On October 31st, the Southwest Organizing Project’s community violence intervention team, CP4P, partnered with community organization’s TGI Movement and The Restorative Project to bring a safe and fun Halloween event to their community. Through this collaboration, hundreds of community members came to enjoy face painting, candy baskets, a haunted house, food, a costume photo shoot and the overall spirit of Halloween. Taking place at 63rd Street and Campbell, right outside of TGI Movement’s community center, Da Oasis, many community members who just happened to be trick-or-treating with their children made a point to stop by. “I’m very familiar with the work that both TGI and SWOP does. I couldn’t think of a better place to bring my grandkids on Halloween where I know I don’t have to worry about their safety and they’re going to have a good time.” Sharon, a community member, shared before continuing on. “This isn’t something that usually happens in our area, so this was a very nice gesture. I’m grateful for the work they put in so that the children had a safe place to celebrate Halloween.”

When asked about what prompted this event, Calvin Brown, System Program Director of CP4P, had this to say. “We noticed kids weren’t trick or treating as much and there had been an uptick in violent incidents in the neighborhood, so we wanted to put together an event where they could trick or treat without worrying about that sort of thing and parents could feel confident in having their kids there.” He continued about the future for events like these. “We are partnering with orgs in and around Chicago Lawn to make these annual events happen and honestly, TGI and TRP played a huge part in making this a success and we can’t thank them enough. We got a ton of great feedback and there’s a lot of people looking forward to what comes next.”