Joliet Township honors Ozzie and Peggy Mitchell, promotes violence prevention program

A building housing Joliet Township’s relatively new violence prevention program has been renamed in honor of the former owners who taught martial arts to youths.

The Ozzie and Peggy Mitchell Center will be the new name for the building at 172 S. Chicago St., Joliet. The center was formerly known as the Peter Claver Center.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on Wednesday to recognize the new name and program that has been working to prevent and reduce violence in the greater Joliet region.

Joliet police Sgt. Marcus Mitchell, who is the son of Ozzie and Peggy Mitchell, considered the new name a great honor to the legacy of his father, who died in 2019, and his mother.

“My parents were very instrumental part of the growth of the community down there and the center was a home to many people. So, we’re very happy. My mom is humbled by the love and support she received today,” Mitchell said.

Joliet Township Supervisor Angel Contreras said the building was always going to be re-named at the request of the Mitchell family.

“That was always part of the understanding when we acquired the building,” he said.

He said the re-naming of the building would happen after the violence prevention program – called Peace Over Violence – was up and running.

“We’re actually very lucky to have the program off the ground and doing work in the community,” he said.

Mitchell said the center was “open doors” for at-risk youths and always served as a “second home away from home.”

“It kept kids off the street. They could learn karate, they could get tutoring,” he said.

Since early October, the building has been providing a different community service: violence prevention. The program staff responds to incidences of gun violence in the community and helps victims with any services or items they need.

“We’re excited for people to see our space,” said Andrea Cambray, Joliet Township violence prevention director.

Cambray said the program has served 25 families or individuals who are victims of violence and has served 93 clients overall. The staff have responded to 35 incidents of violence, she said.

The staff try to be visible at Riverwalk Homes in Joliet and work with Workforce Center of Will County and Will-Grundy Medical Clinic. She said the clinic provides them the medical items needed for victims of violence.

“We try to serve as many people as we can in the Joliet region,” Cambray said.

She said region included areas such as Crest Hill and Plainfield, which are affected by violence in Joliet.

Contreras said the program is growing with community partnerships and the township is actively looking at other ways to expand it.

The township’s ownership of the building came under fire last October over an explosive controversy regarding the township’s grant application for migrant services.

Although many critics insinuated the township secretly bought the building to exclusively provide migrant services, records show the township board publicly approved purchase for the violence prevention program.

Last year, Contreras said center was listed in the grant application for migrant services to show it was an asset within the township and could be used as a “referral for services” in Joliet. He said it “never meant to be a migrant center.”

Following Wednesday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony, Mitchell said he wanted to thank everyone for the outpouring of support from everyone who attended the event in the frigid weather. He said his father had a positive impact on everyone and many people knew of him because of that.

Mitchell said Ozzie Mitchell always taught him to always help people and treat them with respect and dignity. He said he’s been in law enforcement for 25 years and he always tries to emulate his father and live by his words.

“He also said you never look down on anyone unless you’re looking down and extending a hand to help that person up. That’s something that resonated with me in getting involved in police work and having a successful career in law enforcement,” Mitchell said.