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Chicago Antiviolence Showcase Celebrates 2nd Year Violence Stops Here 2k12 Showcase brings

young people’s voices to the fore. Chicago, IL, January 23, 2013

On December 14th 2012, ten contestants from Chicago’s Englewood, Grand Boulevard, and Chatham communities arrived by limousine to compete in the Violence Stops Here 2k12 Showcase at Resolution Digital Studios in December.

The youth were part of the 6-month contest to win the 1st place $2,500 Larry Underwood Scholarship for Creative Excellence. They were chosen to perform in the showcase via online voting by friends, family and community. The showcase was produced before a studio audience and featured video segments, performances by CollaborAction Theater, Writers Never Die and the contestants.

1st Deputy Chief of Staff for the City of Chicago was on hand to present the awards to the three finalists. Lyric Johnson, a sophomore from Kenwood Academy took home the $2,500 Grand Prize with her performance. Zana Carter of Simeon won 2nd Place and Team STV (Stop the Violence) from Lawless Gardens winning 3rd place.

Their performances and the entire showcase can be viewed at http://youtu.be/ehbnCfSSTjc.

The 2012 Violence Stops Here contest was supported by 3rd Ward Alderman Pat Dowell, 6th Ward Alderman Roderick T. Sawyer, 15th Ward Toni Foulkes, and 16th Ward Alderman JoAnn Thompson.

Violence Stops Here is a New Media for Community Development campaign developed and managed by urban cause marketing firm XtraMedium Communications LLC. The campaign included collaboration between the aldermen and several community-based organizations as a way of getting youth to think about and creatively expressing their views on ending violence in their neighborhoods.

The Violence Stops Here contest began June 15th. Chicago Public School students ages 13 – 19 from Chicago’s Chatham, Englewood, and Grand Boulevard communities submitted a short video from their cell phones or pc to ViolenceStopsHere.com to enter the contest. Each video was judged on: 1) creative expression, 2) relevance to the community, and 3) number of online votes.

Contact: Steven C. Philpott XtraMedium Communications LLC Phone 312.344.3037 E-mail steven@xtra-medium.com

Contestants arrive at the VSH12 Showcase in style.

Click photo to view VSH12 Showcase

Page 2

Once approved by committee, contest entries received online votes by friends and family to determine the top entries to compete in the Violence Stops Here 2k12 finale.

3rd

Ward Alderman,

Pat Dowell

“Violence is a cancer

destroying our youth

and communities. We

must find more

productive ways to express our

frustration and seek more understanding

with each other. The future of our

communities depends on the choices we

make today.”

15th

Ward Alderman

Toni Foulkes

“The Violence Stops

Here Contest is an

excellent way for our

children to express

their views about our community. After

all it is their every day reality (on the

streets and in the school, etc). Adults

can only imagine it. It is only our

hypothesis, so who is better to tell the

story than our children?”

6th

Ward Alderman

Roderick T. Sawyer

“We need youth to

get involved in the

Violence Stops Here contest. It sparks

creative solutions to pressing problem of

violence and gets us all involved in the

process.”

16th

Ward Alderman JoAnn Thompson “The Violence Stops Here campaign affords our youth an opportunity to speak freely and creatively on issues that

directly impact their lives. It is a wonderful listening tool. Community leaders and Religious leaders should pay

close attention to these messages. We need to know what our youth are thinking and how they internalize

situations in their environment.”

XtraMedium Communications worked on behalf of underwriter Chicago Beverage Systems to coordinate the campaign

with local City of Chicago councilmen (aldermen), keep their chiefs of staff informed of progress and generate goodwill

across the 6-months of the campaign. The councilmen were excited to see Chicago Beverage Systems bring the

contest to their areas for a second season.

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