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Renaissance Knights Chess Foundation has been
providing high quality programs that equip Chicago children with
the skills they need to excel academically, intellectually and
socially, while keeping them safe and active during out of
school hours.
The need for our program is great. An
estimated 50,000 kids citywide spend between 20-25 hours a week
alone after school – with the most dangerous hours between 3 pm
and 6 pm. These unsupervised young people are much more likely
to be the victims of crime or become involved in risky
behaviors. Recent youth violence in Chicago provides strong
impetus for improving the lives of the city’s youth.
The Checkmate Violence Initiative
acknowledges the potential of our children rather than treating
them as "problems" to be solved. Through chess center programs
we have witnessed over and over again remarkable transformations
of children from positions of hopelessness, anger and
self-destruction to positions of leadership, hope and
empowerment.
The Checkmate Violence Initiative will be
implemented city-wide through strategic partnerships with
community and governmental organizations coming together to
address the need to bridge the educational divide, stop youth
violence and keep kids in school, while teaching them
fundamental skills that will help them make the right choices
throughout their childhood, adolescence and on into young
adulthood.
The Checkmate Violence Initiative is divided
into 6 key categories:
Chicago Youth Chess Challenge (School and Community Chess
Programs), Chicago Youth Chess League (Tournaments), Special
Events, High School Apprenticeships, Chess and Education
Centers, and National/International Chess Competitions.
Chicago Youth Chess Challenge
RKCF will establish after-school chess clubs
at schools, libraries, park districts, and community centers.
These clubs will bring the academic benefit of chess to the
children while providing them with positive social groups, goals
and aspirations, and will allow disadvantaged children to expand
their minds in a way that will alleviate social pressures in a
safe environment.
Additionally, RKCF will establish In-The-Classroom programs that
will enrich and enhance the core curriculum by teaching chess to
students as part of the school day.
Chicago Youth Chess League
The league will serve to unify the local
chess clubs and provide them with chess competition for their
teams. Tournaments
give participants an opportunity to test and showcase their
skills in front of teachers, peers, and parents and serve as the
motivation that encourages students to expect nothing less than
mastery of the subject for them. In doing so, students develop
their focus and concentration, deal with winning and losing in a
safe environment, and experience the dynamics of teamwork.
Perhaps the most
striking outcome, however, is how the challenge of chess
competition swells the students' confidence and pride.
Chess tournaments have the added benefit of bring
together kids from diverse socio-economic backgrounds,
neighborhoods, races and ethnic groups to form a chess community
of like-minded youth.
Special Events
RKCF will participate in and organize special
events using chess to promote unity, strategy and non-violence.
We will continue to provide chess activities as part of
the Taste of Chicago, the African Festival of the Arts, Mayor
Daley’s Holiday Sports Festival, Chicago Toy and Game Fair and
Teen Test Day as well as at other community events.
High School Apprenticeships
The program is designed to create
opportunities for High School students in underserved
communities.
Through this innovative program, Chicago High School students
will develop important academic and life skills while training
to teach younger children chess and officiate at tournaments.
Participants will be taught the fundamentals of chess, and will
be trained to teach chess to children and how to referee at
tournaments.
Small groups of participants will go teach
chess to children at our school and community programs and
officiate their games. Stipends are paid to recognize the value
of their work, to show them that hard work gets rewarded in the
workplace, and to encourage low-income teens--who would
otherwise be obligated to work at low-wage, low-skill jobs--to
participate. These teens then have the opportunity to work as
interns at tournaments and at summer camps. Through
participation in this program students will learn a wide variety
of skills while they gain self-confidence and begin to view
their future with optimism and excitement.
Chess and Education Center
RKCF will to open a Chess based community
center in Chicago. This innovative center will be a national
model for the role of chess in developing children's academic,
intellectual & social skills and its use as an anti-violence
tool. The center
will be able to accommodate at least three simultaneous
after-school educational programs and have space for events and
staff offices. This
center will be our home base from where we will be able to
spread our programs throughout the city.
National and International Chess
Competition
By hosting National and International Chess
Competitions in Chicago we will be given Chicago youth the
opportunity to experience high quality competition.
Additionally, we will have the opportunity for some of
the world’s most preeminent chess players and coaches visit our
chess clubs and interact with the children.
RKCF was founded in 2005 after it was
discovered Chicago lacked a non-profit organization dedicated to
bring the benefits of chess to at-risk and disadvantage
children. Over the
past 5 years RKCF has served over 6,000 students through our
programs. We are
working hard to expand our programs to a comparable level with
Philadelphia and New York City programs that each served over
4000 students a year – and we need your help!
Your support is crucial to make this a success.
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