Public Safety in Chicago with Vanessa Westley

11/04/21 • 11 min

Our Stories, Our World: A community-driven podcast series

Retired officer Vanessa Westley spent 25 years working within the Chicago Police Department. She has played an active role in Community Policing initiatives since 2004 and managed the CPD and Metro YMCA’s “Bridging the Divide” program before her work with the Youth District Advisory Councils (YDAC). She also served as project manager for the Mayor’s Office of Faith Based and Community Partnerships. Westley is currently a restorative justice practitioner and trainer.
Interviewer Andrea Hernandez began serving as a member of YDAC when she was in high school. Now 20 years old, Hernandez is completing college coursework and pursuing plans to work as a Chicago Police Department officer. She credits YDAC for her growth and understanding of the importance of public and community safety.

EXTRA! EXTRA!
Watch what happens when the tables are turned on interviewer Andrea Hernandez as she if featured in this news story about her work with YDAC. Young Documentary Filmmakers Working With Chicago Police To Uplift City’s Communities

Music: Malci

Artwork: Dan MacDonald Studios

Audio Producer: Samantha Gattsek

Executive Producers: Mareva Lindo & Elissa Yancey

This podcast is brought to you by Public Narrative and A Picture’s Worth.

Music: Malci

Artwork: Dan MacDonald Studios

Audio Producer: Samantha Gattsek

Executive Producers: Mareva Lindo & Elissa Yancey

This podcast is brought to you by Public Narrative and A Picture’s Worth.

Previous Episode

Public Education in Chicago with Rossana Rodriguez

In our second episode, we focus again on the critically important topic of Public Education--this time with a distinctly different perspective. This episode features teen story-gatherer Kaylen Brandt in conversation with Chicago alderwoman Rossana Rodriguez, a teacher and community organizer by training. Running as a Democratic Socialist, she won her first political campaign in 2019, when she was elected to represent the city’s 33rd Ward on the Chicago City Council. She was born and raised in Puerto Rico, where her father was a community organizer. Rodriguez studied and taught drama in Puerto Rico before government cut-backs sparked her move to Albany Park in Chicago, where she became a resident director at the Albany Park Theater Project.

In this episode, Rodriguez shares a photograph she took when she was a teacher at Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos High School in Humboldt Park. The photo shows Koko, a Black trans woman in Rodriguez’s integrated arts class, on a very good day. Koko is smiling as she shows off a sock puppet she made as part of the class.

Content Warning: Anti-trans violence and transphobia.

Our Stories, Our World is a collaboration that connects Chicago’s Public Narrative, a longtime advocate for broader, more accurate and more authentic community representation in media, and A Picture’s Worth, a nonprofit focused on strengths-based storytelling for community transformation. Our Stories, Our World combines audio stories and photography to create a series of youth-led, citizen-centered podcasts that add depth and context to stories about Public Narrative’s three thematic pillars: public safety, public health and public education.

Interviewer/Host: Kaylen Brandt
Music: Malci
Artwork: Dan MacDonald Studios
Audio Producer: Samantha Gattsek
Executive Producers: Mareva Lindo & Elissa Yancey
This podcast is brought to you by Public Narrative and A Picture’s Worth.

Resources and Links

Our Stories Our World podcast site: http://apicturesworth.org/publicnarrative
Chicago Magazine profile of Rossana Rodriguez: https://www.chicagomag.com/chicago-magazine/march-2021/new-power-30/rossana-rodriguez/
Albany Park Theater Project: https://aptpchicago.org/
Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos High School: https://pachs-chicago.org/
El Rescate: https://www.humboldtparkportal.org/directory/el-rescate/
Resources and programs for LGBTQ+ individuals in Chicago: https://www.bravespacealliance.org/
Public Narrative: http://publicnarrative.org
A Picture’s Worth: http://apicturesworth.org

Next Episode

Public Safety in Chicago with Tynetta Hill-Muhammad

Chicago community organizer and abolitionist Tynetta Hill-Muhammad grew up in Louisiana. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, as thousands of residents waited to be rescued, they watched police arrest, shoot, and in some cases kill residents seeking basic supplies from local stores. That was the only spark Hill-Muhammad needed to envision a safer world without police. After moving to Chicago, they encountered the work of Black Youth Project 100 (BYP100), a national, member-based organization of young Black organizers and activists dedicated to creating justice and freedom for all Black people. Today she’s the Chicago Chapter Organizer with BYP100, and works in organizing spaces across the city on initiatives around food sovereignty, transformative justice, and public health.

Interviewer Andrea Hernandez began serving as a member of the Youth District Advisory Council when she was in high school. Now 20 years old, Hernandez is completing college coursework and pursuing plans to work as a Chicago Police Department officer. She credits YDAC for her growth and understanding of the importance of public and community safety.

Music: Malci

Artwork: Dan MacDonald Studios

Audio Producer: Samantha Gattsek

Executive Producers: Mareva Lindo & Elissa Yancey

This podcast is brought to you by Public Narrative and A Picture’s Worth.

Resources and Links

Our Stories Our World podcast site: http://apicturesworth.org/publicnarrative

Public Narrative: http://publicnarrative.org

A Picture’s Worth: http://apicturesworth.org

BYP100 Chicago Chapter: https://www.byp100.org/copy-of-new-page

Cathy Cohen: http://blackyouthproject.com/about-us/cathy-j-cohen/

16 Shots: The Police Shooting of Laquan McDonald:https://www.wbez.org/shows/16-shots/55c63c72-d518-4ad9-b5dc-dd0d841d79a7?gclid=Cj0KCQiAys2MBhDOARIsAFf1D1czFcyHIcOl_vyZ3g7m3Xl1kjbSeOGoRIaq7stbiDCAR6E7hfgGKz8aAq38EALw_wcB