Teens offer different view of North Lawndale through guided tours

Chicago tours often focus on downtown or more affluent areas, but a group of North Lawndale teens think their neighborhood is worth a look, too.

For the second summer, a dozen teens are leading tours of the West Side neighborhood every weekend to highlight the beauty and history of their community. And this year, just as Chicagoans are experimenting with getting around via scooter, the tours are, too.

The students designing and organizing the tours are participating in My Block, My Hood, My City, an organization that aims to help teens who live in under-resourced communities. “Often, all you hear about is the deficits of North Lawndale, and these kids know all of its assets,” said Jahmal Cole, founder of My Block, My Hood, My City.

Tours cost $40. The guides get a $150-a-week stipend for the summer.

Marquell Washington, 17, has led tours in North Lawndale for more than a year now.

“My goal is to change the view of how certain areas in Chicago are looked at,” Washington said.

“This is a chance for people not from North Lawndale to see you can come here and not get shot,” he added. “You can come here to laugh, dance, see some amazing history and learn about the places we love.”

The tour shows off the aquaponics systems at Farm on Ogden, the apartments where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. lived, a neighborhood barber shop and more.

Washington said the summer job has given him more than just a weekly paycheck. It has made him more confident and helped him grow as a public speaker. An athlete entering his senior year at Collins Academy High School, he hopes to take that confidence with him as he pursues a career in sports broadcasting.

Though they started as walking tours, 35 people who signed up for one recent tour got a surprise — electric scooters provided by Lime.

Manny Ramos/Sun-Times

“The strength of Chicago is in its neighborhoods, and this is a great way to invest in them,” Lime spokesman Matthew Lehner said.

The scooters “enabled us to cover more ground and see more of the highlights,” said Lincoln Park resident Katie Gledhill, 50, who also praised the teens’ enthusiasm.

“[North Lawndale] has a wonderful history. I learned a lot of things I didn’t know,” Gledhill said. “One of the things I really appreciated knowing was the movement to change the name of the Douglas Park area from the pro-slavery [Stephen Arnold] Douglas to Frederick Douglass.”

Lime is one of 10 electric scooter providers taking part in a city program to test scooter sharing. Besides increasing tourism in often-overlooked communities, Lehner said another goal is increasing transportation options in those neighborhoods.

Five more tours will be conducted this summer. Lime wants to provide electric scooters for future tours, but details are still being worked out.

Visit the My Block, My Hood, My City website, formyblock.org/tours, to see a schedule and to buy tickets.

Manny Ramos/Sun-Times

Manny Ramos is a corps member in Report for America, a not-for-profit journalism program that aims to bolster Sun-Times coverage of Chicago’s South and West sides.