1. Contact: Steven C. Philpott
XtraMedium Communications LLC
Phone 312.344.3037
E-mail steven@xtra-medium.com
Chicago Antiviolence Showcase
Celebrates 2nd Year
Violence Stops Here 2k12 Showcase brings
young people’s voices to the fore.
Chicago, IL, January 23, 2013
On December 14th 2012, ten contestants from
Chicago’s Englewood, Grand Boulevard, and Chatham
communities arrived by limousine to compete in the
Violence Stops Here 2k12 Showcase at Resolution Digital
Studios in December.
The youth were part of the 6-month contest to win
the 1st place $2,500 Larry Underwood Scholarship for
Creative Excellence. They were chosen to perform in Contestants arrive at the VSH12 Showcase in style.
the showcase via online voting by friends, family and
community. The showcase was produced before a
studio audience and featured video segments,
performances by CollaborAction Theater, Writers Never Die and the contestants.
Click photo to view VSH12 Showcase
1st Deputy Chief of Staff for the City of Chicago was on hand
to present the awards to the three finalists. Lyric Johnson, a
sophomore from Kenwood Academy took home the $2,500
Grand Prize with her performance. Zana Carter of Simeon
won 2nd Place and Team STV (Stop the Violence) from
Lawless Gardens winning 3rd place.
Their performances and the entire showcase can be viewed
at http://youtu.be/ehbnCfSSTjc.
The 2012 Violence Stops Here contest was supported by 3rd
Ward Alderman Pat Dowell, 6th Ward Alderman Roderick T.
Sawyer, 15th Ward Toni Foulkes, and 16th Ward Alderman
JoAnn Thompson.
Violence Stops Here is a New Media for Community Development campaign developed and managed by urban cause
marketing firm XtraMedium Communications LLC. The campaign included collaboration between the aldermen and
several community-based organizations as a way of getting youth to think about and creatively expressing their views
on ending violence in their neighborhoods.
The Violence Stops Here contest began June 15th. Chicago Public School students ages 13
– 19 from Chicago’s Chatham, Englewood, and Grand Boulevard communities submitted
a short video from their cell phones or pc to ViolenceStopsHere.com to enter the contest.
Each video was judged on: 1) creative expression, 2) relevance to the community, and
3) number of online votes.
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Once approved by committee, contest entries received online votes by friends and family to determine the top entries
to compete in the Violence Stops Here 2k12 finale.
rd th th
3 Ward Alderman, 15 Ward Alderman 6 Ward Alderman
Pat Dowell Toni Foulkes Roderick T. Sawyer
“Violence is a cancer “The Violence Stops “We need youth to
destroying our youth Here Contest is an get involved in the
and communities. We excellent way for our Violence Stops Here contest. It sparks
must find more children to express creative solutions to pressing problem of
productive ways to express our their views about our community. After violence and gets us all involved in the
frustration and seek more understanding all it is their every day reality (on the process.”
with each other. The future of our streets and in the school, etc). Adults
communities depends on the choices we can only imagine it. It is only our
make today.” hypothesis, so who is better to tell the
story than our children?”
th
16 Ward Alderman
JoAnn Thompson
“The Violence Stops Here campaign affords our youth an opportunity to speak freely and creatively on issues that
directly impact their lives. It is a wonderful listening tool. Community leaders and Religious leaders should pay
close attention to these messages. We need to know what our youth are thinking and how they internalize
situations in their environment.”
XtraMedium Communications worked on behalf of underwriter Chicago Beverage Systems to coordinate the campaign
with local City of Chicago councilmen (aldermen), keep their chiefs of staff informed of progress and generate goodwill
across the 6-months of the campaign. The councilmen were excited to see Chicago Beverage Systems bring the
contest to their areas for a second season.
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