Hoops in the Hood Officially Kicks Off with Summer of Opportunity Event

Hoops in the Hood is about to have its biggest summer ever.

The sports-based community safety initiative by LISC Chicago creates safe spaces for youth to interact and build positive relationships with peers and caring adults while making visible use of public spaces and fostering a sense of community. Over the last 12 years, it has positively impacted thousands of Chicago kids and given them a safe place to play across the city. 

Founded in 2006, Hoops in the Hood is a summer basketball program currently in 15 neighborhoods, many of which block off “hot-spots” for games. The initiative, which runs through August, has already started in some communities and on June 22 Hoops in the Hood partner BUILD Chicago will host their “Summer of Opportunity” event that will close down all of Columbus Park in the city’s Austin neighborhood. Editors Note: This event has been postponed to August 17 due to weather.

Adam Alonso, Executive Director of BUILD, which is running the Summer of Opportunity event, expects 5,000 to attend.

Summer of Opportunity will include a mile-long parade, a barbecue, plus basketball tournaments many of the Hoops in the Hood Network will be participating in featuring middle school and high school boys and girls, and adult men and women. Three thousand people attended last year’s first Summer of Opportunity event.

“The biggest thing is that this brings folks together,” Alonso said. “We want to provide these types of opportunities for our communities and young people. This really helps for blocks to come out and for kids to be kids and for the community to help each other.” 

BUILD's Hoops in the Hood Program in Chicago's Austin community.

LISC Chicago Executive Director Meghan Harte wants Hoops in the Hood to expand to a year-round venture by fall of 2019. She hopes to add soccer to the sports-based program as well. 

“Hoops in the Hood has been a mainstay for a long time, and it is really something that neighborhoods, kids in neighborhoods and families in neighborhoods look forward to in the summer,” Harte said. “Now our thoughts are how can we grow Hoops in the Hood. We need funding, and we’re trying to partner with park districts and others. There’s an opportunity here to make a big impact at a small cost.” 

Local control is a key part of the program. Communities pick the locations and times for the program and choose the activities. In some neighborhoods the location is always the same, while others move each week to a new block, Chicago park or local gym. 

Hoops in the Hood partners this year include: ABC Pilsen; Annie B. Jones - Shore UP; Back of the Yards Neighborhood Council; Breakthrough; BUILD; Claretian Associates; Near West Side CDC; New Life Centers of Chicagoland; Northwest Side Housing Center (NWSHC); Project H.O.O.D.; Southwest Organizing Project (SWOP); Teamwork Englewood; The Ark of St. Sabina; The Community Builders; and, UCAN. 

Hoops in the Hood Cross-City Tournament, August 2017

“Everybody that lived in a suburb or had this ability to not be concerned about safety remembers just going outside and playing, and there was never a thought about it because that’s what you did,” Harte said. “That doesn’t exist in these neighborhoods. Hoops in the Hood is about creating that type of environment where kids can just be kids and they can play. For three hours, no one is worried about anything else. They can get some great food, meet people and they’re part of the community. The more we can build off of that, the more impact it will have.”

Harte said during the events it is more about community than other affiliations including gang affiliations. People are just having a good time participating or watching their kids participate.

Alonso said there have been no issues with violence. “There are no shootings, and there’s no fighting,” Alonso said.

Teams of neighborhood youth compete weekly June through August, capped by a Cross-City Championship with hundreds of participants.

The program has grown to be about much more than summer basketball. The community-based lead agencies and their local partners have added soccer, face painting, barbeques, health screenings, live music, arts-and-crafts – whatever mix of activities will be the most fun for the most people.

“The organizations that are running this in the neighborhoods are made up of people who are truly committed to making their neighborhoods better,” Harte said. “They’re the real drivers to what could make Chicago safer.”

Harte said Hoops in the Hood is the most cost-effective youth engagement program anyone could run. It will cost $100,000 to impact 5,000 kids in 15 Chicago neighborhoods, Harte said.

“It doesn’t take a lot of money to engage good people to help neighborhoods grow,” Harte said.

For the Hoops in the Hood full schedule of games and events click here.

To learn more about Hoops in the Hood click here and to make a donation to the program visit, https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/lisc(please select Chicago LISC in the designated toward drop down).