At R CITY, we bring together the best of our city to build a path for families to walk from cradle to career to the glory of God.
Serving one of Chicago's most violent police beats, our leaders invest hours, days, and years building trusted relationships to link our youth to a broader network of support. With the help of all, we provide educational and apprenticeship programming to bring our youth successfully into their calling.
R CITY Programs build skills and link children to the relationships and resources needed to walk from cradle to career.
All R CITY daily youth programs are built around the presence of a mentor- a safe adult who will walk with our children and teens along the path to career. Programs are punctuated with visioning field trips and mentor outings to build relationships and expand our students’ world outside their immediate neighborhood and lifting our students’ sights to their next phase of life.
Begun in the fall of 2015, River City Community Development Center (R CITY) exists to bring together the best of our city to build a path for families to walk from cradle to career to the glory of God. R CITY serves the West Humboldt Park community with Dreambuilders children’s programs that build foundation and cast vision for career, Peacebuilders junior high programs that build peace through team-based career activities, and Citybuilders teen apprenticeships that build work skills, experience, and endurance.
R CITY is founded on the previous experience of three organizations established in West Humboldt Park. R CITY was founded by leaders of River City Community Church, a congregation with over a decade of experience serving neighborhood schools and families. Programs were launched by Brandon Green (a River City pastor at the time) and founding Executive Director Elizabeth Galik, who was previously the executive director of New Life Centers of Chicagoland and founder of New Life’s Humboldt Park site. In 2017, R CITY onboarded the staff and programs of Harambee Chicago Foundation, gaining the leadership of Harambee’s executive director Michelle Johnson and lead tuckpointing crew leader Anthony Johnson. As a result, while the organization is young, R CITY’s leaders have over a decade of experience in the West Humboldt Park community and youth program leadership, including specifically the unique skill sets necessary for tuckpointing apprenticeships. The majority of R CITY staff, including its current directors, are residents of the West Humboldt Park community.
