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NAVDEVELOPMENT
On June 2014, after a rather long search, UP’s new site in the West Lawn/Chicago Lawn vicinity finally became a reality through the acquisition of a corner property on 60th St. and Lawndale Ave. The participants at Chicago Lawn celebrated the announcement of the good news during the “Sharing Our Laurels” (SOL) Celebration. Soon after, participants visited the new site and were able to see the sadly neglected state of the property. Seeing this, they acted just as any Universidad Popular member would act: they organized themselves and started working together on making it their space—a community center for the people, created by and with the people. Parents and their children joined every Tuesday and Wednesday to clean the space. Participants donated their time and brought different materials to be used during the clean up; bags, mop, buckets, gloves and gardener tools. They were very optimistic as they cleaned up to have the site ready to start classes as soon as possible. While they were cleaning they were dreaming of the wonderful things that will happen in our new space. Of course, we will make the space for the programs we conduct everyday—but beyond this, we can use our wonderfully big new yard: outdoor activities, a garden, folkloric dances, music, and singers are but a few of the dreams expressed by participants. Within a matter of days, that corner property exhibited a different “aura” —a community center in the making. But, a community center is not just a nice building on the corner. It’s what people do within and around the center that matters. Thus, a group of participant neighbors went to see the alderman to talk about their visions for the new site of Universidad Popular. They also reached out to our new neighbors and engaged them in heartfelt conversations about all that we can accomplish together. They spoke of the necessities of the community and how this new center can work as a place to bridge the gaps between us as we collaborate to overcome the barriers that afflict all of us. The people are doing a great job and the site continues to see huge, positive changes. While there is still much work to be done, the final product will nonetheless be magnificent. It will be a true product of the people—much like our Little Village Center. For now, our programming will continue at the Apostolic Assembly church at 3344 W. 64th Place.
WEST LAWN BLOCK PARTY
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