Career readiness program founder leads with LUV
The LUV Institute recently launched its Parade of Hearts arts initiative. Founder Cosette Nazon-Wilburn hopes the hearts, which were placed in 11 communities, will spark conversations. Photo provided by The Luv Institute
Cosette Nazon-Wilburn is a humanitarian
at heart. She was blessed with
having parents who were committed to
transforming a community. She wanted
to do the same. It led her to create The
LUV Institute, which stands for Love,
Unity and Values.
Nazon-Wilburn on January 16, 2012. At
the core 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.
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.
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 a cathartic
effect for the young people in the
program.
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 and socially isolating.
and low academic performance for the
young people. The LUV Institute seeks
to change that and enable them to get
the tools they need when they are facing
trauma, so they are able to move forward.
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.
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 Hyde Park,
Back of the Yards, Chatham, Douglas,
Grand Boulevard, Greater Grand Crossing,
Kenwood, Oakland, South Shore,
Washington Park and Woodlawn, will
spark conversation.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
people choose. What would it be like
if people could choose love over hate?
Maybe that could go viral,” Nazon-Wilburn
said.
S. Cottage Grove. For more information,
visit www.luvinstitute.org, or call
773-624-5200.
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