By Francia Garcia Hernandez
Where others see disinvestment, Elaine Marthel sees promise. Born and bred in Chicago’s Westside, Elaine grew to become a mentor to hundreds of young people in North Lawndale. Determined, courageous, and grounded, Elaine embodies the traits and skills she is instilling in future generations.
Drawing from her own experiences, she knows that many young people “don’t simply act out.” Many of the youth she serves face emotional, social and economic challenges, holding them back from reaching their full potential. Elaine is there to understand them and empower them to live with purpose.
“I believe that you don't blame people or things or situations,” Elaine said. “My grandmother said it like this ‘You live the hand you're dealt.’”
This is part of the mindset Elaine wants to develop in Westside youth, to be “solutionists.”
“It’s easy to tell you what the problem is in our community - lack of this, lack of that,” she said. “But I tell our kids to come up with a solution.”
Her work is an investment in North Lawndale’s future. About 24 percent of North Lawndale’s population is between 5 and 20 years old, 2021 census data shows. For Elaine, investing in the youth is investing in the future.
“My job is to pour and invest, so we can impact future generations,” she said. “I know that I have to show up because the work I do now shapes the future.”
Being a mentor goes beyond a title. It means showing up for kids when they need it, even when it is inconvenient. It means not judging their choices, but instead understanding their reasons. It means holding kids close as if they were her ownand simultaneously allowing them the freedom to make their own choices.
“Sometimes it’s me just telling a kid they did a great job,” Elaine said.
Through her nonprofit organization, Project Impact 180, Elaine provides out-of-school spaces where young people develop socio-emotional skills and improve their academic learning.
“I want them to understand that every day that you're on this side of Earth is not going to be roses, right?” she said.
“How does a young person get the skills to learn how to function when they’re having a thorn moment?”
This holistic approach is present in all of the nonprofit’s programs.
The mentorship program helps youth develop five critical skills - confidence, competence, connection, character, and compassion. These skills are fundamental today when young people make choices that could forever impact their future.
Without them, kids and teens can struggle to improve their academic outcomes. In North Lawndale, about 20 percent of people haven’t finished high school and just 31 percent of people have a high school diploma, according to 2021 census data. Only 10 percent of the population has a bachelor’s degree.
Helping youth improve academic performance in K-8 and middle school could increase their chances of graduating high school or going to college.
Elaine knows it firsthand, as she started Project Impact 180 to help her grandchildren improve their grades. After her success, Elaine confirmed what she learned in her career as an educator and faith leader: kids, especially those struggling at school or engaging in risky behavior, need a fun, engaging and safe space.
In Project Impact 180’s afterschool programs, mentors and tutors support North Lawndale’s young students in completing their homework, improving their reading, and learning about math, science, technology, and engineering. Kids also participate in activities that range from journaling and creating vision boards to playing improvisation games or solving conflicts through dialogue.
Currently, Project Impact 180 runs an out-of-school program at the Chicago Public Library Douglass branch and an after-school program at the Chicago Public Schools elementary school Lawndale Community Academy, serving dozens of kids.
In addition, Project Impact 180 runs summer mentorship programs and a program dedicated to promoting outdoor and hands-on activities for kids, an alternative to spending their free time online.
Defined in her own words, Elaine is a mother, a teacher, a mentor and a friend to the young people she works with. She is everything she wishes she had as a kid growing up in North Lawndale.
She fulfills all these roles as she teaches kids to connect with themselves. She teaches them to reflect, to engage in dialogue and to peacefully resolve problems. By teaching them to be agents of change, in their own life and their community, she is breaking cycles of trauma, dysfunction and disinvestment.
“I want them to know that violence isn't normal,” Elaine said. “It is not normal. It's really about the choices we make.”
“And we can get the tools that teach us how to not respond that way.”
Her wisdom comes from a variety of academic and professional experiences. It also comes from life itself, often a greater teacher than any classroom can be.
Elaine, like several of the kids she mentors, was raised by her grandmother. Her mother became pregnant at age 14 and her father was killed when she was 5 years old.
At age 16, she got pregnant. Determined as always, she did not stop pursuing her goals despite many people not believing in her.
“Because I'm driven when you tell me I can't do it, that's got to be my motivator to do it,” Elaine said. “Because you said I can't, I’ma rise above what you say. And I'm gonna show you that I can.“
She enrolled in parental classes and found support in a local youth service organization called Youth Service Project, located at the intersection of North and Pulaski Ave. Thanks to the counseling and resources she found there, she was able to finish high school, get a job, and attend college. In short, this organization provided the support system needed to succeed as a young woman, young mother and soon-to-be college student. For a few years, she went to Northeastern University and after a 15-year break from school, returned to Roosevelt University, where she graduated with a degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Human Resources.
She didn’t know it then, but the youth-serving organization that helped her as a teen paved the way to become the leader she is today. A mother of five, grandmother of six, faith leader, and mentor to dozens of Westsiders.
“We don't always make the best decisions when we're young, but what an amazing thing when you have an adult or a team there that says ‘You know what? I know you made a mistake, but let me help you through the next phase of this.’”
Identifying an issue is the easy part. Equipping young people with the tools to do something about it is what drives Elaine Marthel.
Through Project Impact 180, she's creating "solutionists" to find a better pathway forward.