In response to CPS arts funding cuts and Chicagos embracing of harsher criminal justice systems like three strikes and anti gang loitering acts, Co-Directors, Jaquanda Villegas Jacinda Bullie, and Leyda Garcia founded the not for profit arts and education organization Kuumba Lynx in 1996. The three young women came together under the belief that youth have a power in edutainment (KRS1-arts & education). In recognizing that globally, youth are over-represented in the juvenile justice system and under-represented at the university level, the KL founders embraced what gave them a sense of individual purpose and community belonging as youth, Hip Hop. Their goal was to utilize Hip-Hop to increase social consciousness, inner peace, creativity, and universal freedom. These women created programs that utilized the cultural and artistic aesthetics of urban Hip Hop arts & culture to reshape and empower Chicagos communities. With roots in poor and underserved neighborhoods, they knew the importance of youth empowerment and felt firsthand the silencing, criminalization and mis-education that is so often a reality of marginalized communities. For them, Hip Hop was a vehicle for self determination and another future. By embracing the artistic, social, spiritual, economic, and political elements of Hip Hop, Kuumba Lynx programs have exposed Chicagos youth and their families to a means for innovatively reflecting and challenging one another to find, develop, present, and apply their individual and collective voices as creative catalysts for urban literacy, self empowerment, and social justice. Annually KL directly serves approximately 5,000 students through citywide Arts Residencies and workshops, and 300 youth through our KLPE Apprenticeships & free Drop In Arts classes. The Kuumba Lynx Performance Ensemble (KLPE) and the professional dance ensemble, FootworKINGz provide approximately 75 touring shows annually to a total audience of more than 15,000. The KL Community Cultural Events have provided annual events for approximately 3,500 youth and families Currently, the original founders, Jacinda Bullie and Jaquanda Villegas are Co-Executive Directors, as well as the Co-Creative Directors for the Kuumba Lynx Hip Hop Theatre Company (KLPE), and Leida Garcia is the Creative and Managing Director for the professional dance ensemble, FootworKINGz. KL recognition includes the Hip-Hop Congress Females in Hip-Hop award presented for performance work and community ethics, the Gwendolyn Brooks Poet Laureate recognition received by Jacinda Bullie, King of the Circle achieved by King Charles aka 2face of Chicago FootworKINGZ, and the BET Wild-Out Wednesdays All Star Dance Team. The KLPE 08 Slam Team won 1st place in the Louder than a Bomb poetry fest.

Kuumba Lynx is an arts and education, not-for-profit organization working to develop projects and provide access to programs that preserve, promote and present urban (Hip-Hop) culture as an artistic aesthetic, and tool for social equity & eco empowerment where youth and their communities will be empowered to find purpose and make positive contributions to our global world. KLs primary goal is to provide safe non judgemental spaces that promote education through creative expression, analytical & cross-cultural dialogue, and community building activities among underserved communities and at-risk youth and their families. Kuumba Lynx was founded on the belief that youth in our society grow up lacking the attention and respect they need to love, understand, and respect themselves and each other. KL programming focuses on Hip Hop pedagogy which includes counterculture ideologies and urban stories. The KL experience fosters an increase in a participant's self discovery of ones voice, self-confidence, expands their world view, and leaves them inspired to continue using art as a means of personal and social expression and community activism.

KL achieves their mission through 4 core program areas: 1) Citywide Arts Residencies 2) free Drop-In Arts classes 3) Community Cultural Events & Collaborative projects and 4) Performance Ensembles (KLPE & FWK). 1) The free DROP IN ARTS classes are uncensored urban (Hip-Hop) workshops conducted year-round, after-school, at Clarendon Park and in community centers or schools around the city. Workshops are open to youth ages 8-21, unless otherwise specified. The goal of these programs is to provide exposure to various arts forms and aesthetics while learning the value of creating art for social empowerment. Participants build skills in creative writing and performing, deejaying/turntabilism, theatre, video, graff, female empowerment, dance and more, all in a setting that values a diversity of voices and experiences. 2) KL is committed to improving the vitality of our communities through the production of Cultural Events (CE). Events have ranged from community educational forums/conferences to dance exhibitions & battles. KL has several established annual and monthly events which include Life Is Living, a eco literacy and cultural arts festival, OPEN MINDZ, an open mic and writing space, Battle Me, a dance competition. In 2009, KL introduced a new Cultural Event, Half Pint Poetics, a yearlong arts & education project that will include writing & performance workshops, professional development for educators, community service projects, publishing & recording opportunities, and exhibits that all culminate in an elementary aged poetry slam and curriculum expo. Both established and collaborative Cultural Event projects aim to create partnerships with institutions, schools, organizations and community members that share similar missions. The events aim to exposes youth and their communities to Chi-Towns established and emerging culture, art, and community issues so to promote creative expression and literacy, and provide safe spaces for dialogue and analytical thinking. 3) The Citywide Arts Residencies & Workshops empower youth to become more educated and involved by developing their critical thinking skills as well as their artistic talents. KL professional Teaching Artists utilize Hip Hop aesthetics to provide curriculum specific to the participants varying cultural backgrounds while guiding them through the artistic process of either creating their own performance work and or studying one component/technique of a given urban art form. Residencies often cross artistic disciplines as a reflection of the art making of Hip Hop, which often includes more than one artistic component. KL Arts Residencies/workshops integrate Hip-Hop aesthetic into the arts learning process via human beat box ciphers, creative writing, storytelling and spoken word, theatre, turntablism(DJ), leadership/team games, story collection, community research, urban/cultural dance forms, and graff/mural/street art skills. 4) Kuumba Lynx Performance Ensemble (KLPE) produces original Edutainment (education and entertainment). These established and emerging artists combine their love of Hip-Hop and dedication to social justice with urban narratives that explore culture, spirituality, social responsibility, and cross cultural understandings. KLPEs touring shows aim to bring a variety of people together to discover the complexity of their differences, as well as the power of their unity as it relates to being treated fairly and having access to the services they need and deserve. The spring production and accompanying touring shows allow the audiences and performers to interact in order to initiate meaningful dialogue. KLPE interdisciplinary productions explore America's politics & history, spirituality, cultural influences, cross cultural and intergenerational understandings, and social responsibilities, making every individual and community story important and valuable. These stories presented, be they honestly poignant, bittersweet, exonerating or cheerful, are performed within the context of a unified group of artists and their communities working toward a more just world. They have shared stages with many notable artists, scholars and activists including Jeff Chang, M.E. Dyson, Sam Greene, Common, Willie Perdomo, Talib Kwali, Angela Y. Davis, William Upski, Eryka Badu, Danny Hoch, and Mark Bamuti Joseph, to name just a few. KLPE has toured to present in Havana Cuba, Mexico City, Montreal, Pine Ridge South Dakota, San Francisco, LA, New York, Atlanta, as well as throughout Chicago. FootworKINGz (FWK) is the professional touring dance company. FWK is dedicated to presenting, teaching, and preserving Chicago's style of "footwork." This fast and furious, lower-body form emerged out of the city's underground House music culture in the late 80's. Since their inception, FWK members have appeared alongside Ellen Degeneres, Missy Elliott, and on Madonna's "Sticky & Sweet" World Tour 08-09. Most recently they released TAKE FLIGHT, DVD.