Career readiness program founder leads with LUV
BY TIA CAROL JONES
Cosette Nazon-Wilburn is a humanitarian at heart. She was blessed with having parents who were committed to transforming a community. And, she wanted to do the same. It led her to create The LUV Institute, which stands for Love, Unity and Values.
The LUV Institute was founded by Nazon-Wilburn on January 16, 2012. At the source of what the LUV Institute
does is a socioemotional approach to college and career readiness for young men and women of color who have
experienced some level of trauma.
Nazon-Wilburn wanted to help young people who were struggling with socio-emotional learning competence, which was impacting their ability to navigate the workforce. At the same time those young people were coming into the workforce, there were people aging out of the workforce.
“We saw this as an opportunity to bridge the gap and to give young people the tools they needed to successfully enter the workforce,” she said.
Those tools include brain-based strategies, restorative justice and practical life skills. It has helped the young people in the program be successful. The addition of art has been cathartic effect for the young people in the program.
“Kids are now able to identify their values, stand inside of their culture and use that to make decisions about how they see their future,” she said.
Living in a pandemic, everyone has been touched by racial tension, death, sickness, COVID-19, socially isolating. These things result in anxiety, anger and low academic performance for the young people. The LUV Institute seeks to change that and enable to get the tools they need when they are facing trauma, so they are able to move forward.
The Parade of Hearts was not on LUV Institute’s radar at the beginning of the year but an incident took place that would shape Nazon-Wilburn’s perception of things. On Jan. 9, a
gunman shot and killed the doorman and a neighbor of Nazon-Wilburn. It shook her and brought the trauma right
to her doorstep. Luv Institute immediately started doing outreach to ensure residents had a place to unpack what
happened. Nazon-Wilburn also heard from educators who were preparing to welcome students back to school who
also needed a place to release and deal with what was happening.
“What we saw as the Parade of Hearts was an opportunity to take the work we had been doing outside of the four walls
into the community,” she said.
Nazon-Wilburn believes the 11 Hearts, which are located in in Hyde Park, Back of the Yards, Chatham, Douglas, Grand Boulevard, Greater Grand Crossing, Kenwood, Oakland,
South Shore, Washington Park and Woodlawn, will spark conversation.
“The hope is that people will see what is on these hearts and aspire to think about what does a new normal look like,” she said. “There’s this idea that we can build from the past and invent a new future and that makes for a better future for everyone.”
Themes include: what would it look like if people were able to own their racial biases and actually get along; what would it look like to have more equity for everyone; what would it look like if people felt safe enough to walk down the block and speak to their neighbors.
Nazon-Wilburn wants people from around Chicago to visit communities they were once afraid of. She wants to use art and the Parade of Hearts to drive people to different neighborhoods to the city, to see what is there and see the
love that is there.
The LUV Institute is looking for Heart Keepers, people who will check on the hearts. It also is gearing up for its Wreaths of LUV, where the young people in the program will create wreaths that will be available for purchase.
“Maybe love could be something that people choose. What would it be like if people could choose love over hate? Maybe that could go viral,” Nazon-Wilburn said.
The LUV Institute is located at 4659 S. Cottage Grove. For more information, visit www.luvinstitute.org, or call 773-624-5200.
