by Diana Pando
Sergio Melgarejo is a tall and shy youth known for his long curly hair and quick smile. Like most youth, he can be found listening to his headphones and laughing with friends. But growing up in Pilsen on a block plagued with gang violence, his life nearly took a very different turn.
Often times, rival gangs would fight and start shooting right on his street, making it too dangerous for him to play outside with other youth. He found himself regularly harassed by gang members. Once, on his way to a nearby park, he was surrounded by gang members who forced him to fight two kids.
After the fight, Sergio went home and didn’t tell anyone what happened, but the experience made him become interested in community safety. He knew he needed to find a safe space where he could meet other youth who didn’t want to be in a gang. He didn’t want his friends or himself to get caught in the crossfire and become statistics.
When he was 12 years old, he began participating in The Resurrection Basketball League (RBL), a TRP safety initiative. Each year, RBL goes to different blocks in Pilsen every Friday throughout the summer to encourage youth to come together to play sports and promote a message of peace. “These events guaranteed a safe day to play with my friends in the streets,” says Sergio. “I have great memories of playing basketball without having to worry about any violence erupting.”
More than offering a safe place to play, RBL helped Sergio grow into a leader. In the summer of 2013, Sergio wanted RBL to host an event at Throop Park. He gathered dozens of signatures for a petition to have the event held there. As a result, TRP changed its schedule and hosted its first RBL in Throop Park in years, and the ensuing turnout made it a successful event.
To further develop his leadership skills, he began attending peace and non-violence workshops and started volunteering with Henry Cervantes, TRP’s Safety Coordinator.
“It’s been a great privilege to get to work with Sergio because at first he was skeptical about our peace and safety approach,” says Henry. “Now he is a leader helping us reach youth on the streets of Pilsen, and helping them discover the power of their voice in the process of peace making.”
Recently, Sergio participated in TRP’s Safety and Peace walk in Pilsen, an event to engage youth and community residents in activating public spaces with positive activity. This event is one in a series of actions in partnership with other community organizations. The goal is to promote peace during the spring and summer months when violent crime escalates. And it’s a goal Sergio is committed to.
“People always say that no one is doing anything about violence in the community,” he says. “The Pilsen Peace Walk was an opportunity for people and organizations to take a stand against violence.”
Today, he is a hopeful 19-year-old pursuing his degree from Malcolm X College and working as a lifeguard. Sergio is also part of a Peace Exchange program studying peace and non-violence. He is required to attend 80 hours of training ranging from anti-bully resolution to recognizing and dealing with trauma in communities. He will then be part of a delegation of youth that will go to Nicaragua to work on a peace initiative. When they return, their goal is to do a presentation to 1,000 Chicago Public Schools youth from various elementary schools in the community.
Sergio is on the verge of helping to transform other lives, and it may well have begun with his own transformation, which is how he describes his experience with TRP and RBL. “If it wasn’t for the Resurrection Basketball League,” he says, “I might be in a gang.”
Which demonstrates that Sergio, like many youth in our community, are not at-risk youth: they are at-promise youth who have the capacity to imagine more for themselves. When you give youth access to tools and mentors, they have the opportunity to learn new leadership skills and become role models.
For the last 25 years, The Resurrection Project has been building healthy communities. TRP looks forward to working with Sergio and other young people in the communities to help expand resources and services and help transform more neighborhoods in the years to come.

Return to Nueva Vida May 2015 here.