Chicago, Illinois is a city with many stories. The Great Fire of 1871. The Pullman Strike of 1894, led by railroad workers that ultimately resulted in the establishment of Labor Day. The 1905 development of the 42-acre Sears, Roebuck and Company campus in North Lawndale on the west side of Chicago, bringing thousands of jobs and new residents to the area.

History seeps from the photogenic skyline to the original Sears Tower, reincarnated today as a community center and hub for North Lawndale residents. In the company’s former Power House just across the street, a group of students at DRW College Prep are learning how photography can be used to tell their own stories about growing up in Chicago at a time when its history is being erased by things like gun violence and gentrification.

This fall, 100cameras, a nonprofit organization that teaches adolescents the tools of photography and the power of self expression through visual storytelling, partnered with Apple to equip DRW students with the new iPhone 11 with its advanced camera capabilities, designed for everyone to be a visual storyteller. After each program, prints of the students’ photos are sold through 100cameras and 100 percent of proceeds go back to the local community partner organizations they visit.