Performers emerge from Chicago’s projects by way of forklifts

Project out of the Projects helps aspiring Chicago musicians, event producers find their way by mixing practical job skills, performance experience and advice.

Julian Reed and Charles Thorne built Project out of the Projects to help Chicagoans living in Austin and other tough neighborhoods develop the skills to build careers.

Whether it’s bringing communities together, training at-risk individuals for high-demand careers, or just reminding people to help the next man, their “each one teach one” approach has helped others put themselves on the path to success.

Project out of the Projects is a partner of the Center for Poverty Solutions, helping community wisdom build a path to reducing poverty and improving human dignity in Chicago’s neighborhoods. They are part of how Chicago can reduce a nearly 17% poverty rate that is roughly 6 percentage points above the national average.

“Charles and I pretty much grew up in the same neighborhood, and that’s how our relationship started,” Reed said. “And our own ventures led us back together to pursue this mission.”

For both men, their paths away from the neighborhood and into leadership roles shaped the organization’s vision.

“We came together because we’re both products of our environment,” Reed said. “We were able to make it out on our own and headline these different departments in our own careers, so we thought it was a great decision to partner up and push this same message of self-empowerment together.”

“We came from those environments, being influenced by the powers that be, seeing the rappers and entertainers coming from the neighborhoods and making it through music,” Thorne said. “Through our work we’ve reached professional heights in the music industry.”

They own a production company that provides resources, knowledge and workforce training. Their trainees learn they don’t need to follow the typical route of promoting harm.

“Once we saw that we could do it on our own, we came back together. We built this as a home for our community because we want to give back,” Thorne said.

Project out of the Projects began with sports and music events bringing different neighborhoods together. The program expanded quickly, incorporating workforce experience into every event. About 30 people have gone through the program.

“It’s not about just having kids who want to play sports or do music. With our programming, they do the filming, they do the scoring news and the audio aspects,” Reed said. “They do the whole event and develop these skills.”

Inside their Austin studio, the organization offers structured pathways with real expectations.

“Project out of the Projects has its own workforce supplement training for the neighborhoods,” Thorne said. “We offer free studio time tutored by our in-house producer, Kid Wonder. The kids get to experience a safe environment. They get to be exposed to the dream. They get to see that it works.”

“We put them through a boot camp of expectations and requirements, because on their end, they look at us as an example,” Thorne said. “And it starts with what we created – having each one teach one.”

Reed and Thorne built the program around the principle of learning from those who truly understand the struggle.

“We know that it takes real-life experience. There’s only so much that curriculum or lectures can do, because you have to be able to connect,” Reed said. “Our participants like learning from their own kind, somebody who has actually walked the walk.”

“We try to show what others can be by leading by example and we’ve brought people along with us to keep proving this concept,” Reed said.

Thorne and Reed said many at-risk youths and people reentering society have a hard time seeing a path forward.

“Most of the kids that are implementing violence can’t comprehend the way out,” Thorne said. “That’s where we help. You want to be in the music industry, you want to be a rapper, then get your CDL. You want free studio time, get your forklift requirements or pass OSHA. Give yourself something to fall back on.”

“By the time they look up, they’ve got the skills, they’ve got an LLC, they’re an entrepreneur,” Thorne said.

Thorne and Reed said their credibility in the neighborhoods is a powerful tool that helps them connect. The goal is to use that legitimacy to reshape what’s possible for young people.

“We know better than most, we come from the same place,” Thorne said. “I can pull up on any neighborhood on the West Side of Chicago or South Side of Chicago and have a voice. Not everybody can do that, and that takes so much sacrifice, but it also takes respect.”

In the end, the mission comes back to teaching others to help themselves and the people around them.

“It’s so appealing not to give so much of yourself for everyone else when you’ve taken losses. That’s all the neighborhood teaches you,” Thorne said. “But we want to remind them that there’s always hope. That’s why we help show them the path.”

The work Reed and Thorne are doing with Project out of the Projects has already helped to transform dozens of lives in the Austin community. You can support their work by contacting them here.

Julian Reed
Executive director, Project out of the Projects
Austin neighborhood, Chicago

Charles Throne
Co-founder, Wond3r Studios
Executive producer, Project out of the Projects
Austin neighborhood, Chicago