• Posted: June 23, 2021
• better communities, better construction, Juli Cannon, super electric, The Bloc, YouTube video

 

Opportunities to give back to the community are a must-have when Powering Chicago is choosing which organizations to partner with. When discussing a partnership with the Chicago Blackhawks, their great community programming was a huge attractor. One of the latest opportunities to come out of the partnership with the Blackhawks was the involvement with west side Chicago nonprofit organization, The Bloc.

The Bloc is a nonprofit organization that aims to spread the love of boxing to provide resources and opportunities to Chicago’s communities. They succeed in their mission by offering mentoring and tutoring programs to youth least likely to engage in those activities — those who like to fight.

Recently, The Bloc moved into a beautiful old building, a 10,000-square-foot church. After making the needed adaptations to convert the space, The Bloc still had many electrical problems. 

“As the Director of Operations, I’m constantly calling an electrician to come fix these little problems that we’re having,” said Juli Cannon, Director of Operations at The Bloc. “The microwave isn’t working in the student snack area, or in the staff lounge. The vacuum will blow a fuse, all kinds of things constantly happening. Multiple rooms without lights.” 

The Chicago Blackhawks knew the right people for the job. The Blackhawks approached Powering Chicago to help fix The Bloc’s electricity in one big project. When looking for a contractor to take this project, it wasn’t difficult for Powering Chicago to identify local contractor Super Electric. Founded in 1936 and on the west side of Chicago since 1955, Super Electric knows and understands some of the difficulties faced by the people in this community. 

“Super Electric wanted to make sure that they continued their efforts in helping out this community,” said Elbert Walters III, Director of Powering Chicago. “And finding out that we were partnering with an organization that was right in their backyard, was something that they really were excited to take part in.”

Now that the project is completed, Super Electric’s work is allowing The Bloc to focus its efforts on what really matters, serving the community’s youth. The Bloc’s work is paying off. Since 2016, they’ve maintained a 100 percent high school graduation and college acceptance rate. And organization-wide, participants’ average GPAs have been over 3.2 every year.

With fresh and functional facilities, The Bloc is ready and determined to achieve its goal of training 300 youth next year.