Our Story
New Life Centers
Arise Creations is one of many programs within New Life Centers. New Life Centers of Chicagoland, NFP was originally created in 2005 to address the needs of the neighbors surrounding the New Life Community Church locations. As neighbors approached the church with pressing issues–youth violence, gang violence, teen pregnancy, justice system involvement, unemployment–New Life responded with custom-made Centers programs that fit the community. Initial sites grew in the Little Village and Midway neighborhoods (2005). Subsequent programs sprang up at Humboldt Park (2008), Cicero, Jefferson Park, and Oak Forest. To this day, New Life Centers continues in its culture of creating programs that address expressed neighborhood need and empower neighborhood involvement, rather than the normal social service pattern of initiating programs based on funding availability.
Urban Hope
Arise Creations was originally a program called B.L.I.N.G. (Bringing up leaders in the next generation) that began in 2009 with the birth of the Urban Hope project. It all began when former program lead, Beth Galik watched her young daughter notice the beauty of shimmering pieces of shattered glass from a bus stop shelter that had been destroyed due to gun violence on the west side of Chicago. She got the idea that if her daughter could see the beauty in something that most people would call trash, there must be some way to repurpose it and give it a new life. Those pieces of glass were harvested and wire wrapped to create original jewelry. The piece represents how God restores us as broken people and gives us a new purpose when we choose to follow him. The BLING program became a way for young women in the neighborhood to earn money in a safe way through creating and selling their handmade jewelry. The original Urban Hope piece has become our signature piece and is featured in many of our jewelry items today.
Arise Creations
In 2016, we re-launched as Arise Creations & continue to be a youth-fueled, creative business focused on empowering youth through entrepreneurship, mentorship & spiritual enrichment. Arise Creations functions as a jewelry business, a job training program & an after-school program. We work with 6th - 12th grade young women in the Chicago neighborhoods of Humboldt Park and Little Village. Youth participants attend classes once weekly where they are taught to create the Arise jewelry designs inspired by biblical principles, gain spiritual enrichment, and learn professional & entrepreneurship skills. Participants further gain professional skills by engaging in sales at vendor shows, conferences, private virtual parties & other events and venues. Some of the biggest impact on our youth include having a safe space to learn & grow, learn about God, the ability to build deep friendships & broadened horizons.