News—On a picture-perfect, sunny afternoon, Chicago Police Officer Veronica Wingard looks out at Hamilton Park, located in the middle of her patrol area in Englewood. A group of 10 teenage boys is stretching for a game of touch football while another group, comprised mostly of girls, is picking out tennis rackets. Continue…
News—At 6:30 on a Friday evening in late August at a Southside Salvation Army, coach Daryl Bell is sitting in the bleachers of the large gymnasium as a hotly-contested game between teenage boys in its final minutes is playing out on the floor. Bell calls timeout and substitutes three new players onto the court.
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News—Over six-thousand CPS students and their families gathered to run or walk a mile at Washington Park in Chicago on November 7th. A short distance for a day, but it represents a huge, positive change in the lives of many of those involved.
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News—Chicago Run has been finding ways to combat Pediatric Obesity among Chicago Public School students since 2007. This year, they serve over 6,000 students in 30 schools. Their "Fall Fun Run" will take place on Saturday, November 7th at Washington Park on Chicago's South Side.
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News—When Reverend Leotis Johnson sat down to plan out Pilgrim Baptist Church’s annual Southside youth summer camp, he decided this year’s program needed a new theme. Thinking back to some of his volunteer efforts, he drew inspiration from Spring Into Sports, the youth-athletics-based initiative that attracted 1,500 kids from around Chicago in March of this year.
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News—The 2016 Olympics represented an opportunity for Chicago to place itself squarely on the world stage, and perhaps tilt the economic dynamics of the city towards many of the neighborhoods in which LISC and our partners live and work.
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News—Most people that run marathons train for several years during adulthood before tackling their first 26.2-mile race.
The members of MGR Foundation's Team M3 are not most people.
Nor are they adults, for that matter.
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News—The spirit of conquest is alive and well in East Garfield Park, where Breakthrough Urban Ministries partnered with Ceasefire Chicago and other community organizations to reclaim the St. Louis Playlot, located at the corner of North St. Louis and West Carroll Avenues.
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News—The Little Village Summer Softball League brings together neighborhood residents, with an emphasis on reaching out to at-risk youth.
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News—Walk into the Shedd Park Fieldhouse any weekday afternoon and you’re sure to see something that will stop you cold: young people flying through the air all over the gymnasium. They are doing back flips and aerials and handsprings and other awe-inspiring feats of athleticism. Is it a Ninja training facility? A zero-gravity club? No, it’s Tumbling for Success, a gymnastics-based sports program for youths between ages 3 and 18. And these kids really know how to make a jaw drop.
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News—The Hoops in the Hood Citywide Finals are the culmination of a summer full of basketball and community building. Community organizations and residents partnered to bring unity to their communities through basketball. The Citywide Finals took that one step further, bringing together eleven Chicago communities to share in a day of hoops and harmony.
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News—Project Play claims the open space at 31st St. and Lawndale Avenue in Little Village for families to get outside and play together. Combining traditional sports, like basketball and soccer, with activities like tag and 4-square, Beyond the Ball is using Tuesday nights to inspire parents and their children to adopt healthy lifestyles.
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News—On Friday July 31st, a Humboldt Park neighborhood organization transformed the 1900 block of North St. Louis Avenue from a conventional Chicago street into a temporary performance space where basketball players, tumblers, poets, neighborhood residents, and even a clown celebrated summer in the city.
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News—Jesus Martinez, a recent high school graduate and resident of Little Village, started a business with his twin brother, Oscar, called Twin Films. They were inspired to create their business after Jesus polished his craft in a media class sponsored by LISC.
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News—Open Streets took place on August 1st, allowing bikers, walkers, and joggers to take over the boulevards on the west side of Chicago. Neighborhood organizations worked together to entertain and welcome visitors to their community.
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News—Summer and vacation go hand in hand. But for too many kids, “vacation” just means a break from school, because they rarely actually go anywhere. Instead, they spend most of their summer inside the house, or hanging around the neighborhood. But for the last ten years, Andrew Dortch of Dortch Enterprises has offered inner-city youth a unique and productive alternative: exploring Chicago on their bicycles.
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News—Friday nights look a little different this summer in the Back of the Yards neighborhood. Basketball hoops are set up in the streets, surrounded by kids dribbling and shooting. Grills are smoking in front yards, getting loaded up with hot dogs. Popcorn and snow cones are being handed out. And people who previously did not meet are now coming together to enjoy the community feeling created by "Hoops in the Hood."
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News—When most people think about inner city youth sports programs, they generally think of basketball or football, or perhaps even boxing. But Montana Butsch of the Chicago Training Center has something different in mind. He wants to fatten that list a bit, with football and basketball sliding over to make room for rowing.
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News—Representatives from more than a dozen organizations affiliated with Neighborhood Sports Chicago heard and reacted to a presentation about coaching practices that can create a positive environment for youth.
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News—An ugly sleet-snowstorm scared off more than half the runners registered for the Bank of America Shamrock Shuffle, held Sunday, March 29. Yet 21 middle-schoolers from Chicago Running Mates joined the 14,000 who braved the wet, wind and near-freezing cold. For most of the Running Mates, it was their first-ever 8K.
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News—The latest video from TuMultimedia features medal winners, students, a parent and others talking about the value of the eight-day event during Spring Break.
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News—It almost seems routine after seven days of intense competition and fun that engaged 1,500 neighborhood youth during Spring Into Sports. But it couldn't have happened without strong local leaders, a lot of organizing and a love of kids as well as sports.
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News—We've assembled all the photo slideshows and videos in this category so you can find them easily. There's basketball, volleyball, rowing, double dutch, archery, swimming and plenty more from all four of the Spring Into Sports high school venues.
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About us—Neighborhood Sports Chicago (NSC) is a consortium of community-based organizations that offer athletic programs for children and young adults in underserved neighborhoods in Chicago. NSC programs combine sports, leadership development, art and health awareness all while promoting civic engagement and community building. NSC member organizations have a demonstrated track record of successful program implementation and coordination among residents and community groups.
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