This document discusses research conducted at the Greater Grand Crossing Youth Center (GCYC) in Chicago to understand their impact on the local community. Key findings include:
1) The community faces issues like poverty, lack of time, and limited access to affordable healthy foods. Youth have pressures that the GCYC helps address through programs.
2) The GCYC teaches culinary skills and healthy eating, which some students then share with their parents at home.
3) Recommendations are made to increase the visibility and use of the community garden, involve parents more, and foster relationships between the GCYC and local colleges.
9. Youth Life Pressures
and Priorities
so when i think of the work we do here and the
connections we make to the students its that
kind of connection we start off with somethig,
you think youre having a valentines day flower
sale, and instead, you get involved with a young
person’s life at this juncture that like all this stuff
is going on. You know he’s being bullied at
school, maybe there’s about his life coming out.
- Safety Perspective.
10. food desert ; access
& neighborhood change
[on re-invisioning the neighborhood food choices...]
No more chips, funyuns, or whatever they call
them, red-hots, it kills their stomachs. It is
what all our children eat. Its at all the corner
stores, all that red dye...
11. food desert ; access
& neighborhood change
Ohh food availability? It’s not very; it’s not very high, I mean for
people who doesn’t have transportation and disposable income
to really be healthy on a limited budget...you know McDonalds is
so cheap, Burger King is so cheap, Popeyed Chicken they all are
right there, Long Jones Silver Pizza Hut----- Wendys… you know
they all are right there at ----walking distance and cheap
[on re-invisioning the neighborhood food choices...]
No more chips, funyuns, or whatever they call
them, red-hots, it kills their stomachs. It is
what all our children eat. Its at all the corner
stores, all that red dye...
13. I definitely have seen students influence their
parents...one student brought his father to the parent
child cooking class..we made jerk chicken with brown
rice brazed carrots and cabbage... And they had a great
time. And then [the student] stopped me the other day
and said, ‘you know we made that menu the other night
at my house. Me and my dad and my mom we all
cooked together and it turned out pretty good’
TRANSFER
OF
KNOWLEDGE
FROM CHILD TO PARENT
14. Yeah, I try to tell my baby that,
like the broccoli, he don't like to eat
broccoli. I’m like it's good for you,
you need a vegetable, that’s what
I say, you need vegetables.
TRANSFER
OF
KNOWLEDGE
FROM PARENT TO CHILD
15. “I do make kool-aid but I don’t put all that sugar that
it requires. I’ll put half of it... But I do use sugar and I
know that you shouldn’t use white sugar but I use
brown sugar and maybe honey to sweeten it but it’s
a spinoff of maybe juice so I do that. But I know that
too I’ve heard that there’s dye in the kool-aid
"You know it’s a dangerous
world, whatever we’re eating I
know it’s dangerous.”
17. GCYC IMPACT ON COMMUNITY
Oh yes for the positive, yes it gives the kids some place to be yes
Ahh it’s a place for kids to come a source of employment for
some of the local families, grown up, they have many of the
employees here that live in the neighborhood
I think the center did the
neighborhood good.
The kids love it...
...because now the center...they won't let them
come in here with that bag of junk, let them
know that that's not healthy. So they provide
them healthy snacks. And they help them to
create some type of pocket fuel, that they call for
theirself and it's something like granola bars
with raisins or something that they made and
