All Week Long
Originally published on chicago.suntimes.com 02/01/2023 | Photo: Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
Dozens of organizations and local leaders gathered on Wednesday in Englewood to celebrate and promote the legacy of two fierce advocates for nonviolence with the opening of a new community center.
Martin Luther King Jr. never got to meet one of his heroes and great influences, Mahatma Gandhi, who led the independence movement in India. But Gandhi’s influence was palpable throughout King’s speeches and activism in the U.S. civil rights movement. He once noted that Gandhi was a “guiding light” in his life.
Although the two never formally worked together, they now share the namesake of Englewood’s new Gandhi King Center for Nonviolence, in the Center of Englewood building at 838 W. Marquette Road.
The center will provide holistic approaches to combat violence in the area and promote peacefulness through meditation and yoga classes, mediation counselors, basketball programming and a 24/7 crisis hotline.
“Englewood can now breathe,” said Twin Green, CEO of the Link and Option Center, a mental health center that is a partner of the new center. “There have been so many opportunities, businesses and providers that have come to Englewood with the intent to do very, very well. Then the air will go out and deflate. But not the Gandhi King Center for Nonviolence. The resources that are gonna come to this community are not going to deflate. We’re going to give people of Englewood the opportunity to stabilize, to be able to receive the civil and economic rights that they deserve to have.”
Throughout February, the Forest Preserves of Cook County is celebrating Black History Month. Join us for programs and events to learn about Black environmentalists, walk a trail that features poetry written by Black authors, and experience a self-guided journey following the Underground Railroad route connected to the Calumet Region during the mid-1800s.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the vaccines currently available in the United States are more than 90% effective at preventing COVID-19. Getting vaccinated will protect yourself and those around you and will help keep your community healthy.
Paid for by Preckwinkle for President. A copy of our report filed with the State Board of Elections is (or will be) available on the Board's official website, http://elections.il.gov/, or for purchase from the State Board of Elections, Springfield, Illinois. All contributions are reported to the State Board of Elections. Contributions are not accepted from employees of Cook County. Companies holding contracts with the Cook County are limited to $750.
Political contributions are not deductible for income tax purposes.