OUR COMMUNITY HEALS
None of our stories of trauma are the same. Yet we share our individual stories of healing to help ourselves and others. That’s the power of community:
“Know that there are resources within yourself.”
Lisa Nelson-Haynes
Philly Young Playwrights
“Black joy is something that resonates”
Jacqui Johnson
Sankofa Healing Studio
“I don’t want people to just stop at empowerment. How do you become powerful?”
Zoraida Cordero
Promise Corps
“What I hope is that they can be doing more than surviving”
Bradley Stolbach, Ph.D.
Healing Hurt People Chicago
“Healing itself is a collaborative process.”
Fatimah Loren Dreier, M.A.
Health Alliance for Violence Intervention
“I think we have to be willing to do that reparative work in the city”
The Rev. Carol S. Reese, LCSW
Healing Hurt People Chicago
“it's not just the individuals or the communities who are experiencing the trauma, it actually inhibits our whole society.”
Sharelle Barber, ScD, MPH
Urban Health Collaborative
“We have to find it within ourselves to know that we have everything that we need to be whole, to thrive, to grow.”
Charles E. Moore, M.D., FAACE
Urban Health Initiative
“Healing takes time and I feel like over time, you just find what makes your rhythm click”
Ahmad Abdullah
Mastery Charter School - Shoemaker Campus
“The healing process really incorporates trying to fix those things in the past but also take steps towards the future”
Tony Thompson
The Center for Nonviolence and Social Justice
“Sometimes struggle is your best teacher. You're being taught right now. It’s okay”
Kenn Bourne
BourneANEW
“I think there's power in speaking your truth.”
Tatiana Amaya
Mastery Charter School - Shoemaker Campus
“I have a story, and it's still going.”
Jose Ferran
The Center for Nonviolence and Social Justice
“If you can't get back to joy, in a decent amount of time, then you need help.”
Altovise Love-Craighead
EMIR Healing Center
“The thing about recognizing trauma is there is no aha moment, We live in trauma. That's our world.”
Jaya Touma Shoatz
Mastery Charter School - Shoemaker Campus
“As a school, as a community, we have to consciously be aware of and focus not only on the triggers and the trauma, but also how do we heal?.”
Sharif El-Mekki
The Center for Black Educator Development
“I believe that us healing each other, and having the tools to heal can stop violence.”
Victoria Greene
EMIR Healing Center
“Healing for me is always changing, but that means I have to pay attention to me and what's going on with me and my body.”
Chantay Love
EMIR Healing Center
“There's a fear that exists, from living in an environment where that is normalized— It's not sustainable to feel that level of fear all the time.”
Khalil Taylor
The Center for Nonviolence and Social Justice
“So when it comes to hope, I feel like it's never completely gone. I feel like every day is a new start.”
Raqib Robinson
The Center for Nonviolence and Social Justice
“When you find you, you start to love you more. And in turn you can love other people.”
Xavier Harris
EMIR Healing Center