CHICAGO – A local organization is hosting back to school events this week in honor of its sixth anniversary.
Project Swish uses basketball to help young people affected by gun violence. It’s on the court where McKinley Nelson found a mission to improve mental health and lift up lives.
“It’s personal to me because I wanted to keep the guys that I grew up around me safe, and I thought basketball was the way to do it,” said Nelson.
What started as a way to focus energy on the basketball court rather than the streets has become a life’s work for Nelson.
“I lost a lot of guys, who got themselves into trouble, to gun violence, and I wanted to keep them connected to the game of basketball a little longer, and that is why we started Project Swish,” Nelson said.
Since 2018, Project Swish has grown exponentially, helping thousands of young Chicagoans from elementary school to young adulthood.
“I know a lot of things that happen in the city are out of our control, especially the inner city neighborhoods that some of us grew up in. I just want to encourage them to keep going,” Nelson said.
In honor of its sixth anniversary this week, Project Swish is hosting several days of events for all ages.
A back to school fest outside of the Dusable Museum of African American History will be held on Saturday, and attendees will have the opportunity to test their skills on the court and get their minds ready for the classroom.
“We’re trying to give away as many bookbags as we can,” Nelson sad.
It’s all part of an effort to keep young minds focused on the future with the promise of success.
“We’re going to have good days, we’re going to have bad days, but we just have to understand that the grass is greener on the other side,” Nelson said. “We’re a mental health organization as well as a basketball organization, and that’s something I want to practice with them – that it does get better – and I wan to encourage them to stay with it.”