The South Side not-for-profit shows what is possible when communities provide space for intergenerational care.
by Monique Petty-Ashmeade
Heavy Crownz, second to right, listens to a participant during the break-out session of City Bureau’s Public Newsroom on July 31, 2025, at Imagine Englewood If campus. (Marilyn Carteno/City Bureau)
For nearly three decades, Imagine Englewood If has been envisioning dedicated spaces where children, adults and elders can come together to play, create and grow.
During City Bureau’s Public Newsroom 159 on July 31, attendees got to see how that vision has become a reality, with a tour of the increasingly sprawling Peace Campus based at West 64th and South Honore streets.
The not-for-profit began with co-founders Jean Carter-Hill and Helen Arnold Massey’s plan for a community garden, which was meant to serve as more than a way to feed neighbors.
They “also wanted to create a safe space, a third space for people to commune,” said Heavy Crownz, whose work as a hip-hop artist, educator and community organizer includes serving as Imagine Englewood If’s director of programs.
Third places — free, accessible gathering spaces for people outside of their homes or workplaces — are essential in a world where people are feeling increasingly isolated and lonely, experts say.
Crownz emphasized that when we think about third places and their importance to community care as it relates to violence prevention, these spaces can help folks, no matter their ages, to connect and ultimately address the factors that can generate violence and unwellness within a community.
”There are a few reasons why people commit violence,” Crownz said. “One we know is the economic driver — a lack of resources. But also, people commit violence because they don’t have the tools to communicate emotionally the things that they need.”
Those feelings of anger or isolation can “culminate into harmful habits,” he said, “and then they begin to create a cycle of hurt of others.”
Heavy Crownz speaks during a City Bureau Public Newsroom at Imagine Englewood If campus on July 31, 2025. (Marilyn Carteno/City Bureau)
During the Public Newsroom, attendees designed their ideal third places in small groups before sharing what they’d envisioned. The inclusive spaces ranged from reading rooms and media studios to an apothecary.
Afterward, Crownz led a tour of the organization’s 16-property Peace Campus, which includes five houses that provide resources across sectors such as professional development, civic engagement, youth programs and family counseling.
At the Healing House, 6421 S. Honore St., intergenerational cooking classes and lessons in wellness will soon be joined by yoga and Zumba offerings in a lower-level fitness space. Nearby, the Healing Court is both a place for basketball games and vigils for loved ones who have died.
The Peace House, 6402 S. Honore St., is often the first point of engagement for visitors. Parents can get diapers and other baby essentials, while others can get free meals, help with re-entry after imprisonment, and other resources.
A budding space to come in the near future is the MPower House, where young people can create everything from music recordings to podcasts and videography, while also setting them up on an entrepreneurial track to invest in their art.
Heavy Crownz, right, gives a tour of the Imagine Englewood If campus during City Bureau’s Public Newsroom on July 31, 2025. City Bureau’s summer fellows and the members of the community attended the Public Newsroom event, where they exchanged ideas about what an ideal third space could look like for younger community members. (Marilyn Carteno/City Bureau)
“It’s not enough to give our kids the space to express themselves,” Crownz said. “We also want to make sure that they are equipped with knowledge on how to turn that into a way to be able to live for themselves and take care of themselves.”
The holistic approach across the campus is meant to serve “the entire family,” and that means bridging relationships between generations, he noted.
“When you have spaces where a person at a very young age can be seen, [it] can give a pathway to identity, to find belonging in other people,” he said, “to find association with people that may not think exactly like them.”
Learn more about Imagine Englewood If at imagineenglewoodif.org.
Monique Petty-Ashmeade is a Chatham native and was a Civic Reporting Fellow at City Bureau in 2024. They have been a Chicago Documenter since August 2023 and currently work as a substitute teacher at Chicago Public Schools after graduating from DePaul University in 2024. Learn more about their work at muckrack.com/monique-petty-ashmeade.
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