Neighborhood Sports in Action

Neighborhood groups and sports organizations have created special programming to engage youth in positive activities and provide an alternative to gang involvement.

Why sports? It turns heads of young people
There’s nothing academic about sliding across a muddy soccer field or doing drills to fine-tune your volleyball moves. Or is there? “Sports can turn the heads of a lot of young people whose heads aren’t turned by many other things,” says Clyde K. El-Amin, president of the Englewood-based Kennedy-King College.
Sunday Parkways brings bikes, walkers onto streets
Chicago took a giant step on Sunday, October 5, by banning motorized traffic from a four-mile section of its historic parkways so thousands of pedestrians, cyclists, in-line skaters and others could exercise to their heart's content. It was the first of two Sunday events in the fall of 2008 that will be repeated in 2009.
Bounce passes, jump shots build bridges
On a winter night with enough snow to reduce traffic on nearby Cermak Road, about a dozen boys and young men waited outside the West Lawn Gospel Church gym and youth center for a chance to play basketball. They were part of a program called Beyond the Ball.
How it got started: B-Ball on the Block and Block Arte
The B-Ball on the Block and Block Arte program has been running for four years now in Little Village, including a summer series of basketball, art and food. This story covers the 2006 kickoff and includes a video slideshow about what kids and adults thought about the series.
Youth fix (and ride) bikes in Humboldt Park
Youth in Humboldt Park and surrounding neighborhoods participate in the BickerBikes program to learn how to repair bikes and then ride them safely around the city. A video tells the story.