During NATO, Panel at Erie House Urges Chicago to Act Locally

NATO officials and world leaders arrived in downtown Chicago Saturday. But across town local community organizers and neighborhood residents discussed education, jobs, community growth and budget concerns in a town-hall style meeting.

“We want people to go outside of the box when confronting these issues,” Michael Bennett, professor at DePaul University, said. “Think globally, but act locally.”

act locally summit-charles jefferson photo — Act Locally Gathering- Photo: Charles Jefferson

The panel is part of the Chicago Fiscal and Equity Policy Initiative’s “ACT Locally Chicago” campaign. It’s a collaboration of two dozen scholars and activists who are advancing a local public policy agenda that gives priority to social justice, balanced community development among other issues.

Larry Bennett, director of public policy at DePaul University, said that cutting back on vital government programs is not the answer in these economic times.

“It’s important for us to be frugal and manage our resources,” Bennett said. “The whole cut first and ask later approach really forgets about the impacts on people.”

Approximately 40 community and event organizers attended the panel at Erie Neighborhood House and raised concerns about local job creation, pension reform and the ongoing budget crisis.

Maureen Helwig, senior director of programs and quality assurance, was on the panel and discussed jobs and economic development. She pointed out that Hispanic males are employed at a higher rate, but received lower wages. She stressed the importance of holding elected officials accountable for economic and neighborhood development.

“We think it’s important not to let the mayor [Emanuel] off the hook,” Helwig said. “He needs to be held accountable for workers development.

The panel discussion reached a focal point when community members raised concerns about keeping the government’s role to a minimum to creating a separate enterprise fund for social services.

Jacqueline Leavy, a consultant for social justice organizations in Chicago, said that government has to be in tune with what the people want.

“We have to get these government agencies out of their “silos” and communicating with one another,” Leavy said.

Leavy pointed out that community based organizations are pressured to conduct business in a certain way by their funders.

“They are literally thrust into a competitive relationship with their peers,” Leavy said. “Too often, we’ve been divided and fractured by this system.

The panel participants gave a list of recommendations to work with the city to help combat the pressing issues Chicago faces.

“This is a mushrooming type of activity,” Michael Bennett said. “This right here gets the conversation started.”

Larry Bennett stresses that ACT Locally doesn’t have all of the answers, but this panel definitely gets the ball rolling.

“What we’re doing is attempting to look at the way in which we can improve education in the city and manage resources,” L. Bennett said. Bennett added that it’s not so much on cutting back, but “what are our priorities and how do we fix this.”

The panel wrapped up with the group breaking off into smaller working groups to further discuss some of the issues bought up earlier.