State Representative Hosts Community Healing Fair On The South Side

Illinois Representative Sonya Harper (pictured) recently hosted her first Community Healing Fair to connect community members with resources that will help them address and resolve trauma caused by violence in their neighborhoods. Photo Credit: Representative Sonya Harper
Illinois Representative Sonya Harper (pictured) recently hosted her first Community Healing Fair to connect community members with resources that will help them address and resolve trauma caused by violence in their neighborhoods. Photo Credit: Representative Sonya Harper

State Representative Hosts Community Healing Fair On The South Side

BY KATHERINE NEWMAN

Illinois State Representative Sonya Harper (6th) recently hosted an inaugural Community Healing Fair in collaboration with several community partners throughout her district that includes parts of Englewood and West Englewood.

The Community Healing Fair was held at The Port Ministries, 5017 S. Hermitage, and included several healing workshops and a youth panel discussion.

Since taking office, Rep. Harper has been operating a Violence Reduction and Trauma Response Team in the 6th district which not only includes Englewood but also parts of Canaryville, Back of the Yards, and other south side communities that are currently experiencing violence and suffering from trauma.

The Violence Reduction and Trauma Response Team helps Harper create ideas for new policies related to violence and trauma prevention, community healing, and how to address the root causes of violence and trauma in the 6th District.

“This event is kind of an offshoot from my Violence Reduction and Trauma Response Team,” said Harper. “My vision for the team was for it to be a living and breathing team that goes out into the community and responds to certain geographic areas right after a traumatic incident to provide resources for those that are affected and connect them with educational information, mental health information, and maybe even youth programs.”

The Community Healing Fair is an extension of Harper’s original vision in the sense that it brings together all of the resources that the Violence Reduction and Trauma Response Team can provide on the street and puts them in one place where people can come and begin to heal from the trauma they have experienced.

“The Healing Fair kind of combines all the elements that we want the physical response team to be and puts it into a one-stop-shop event that folks can come to. The day will consist of a series of workshops, activities, and seminars that are all designed and all centered around healing trauma, healing the effects of it, and meeting people where they are with what they need,” said Harper.

The various healing workshops that took place during the event focused on meditation, yoga, women’s defense, LGBTQ healing, art therapy, and mental health. Several community organizations partnered with Harper to host the Community Healing Fair including the Resident Association of Greater Englewood, the Chicago torture Justice Center, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois, UChicago Medicine, and several others.

Finally, there was a youth panel featuring the voices of young community members who Harper said are often the ones that have to navigate the issues of violence on a daily basis and are the most knowledgeable about how to address and remedy the current trauma that exists.

“After a violent shooting or violent crime happens in the community, our response is usually to put up some teddy bears and then just wait for the next thing to happen. What we want to do is come up with a better response to that,” said Harper.

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