Celebrating Project H.O.O.D.’s Ten Year Anniversary
Message from Executive Director Pastor Corey B. Brooks
As I write to you, I recall just a few weeks ago looking out at kids laughing, playing their favorite games, singing famous TikTok songs, reading books, but most importantly, just being kids. I am writing to let you know: it is extremely important to create safe spaces for children to learn, smile, and above all, be happy.
Every year, Project H.O.O.D. hosts a Free Summer Camp for the kids on the Southside of Chicago. Well over 100 kids in the Woodlawn & Englewood area take part. Our goal is Creating Opportunities, Reclaiming Communities.
Project H.O.O.D. started in 2011 during a very violent time in our city. We had a crime-ridden motel that had become a symbol of sorrow, pain, and disenfranchisement. Our community stood together, and we got rid of that motel. Our residents deserved more. All of us wanted better for our neighborhood. All of us wanted better for our children.
Today, Project H.O.O.D. is a vital gathering spot that provides much-needed trades/technical training courses, employment and job training, youth programming and mentoring, recreational areas, and entrepreneurship programs for new businesses.
This year’s Gala has been cancelled…
Unfortunately, because of the ongoing state of COVID-19, we had to cancel our largest fundraising event of the year set to take place in October. This is very disappointing to us, our Annual Gala serves the very serious purpose of providing a major part of our program funding for the year. We very much wanted to highlight our work over the last ten years. And, it was very important for us to raise money to continue our work.
This leaves an enormous gap in our programming budget for 2021. For this reason, I would like to ask you to consider supporting Project H.O.O.D. with a donation. We appreciate your past financial support. With your support, along with thousands of other private donors, we have created and/or expanded programs like our:
Violence Prevention Team to intervene before the violence starts
Construction Training to provide training and career pathways in the trades
Entrepreneurship mentoring to support local businesses and promote local startups
Career and financial training for our community members
Youth Programming to give children a safe summer camp and alternative activities
It is grassroots donors who largely fund us: 85% of our donations are under $100. Thanks to the support of thousands of donors from all over the country, we have been able to build our programming, which has positively impacted our community in significant ways. Just a few of our accomplishments include:
Distribution of over 2 million pounds of food in less than one year. The pandemic hit the low-income areas of the south side harder than anywhere in 2020. We changed our programming to meet the needs of our community.
Certified 90 construction workers through our Construction Training Program. There is a widespread deficit of trades workers. These are well-paying and fulfilling careers. Our program has a 94% graduation rate and 80% success rate at landing apprenticeship within 3 months.
Financial coaching to 1,000 community members. Financial literacy is imperative in growing your career and supporting your family.
Help over 250 residents of Woodlawn and Englewood in employment matching. The economy is back and growing more than ever and our residents should reap the benefits.
Free summer camp provided for over 600 children. This relieves working families of some of the burden of expensive child care.
Project H.O.O.D. is proud of what we’ve accomplished and we are so grateful for our donors and supporters. Our great impact has helped lower violence in our community by 20% year over year. What we do, Helping Others Obtain Destiny, truly works.
We appreciate any amount you can contribute to Project H.O.O.D. Please support our work with a donation so we can sustain and grow our mission. With your help, we can reach many more in need and at-risk youth and young adults. Our community is benefitting from our intervention.
For more information on giving, please visit ProjectHood.org/donate.
As a reminder, we are a 501c(3) organization, so your donation is 100% tax-deductible. We greatly appreciate your support during this month of October before the holidays. Please consider making a donation before 10-31-21.
You may have noticed our new logo! We have a fresh look but it’s the same Project H.O.O.D. And, with your help, we will continue Helping Others Obtain Destiny.
Please join us in our mission.
Sincerely,
Pastor Corey B. Brooks