NLEN Newsletter | August 2025
A message from Brenda
Dear NLEN Friends and Supporters,
I can’t bee-lieve that the summer season is waning, and that fall is just around the corner! It seems like just yesterday we were preparing our hives for the bee season! The end of July and beginning of August has been an absolute whirlwind on our campus, from hosting visitors near and far, welcoming new cohorts into our workforce programs, launching new drinks and bites in the beelove® café, and celebrating North Lawndale with our partners at the North Lawndale Community Coordinating Council!
I thank everyone who joined us at the North Lawndale Arts Festival to jointly celebrate the NLCCC’s 10th anniversary and round out our year of 25th anniversary celebrations! We enjoyed the arts festival, and took time to recognize stellar NLEN program graduates, community partners, and staff members for their impact and contributions during the past 25 years! We’ll be celebrating 4 years at our 1111 S. Homan Ave campus this month on August 26th, and I invite you to celebrate this milestone with a donation today.
One of my favorite things about our campus is how we’ve been able to welcome people across Chicago, and the US, through our doors and show how we’re changing lives through the power of honey and fair chance hiring opportunities. We recently had the opportunity to host a group from Vigilant Hope in North Carolina, staff from the Obama Foundation as they share information about the forthcoming Obama Presidential Center across all of Chicago’s 77 neighborhoods, and Illinois State Comptroller Susana Mendoza!
As I look forward to the change in season, I am especially excited to share NLEN’s new website! This project has been nearly a year in the making, from brainstorming to the final product, all thanks to the incredible team at Unlabeled Inc and all our dedicated supporters. We’re making communications and an upgraded digital presence one of our strategic priorities to help reach more people and connect interested people to our programs, services, and opportunities. Check out our new website for yourself at this link.
Stay cool during the dog days of summer with our new West Side iced coffee, or an iced Dubai Chocolate latte from the beelove® café!
Stay Safe. Bee Healthy. Bee Well.
Our Impact
Celebrating 25 Years of Impact at the North Lawndale Arts Festival!
On Saturday, August 2nd, NLEN joined the North Lawndale Arts Festival, one of the most popular local summer events, to celebrate the North Lawndale Community, uplift the incredible work of the North Lawndale Community Coordinating Council (NLCCC), and to cap OFF our yearlong celebration of 25 years of Creating a Community That Works!
We served ice cold bottles of the café’s signature fresh lemonade and honored some of the people who made NLEN’s 25-year legacy possible. None of us could have ever dreamed that one tiny cubicle at Sinai Community Institute could be 20,000 square-foot campus, and that we’d fill the Douglass Park cultural center with program graduates, staff, and longtime supporters as we celebrate this milestone. It’s not too late to celebrate – visit our website at this link for ways to stay engaged and connected!
Connecting Local Job-Seekers to Good Local Jobs: NLEN at the North Lawndale Hiring Event!
On Wednesday, July 23rd, hundreds of local jobseekers lined up outside Nichols Tower, dressed to interview 10 local employers, with resumes in hand. When we started planning this North Lawndale Hiring Event with our partners at Skills for Chicago, the Steans Family Foundation, and West Side United, we envisioned 200 jobseekers attending the event at Nichols Tower. By the end of the day, we had welcomed more than 400 attendees to the event, with a line that was wrapped around the corner of Arthington street. It’s one thing to host a hiring fair, it’s another to host a hiring fair with the goal of ensuring that participants can walk out with clear next steps with an employer, and that’s what we did. We are incredibly honored to share that more than 300 job interviews were conducted on site, with more than 60 applicants receiving next steps, including job interviews resulting from the event.
We are even more proud to share that one of our job seekers has received a job offer resulting from this event, with even more of our clients and graduates going on interviews or completing other tests and certifications in order to secure a new job! This is why we do what we do at NLEN – thank you for your continued support!
Funder Spotlight
NLEN thanks Journey for Good Foundation for their generous $25,000 contribution in support of our Financial Opportunity Center® programs and services! This gift was made possible from a recommendation from our partners at HMSHost by Avolta, who ensure our beelove® products are available for shoppers traveling through O’Hare and Midway airports! We had the distinct honor of hosting ambassadors of Journey For Good from HMSHost and Hudson by Avolta on our campus for a check presentation this month!
Save the Date: Upcoming NLEN Events
August and September Workshops and Training Opportunities!
Fall into new opportunities with NLEN! We are proud partners with the New Covenant Community Development Corporation and their free Small Business Professional Development course! This 8-week course offers an introduction to business and terminology, profit & loss statements, cash flow management, and long-term growth strategies and connects participants to a robust network of other successful small business owners and entrepreneurs! The next cohort starts Thursday, August 28th. Sign up today by filling out NLEN’s general interest form at this link and checking the “Business Education” and “Entrepreneurship” boxes under services and interests!
Catch our next Clear Your Record workshop with New Leaf Illinois and the Illinois Coalition to End Permanent Punishments Thursday, September 4th from 9:30AM to 12:30PM on our 1111 S. Homan Ave campus. These free workshops provide a comprehensive overview of how to expunge and seal criminal records in Illinois and always sell out. RSVP at this link.
Finally, we are excited to announce a new monthly series of digital literacy workshops with our Financial Opportunity Center® staff! Learn about everything from basic digital skills, to creating resumes and cover letters and more, the third Monday of each month from 2-3PM on our campus, starting September 15th! Sign up for these free workshops at this link.
Celebrating Our Clients, Graduates, and Staff
Welcoming New Staff to NLEN!
Middle row, left to right: Ingrid Betts-McAlpin, Daniel Pineda and Michael Allenson
Bottom row, left to right: Johnathan Riley, Shellie Gonzalez, Harold Toliver, and Tameka Bell
We have ambitious goals to change lives and end systemic unemployment in North Lawndale, and we are incredibly excited to welcome 10 new staff to our organization! We are honored to welcome Dr. Vanessa White, Harold Toliver, Rachel Robin, Daniel Pineda, Sharon Cleveland, Johnathan Riley, Michael Allenson, Tameka Bell and Ingrid Betts-McAlpin to NLEN and our social impact businesses and look forward to seeing what they achieve with our organization! We’re still working to find motivated, mission-focused staff to fill key positions in our organization. Learn more about our open positions and apply at this link.
NLEN’s New Digital Front Door!
We are incredibly proud to share the new NLEN.org with our clients, staff, community partners, and stakeholders! Our newly redesigned website makes it easier for job seekers, press, employer partners, and supporters find what they need to support our mission – and looks great on every screen size! Explore our newly redesigned website at this link: nlen.org Questions? Comments? Want to send us a digital high-five? Contact us at communications@nlen.org.
NLEN in the News!
Our story of using the power of honey to change lives across North Lawndale is reaching more people than ever before! We thank Block Club Chicago for publishing an incredible story about the history of our O’Hare Airport bee hives, which have opened a world of job opportunities for people needing a fair chance at a good job. Check out the full story at this link.
We also had the opportunity to share the impact of the North Lawndale Arts Festival on WGN 9’s Daytime Chicago broadcast! We thank NLCCC member Sheila McNary for uplifting the Arts Festival with the Daytime Chicago team! Watch the story here.
NLEN Welcomes the Chicago Community Trust to Our Campus!
At the end of June, we welcomed the leadership and staff of the Chicago Community Trust to our campus for an immersive day of learning and hands on activities with the NLEN team! CCT staff toured our campus, got hands-on experience packaging honey and making our signature beelove® body balm in our Sweet Beginnings production room, and heard first-hand from staff about the current challenges and opportunities in the workforce development sector. We thank NLEN staff members Khelan Todd, Meriem Monroe, Jose Wilson, Janay Brunson, and Ramonda Roberts for participating in a panel discussion facilitated by our President and CEO Brenda M Palms on the barriers participants face when they arrive at our organization, insights on the current funding landscape for nonprofits, and benefit of effective partnerships and collaborations with funders!
NLEN in the Community
Promoting Green Energy Jobs at CEJA in the Park!
Members of our Outreach team joined other local organizations for CEJA in the Parks at the beginning of August! We spoke to community members about how to get free training for local in-demand jobs in the growing green energy sector with NLEN! If you are interested in getting a great job in the local green energy industry, take the first step to a new career by filling out this interest form.
Bring NLEN’s Community Engagement Staff to Your Next Event!
Our Community Outreach & Engagement staff are the faces of our organization across North Lawndale and the broader West Side and beyond! Our staff are eager to promote our programs, services, and upcoming events to prospective clients or community partners looking to learn more and sweeten their connections to our organization. As we head into a busy season of back-to-school events and end of summer block parties, we’d love to attend your event as representatives of our organization. If you would like us to participate in your event, please fill out this request form at least 3 weeks prior to your event. Contact our Outreach team at outreach@nlen.org for more information.
Social Enterprises Updates
Buzzworthy Corporate Orders!
Our production room has been buzzing with activity all summer. Our staff and transitional are putting the final touches on several corporate orders, and we are incredibly excited to share that we are now a Preferred Partner of Choose Chicago! We are honored to forge a sweeter connection with the thousands of people who visit Chicago each year through this partnership.
New Café Drinks & Menu Items!
We’re continuing to add new drinks and bites to our menu as we celebrate 4 years of brewing community in the beelove® café! Try our two newest drinks, which are the perfect transition from late summer to early fall:
The West Side Iced Coffee is our signature remix of a traditional Thai Iced Coffee, flavored with nutmeg and our signature beelove® honey and served with your choice of milk.
The Dubai Chocolate Latte is a luxurious latte served either hot or iced, at a price that simply can’t bee matched for such sweet luxury! Savor rich chocolate and pistachio flavors in an expertly brewed latte crafted with Kribi Coffee espresso.
A Sweet Recipe: Late Summer Fruit Salad with Honey Lime Dressing
Late summer combines the heat of the season with the richer flavors of fall. As we wait for temperatures to cool and leaves to turn, check out this recipe for Late Summer Fruit Salad with Honey Lime Dressing from Twelve On Main. As always, every honey recipe tastes better when made with our signature beelove® urban Chicagoland honey!
Highlights and Recaps
A Whirlwind of Visits on Our Campus!
Our campus has been buzzing with activity all summer – which is what we set out to do when we first welcomed people to 1111 S. Homan Ave 4 years ago! We recently hosted a wide variety of groups to NLEN, Sweet Beginnings, and the beelove® café, including:
Illinois State Comptroller Susana Mendoza: Comptroller Mendoza stopped by NLEN, our Sweet Beginnings production room, and the beelove® café, alongside Illinois state Senator Lakesia Collins! Comptroller Mendoza met with staff, learned about our programs and services, and sampled some of our signature beelove® honey, which she loved!
Vigilant Hope
A Wilmington, North Carolina based nonprofit offering job training support. Vigilant Hope also operates Vigilant Hope Roasting; a full coffee roastery and café, producing award-winning coffee beans!
The Obama Presidential Center
Staff from the Obama Foundation shared information about the forthcoming Obama Presidential Center in the beelove® café as part of the Foundation’s goal to share updates and job opportunities at the Obama Presidential Center in all of Chicago’s 77 neighborhoods.
If your organization, company, or group is interested in learning more about our organization and interested in a visit to our campus, contact our events team at events@nlen.org.
NLEN In Pictures
This month, we want to feature some incredible photos from our O’Hare Airport beekeeping operation, taken by Block Club Chicago’s staff photographer Colin Boyle.
