The Shorefront Legacy Center is a nonprofit program that has been around since 2002, dedicated to sharing stories of Black individuals To help share these stories, Shorefront teams up with high school students and connects them with older generations to share their stories through a journalistic style. 

During this program, students will attend 12 classes starting Dec. 8 through April 13. During these classes, students will be taught how to interview an older generation and then, by the end, will publish their work to the Shorefront archives. 

Besides being a great opportunity for students to get connected with their community and build journalism skills, Shorefront offers a lot of other benefits for the Black community. Shorefront uses three principals in their mission: collect, preserve, and educate to help other community members better understand ideas such as social justice and equality through dedicated research. 

Although being known as Shorefront since 2002, it originally started in 1995, by a group called “Through The Eyes of Us” that worked to publish stories about Black communities in Chicago’s suburban North Shore. Since then Shorefront has continued to expand numerous times adding on youth programs, partnering with historians, having public presentations, and so much more. Despite all these changes, their mission always remains the same, sharing stories of the Black community. 

For these 12 weeks students will be specifically focusing on Black individuals who have received reparations from Evanston. Shorefronts archives played a vital role in Evanston deciding to give out reparations and many qualified recipients received $25,000. By the end of the program students will develop not only writing and interviewing skills, but also be stronger will their community and more knowledgeable on the history that surrounds it. 

To join the program students can apply by following the directions on the link here. All students are welcome to apply.