Joyce Mpower House Brings Digital Arts Programs To South Side Kids

WEST ENGLEWOOD — A digital arts training center designed to help young people discover their creative passions while building lifelong skills is now open in Englewood. 

Community leaders and neighbors gathered Tuesday to celebrate the grand opening of the Joyce Mpower House, 6410 S. Honore St. 

The state-of-the-art facility has three floors of activities for young people to explore opportunities in music, media, technology and design. The Robert R. McCormick Media Center on the hub’s ground floor includes a recording and podcast studio where local youth can learn video and music production and launch podcasts. 

Bright orange stairs lead to the hub’s lower level, where the Mpower Hub features a gaming and computer lab for young people to learn skills in computer design, web development and game programming. On the same floor, the Idea Lab has activities in graphic design and prototyping. 

The Joyce Mpower House is “giving hope” to the community as the “first multimedia center in West Englewood,” said Carrie Pullie, executive director of Metropolitan Family Services Calumet. In addition to opportunities in the arts and technology, the hub will offer health and wellness services to “wrap our arms around the whole youth,” Pullie said. 

“We want to be open doors to the community,” Pullie said. “My hope for the future is that this house is not only just a house, but a hangout spot and safe space for the youth to come to and to grow.” 

The state-of-the-art facility is the newest addition to the We Grow Peace Campus, a block-based community center on 64th and Honore composed of basketball courts, a play lot, a community garden and repurposed homes that provide immediate services and basic needs to Englewood families. Imagine Englewood If became the owner and operator of the campus in 2022. Metropolitan Family Services, a member of Englewood coalition We Grow Chicago, owns and operates the Joyce Mpower House.

The Peace Campus services nearly 3,000 people in Englewood each year, said Michelle Rashad, director of Imagine Englewood If. The Joyce Mpower House — a home transformed into a hub for innovation and opportunities — will continue the campus’s legacy, Rashad said. 

“Today is about so much more than cutting a ribbon,” Rashad said. “It’s a celebration of what’s possible when we stay true to building the neighborhood we imagine and the community our youth deserve. I can’t wait to see the dreams that begin inside these walls.” 

A few weeks ago, Rashad met a woman whose family lived in a home across the street from the now-renovated hub, she said.

At the time, the building was a favorite palace for kids to play. The basement was “so cool and so deep that it stayed cool even on the hottest summer days,” Rashad said the woman told her.

The Joyce Mpower House will continue its purpose as a space for young people — “we’re simply giving it a new purpose for a new generation,” Rashad said. 

“One of my favorite things to remember is that every day, in every way, there are life-altering moments for children, young adults and even adults as young as me,” said Ric Estrada, Metropolitan Family Services CEO. “This house will help make those moments special.” 

Adorning the facade of the facility is a mural by Englewood Arts Collective co-founder Cujo Dah. The towering mural captures the “energy, creativity and youthfulness at the heart of the Joyce Mpower House,” Pullie said.

“The Joyce Mpower House will provide young people with a safe, inspiring environment where they can discover their passions, and we really want them to unlock their hidden superpowers,” Pullie said. “That’s why we have this comic book stretched out behind us.”