Chicago-area residents often comment that media fail to tell the full stories of their communities. The Illinois Humanities Council’s Reporting Back: Perspectives on Violence in Chicago Communities takes a new approach to creating stories that engage and empower the communities they represent by putting public dialogue at the center of the reporting process.

Reporting Back is a three-month, multimedia reporting project pairing journalists with community residents to investigate the everyday, often untold stories of neighborhoods affected by gun violence.

As four teams have been working to produce text, radio, video and comics journalism content, they held neighborhood dialogue sessions to ensure that their work fuels and informs the crucial conversations about these communities. The IHC invites you to join the Reporting Back teams for an interactive presentation and discussion of their work.

After an open, gallery-style exhibition featuring highlights from each project, Rebecca Stevens of The Dilettantes will lead a group dialogue inspired by the teams’ work.

• What are the media’s obligations to the public when dealing with a major issue such as gun violence? What are our obligations as citizens and media consumers?
• How can media tell the stories of these communities more meaningfully? What can citizens do to ensure their voices are being heard?

This program is presented in partnership with The Dilettantes and the Community Media Workshop and is made possible in part by the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.

If you need a sign interpreter or require other arrangements to fully participate, please call 312.422.5580 at least 72 hours prior to the event. For parking locations near the facility, please visit ChicagoParkingMap.com.

For more information, please call 312.422.5580.