The evolution of the Westside Writing Project has been 15 years in the making. Starting as a community newsletter, it eventually blossomed into a newspaper and finally a youth publication called The Ave, in 2006.

 

The Ave and the Westside Writing Project replaced Latin’s project of Nitty Gritty News, which ran as a monthly publication for three years and garnered a good reputation on the Westside.

 

“Once I saw that the students were interested and looked forward to coming to this program, I had to make it happen. It was going to continue,” he said.

 

The Westside Writing Project can be found on Chicago Avenue in Austin, the largest neighborhood in the city and one of the most crime ridden. Although the population density is close to 2,000 more people per square mile than the city on average, the streets are quiet. Many storefronts are vacant and the sidewalks are littered with scraps of papers and fliers.

 

The program recently moved into a new space; it’s own.

 

It can be found tucked into the back of Sankofa Cultural Arts and Business Center, a maze of meeting spaces and large open rooms. One step into the media lab, the workspaces are set on a miniature scale to fit smaller bodies. Desktop computers line the walls and empty tables stand in the middle. One wall features pictures documenting the evolution of the program, on another there are decals with phrases such as “gather opinions,” “evaluate sources” and “DON’T just repeat” printed in black letters on the blue walls. There is a separate room with a green screen and a video camera for filming news shows.

 

Nora Bhuiya of suburban New Lennox met Latin when he was appointed as her supervisor at the Illinois Department of Transportation. She agreed to help him with the layout of his newspaper and their friendship has grown over years of working together.

 

Originally from Hungary, Bhuiya said Latin’s considerable knowledge of the neighborhoods their publication focused on has given her an understanding of the different Chicago communities and the issues those communities face.

 

She said his goal was always to highlight positive aspects of troubled neighborhoods and has translated that to working with youth.

 

“He makes them feel good, he makes them feel valuable. Because maybe these kids don’t feel valuable….maybe they feel that they are no one. But he tries to uplift them,” Bhuiya said.

 

Caroline Latin-Smith, his mother, said he wants kids to realize the opportunities that are available to them.

 

“Just the fact that he is a genuine good person,” she said. “He’s got a great heart. He loves people. That is probably the most impressive thing to me.”

 

Growing up in Muskegon, Mich., Latin was always involved with athletics and grew up in an atmosphere of competition, his mother said. School came easily to him, but sports were his love.

 

“He was the kind of kid who would go with his buddies to go play basketball all day, but he always had a book in his back pocket. Where if he got a minute, he was going to read something,” Latin-Smith said.