On November 16, the 2024 Chicago Peace Fellows hosted the vibrant Fall Into Family Wellness Festival at JLM Abundant Life on the West Side of Chicago. With over 100 families in attendance and more than 30 organizations offering essential resources and services, the event was a dynamic celebration of community well-being. As part of their Summer Projects, the Chicago Peace Fellows crafted this festival to connect families from marginalized and underserved communities with services and resources that promote wellness. The vision and execution were led by 2024 Chicago Peace Fellows Ariel DeNey Rainey, Aniki Coates, Pat Day-McCray, and Tai Donovan, making it an unforgettable day of empowerment and support.
The Fall into Family Wellness Festival was part of this series of Summer Projects organized and hosted by the 2024 Chicago Peace Fellows to apply lessons learned through the GATHER curriculum to build peace within their communities. Throughout their fellowship, the Chicago Peace Fellows had a series of planning meetings where they set the scope of their Summer Projects: determining which beneficiaries to target, choosing potential community partners, and drafting a program. After determining projects and team members, the Peace Fellows voted on how to spend a shared stipend across various projects and then met on their own to plan. The Fall Into Family Wellness Festival was one of the projects that the 2024 Fellows voted to fund, alongside six other shared projects.
Addressing Ten Dimensions of Wellness
When initially planning the project, the group chose to borrow the concept of the “ten dimensions of wellness” from Bethel New Life, where 2024 Chicago Peace Fellow Aniki Coates acts as the Senior Manager of Horticulture and Wellness. Bethel provides comprehensive care that aims to address ten dimensions of wellness: intellectual, spiritual, physical, civic, environmental, social, occupational, emotional, financial, and creative. Aniki elaborates: “Our mission [at Bethel] is to improve wellness outcomes and increase life expectancy. So, I thought those 10 dimensions would be a good base for the Peace Fellows to build on in the Wellness Festival.”
Other Peace Fellows liked the idea of planning the festival around the ten dimensions of wellness because they were initially interested in finding a theme for the festival that addressed the social determinants of health. Social determinants are the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age that affect their health outcomes. Tai Donovan described their role in the planning process:
“We spoke about the social determinants that deeply impact communities of color and underserved populations, recognizing how they drive the disparities we see today. Our goal was to find a theme that meaningfully addressed these factors at their core. When Aniki mentioned Bethel’s focus on the dimensions of wellness, it immediately resonated with us. By centering our efforts on these dimensions, we weren’t just acknowledging social determinants—we were actively targeting and addressing them in a way that fosters real change.”
Bringing Together a Community of Wellness
After deciding on a framework for planning, the Peace Fellows got to work seeking out different resources and services for the festival. In particular, they prioritized reaching out to people in the Peace Fellows network as an opportunity to build stronger relationships within an existing community. Current Peace Fellows and alumni were invited to table at the festival, hold presentations, and showcase services.
Participating organizations held trainings, provided free resources, and offered entertainment for the families who came. Since the ten dimensions of wellness take a holistic approach to health, there were a wide variety of offerings. Participants could visit stations where they could discuss mental health and the stigma around getting treatment, there was a bounce house where children could play and be supervised, and vendors set up tables where individuals could sign up for health care services or learn about nutrition.
Peace Fellows also stepped up to showcase their own talents and services. Bethel provided a dedicated station where individuals could craft bath bombs, promoting self-care and fostering conversations about mental health, Dr. Abdullah Pratt, founder of the organization MedCEEP and a 2023 Chicago Peace Fellow, held a Stop the Bleed and CPR training, and Parrish Brown, a 2024 Chicago Peace Fellow, conducted a healing circle/grief therapy session. One of the highlights for the families who came were four pallets of free food that were provided by the Kindness Campaign, a connection that was brought by 2024 Chicago Peace Fellow, Ariel DeNey Rainey.
“We successfully engaged our target audience of families, with children, parents, aunts, uncles, and extended relatives showing up in impressive numbers.”
– Aniki Coates
The festival also served the vendors and providers, who emphasized their gratitude at the opportunity to serve the community and connect with new organizations. During the course of the event, Tai Donovan notes, “5 or 6 vendors came and thanked us for letting them be a part of this. They felt like this was such a great event and they were feeling blessed just to be there.” Over the course of the event resources were provided not only to participants, but also between vendors and service providers. At one point in the festival, Tai reports, the DJ took a break to refresh her CPR skills at a training provided by Dr. Pratt.
“There was something about this event that brought everyone together in a really meaningful way. I don’t think I’ve ever felt more connected to my fellow Chicago Peace Fellows than I did that day. Being able to engage with the community, talk to people, and connect with the vendors made it even more special. Some of the vendors have even reached out since, saying how much the event meant to them and asking to be involved in anything we do in the future. It was an experience that really left a lasting impact.”
-Tai Donovan
In the future, the Peace Fellows involved in the project would like to host an annual wellness festival. They envision the festival growing in size, with more organizations getting involved and a longer planning stage being established. They also would like to hold the festival in the summer, so that they can take advantage of outdoor resources, such as Bethel’s garden. Aniki Coates sees the festival as expanding to target an even broader inter-generational population in the future. She believes that intentional intergenerational gatherings not only bridge the generational divide, but build social cohesion and trust, reduce isolation, and foster community advocacy to combat systemic challenges. She especially sees a need for this social cohesion in the present moment: “The community is yearning for connection”.
The Fall Into Family Wellness Festival received donations from:
