Courage to Participate

On Saturday, January 17, we will honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s vision of nonviolence as an active, courageous way of life. We will explore the Kingian principle that “Nonviolence is for courageous people.” — highlighting the bravery required to choose peace, confront injustice, and rebuild community.

As Institute for Nonviolence Chicago marks ten years of service, we celebrate the courage of those who have participated in transforming their lives and neighborhoods through peace.

SPECIAL HIGHLIGHTS:

Featured guest speakers:

• ERNEST CRIM III, Emmy-nominated producer, award-winning educator, and author  of “How Black History Can Save Your Life.”

• TRYMAINE LEE, Pulitzer Prize and Emmy Award-winning journalist, filmmaker and author of "A Thousand Ways to Die."

Honoring

SOLEDAD ADRIANZÉN MCGRATH, Beloved Community Builder awardee.

Short film screening

“Choose Peace”

Celebrating ten years of Institute for Nonviolence Chicago

Interactive Service Experience

Letters of Courage

LUNCH PROVIDED.

PLEASE RSVP.

ERNEST CRIM III is an Emmy-nominated producer, public teacher, antiracist educator and hate crime victor, who uses (Black) historical narratives to empower and educate through a culturally equitable lens. Mr. Crim, a south side of Chicago native and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign graduate, is a former high school history educator of 12 years, who now also advocates for social justice issues and teaches Black History to the world through social media with a platform that reaches roughly 4 million people each month (as of 2024). 

As such, he has created content for companies such as HBO, HULU, Disney, Paramount, and the History Channel. Additionally, he is the CEO of Crim’s Cultural Consulting LLC, an international speaker who has spoken at Harvard University, the University of Chicago, Microsoft, Colin Kaepernick’s Know Your Rights Camp, and audiences in the U.K. and Canada, an author of two books and a passionate progressive education activist who has worked closely with organizations to advocate for educational and political equity, reparations, mental health awareness and food justice. Mr. Crim has been featured on, and collaborated with, CNN, HBO, The Washington Post, ABC, WGN, PBS, CBS, NBC & Newsweek and various other outlets.

TRYMAINE LEE is a Pulitzer Prize and Emmy Award winning journalist. He has spent much of his decorated career reporting on race, justice, and gun violence. He is the best-selling author of A Thousand Ways to Die: The True Cost of Violence on Black Life in America, a sweeping investigation into the generational toll of gun violence and the systems that shape Black life in the United States. Lee is a MSNOW (formerly MSNBC) contributor and the past host of the Into America podcast, where he explored the intersection of power, democracy and Blackness through deeply reported narrative storytelling.

Lee has created, produced, reported, and hosted a wide range of documentaries and televised specials, including Hope in High Water: A People’s Recovery Twenty Years After Hurricane Katrina (2025) through his production company, I Am Somebody Media, as well as Black Men in America: The Road to 2024 (2024), Into America: Power of the Black Vote (2022), Can You Hear Us Now (2020–2022), Lift Every Voice (2021), and Stone Ghosts of the South (2018). A contributing writer to the acclaimed The 1619 Project, his work has received multiple Webby and Signal Awards, NABJ Salute to Excellence Awards, NAACP Image Award nominations, and recognition as Adweek’s Podcast Host of the Year. His reporting on gun violence in Chicago earned an Emmy in 2018, and in 2006 he shared the Pulitzer Prize as part of the Times-Picayune’s coverage of Hurricane Katrina.

He has been named to The Root 100 and Ebony Power 100 lists of the most influential African Americans and is a former fellow at New America and Harvard’s Institute of Politics. Lee has written for The New York Times, The Philadelphia Tribune, The Trentonian, and HuffPost. He lives with his family in Brooklyn.

This year we proudly celebrate the CVI contributions of SOLEDAD ADRIANZÉN MCGRATH.

The Beloved Community Builder award recognizes individuals whose leadership and moral courage embody Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s vision of the Beloved Community — advancing justice, healing, and peace through principled action.

Soledad's work with Northwestern University’s CORNERS & the Joyce Foundation, and partnership with CVI organizations throughout the city, including Institute for Nonviolence Chicago, to rigorously evaluate and validate the impact of CVI has been fundamental to strengthening the field.

Soledad has helped ensure that the courage of frontline workers and participants is matched by evidence, integrity, and credibility — a critical contribution to the future of public safety.