Our name comes from the popular African adage “it takes a village to raise a child.” While villages today can be bigger and more diverse, the saying is no less true in our vastly urbanized world. Our village continues to be a key factor in the health and mobility of each individual. The social fabric of Chicago’s historically Black Westside neighborhoods has been worn bare with the stress of violent crime, substance abuse and mass incarceration. Local organizations and organizers have consistently worked to fill in gaps caused by decades of disinvestment.

At Every Block a Village, we aim to heal communities from the inside-out. Stopgap measures fall short of solving systemic ills, and galvanizing change is not possible without significant community engagement and buy-in. Thus, using an asset-based community development model, EBV works block-by-block to identify not only the needs shared by Westside residents, but also the skills, resources and tools that can be leveraged to address those needs.