(audience cheering)
- There is nothing like Christmas in the city.
Whether it's the tree at Rockefeller Plaza in New York,
or the beautiful lights along the Mag Mile
in Jennifer Hudson's home town of Chicago,
- [Kelly] it is so gorgeous in there I love it.
But as Jennifer will tell you, not all parts
of her city get the same attention around the holidays.
We're she's from in the city's south side,
Christmas look very different.
Take a look.
(woosh)
(uplifting music)
- My name is Jahmal Cole.
- [Jahmal] I'm a founder of My Block, My Hood, My City.
We're a social impact organization,
- [Jahmal] and we love to volunteer and hang holiday lights.
Right now we're in Chatham, located
on the south side of Chicago.
- [Jahmal] There's a lot of community roots here.
- [Jahmal] What's so magnificent about more lights
- [Jahmal] going up downtown?
- [Jahmal] Beautification isn't a competition, right.
How can downtown be so magnificent
if it wasn't made for everybody?
- [Jahmal] I know kids that have never been downtown.
Their whole worldview is shaped by their block.
- [Jahmal] So we wanna see blue lights flashing
- [Jahmal] from holiday lights,
instead of blue lights flashing
- [Jahmal] from the top of police cars.
- [Jahmal] We like to bring people together
through communication and that's why we started MLK lights.
Chicago's too segregated, we need people to come together
interact with each other on a human level.
- [Jahmal] Probably got around 20 volunteers out here,
- [Jahmal] they came out on a workday.
So we're gonna put up holiday lights from 35th Street,
all the way to 115th Street.
- [Jahmal] We're gonna decorate over 400 city poles
with nine foot garland, ribbons and bows.
We're gonna decorate over 250 homes with ornaments.
We're putting wreaths on everybody's doors.
And we're gonna put lights on their gutters,
their bushes and their trees out front.
- [Jahmal] We come out here, every year no matter what.
- Doesn't matter if it's raining,
doesn't matter if it's cold, whatever.
People count on us to be here, so we're gonna be here.
(applause)
- Y'all please welcome the CEO and founder of
My Block, My Hood, My City, Jahmal Cole y'all.
(audience cheers and applauds)
So tell us about your organization and what it does
- [Kelly] And how people can help as well.
- Cool. So my organization is called
My Block, My Hood, My City.
We're a social impact organization
based out the south side of Chicago.
Um, we exist because Chicago is a great city,
but unfortunately it's a very segregated city.
So you have kids on one side of the city that
have never been downtown,
they've never seen the lake,
they've never waved for a taxi before.
Their whole worldview is shaped by the infrastructure
of their neighborhood and that can be tragic.
So what we do is we take those teenagers on
educational field trips and we expose them
to different cultures,
different professions,
different cuisines.
- [Jahmal] And we want to, um, them to develop pride
- [Jahmal] and bring that pride back to their neighborhood.
So we shovel snow in the winter for seniors
and we also hang holiday lights on
King Drive to inspire some hope.
- (Kelly) That shoveling snow is real.
- (Jahmal) Hey man, it's necessary.
We do it and we get it done.
- [Kelly] So you grew up in this area, right,
so how important is this?
- [Kelly] I heard you kinda talking during the video.
- I love that!
That is so amazing to hear because everything he's said
I can relate to.
And I always tell the kids,
there's more to life than the block you live on.
So just hearing this resonated with me instantly.
And I felt like its a ...
- [Kelly] And there's more life in the block you live on.
- Yes, it is. But you know, things didn't happen
- [Jennifer] for me until I stepped outside of that.
- [Jennifer] You know what I mean?
And we learned that, my mother always taught us,
idle hands is the devils workshop.
- [Kelly] Yes ma'am
- And it's not enough activities,
it's not enough things for the kids to do.
And especially in Chicago, because it's
only the negative highlighted.
So that's why that is so awesome
- Thank you for saying that
- to see what you guys are doing.
- Thank you for saying that.
- [Kelly] And it's bringing,
it's bringing so much
beauty to the neighborhood too.
And you know when beauty surrounds you,
it's almost like I feel so much better
when I'm just like walking around in the woods
and it's just nature, it's no people.
I finally get out, and I'm not,
- [Kelly] cause my life, I'm always kind of surrounded.
- [Kelly] It's the same thing though,
- [Kelly] you know, metaphorically speaking,
you are what you surround yourself with.
And that beauty and you, you believe in yourself a bit more.
- I agree.
It feels like Chicago wasn't designed for
everybody to be inspired, you know what I mean?
It's hard to be inspired when you don't have internet
and you have to go to MacDonald's to use WiFi.
- Yeah.
- Or there's paddy wagons parked outside
in front of your high school.
So when we put up lights, the significance,
really is inspiring hope, like you said, amongst the youth.
I would say it's interrupting trauma
that exists on King Drive.
And then of course building connections
at the block level amongst the block club.
So I'm excited about it.
- Jahmal, what are the challenges
to putting this whole thing together?
- Well there's always financial challenges,
we're lighting up 450 city poles,
and we're decorating over 250 homes for free.
- Yeah.
- But, um, we're also working with a lot of seniors,
so they can't hang up lights themselves,
and then even when you do give someone lights,
you know, they can't afford, you know,
the electricity bills is gonna go sky high that month.
- [Jahmal] So what we're doing to overcome those challenges
is that we're getting a lot of lights donated
on our website, we got an Amazon wishlist on our website.
We're having volunteers, all different colors.
- I'm a Prime member. I'll get you some stuff.
(audience laughter)
- [Jahmal] Well we need some lights.
- [Kelly] I love shopping on Amazon.
- Good, good.
- [Kelly] You just give me something to buy.
- [Jahmal] Okay will do.
- [Jahmal] We need some door wreaths,
- [Jahmal] and we need some trees, no I'm just joking.
We're also, um, we're actually giving home owners
electric subsidies for the whole month
to pay their electricity bill
for December so. - That's amazing.
- Yup so that's what we're doing.
- Everything is so thought out,
it's so thought out and thoughtful.
- [Jahmal] You know,
um, God's got a battery in my back,
I'm just trying to help people out it uh,
Dr. King said, "Darkness can not drive out darkness,
only light can do that." - Amen Yeah.
- And he said, "hate can not drive out hate,
only love could do that."
so, I need everybody help to spread some light
and some love--
- [Kelly] We need that
in such a big powerful way in this country right now.
- [Kelly] It's just a really beautiful thing what you're
- [Kelly] doing and I was so excited to have you on here.
Thank you for taking the time.
- Thank you for me out here. - Yes.
- Appreciate it.
- [Jahmal] Today is a magical day.
- [Jahmal] We are decoratin' Martin Luther King Jr Drive
- [Jahmal] On the south side of Chicago.
- Wanna inspire some hope.
- [Jahmal] Right now we got about 20 volunteers.
- [Jahmal] We got hot chocolate out here.
- [Jahmal] We got ornaments, we got ribbons,
- [Jahmal] We got bows, we got everything you need,
- [Jahmal] For a happy Holiday.
- I chose to participate because a lot of the residents,
that are senior citizens,
- [Woman With Glasses] Can't get out and decorate
- [Woman with Glasses] Their homes, so I think it's a
- [Woman With Glasses] Beautiful thing to help those
- [Woman With Glasses] that are in need.
- Definitely.
- [Tonya] I've live in this neighborhood
- [Tonya] My whole life and we haven't had
- [Tonya] Decorations and lights in probably 20 plus years.
- [Tonya] Somehow along the way we just lost hope.
(elegant piano music)
- [Jahmal] Aye, thank ya'll from the bottom of my heart
- [Jahmal] For being here.
Thank you for coming out
and weathering this cold.
We doing this Chicago.
We showin' Chicago around the world this is for the
neighborhood this for Chicago.
Ya'll ready?
- [Small Group] Yeah!
- Let's go one two three let's light up Chicago ya'll.
(small group cheering and celebrating)
- [Man In Black Coat] I'm so grateful for Jahmal
- [Man In Black Coat] Coming to us and it gives it uh,
- [Man In Black Coat] Comradery of
neighbors ya know reaching out to each other.
- I had so much fun decorating these houses.
- [Jahmal] Dr. King said, "Darkness can not drive out
- [Jahmal] Darkness, only light can do that."
- I think Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Would be proud
of us today.
- [Jahmal] He would be proud of Chicago today.
(audience applauding)
- Please welcome Tonya
- [Kelly] who's house MLK Drive is now glowing
- [Kelly] With Christmas lights!
- Give it up for her ya'll.
(clapping)
- Thank you, thank you.
- So, I'm not gonna lie, it looked really cold.
- [Kelly] How cold were ya'll while doing all that?
(Kelly laughing)
- It was...
I think that day it was like
- [Tonya] minus nine but um,
- [Tonya] we all had a mission and a purpose
- [Tonya] and we had energy and the lights were so bright
- [Tonya] and beautiful and so,
- [Tonya] we really didn't feel the cold.
- [Tonya] Actually.
- [Kelly] Yeah! It builds you with just such a good spirit,
- [Kelly] Like a positive impact.
- [Tonya] I mean, it's a great thing um, it just,
It inspires hope for our children.
I don't have any children myself personally,
and I'm getting a little choked up, but um,
I do want to leave a legacy, - Yeah!
- For my neighborhood, I grew up there
- How long have you been there?
- I've been in this particular house 32 years.
- Woo!
- But I've been in the area my whole life.
And um, somewhere along the way we lost that,
I mean we use to go Christmas caroling,
there were lights everywhere.
And like five years ago, I can tell you
no one on my block had any lights.
- [Kelly] Wow!
- Then I kind of got in touch with Jahmal,
we got Block Club signs,
we got lights and - Yeah!
- It's really inspiring as you can see
my little neighbor on there.
- [Tonya] He was like, all excited--
- [Kelly] Oh my gosh, I wanna eat him!
- [Kelly] He is so cute - [Tonya] So adorable, yes yes
- And that lil' leather jacket..
I don't know what he had on.
(Tonya laughing)
- I was like you go ahead with your leather jacket.
Oh, I love him! - Yes, he is cute, yes!
- Christmas caroling is even a better idea to add to this,
because it's so festive, - Yes!
- It's so beautiful.
- Yes.
- It makes people want to sing.
- Yeah!
- [Kelly] How do you see this moving forward Jahmal?
- How do you want this to progress?
- [Jahmal] Well last year we did about 100 homes,
- This year we're doing about 250 homes.
- [Kelly] Whew!
- Um, I see it progressing by getting
local elected officials together so they can,
take some of the burden off of us and light the
city poles up themselves you know this year?
- [Kelly] Yeah!
- And I'm also, I wanna um, have like a tree lighting
ceremony, maybe like a 50 foot tree in Cole Park
on 85th and King.
Maybe you, maybe Jennifer can come out there and sing
and we can like--
- You don't even have to invite me, I invite myself
(laughing) - That's how I see it evolvin'
- We both.
- That's how I see it evolvin' so yeah.
- [Kelly] That is so cool.
I love what you're creating there y'all.
It is important and like you said.
- [Kelly] Especially those neighborhoods we all
- [Kelly] Grow up in, you want to show that
You can do anything, it doesn't matter
what neighborhood you can from like you can do any..
You can stay in that neighborhood and build from it,
you can go and travel the world and do stuff.
You wanna teach kids that there are no limits
to your imagination and what your dreams can really
behold for you so.
(audience applauds)