About the Nonprofit
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Port Ministries is the only nonprofit in Chicago which offers the breadth of free programming and wrap-around resources that we do to our immediate community in South Chicago, serving more than 36,000 residents per year. We provide whole-person, holistic programming and services which address the underlying issues and challenges of our community, decrease violence, increase economic, social, and professional potential, and provide community members a safe space to learn, express their creativity, and heal. Our goal is to show up for our community in whatever capacity they need.
The majority of our community members are Black, Latinx, at or below poverty levels, uninsured, food insecure, and/or undocumented. As such, our community faces an array of challenges, including the dual pandemic experienced by our predominantly Black and Latinx neighbors since 2020. Not only are Black and Latinx individuals 240% and 230%, respectively, more likely to be hospitalized due to COVID-19 than white, non-Hispanic people, these communities are also 102% and 130%, respectively, more likely to have lost their jobs due to the pandemic than white, non-Hispanic communities.
These statistics are coupled with the extraordinary racism experienced by Black and Latinx residents of South Chicago, described by Mayor Lori Lightfoot as a “public health crisis.” This crisis expands into South Chicago’s educational system: As of 2021, 90.3% of Black third graders and 88.2% of Latinx third graders were unable to read at grade level. The same study shows that 85.7% of Black eighth graders and 76.5% of Latinx eighth were unable to read at grade level. Coupled with the data-substantiated increase of gun violence during the summer months in South Chicago, our community and our organization are currently experiencing an extraordinary increase of need for our free programs and services.
Our organization specifically and holistically addresses the challenges of academic achievement and learning, healthy youth development, economic opportunity, food insecurity, and housing through six of our major programs: the Bread Truck, the Free Health Clinic, the People’s School, the After-School Program and South Side Summer Camp, Centro Sanar, and Hope House.
