theft, burglary, motor vehicle theft and arson;
5,972 quality of life crimes took place, including narcotics, prostitution and criminal damage;
Nearly 3,000 narcotics-related crimes were recorded, placing Humboldt Park among the 10% of Chicago Community Areas with the most active drug trade.
Of over 56,000 people living in Humboldt Park, nearly 40% lack a high school diploma or equivalent. 12.3% are unemployed, with thousands more underemployed and uninsured. The per-capita income for the Community Area is a meager $13,391 – less than half of the per-capita income for the City of Chicago. Poor, undereducated individuals and families are concentrated on the west side of the Humboldt Park Community Area; and, based on staff experience, Graffiti Zone estimates that the number of families living in poverty in its immediate vicinity approaches 100%.
On April 25, 2012, the Chicago Reader published an article titled “Besieged,” which began: West Humboldt Park is one of America’s biggest open-air drug markets. What does that mean for its residents?
The article paints a picture of all that Graffiti Zone youth are up against. It goes on to describe the poor living conditions in West Humboldt Park, both a cause and result of the rampant drug activity. In this vicious cycle, the community’s young people continue to fall prey to the drug trade, which offers a tangible source of income and connections, in spite of its violent consequences.
Graffiti Zone falls within police beat 1112, which consistently ranks among the top three beats in the city for narcotics arrests. The article goes on:
The volume of drug busts here is astounding: more than six a day, for everything from low-level pot possession to dealing crack. But the neighborhood is probably best known for heroin. In those two beats alone [beats 1112 and 1121], there were more than 1,000 arrests for dealing or possessing heroin last year, accounting for one of every six heroin arrests citywide.
This is one of the city's most violent areas as well—hardly a coincidence, since, police say, the drug market is tied to most of the area's bloodshed. Last year at least 17 people were murdered in the two beats, more than the three- or four-year totals of many of the city's quieter neighborhoods.
Recently the 11th districts Capt. Roger Bay who was featured in another article in the reader about West Humboldt park, wrote Graffiti Zone a letter stating, “Once the Graffiti Zone took residency , nothing but positive events have been occurring…Graffiti Zone has hosted such event as an art show and anti-violence march in which the police have been invited. Their work, as a part of After School Matters Program, has benefited our community by providing guidance to local youth and providing a location for positive activities.”
Children in the neighborhood usually have no means of leaving. Many cannot afford fare for public transportation, and have rarely left the few blocks they call home – if ever. Because underserved youth lack access to transportation, it is imperative that afterschool programs are offered within walking distance of their schools and homes. For this reason, Graffiti Zone maintains its studio in the heart of this troubled community, ensuring a safe and accessible place for at-risk youth.
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