Empowering Westside Youth Through Art: Nachelle Pugh

Nachelle Pugh is dedicated to giving young people a chance to express themselves through art – a platform that can save lives and help Westsiders build a better future. 

Born and raised on the Westside, Nachelle believes in supporting aspiring young artists to stop the violence affecting young people and their families. Careers in the arts can offer new opportunities for their future, but their access starts with ensuring they have the funding and resources they need, she said. 

For Nachelle, this mission became personal after she lost her son Walter Long Jr., known as John Walt, to violence. After her son’s tragic killing, Nachelle carried on her son’s passion for art to support other young artists in the Westside – a vehicle to promote nonviolence in their communities. 

In 2017, she founded the John Walt Foundation, named after her son who was a creative artist and co-founder of the Westside rap band, the PIVOT Gang.

The nonprofit’s mission is to support aspiring Westside youth with a passion for the arts by providing scholarships, mentorship and access to resources that could send them on a different pathway, she said. 

Through this work, inspired by Nachelle’s son, her two daughters and grandchildren, Nachelle is preventing young Westsiders from losing their lives to violence. 

“I run across so many young Black men who are in that age group that reminds me of my son, and, just seeing a life in them, I want to make sure that they have opportunities to continue on with their lives and grow,” she said. 

Since its founding, the John Walt Foundation has supported artists ages 14 to 24 with scholarship opportunities and mentorship to support their art projects.

The foundation also has held annual food distribution events, back-to-school backpack giveaways for more than 500 young people and provided a platform for young artists to feel recognized “and get their flowers” for their work. 

Through an apprenticeship program, the foundation also helps young artists prepare for work opportunities in the art industry and connect with industry professionals. It has held several workshop series for young artists to learn about music, poetry, graphic design, songwriting and music production in partnership with the Chicago Public Library. 

These programs help guide young people toward a positive future while reducing their risk of following footsteps that could lead them to negative paths, she said. 

“Sometimes our young people, without extra guidance, they move toward, you know, behaviors that parents would not expect,” she said. 

While her son’s life was tragically taken away, cutting his career short, his legacy has carried on through the band PIVOT Gang’s success. 

Every year, Nachelle has organized the John Walt Day – a concert that has brought thousands of people to watch PIVOT Gang perform in venues across the city and support the nonprofit. 

As each year’s concert has sold out, Nachelle and her daughters have witnessed how her son inspired people through his music and who he was in the arts community. 

It is also a reminder of the great places that music can take young people who get an opportunity to learn at a young age. PIVOT gang started after John, his cousin Saba, Joseph Chilliams and their high school friend MFnMelo learned about media production at the Harold Washington Library’s arts education program, Nachelle said. 

For nearly 25 years, Nachelle has dedicated her career to higher education administration, directly supporting students in their academic journey. A graduate of Robert Morris University, she has a bachelor’s and master’s degree in business and higher education administration. 

She became the Assistant Director of Records and Didactic Testing for Illinois College of Optometry, supporting local and international students with registration, licensure, paperwork and other requirements to help them enroll, complete and continue their higher education and professional work, she said. 

Nachelle’s interest in higher education was inspired by her own experience. During her senior year of high school and because of a traumatic experience that prevented her from starting school at the beginning of the academic year, Nachelle had to transfer to the alternative school Academy of Scholastic Achievement. There she got an opportunity to be an assistant to the school’s secretary. 

The school, based on the Westside, serves high-risk students impacted by traumatic experiences, low academic performance or disruptive events for their education, including incarceration, incarceration of family members, teen pregnancy, gang activity or disruptive behavior.

As a young student herself, Nachelle saw firsthand how important it was for students to have someone who could support and help young people navigate hardships as they worked to complete their education.

Watching the school’s founder and counselor support young people inspired her to pursue a career in higher education, she said. 

“Knowing that someone cared so much for the young people in the community that they started an alternative school that gave them an opportunity to get a high school diploma really inspired me,” she said. 

Now, as a successful professional in higher education and nonprofit leader, Nachelle aims to grow the John Walt Foundation’s programs to support more young Westsiders.

In the future, she wants the foundation to have its own brick-and-mortar space to host its programs and provide young Westsiders with a safe recreational and learning space, she said. 

In that space, she also hopes to provide guidance and advice to other emerging nonprofit leaders or community members who want to make a difference in their communities, just as other community leaders helped her launch the John Walt Foundation. 

“My son is the one that didn't come home that day, but I will keep trying to motivate kids and young people to be a better person, to be good and to make sure they have opportunities,” she said.