What shows up on the block.
The numbers behind the work in 2025 — served, placed, trained, fed, funded — plus the latest news and press from Woodlawn.
The numbers.
Where the work landed.
31% fewer gun homicides in 60637
Our outreach team mediated 140+ incidents and responded to 22 hospital bedside interventions. The 60637 ZIP saw a 31% reduction in gun homicides 2024→2025.
Job placements · 72% retained at 6 months
Construction trades, tech, and logistics. $19/hr average starting wage. 72% still employed with the same employer six months out.
380 youth · 94% attendance rate
Entrepreneurship training, tutoring, and mentorship. 94% weekly attendance. 42 youth placed in summer internships.
520 sessions · 0 cost to participants
Individual therapy, group work, and crisis response — entirely free to participants, funded by foundations + individual donors.
The building goes up with the dollars.
Groundbreaking was 2022. Target completion is 2027. Every dollar of the capital campaign goes directly to the build — no operating overhead, fully audited.
"I came in looking for a construction job. I left with a trade, a clean slate, and a plan. That's not a statistic — that's a life."— Workforce program graduate, 2025 cohort
What they're saying about us.
Coverage of Project H.O.O.D. from local and national outlets — the stories others are telling about the work happening in Woodlawn.
Project HOOD credited for Woodlawn violent crime drop.
Homicides in Woodlawn are down roughly 35%. Pastor Brooks and his outreach team — credible messengers from the community — are why.
Read on CBS Chicago →1,000 Men Unity Gathering: violence-free zone on the South Side.
Project HOOD convened more than 1,000 men to celebrate progress at the LEO Center and a growing violence-free zone in Woodlawn.
Read on ABC7 →South Side nonprofit Project HOOD rings NYSE opening bell.
Project HOOD traveled to New York City to ring the New York Stock Exchange opening bell — a national stage for a South Side mission.
Read on WGN →Capitol Hill lawmakers visit Project H.O.O.D. — a "major step forward."
Members of Congress came to Woodlawn to see Project HOOD's community-driven violence interruption model firsthand.
Read on Fox News →Project HOOD receives $8M donation toward new community center.
A major gift accelerates the $45M Robert R. McCormick Leadership & Economic Opportunity Center at 66th & King Drive.
Read on CBS Chicago →First look inside the LEO Center construction in Woodlawn.
A deep-dive site visit into the 85,000 sq ft building rising at King Drive — what's going in each floor, and what it means for the neighborhood.
Read on Building Up Chicago →LEO Center Offering Construction Training Program.
Project HOOD's Pre-Apprenticeship Construction cohort gives Woodlawn residents a direct path from training to union-track careers.
Read on CBS Chicago →Pastor Corey Brooks walks across America for Project H.O.O.D.
Coverage from Chicago's oldest Black-owned newspaper of the cross-country walk that raised millions for Woodlawn's LEO Center.
Read on Chicago Crusader →