By Jimmy Briseno, Len Kody and Dan Dougherty Introduction As we enter the the second half of 2020, it seems that things are generally, well, up in the air for all of us to put it very mildly, which is why we thought the above header image seemed particularly apropos.  COVID-19 has impacted all of […]

Introduction & Related Blogs So you’ve found yourself at the site of our ongoing collaborative series: Law Enforcement & Community Relations.  As described in the introductory blog for this topic, it is here that we will develop comic and other creative collaborations relating to Law Enforcement & Community Relations, based on related topics that we […]

Written by Len Kody Introducing Back of the Yards!  Our Inaugural Comic Series What if your dreams became real? It doesn’t get more real than Back of the Yards, on the South Side of Chicago, when you’re growing up as a teen. It’s where fantasy and the power of story can build resilience, foster healing […]

Written by Len Kody Background – A Boy With Big Ideas All of our initial stories and characters in Back of the Yards aren’t really entirely ours. We are but humble stewards to the exciting new narrative avenues Jimmy Briseno discovered while facilitating the Made Collaborative After School Arts Program with real urban youth in […]

Collaboration Summary! As described in A Man Named Peel and His Vision, before Robert Peel passed his Metropolitan Act of 1829 which would ultimately serve as the model for American cities to soon thereafter adopt, the early police in America were pretty rudimentary and differed between regions within the country. With this collaboration, we will […]

Collaboration Summary! With this collaboration, we will be the developing a comic scene that will be incorporated into the Back of the Yard comics series narrative between the Elders. The Elders will be discussing different elements of the subject matter we uncover as part of the independent comic feature above involving the early American Police […]