The Support Group, also known as TSG, has made a permanent mark in Chicago by helping youth. They have been a pillar of the community since 1989. Through its programs and outreach, The Support Group has been instrumental in helping to uplift and enrich the lives of youth in Chicago.
The Beginning of The Support Group
The founder and executive Director Bennie Henry was born on the South Side. Henry’s parents unfortunately passed when he was 12 years old. After that, his older sisters didn’t want him to become just another number added to a statistic, so they forced him to live with one of his aunts in Alabama. But soon after, he returned to Chicago and went to South Shore High School and quickly became an all-city basketball player.
As Bennie became popular, he started gaining a ton of support and compassion from strangers, and that drove him to give back that same support to the youth. With his goal in mind, he and his cousin Tim Hardaway Sr. founded The Support Group. They used the one sport that affected them the most, basketball, because his cousin was a professional player who played in the NBA. In 1991, the support group became a legal entity.
Furthermore, Bennie isn’t just a basketball player, he is a licensed Respiratory Therapist. In fact, he didn’t just make The Support Group for a basketball team. TSG has done many things to help with the youth of Chicago in various aspect and resources. Bennie truly believes in making a change and becoming a second chance for many young adults. Additionally, he wants to help solve the problems that occur in his community and understand someone from the community knows the issues the most.
The Things TSG has done
TSG is growing and changing even more lives than ever before and has done many things to help the youth. In collaboration with Heart Alliance, The Support Group is fighting to eradicate the violence impacting Chicago communities through the Leadership and Peace Academy Program.
They also have a Teen Empowerment Summit program. This entails roughly 1,000 Chicago teens who participate in a day of self expression and information sharing regarding topics of self-esteem, career exploration, higher education, financial literacy and other youth related issues.
Furthermore, they also have the TSG Instructional Basketball Clinics & LPA and Maximum Exposure: College & Career Pathways programs. But there is one thing TSG has done that stands out the most.
Lunch with a Leader
That one thing is how the support group has opened “Lunch with a Leader.” They hold this program yearly and it’s for underserved young adults in Chicago and it had 300 Chicago Public School students attending. Lunch with a leader has the CPS students gather on the southwest side of Chicago to meet and learn from known business, entrepreneurial, and community leaders all over the city.
They recently held this program on Feb. 27, 2023. Moreover, there were roughly 30 leaders from 20 different organizations, available for the youth to get to know. The Support Group put students into groups of ten and they assigned each group one leader, depending on what the youth’s interests were. Following that, every student had the chance to ask questions of the leaders about the skills that needed to be developed or the experience they required to become successful in their chosen line of work.
“We have hosted lunch with a leader for over ten years now, helping the underserved youth become inspired, we have opened new doors for them and soon they will be the ones carving a better future just like we have for them. And TSG is very grateful to be the ones who are helping these young adults achieve greatness and not just be another statistic,” Bennie Henry stated.
Leadership and Peace Academy Program
The YPAM Peace Ambassador Program consists of a group of teens who develop the critical mass necessary to change the culture of violence that currently exists. Earlier this year they took part in National Violence Prevention Week, which takes place near the end of April. The Youth Peace Ambassadors in Motion Program in dozens of Chicago Public Schools and is managed by The Support Group.
Bennie Henry stated that it’s through constructive programming that people will “change the lives of these young adults.”
By Samuel Cruz
Sources:
Weekly Citizen: The Support Group Holds Annual “Lunch with a Leader” Event Connecting Aspiring Students with Chicago Business and Community Leaders
The Support Group: TSG IS A NONPROFIT PROVIDING OUR COMMUNITIES A BRIGHTER FUTURE.
Block Club Chicago: South Side Group Wants To Beef Up Teen Programs After Youth Gatherings Downtown Turned Violent
Featured and Top Image Courtesy of Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
Inset Image Courtesy of Ken Lund Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
