Totally Positive Productions

The overall goal of our organization is to contribute to the elimination and prevention of crime in Englewood neighborhoods through improved access to high-quality opportunities among youth and young adults.

To achieve the above goal, our organization is guided by the following objectives:
1. To reduce the number of young people at risk of engaging in gang violence in Englewood neighborhoods.
2. To increase diversion opportunities and initiatives for youth at risk of gang involvement in Englewood neighborhoods.
3. To increase access to core work skills development opportunities for youth and young adults at risk of gang involvement in Englewood neighborhoods.
4. To empower youth and young adults at risk to make well-informed choices about education, training and career plans.
5. To strengthen community collaborations and partnerships in Chicago to ensure youth and young adults at risk have access to marketable competency-based training courses.


Through our programs, we hope to improve the quality of lives of youth in economically disadvantaged communities by minimizing youth involvement in drugs, violence and gang-related activities with this project. Our programs also assist youth in their school curriculum by increasing their reading, writing, comprehensive skills and help the youth obtain a better grade in their school curriculum. In addition, we are able to create working relationships with school officials, education administrators, youth service organizations and others to obtain their commitment towards participating in our programs. This enables the youth to feel confident working with stakeholders in the community and encourages them to continuously participate in community initiatives and avoid getting involved with criminal gangs.

Our youth are also able to work temporary or full-time hence gaining employability skills that will enable them to get jobs beyond the program. Since most of the youth come from single-parent families who have to work extra hours to make a living, our programs ease the burden of these families by providing extra-income to sustain their livelihood.

Totally Positive Productions (TPP) provides a positive impact on youth and adult participants by engaging them in healthy and supportive activities within their communities.

TPP helps youth and adults to improve the quality of life by helping them replace negative attitudes about life and their communities with positive, constructive attitudes that can help them thrive despite their environment.

Mobilizing Communities and Partnerships - By forming partnerships with educational and institutions, community agencies and organizations, and the community at large, to improve the quality of life for minority youth and adults.

Increasing Knowledge and Awareness - to effect change in the attitudes of minority youth and adults regarding violence, abuse and unhealthy behaviors through a comprehensive program of support, education and employment opportunities.

Involve parent(s) in activities to promote their understanding of fostering enhanced interaction with their children.

Through a generous grant provided by Nordstrom, TPP has been able to provide several youth with clerical and administrative based jobs, which helps cultivate valuable long-term skills, and enhance their problem solving and communication skills as well.

Totally Positive Productions’ board has eleven (11) members who jointly supervise the organization’s programs and services. Having been raised in this community, the board members have first-hand experience in solving the challenges that face the community. Some of the board members have also served in various capacities such as After-School Teachers, Director-Allen Show Entertainment Network and Chicago Department of Human Services and as such, provide experiences that are critical to our programs and services. The Executive Director and the board members meet on a quarterly basis to discuss operational issues in the organization and they get a chance to vote on the organization’s issues as necessary for implementation.

TPP staff is composed of 2 full-time staff, 3 part-time staff and 6 volunteers. The team includes young adults who act as mentors and role models for our youth. The daily operations of Totally Positive Productions is managed by the Executive Director, Mr. Tajudeena Jones, MBA, who possesses over 15 years of management experience in social services. He provides overall administrative guidance to the staff and program. The Executive Director also serves as the intermediary between the program and the governing Board of Directors for Totally Positive Productions (TPP) Inc.

2021 marks our 28th year anniversary in providing services to youth and adults in economically disadvantaged communities throughout Chicago-land and abroad. During these 28 years, we have served over 30,000 youth, adults and families, most with an annual income of less than $10,000. TPP has offered and provided free services to youth and adults from low-income families. To name a few, TPP provides the following projects/activities on an ongoing basis:

1. After-school/weekend service-learning projects
2. TPP Community Works Crime Prevention Program
3. Essay and presentation competitions
4. Spoken Word Competition
5. Positive Rap, Singing and Dance Talent Competitions
6. Entertainment Workshop
7. Education Resources and Referrals
8. Dental Smile Program
9. Free Cultural and Enrichment Trips
10. Youth and Adult Summer Employment and Training Program
11. Community Service Hours (Chicago Public Schools and Court System)
12. Love Your Community Campaign

Partnerships, Collaborations and Connections
Thomas Higgins Community Academy - TPP took 67 students and 10 adults to Navy Pier to ride Centennial Wheel and TPP fed everyone and gave out gift bags to each student. In addition, TPP provided 279 students with Youth Version Crime Prevention Brochures and 32 staff with Adult Crime Prevention Brochures for a total of 331 Brochures. Overall, TPP served 388 students in a (May-June 2019) timeframe.
Totally Positive Productions distributed Oglesby Elementary School Youth Crime Prevention Brochures to 438 students and 63 staff received Adult/Youth Crime Prevention Brochures. In overall, TPP served 501 youth, young adults and their families.
Community Partner - Teamwork Englewood (Summer Employment Program Host Agency)
TPP conducted its first international meeting with 26 students and 2 professors from Venus, Mexico (2018)
Greater West Town Training Partnership - TPP began partnering with Greater West Town Community Development Project in 2018 and in support of referral youth and young adults to receive training and employment opportunities. GWTP’s mission is to develop model programs and policy initiatives linking the employment and training of neighborhood workforce with local economic development efforts and the needs of small and mid-sized employers. Therefore, they are key in supporting the youth employment and training activities.
WKKC Radio Station continues to support Totally Positive Productions by running radio advertisements. Also, we have a real good relationship with the Station Manager that any upcoming events/activities that we want to get the message out to the public, they will create radio commercials free of charge. WKKC listening reach is approximately 600,000.
Other institutions that TPP has continued to collaborate and partner with include: Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority (ICJIA), Children’s Home + Aid, Changing Life Education Initiative, K.L.E.O., Christ Center of Truth Ministries, Lubaa, Imagine Englewood If (IEI), R.A.G.E and St. Mary’s Missionary Baptist Church and Gorilla Tango Theatre.

Awards and recognitions
1. 2021 Top-Rated Award from GreatNonprofits.
2. 2020 Gold Seal of Transparency on GuideStar.
3. 2020 Top-Rated Nonprofits by GreatNonprofits.
4. 2019 Best of Chicago Awards - Non-Profit Category.
5. Awarded Google Adwords Grant ($10,000 per month value) in 2018.

TPP’s plan is to continue engaging 300 young people annually through leveraging on our joint activities involving working with the community members to ensure that we respond to their needs. This involvement will ensure that the community members own the project. We will collaborate with locally available initiatives and/or professional industry experts who are willing to mentor our young people, provide opportunities for growth within their networks and help them improve their skills and talents. This will ensure the networks continue to support young people within the communities.