TURN (The Urban Resilience Network) Center Has Begun Faith Leader Training With NATAL In Chicago

Bright Star Community Outreach, Inc. Updates | October 2016

NATAL Has Begun Faith Leader Training In Chicago

Dear Friends of Pastor Chris Harris , Bright Star Church &

Bright Star Community Outreach, Inc. - 501c3

I’ve been excited in the past, but never quite like this! For more than three years, we have been planning, strategizing, traveling, developing, and finally our friends from NATAL in Tel Aviv, Israel have arrived and we have begun the long anticipated five-week intensive training of Chicago Faith Leaders & clinical social workers. We could use words, but pictures can show you better than we can tell you!

Top Photo: Chris Harris (Bronzeville), Moshik Siegel (Israel), Sigal Haimov (Israel), Rodney Carter (Director), Cyndee Langley (Supervisor)

Other Photos: Training Sessions (Day 1 & 2)

A number of Chicago neighborhoods experience persistent, exceptionally high rates of violence. Studies have found that rates of post-traumatic stress disorder are higher among residents of some high-crime neighborhoods than among veterans of combat. When constant high rates of violence exist, entire communities suffer in what is described as a peri-traumatic environment. Violence among youth is an especially significant public health problem with serious and lasting effects on young people, families and communities. Through the work of BSCO, our ultimate goal is to achieve sustainable violence reduction in Chicago through prevention, intervention, mentoring, workforce development and advocacy.

Photo: Jamaine Parish (Englewood),

Chris Chambliss (Maywood),

Cornelius Clark (South Side)

Photo: Rene Chandler (Calumet City),

Dan Johnson (Auburn Gresham),

Michael Neal (Bronzeville)

Photo: Chris Harris (Bronzeville),

Karen Williams Back Of The Yards),

Emily Stokes (Auburn Gresham),

Cyndee Langley (Supervisor)

Photo: Rodney Carter (Director),

Ramelia Williams (Logan Square),

Chris Wetherspoon (Gage Park)

Not In Photos: Ray Berryhill (Belmont)

and Randy Horn (Englewood)

Since January 2012 close to 2400+ people have been killed in the City of Chicago, not including those who have been shot or wounded. While many ask “why won’t this vicious cycle of violence stop?”, most fail to realize the families of these victims or perpetrators have never received counseling after such traumatic experiences. We endeavor to focus on five core competencies: counseling, parenting, mentorship, work-force development and advocacy. Its unique model will utilize faith leaders as post-trauma counselors and use community surveys as the basis for services that directly correspond to the unique needs of constituents. Its end-to-end approach offers a replicable, evidenced-based template for risk assessment and program evaluation. It is my hope that many people who have survived nightmares will begin to “dream again.” Although the TURN Center will sit in Bronzeville, it will serve all Chicagoans and our ultimate goal is to replicate this model across the United States in other traumatized communities. TURN Center, inspired by NATAL in Israel, is dedicated to serving Chicago with counseling and other social services aimed at minimizing negative factors that cause violence and increasing protective influences that yield positive outcomes.

BSCO's Team & Our Partners Have Been Busy

Northwestern Medicine, University of Chicago Medicine and United Way of Metropolitan Chicago partners, have committed support through ongoing skills and knowledge transfer, financial and organizational resources, business development expertise and fiscal oversight as well as assisted BSCO’s TURN Center initiative in cultivating its strategy and plan. Over the past three years, BSCO and its partners have built-up the capacity and readiness of the TURN Center by engaging community stakeholders, establishing an active board of directors, creating appropriate organizational and committee structures, strengthening human resources within BSCO and creating a management structure that is capable of managing and overseeing large-scale programs.

Top Photo: Wendy DuBoe (CEO of United Way), Kenneth Polanski (Dean - Univ. of Chicago Medicine), Chris & Jojo Harris (CEO of BSCO), Dean Harrison (CEO of Northwestern Medicine), Marc E. Sacks ( CEO of Private Equity of

Mesirow Financial)

Bottom Photo: TURN Center Steering Committee

BSCO's TURN Center Steering & Sub-Committees

Bright Star Community Outreach is now stronger with the help of organizations who meet month & bi-monthly that are among the most respected in their fields and offer the most rigorously studied and successful evidence-based programs for preventing and intervening in violence.

Using the Communities That Care (CTC) model, more than 1500+ students in 19 schools participated in anonymous youth surveys with an amazing 72% response rate. Now through collaboration and investment in respected, evidence-based partners, the Chicago Center for Youth Violence Prevention (CCYVP) of the School of Social Service Administration of the University of Chicago has recently been awarded a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (CDC) to evaluate the impact of the CTC process on rates of violence in Bronzeville, etc. Data will inform program implementation from a pool of 50+ evidence-based programs in addition to current BSCO programming.

On Sept. 20th, BSCO unveiled the new name of what was called the Bronzeville Dream Center

A Tremendous Thank You to Greenberg Traurig, LLP

Bright Star could not focus on our day to day work without the amazing support of Keith Shapiro and Greenberg Traurig LLP. H andling all legal issues for the "Bright Star" brand, GT frees BSCO to build community and strive to save lives in Chicago.

Our 1st Annual BSCO Fund Raiser dedicated to building the capacity of our organization was a major success.

PLEASE SAVE THE DATE!

BSCO's 2nd Annual Fund Raiser

Sunday, January 15th, 2017 (3:30pm until 6:30pm) at

115 Bourbon Street

3359 West 115th St.,

Merrionette, IL. 60803

Another Huge

Thank You

to Rule 29

To our amazingly creative friends at Rule 29. Thank you for hearing then interpreting our vision with second to none graphic design. Your contribution to our work and community will have a lasting impact and BSCO looks forward to continuing to partner with you! You guys are AWESOME!