■ Austin Weekly’s West Side magazine wins top prize at IPA awards PAGE 9
2026 2026
FREE Vol. 40 No. 23
June 10, 2026 ■ Also serving Garfield Park ■ austinweeklynews.com
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Root2Fruit touts impact of ASAP Safe Zone
Special Section Page B1
CommunityCorey wins grant to tell West Side stories
3-day activation shares how they decreased violence around Austin Town Hall
Corey Dooley Johnson uses storytelling, characters, and creative programming to inspire Chicago youth
By JESSICA MORDACQ
By HECTOR CERVANTES
Staff Reporter
Root2Fruit is sharing what it’s learned about community-led safety initiatives around Austin Town Hall with others on the West Side. The nonprofit organization, which equips young people with the tools and relationships they need to thrive, has helped lead to a 69% decline in violence in the Austin Safety Action Plan Safe Zone in the last 5 years, according to Chicago Police Department data. It’s been so successful that last year, the Chicago City Council recognized the city’s first Safe Zone — the area around Austin Town Hall where young people lead cleanup efforts and build community relationships to create a safer neighborhood. “It’s a specific area that the kids identified during the pandemic as spaces that reminded them of good times throughout their childhood,” said Aisha Oliver, founder and strategy lead of Root2Fruit Youth Foundation, the nonprofit that helped create the Safe Zone.
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Contributing Reporter
TODD BANNOR
alt_ Chicago Executive Director Jordan Campbell addresses the Practice & Presence event on June 6. Now, Root2Fruit is sharing the philosophy of the ASAP Safe Zone model with other local organizations, officials and residents. This included a three-day activation event over the weekend at Alt Space, 5645 W. Corcoran Place. The goal
of the live demonstration was to show how to convert young people into active partners in community-driven solutions for building a better neighborhood. See SAFE ZONE on page 8
A $3,500 grant awarded to CommunityCorey from the 2026 Chicago Fund for Safe and Peaceful Communities will help expand literacy, arts and entrepreneurship programming for West Side youth this summer, continuing an effort that founder Corey Dooley Johnson says is aimed at building safer communities through creativity and opportunity. “While I am a proud Austin resident, I’m an even prouder resident of the greater West Side. What drives my work is being creative and a survivor of gun violence. I’ve used those traumas and experiences as fuel for my creativity and that’s where my art really comes from, the self-expression that comes from overcoming challenges,” Johnson said. CommunityCorey is a community development organization founded by Corey Dooley Johnson that combines business, education and grassroots initiatives to promote economic opportunity, literacy, healing, and neighborhood revitalization on Chicago’s West Side. “If people were to ask about me, I would say See COMMUNITYCOREY on page 9