Community News: September 7- September 11, 2015

Across Chicago

Beginning October 1, Chicago museums will host the first ever ‘Museum Week’. Over a dozen museums across the city will be participants, with several offering free admission during the week.

The Chicago Reader profiles Richard Morrisroe, a former Chicago priest, whose involvement in Civil Rights-era activism resulted in a nearly fatal attack.

A look at Halsted, the city’s second-longest street, and the diverse neighborhoods it runs through.

South Side

(Englewood, West Englewood, Roseland, South Shore, and more)

Photo Credit: Trauma Center Coalition

University of Chicago Medicine and Sinai Health Systems are partnering to open a Level 1 trauma center at Holy Cross Hospital. The announcement comes after five years of protesting from South Side activists.

South Side Weekly’s “Interview Issue” features conversations with a diverse pool of South Side residents including 13 year old Lyk Singleton’s love of comic books and rap in “When I Was a Kid”.

My Block, My Hood, My City organizes field trips for South Side teens to explore parts of the city they might not be able to access otherwise. The organization has created t-shirts to support the project.

West Side

(Austin, Humboldt Park, North Lawndale, and more)

‘The People’s Pope’ Francis (virtually) visits Christo Rey Jesuit High School in Pilsen in prepartion for his U.S. visit.

The Salvation Army is opening a massive new campus in Humboldt Park which will feature a food pantry, substance abuse treatment center, and community center.

Community News: August 10 – August 14, 2015

Across Chicago

Move your office to the beach! Free Wi-Fi is now available at seven of the city’s beaches.

The MacArthur Foundation will be shifting their philanthropy to focus more on funding bold and results-oriented projects.

The number of grocery stores across the city has declined while those that remain are large, upscale.

South Side

(Englewood, West Englewood, Roseland, South Shore, and more)

Facebook/Usher Raymond

After delivering a speech at the 100k Opportunities Initiative, pop superstar Usher enjoyed some Harold’s Chicken.

This listicle serves up the best geological features and assets from across the South Side.

West Side 

(Austin, Humboldt Park, North Lawndale, and more)

http://riotfest.org/2015/05/riot-fest-carnival-stays-chicago-held-douglas-park/

The Riot Fest Foundation is hosting a two-day job fair in Douglas Park amidst continued pressure from North Lawndale community members regarding the festival’s location change from Humboldt Park.

The National Public Housing Museum will break ground in 2016, with plans to open at the last-standing Jane Addams Home in 2017.

Community News: August 3-August 7, 2015

Across Chicago 

http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20150805/loop/student-led-rally-opposes-delayed-cps-school-start-times-daley-plaza

Chicago Public School students led a rally in opposition of delayed start times at 82 schools across the city.

The city’s notable attractions are talking back, sharing history.

South Side

(Englewood, West Englewood, Roseland, South Shore, and more)

Advocate Medical Group opens a new practice in Roseland/Pullman in an effort to close the gap in healthcare access on the Far South Side.

(Photo by Max Herman)

A photo gallery from The Chicago Reporter details the revitalization projects that are sprouting in Englewood including restaurants, gardens, and community groups.

West Side

(Austin, Humboldt Park, North Lawdale, and more)

Two residents of Humboldt Park with a serious passion for food and community opened Cafe Alejo last month in a formerly vacant boat house.

(Photo by Bernie Tafoya)

Elementary school students in Austin are creating a mural to “Interrupt the Violence.”

The Greater West Town Community Development Project provides job training to low-income residents on the West Side, which aided 8,300 Chicagoans in finding employment.

Talking about North Lawndale with Danae Kovac, Lawndale Christian Legal Center

Lawndale Christian Legal Center (LCLC)‘s vision is to raise up justly treated youth who are embraced by their families and community, restored from trauma, empowered to lead, and free from the criminal justice system.  Their organization, an offshoot of the North Lawndale mainstay Lawndale Christian Community Church, provides legal services based on a holistic and restorative justice model to youth under the age of 24 in North Lawndale.  Currently, GIC supports integrated mentoring services and legal representation for 30 youth.

We caught up with LCLC’s Deputy Director Danae Kovac to learn more about North Lawndale and her work.

GIC: How did you end up working at LCLC?
As an undergrad, I studied at Wheaton College, and I was familiar with the Lawndale Christian Community Church ministries.  After graduating, I ended up working at a variety of non-profits and the Women’s Business Development Center for five years. When the job at LCLC opened up, I jumped at the chance.  I was definitely attracted by LCLC’s holistic approach.  If kids are just looking for an attorney, this isn’t the program for them.  Our approach is not limited to the courtroom, and we strive to give youth resources and support.  The fact that we offer co-located services, with case managers, mentors, and lawyers all in one place, makes a huge difference.

GIC: Cliff Nellis, the current Executive Director and Lead Attorney for LCLC, is also the founder.  Do you know why he chose to work in North Lawndale?
Cliff has quite  a story about that!  After he finished his federal clerkship in Denver, he set out on a bike trip to Miami.  Along the way, he had a conversion experience and was called to do youth ministry – so he completely changed directions and enrolled in the seminary here in Chicago.  Here, he found himself inspired by places like Cabrini Green Legal Aid and Lawndale Christian Health Center, where people use their professions as service.  Lawndale Community Church had wanted to add a legal component for many years – it was something the community wanted.  In 2010, they and Cliff came together to start LCLC.

GIC: What do you like about North Lawndale?
I love working with the kids here – they are all so resilient, creative, and imaginative.  But beyond them, I also love the sense of community.  This is the kind of place where people talk to each other about street sweepers schedules and what’s happening in the neighborhood.  People also care about the community here.  We recently started a grassroots Restorative Justice Hub, and more than 28 different organizations showed up to be involved.

GIC: What resources can LCLC offer, to both the North Lawndale community and the greater community of Chicago?
Organizations working with North Lawndale youth under the age of 24 who have been involved in the criminal justice system are always welcome referrals for our intake process.  Beyond thought, we welcome members to the North Lawndale Restorative Justice Hub.  We are also looking to eventually offer our training, Legal Tools for Community-Based Youth Advocates, to more communities and organizations.  These trainings give non-attorneys background about the juvenile justice system and tools to advocate for youth.

GIC: How can other organizations help LCLC?
Right now, we are really trying to build up workforce development opportunities for our kids.  They all come in saying they need a lawyer and a job, so our expertise gets them 50% of the way there.  We would love to have more employment partners – whether in North Lawndale and surrounding neighborhoods or even downtown.

Lou Malnati’s North Lawndale

Didn’t think you could find authentic deep dish in North Lawndale? Think again!  Lou Malnati’s North Lawndale location serves up more than pizza though – talk to staff about hosting community events in their space.

Green Tomato Cafe

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Coffee, Smoothies, Fro-Yo, and even house-smoked whole chickens – Green Tomato Cafe is a hidden gem in North Lawndale!  If you don’t trust us, trust their 4.5 star rating on Yelp.

Investment Spotlight: North Lawndale

In 1966, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. lived six months in North Lawndale as a symbolic gesture of his work, highlighting the economic plight of the poor.  By that time, a series of economic and social distresses, including Sears’ (then the largest retailer in the world) move out of North Lawndale, had drastically shifted the neighborhood from its once vibrant state.  By 1970, 75% of the businesses in North Lawndale left or closed.  This economic and social exodus left North Lawndale to experience a loss of almost half of its housing units and population.  Today, 39% of North Lawndale’s families are below the poverty level, 30% do not have a high school diploma, and 19% are unemployed.  The per capita income is just over $12,500.  Despite these hardships, the spirit and commitment of residents in North Lawndale, including the 26% under age 15 as of 2010, make the neighborhood ripe for impact.

Since last school year, Get IN Chicago has increased our support in North Lawndale to include parent engagement programs with Family Focus and Westcare, wraparound trauma and CBT services with Hektoen Institute, intensive mentoring and advocacy with Lawndale Christian Legal Center, and coding and technology trainings with Smart Chicago.  This fall, UCAN, Alternative Schools Network, and Youth Advocate Program will start mentoring programs in the neighborhood, and Youth Guidance will scale up its CBT programming.

Altogether, these new investments add up to more than half a million dollars of impact for youth and parents in the North Lawndale community.  We look forward to sharing more about organizations we will support in North Lawndale in the coming weeks as we announce new grant awards!

In the meantime, check out news about these other great initiatives happening in North Lawndale:

Inner City Teen Farmers See Hard Work Bearing Fruit: Nestled in between the Central Park “L” station and busy West Ogden Avenue, a site that was once home to an abandoned laundromat is now giving local teens the opportunity to grow.

North Lawndale Residents Encouraged by Heightened Police Presence: Most of us have heard of “community policing,” the strategy of having more interaction between police officers and the people living and working in the neighborhoods they patrol. This weekend, CBS 2 got an up close look at how that strategy is working on a block in North Lawndale.

North Lawndale High School to help pay out-of-pocket college costs: A couple thousand dollars may not seem like much. But for many poor North Lawndale students, it might as well be a million. One school is vowing to pay the difference with the help of local philanthropists.

Community News: July 27-July 31, 2015

What’s on our reading list? These stories, spanning the city and GIC focus communities, from last week:

Across Chicago

• Windy City LIVE teamed up with Allstate to encourage us all to rethink negative youth stereotypes through the #theysay social media campaign. Check out the youth empowerment themed episode, featuring an audience full of young people (including a few of our Youth Advisory Board Members!)
• Keef 2019? Rapper Chief Chief Keef says he’s running for mayor.

South Side 

(Englewood, West Englewood, Roseland, South Shore, and more)

• Large businesses remain absent in many low-income communities throughout the South Side. The Chicago Reporter highlights how Family Dollar represents a vital commercial resources for these communities and an opportunity for profit.

• Last Friday, community members in Roseland held a #BlackLivesMatter rally to protest the possible closing of Roseland Communitiy Hospital.
• An Englewood church is holding the Eighth Annual ‘Basketball Peace Tournament’, on August 10-August 15. The tournament works as a “umbrella of peace” for the teams of youth, many who represent eight different gangs.

West Side

(Austin, Humboldt Park, North Lawndale, and more)

• Youth in Humboldt Park participated in a record-breaking service project for the Chicago Park District.

• The area surrounding La Villita Park in Little Village was once an environmental hazard. Read how decades of community effort transformed the polluted area into an asset for the entire neighborhood.
• In Austin, educators and childcare providers participated in a teach-in to discuss the impact of state budget cuts upon their livelihoods and the well-being of students.

Community News: July 13-July 17, 2015

What’s on our reading list? These stories, spanning the city and GIC focus communities, from last week:

Across Chicago

• “Divvy for Everyone” offers $5 bike-sharing memberships for low-income residents across Chicago, without need for debit or credit card. Interestingly enough, this program comes as Divvy raises the daily rate for bike rentals.
• ‘Mobile Markets’  to deliver fresh produce to food deserts on South and West Sides.

• “Project Fire”: A Chicago Glassblower and University of Chicago psychologist offer a treatment program for youth who’ve experienced violence-related trauma.

South Side
(Englewood, West Englewood, Roseland, South Shore, and more)

• New Englewood Starbucks aims to hire community youths: Another corporate philanthropy initiative in Englewood. As with the neighborhood’s new Whole Foods, will it operate as a non-profit with reduced prices?
• Local Rapper Fredo Santana pleas for South Side trauma center in the wake of friend’s death in Woodlawn. This echoes the growing ‘Trauma Center Now’ campaign spearheaded by South Side and UChicago activists.

• Prologue, Inc. proposes a maritime school in Roseland to provide job training and ~make waves~. The organization hopes to break a “cycle of hopelessness” that persists on the Far South Side.

West Side
(Austin, Humboldt Park, North Lawndale, and more)

• The new North Lawndale Farmers Market sells produce grown by local youth, part of a larger network of Windy City Harvest markets across the city.
• Mayor Emanuel hails the recently dedicated La Villita Park as an instrument to increase community involvement in violence prevention efforts.(Spanish speakers: La Raza is a great Spanish-language news source in Chicago, but here is the story en ingles.)