Southland RISE awards $150,000 to 15 community organizations offering safe spaces for South Side youth and families this summer

Southland RISE (Resilience Initiative to Strengthen and Empower) has awarded $150,000 to 15 community-based organizations offering summer programming for youth, teens and families across Chicago’s South Side.

With this round of grants, the grant program — led by UChicago Medicine since 2017 and funded jointly with Advocate Health Care as Southland RISE since 2019 — has now invested more than $1 million in nearly 100 community organizations across more than 30 South Side and south suburban communities.

The funded programs span sports, the arts, mentorship, paid internships and trauma-informed healing.

"This grant program began nearly a decade ago at the recommendation of UChicago Medicine's Community Advisory Council," said Catina Latham, PhD, UChicago Medicine's Senior Vice President, Chief Community Health Transformation Officer. "It reflects how we are listening to and learning from community partners, embracing the approaches each of them has shaped for their own neighborhood to provide safe spaces for young people.

"Together, these organizations reach thousands of community members across the summer months."

Mentorship, skill-building efforts engage young people

The funded programs are running through the summer and into the fall, covering the months when violence in Chicago historically peaks, and providing safe spaces for South Side youth.

According to the University of Chicago Crime Lab, shooting incidents in Chicago historically reach their peak during the summer, accounting for 38% of total annual incidents, with July alone contributing 12% of those incidents.

“Advocate Health Care is committed to supporting young people and families across the South Side by investing in programs that provide meaningful opportunities for stability and growth,” said Kim Miiller, PsyD, Director of Trauma Recovery Centers at Advocate Health Care. “This year’s cohort stands out for how intentionally these programs are structured — engaging young people through a mix of mentorship, skill-building and hands-on experience.”

The 15 funded programs reach young people through a wide range of approaches: basketball, tennis, golf, culinary arts, restorative justice circles, peer mentoring, paid internships, workforce certification and trauma-informed mental health groups.

Approximately 2,500 young people will participate directly in sustained programming this summer, with the programs expected to reach more than 15,000 community members overall through family events, community health days, neighborhood resource fairs and culminating performances.

“The community organizations leading violence prevention and youth programs on the South Side already know the young people in their neighborhoods. They have relationships built on proximity and trust,” said Franklin Cosey-Gay, PhD, Executive Director, Community & External Affairs at UChicago Medicine. “Our role is to make sure the people leading this work are resourced. No two of these programs look alike, but they’re all moving toward the same outcomes — giving young people safe spaces, trusted adults and constructive activity through the summer.”

Expanded focus helps meet community needs

Southland RISE launched in 2019 with a focus on violence prevention and trauma recovery.

The 2026 cohort still centers on safety and healing, and it also reflects a broader read on what young people need: workforce development, paid leadership opportunities, mental health support, mentorship and pathways into careers.

Nearly every program in this year’s group pairs self-development or workforce readiness with at least one other focus area, and most weave together three or four. Leadership development runs through almost the entire cohort. Trauma-informed practice is built into the design of programs at Woodlawn Restorative Justice Hub, Love to Serve, Kingdom Avenue, Mr. Dad’s Father’s Club and others.

Paid opportunities for young people are a common thread, from Jackson Park Golf Association’s teen caddies certified in CPR, AED and First Aid, to stipends for Hood Heroes participants, to paid internships at Sneakers to Scrubs, to Illinois Food Handler Safety certification at Sacred Ground Ministries.

Several programs focus specifically on girls and young women, including Black Girls Jump, Faithful Few’s Ambassadors of Peace and F.L.O.W. in the Park within Kingdom Avenue’s portfolio. Mr. Dad’s Father’s Club anchors a father-mentor engagement model across Englewood, Roseland and West Englewood, pairing 30 mentoring fathers with young men.

Support for more than 20 communities this summer, more than 30 over a decade

The 2026 grantees serve more than 20 South Side communities, with the densest activity in Englewood, South Shore, Auburn Gresham, Roseland and West Englewood. Programs also reach Pullman, Riverdale, West Pullman, Chicago Lawn, Back of the Yards, Bronzeville, Hyde Park, Kenwood, Beverly, Chatham, Morgan Park, South Chicago, Washington Heights and Gage Park.

Over a decade of grantmaking, the program has funded community organizations working across more than 30 distinct South Side and south suburban communities, including those above as well as Avalon Park, Calumet Heights, Douglas, Grand Boulevard, Greater Grand Crossing, Harvey, Oakland, Park Forest and others.

Neighborhood-level health data for many of these communities is available through UChicago Medicine’s Community Health Profiles.

Spotlight on wellness and healthcare careers

2026 grantee Sneakers to Scrubs brings South Side middle schoolers into a summer experience that pairs hands-on healthcare career exposure with wellness, including strength and conditioning. The Southland RISE grant is supporting paid staff roles for two students who previously participated in a Sneakers to Scrubs program.

A planned culminating Community Health Day at Parkway Social in Bronzeville will offer free health screenings, Stop the Bleed training, sports activities and shoe giveaways to an expected 100 to 150 community members.

"The Southland RISE grant allows us to deepen our Explore Med Summer Camp experience — adding field trips, healthy meals, and strength and conditioning activities," said Johari Shuck, PhD, Executive Director, Sneakers to Scrubs. "This investment in the social, vocational and physical dimensions of wellness, anchored by daily appearances from physicians, is exactly how we build healthy communities from the inside out."

2026 Southland RISE Grantees

• Action for a Cause — Decisions Matter Initiative: scenario-based workshops on conflict resolution, decision-making, financial literacy and digital skills (Chatham, Pullman, Roseland)
  
  
• Back of the Yards Neighborhood Council — Hoops in the Hood Summer League: a free June-to-August youth basketball league reclaiming public spaces (Back of the Yards)
  
  
• Black Girls Jump — Jump Strong Inside: a sports-based program building social-emotional skills, belonging, conflict resolution and leadership for adolescent girls (Beverly, Morgan Park, Roseland, South Shore)
  
  
• City Motivators Corporation — Chi Youth Peace & Leadership Project: a 10-week leadership program with PlayStreets activations (Englewood, South Shore)
  
  
• Faithful Few — Ambassadors of Peace: basketball-anchored mentorship and life skills for girls (Auburn Gresham, Englewood, Washington Park)
  
  
• Jackson Park Golf Association — Caddie Workforce Development Program: paid caddie employment, CPR/AED/First Aid certification and the Evans Scholarship pathway (South Shore, Woodlawn)
  
  
• Kingdom Avenue Inc. — Englewood Teen Summer Kickoff & Community Healing Initiative: multi-cohort youth programming and the ESTY community festival (Auburn Gresham, Englewood, West Englewood)
  
  
• Legacy Disciple — Hood Heroes: tiered programming with stipends and paid opportunities across self-development, leadership and workforce readiness (Auburn Gresham, Pullman, Roseland, South Chicago, Washington Heights)
  
  
• Love to Serve, Inc. — Pathways to Peace: trauma-informed, sport-based programming using tennis and athletics to build resilience (Ashburn, Auburn Gresham, Beverly, Chatham, Chicago Lawn, Englewood, Morgan Park, Pullman, Riverdale, Washington Heights, West Pullman)
  
  
• Mr. Dad’s Father’s Club — Strong Fathers, Safer Communities: father-mentor engagement, community events and trauma-informed support, with 30 mentoring fathers paired with young men (Englewood, Roseland, West Englewood)
  
  
• Sacred Ground Ministries — Young Chefs In The Making: culinary arts and Illinois Food Handler Safety certification, with meals prepared for gun violence survivors and their families (Greater Grand Crossing, South Shore)
  
  
• Sneakers to Scrubs — Explore Med Summer Camp: a wellness camp paired with paid healthcare-career internships and a culminating Community Health Day featuring free screenings and Stop the Bleed training (Bronzeville, Hyde Park, Kenwood, South Shore, Washington Park, Woodlawn)
  
  
• TGi Movement — Omega Chi Omega: youth-led community organizing, peer crisis response training and leadership development for Black and Brown young people (Chicago Lawn, Englewood, Gage Park, West Englewood)
  
  
• This is Life — Chicago Youth Engagement and Violence Prevention Strategy: community events, arts programming and resource access (Englewood, Hyde Park)
  
  
• Woodlawn Restorative Justice Hub — Young Leaders For Peace: restorative justice training, trauma-informed healing and leadership development (Bronzeville, Hyde Park, Kenwood, South Shore, Washington Park, West Englewood, Woodlawn)

About Southland RISE

Southland RISE was inspired by U.S. Senator Dick Durbin’s Chicago HEAL Initiative (Hospital Engagement, Action and Leadership), which calls on Chicagoland healthcare providers to take an active role in violence prevention and healing.

The grant program itself began earlier, in 2017, at the recommendation of UChicago Medicine’s Community Advisory Council, which urged the health system to respond to the seasonal rise in summer violence by getting funds directly into the hands of community organizations doing prevention work. UChicago Medicine ran the program on its own for two years, awarding $50,000 annually to seven grassroots organizations.

In 2019, UChicago Medicine and Advocate Health Care launched Southland RISE to align the violence recovery and trauma programs of the two health systems and to expand the grant program’s reach. The partnership immediately doubled the capacity of the grants, from $50,000 to $100,000 and from seven grantees to 14.

In 2021, the collaborative grew the annual award to $150,000, where it has remained every year since.

Across the full decade of the program, including the original 2017-2018 UChicago Medicine years and the eight years of Southland RISE, the grants have invested more than $1 million in nearly 100 community-based organizations leading summer programs across Chicago’s South Side and south suburbs.

UChicago Medicine’s Violence Recovery Program is a regional and national model of hospital-based violence intervention. Trauma resiliency is identified as a top community health priority in UChicago Medicine’s Community Health Needs Assessment. The VRP has served nearly 12,000 patients since launching in 2018, including 1,830 patients in fiscal 2025.

Advocate Health Care’s Trauma Recovery Center is a nationally recognized, healthcare-based violence prevention program serving survivors of intentional trauma. The center has reached more than 12,100 patients since opening, including nearly 2,700 in 2025.

All 2026 grantees are 501(c)(3) organizations operating in UChicago Medicine’s and Advocate Health Care’s service areas.