Owner Jose Barajas said his business has survived the recession because he knows what he has to do to be successful.

“If you have a good product at a good price, people are going to buy it,” said Barajas.

El Solazo, located at 5600 S. Pulaski Road, is a small, authentic restaurant with all the trappings of Mexico: A portrait of the Virgin Mary graces one wall and a sculpture of the Aztec calendar greets visitors as they walk in. Serving everything from tacos to Mexican seafood, prices range from $1.59 to $19 per dish.

Barajas, 29, said he already had the experience and knowledge of Mexican food when he opened his restaurant. He began working in the food industry at the age of 17. He comes from a family that owns a chain of successful Mexican restaurants; one of the restaurants is owned by his mother. He said his family members weren’t upset about his idea of launching a new restaurant on his own in 2007, but they didn’t expect him to have a booming business.

“I didn’t even think I was going to do as well. I just wanted to pay my bills,” Barajas said.

His mother supports him and helps out with his business. He said he is grateful for the experience he gained in his family business, and it was a “stepping stone” for him.

Barajas said he doesn’t know the formula behind his success, but he is sure of what he believes in and what he set out to do.

“The specialty here, I believe, is the fact that whatever we do, we do it fresh and people seem to like what we do,” he said.

Everything in the restaurant is homemade. Barajas has compiled recipes that date back to 1995. He said he is in his restaurant every day and often gets in the kitchen to cook.

“There is not a can of salsa, there is not a can of beans, there is not a can of anything in the back. Everything we do here is from scratch,” Barajas said.

Patrons described the food as authentic, fresh and well prepared.

Erica, 31, who declined to give her last name, said she came across El Solazo as she was driving and decided to stop and try the food. She said the food she finds at El Solazo is the closest she’s found to her grandmother’s style of cooking.

Other patrons offered similar praise.

“I’m very picky about my Mexican food, and this is the closest to authentic Mexican food,” said Maria Juarez.

Juarez, 37, works and lives in the area. She said her favorite plate is chilaquiles verde (tortillas with green hot sauce). The plate is served with rice, beans and a choice of eggs for $5.49 and steak for $6.99.

Other patrons said they like the prices.

“Food here is not greasy compared to other Mexican restaurants on Pulaski, and the prices are very reasonable within my budget,” said Jose Da La Torre.

Jackie Padilla, 20, started working for Barajas one month after he opened his restaurant. She said she sees returning customers all the time.

“They like the food a lot and the service. They say we treat them like friends and not customers,” said Padilla.

A minor who lives on Chicago’s North Side and decides to come out can find support and information at several locations. Lakeview’s Center on Halsted is the city’s first community center geared toward homosexual Americans, and is located in a neighborhood recognized as the nation’s first officially-recognized “gay village.” The center offers after-school and weekend youth group meetings. At Howard Brown’s Broadway Youth Center (3179 N. Broadway), LGBT teens have the option to receive counseling, STD testing, shower, or just hang out (hours are varied).

The Chicago Public Schools’ online Student Policy Handbook was modified in late July 2010 to include gay-bullying, sexual harassment and discrimination. This means that, at least on paper, young LGBT Chicagoans should feel protected in any public school.

Because LGBT youth often face hostility from their classmates, several gay-straight alliances (GSA) have been in existence in Chicago for more than a dozen years. The first such group was formed at Whitney Young High School, in 1996. Lane Tech, Senn, Mather and Walter Payton College Prep high schools have GSAs. The South Loop’s Jones College Prep, itself headed by an openly-gay principal, began its own GSA in 1999.

But what about Chicago LGBT youth on the South Side? Though the resources aren’t as out in the open, they are there.

Currently, there are high school GSAs near the Back of the Yards at Curie Metropolitan (4959 S. Archer) and Thomas Kelly (4136 S. California) high schools.

To the east are the University of Chicago Charter Schools. According to Math Department Chair Joshuah Thurbee, Woodlawn School (serving grades 6-12) will be starting an LGBT after-school program next month. Additionally, there is a “Parents and Friends of Lesbians And Gays” (PFLAG) chapter at 5400 South Kimbark, to support LGBT youth who need assistance in educating those in their lives on what’s happening to them.

Education is the key, says Peace And Education Coalition Alternative High School Principal Brigitte Swenson. Creating a safe learning space for LGBT youth, she said, is “not just a North Side issue.”

Peace And Education Coalition Alternative High School provides a safe place.

The Peace And Education Coalition Alternative High School has two campuses: Upton Sinclair, located at 4946 S. Paulina, and Second Chance, at 4747 S. Marshfield. Though their main purpose is to serve under-achieving students who are “farmed” out of the larger public schools because they are 20 or 21 and haven’t graduated yet, Swenson says that LGBT students do seek them out.

“They may not say that the reason why they weren’t successful with their traditional high school was because of their sexuality,” Swenson said. “But they will have other reasons that contribute to it: family problems, or not having a consistent place to live.”

“We see everything,” Swenson continued, “and sexuality is a huge issue. I think that some kids don’t even know that they’re struggling with it, they can’t even verbalize it.”

Violence, gang and otherwise, is a big issue in the Back of the Yards neighborhood; the Peace and Education Coalition schools have a zero-tolerance policy as a result. Swenson said that during her 13 years in the program, she’s seen only about one act of violence a year. The students involved were usually withdrawn from the program, serving as a deterrent to the others.

“You’ll hear a lot of talk in our program about, ‘You’re not worth me getting kicked out of this school, so I’m just going to forget it,’” Swenson said. “And I tell the kids, ‘If that helps you save face, then that’s fine.’”

And LGBT discrimination? “The staff and the school are really communicative with the kids, and if we hear things that are happening, we don’t ignore it. We bring it in, we do a ‘sit around the table, let’s talk about this … What does this mean?’”

Nearby, Holy Cross Church (4541 S. Wood) and Precious Blood Ministry of Reconciliation both also offer assistance to LGBT youth without publicizing this service. They provide counseling and resources to young people struggling with violence, bullying and homelessness — all issues that touch LGBT youth.

On the P&EC’s collaboration with Holy Cross, Swenson said, “I think what you’re going to find in this neighborhood is a lot of tolerance. We’re dealing with a lot of different kids with a lot of different issues. If we have a young gay student who is struggling, people are going to reach out to help him. And the church — not this church — isn’t going to turn its back.”

P&EC LGBT students’ feedback indicates that they feel safer in a smaller school environment, if not a bit more ostracized. But, Swenson said, things are changing.

“It’s more of a curiosity thing. Maybe it is that ‘South Side versus North Side’ thing; they are kind of sheltered. But more and more we find kids who speak out in class, on tolerance and understanding: ‘My cousin is gay,’ or ‘my sister is a lesbian’… Usually when there is talk, it’s about ignorance, and then we try to make an effort to educate the kids.

We say, ‘this school is here for everybody.’”

Related articles

• LGBT Community Mourns String of Suicides (chicagoist.com)
• Dan Savage Tells LGBT Youth “It Gets Better” (chicagoist.com)

Older teens tip off during one of the games in the tournament, held Aug. 21 in Seward Park near Cabrini-Green. Photo/Ivan Villafuerte, Neighborhood Sports Chicago.

As the jubilant members of the East Garfield Park basketball team celebrated, straining to touch the trophy they had just claimed, it was clear they had won more than a basketball game and a gold statue.

The 2010 Hoops in the Hood Cross-City Tournament winners for the major division also had won a victory for their neighborhood, and the spirit of teamwork, sportsmanship and safe streets, that’s a hallmark of the Hoops in the Hood program.

The fourth annual tournament, held on Aug. 21 at Seward Park, featured 250 players, and teams from 10 different Chicago neighborhoods. There were three divisions: Major (15 to 19 years old), Minor (11 to 14) and Pee-wee (8 to 10).

East Garfield Park took home the major division title, while Little Village won the minor division and the pee-wee champs hailed from North Lawndale.

But winning wasn’t the only triumph on a hot Saturday afternoon. Just being at the tournament, which was the culmination of summer-long basketball leagues where athletes, parents and community members reclaimed the streets of their neighborhoods, was a significant achievement.

“Programs like Hoops in the Hood bring communities together, which is so important when many people worry about violence in our streets,” said Keri Blackwell, senior program officer for LISC/Chicago, which organizes and supports Hoops in the Hood. “There are so many young people in Chicago looking for safe and fun activities, but often they have to overcome large obstacles to participate in them.”

To continue reading click here to be directed to Neighborhood Sports Chicago.

Related ChicagoTalks coverage:

Basketball Takes Over the Streets in North Lawndale

Basketball Leagues, Street Markets and Festivals Bring Different Look to Some Neighborhoods

Ald. Toni Preckwinkle (4th). Photo/AP

A new retail/residential development project in Hyde Park won approval Thursday, Aug. 19,  from the Chicago Plan Commission. The mixed-use property along South Harper Avenue and East Hyde Park Boulevard will contain 179 condominium units in two buildings, a two-level retail center and a 400-spot parking garage. City officials hope developing the area will draw new retailers to the South Side neighborhood home to the University of Chicago.

“The current shopping center is 50 years old, maybe more than that,” said  Ald. Toni Preckwinkle (4th). “Its not particularly attractive. This is a development that will hold the street a little better and bring in some new retail, which I think will be well-received.”

Aside from bringing in new stores, the $100 million project will add jobs and housing.

“It will probably come in two stages,” said Antheus Capital partner Eli Ungar of providing jobs. Ungar’s company is financing the project and owns 80 buildings in Hyde Park. “First of all, the construction itself (will provide jobs), and this at a time when there aren’t a lot of construction projects getting going. (This will create) hundreds of jobs. And whoever ends up in those facilities will create a lot of long-time jobs.”

The pre-development and construction will be handled by Silliman Group, LLC.

“The first residential tower will be 22 floors total, with two floors for retail. The mid-rise tower will be nine floors,” said Peter Cassel, director of the Silliman Group.

One to three bedroom condos are planned for the residential space, and according to Ungar, “there is an affordable housing component to our project. Our hope is it will be an attractive option for a broad range of buyers.”

“Fifteen percent will be affordable housing. The for sale price will be established by the market terms, and the income level of the buyer,” said Cassel.

A mix of large and small retailers will be approached.

“There are a number of missing retailers in Hyde Park,” Ungar said. “There is a shortage of apparel stores and house-ware stores. I don’t want a monolithic power center where you get three big national retailers. I’d be much happier with a mix of local retailers and national retailers.”

Ungar declined to comment on which stores had been approached.

Hyde Park residents—in particular senior citizens—are taking to the project.

“There is lots of excitement,” said Jennifer Bosch, executive director of the Hyde Park Neighborhood Club. “I have attended senior meetings, and they feel their needs are being met. The design elements are addressing easily accessible stores.”

The Chicago Plan Commission unanimously approved the project, which now goes to the Chicago City Council Zoning Committee for consideration. The project must be approved by the full city council before construction can begin.

“The drawings will take six months,” said Cassel. “Construction will start in 18 to 24 months.”

The land currently contains an Original House of Pancakes and Village Foods. A drive-thru will be installed so trucks making deliveries to Village Foods will not impede traffic.

Brandon Campbell and Charmaine Little contributed to this story.

Churches can be the landscape for many events, they provide a setting for anxious couples on their wedding day, and they can also serve as a memorial background to honor loved ones who have passed. The Lilydale Progressive Missionary Baptist Church, 10706 S. Michigan Ave., is not only seen as a place of worship and praise, instead its a church on the South Side that takes the next step by offering a non-profit program for struggling youth, recovering drug addicts and ex-cons in search of redemption.

“[One of] the organizations [we put forward] is a non-for-profit group that ministers to people who are ex-offenders or ex-drug users that are trying to better their lives,” said Kimberly McEwen, executive assistant to the church’s pastor, Romell Williams, Jr., and church administrator. “They are trying to get some skills and things to help them to enhance their living conditions, and also to make job ready in the area of construction.”

McEwen said that the men and women who come to the meetings at Lilydale Progressive Missionary Baptist Church are getting more than just worship. She mentioned one program where patrons are “getting foundational classes for carpentry,” she said there is about 10 people in the class.

There are a countless number of churches scattered throughout the community of Roseland. A majority of these establishments, which run along the 106-113 blocks of South Michigan Avenue, are somewhat old-fashioned, with metal security bars, like a jail cell, on each window to keep intruders at bay, gated perimeters with six foot tall fences and old-school pastors who like to keep their sermons on the more traditional side of the Bible.

“The pastor, [Romell Williams, Jr.], is a fairly young pastor,” McEwen said. “He’s about 31-years-old, and we have a lot of members who are older. They have been here at the church for years and years, some of them since its inception.”

According to McEwen, the goal of Lilydale Progressive is to bring together all age groups, and with Pastor Williams being so young and talented, he has brought in a lot of youth to the church.

“He’s doing a great job bringing together two different age ranges, at least with people 40 and under, and I think that’s unique,” McEwen said.

While school, friends, family and home can give support to many people, churches can be a safe haven as well for misguided teenagers and adult men and women trying to find their way and place in the world.

“I think that every kid and every adult needs [some type of] structure,” said Antonio Ashford, 34, a resident on the West Side. “No matter which community you’re from or what church you go to.”

Being one of the actual ten participants in the non-for-profit group held at Lilydale Progressive, Ashford believes that many religious organizations can benefit the Roseland community in more ways than one.

“They can give jobs, provide food, provide clothing and they can do a lot for people,” he said. “That’s what balances out the good and the bad. We need spiritual guides as far as spiritual structure, and church is valid for the community.”

McEwen said that religion used to play a big part in Roseland, but she doesn’t think it does as much anymore.

“I think that we could be a great source of help to the surrounding area,” she said. “Unfortunately Roseland has a lot of violence and drug issues, and I think that the church should be more instrumental in helping those who are trying to change their lives, and also to those who need assistance.”

Depending on the point of view, religion in a specific area can be observed as both positive and negative. McEwen said that the culture’s view on religion has changed over the years as far as Christianity is concerned since Lilydale Progressive M.B. Church is Christian-based.

“We’ve failed to reach out to [people] like we need to,” McEwen said. “The first thing taught in the Christian religion is that your love and how you treat people shows [someone] how much you care about them.”

At Lilydale Progressive, they are working towards being more loving to the community and reaching out more, McEwen said.

“Church is a place of prayer, and any in neighborhood it should be a beacon of hope.”

Residents of South Chicago and surrounding neighborhoods visited eco-friendly buildings and other environmentally significant sites in their communities during the Green Summit Tour on May 29.

Coordinated by NCP lead agency Claretian Associates and narrated by Ald. John Pope (10th), the three-hour-long meandering journey on a bus decked out like an old-school streetcar — with park-bench-style seating and a wooden interior — capped a month’s worth of green events and celebrations in South Chicago.

Residents on the South Side take a ride on the Green Summit tour bus to get a better look at the buildings and areas that are the most energy effective. Photo/Juan Francisco Hernandez

The bus left from Villa Guadalupe senior center on 91^st Street. Pope tipped his cap to several projects Claretian has championed, like energy-efficient homes built through the New Homes for Chicago program, with features like Energy Star appliances; the community garden outside the South Chicago Arts Center, where local residents regularly tend their plantings; and People’s Park, a peaceful haven on what had been three trash-strewn city lots notorious for fly dumping and drug dealing.

“We can see the impact of Claretian’s works in South Chicago,” Pope said. “Across the country, faith-based organizations like Claretian are stepping forward as stewards of the Earth.”

The benefits range from the fact that “people with limited incomes can live the American Dream” through subsidized housing, to the insights youth gain about growing vegetables. “People, especially kids, often times don’t realize where food comes from,” he said.

At the eastern end of 87th Street, the bus reached the gate of the 567-acre site that once housed the USX steel plant. Now closed to the public, the site — environmentally remediated to residential standards — will have plenty of public access once it’s developed as a mixed-use community, Pope said.

The tour passed LEED-certified infill housing (designated as eco-friendly by the U.S. Green Building Council), rooftop gardens at Comer Youth Center and Trinity Hospital, and solar trash compactors along Commercial Avenue that condense materials and bring both financial savings and preservation of landfill space.

The bus made two stops at buildings that Pope recognized for their eco-friendliness by presenting plaques to their denizens. The Rainbow clothing store at 91st and Commercial is the community’s first LEED-certified building, designed to sit right at the sidewalk for maximum pedestrian-friendliness. And the Victory Centre senior housing complex on 92nd Street has eco-friendly features like a rooftop garden.

“That’s good from an environmental perspective, but it’s also good from a social perspective,” Pope said, noting that the complex has helped to keep seniors from South Chicago near home. “They don’t want to pick up and move to Calumet City because that’s the nearest housing for seniors. The open space is more than would be required, which leads to a nice atmosphere.”

The year-old complex for those 65-and-older has 87 of its 112 units occupied, said Norma Munoz, sales manager. Residents receive three meals, medication reminders, assistance with showering and dressing, and physical and occupational therapy, and they can use a library and piano lounge, she said. For an earlier story about Victory Centre, please click here.

While the bus made its way through the Slag Valley neighborhood, Pope brought the uninitiated up to speed on the definition of slag, a byproduct of steelmaking. In cleaning up sites where it’s been dumped — and potentially using it for road surfaces — “we could kill two birds with one stone,” he said.

The tour passed the former Republic Steel site, where a memorial remains to 10 workers killed during a pro-union demonstration, as well as the former steelworkers’ union building on Avenue O.

The bus continued into the 580-acre William Powers State Wildlife Area, which hosts 26 species of fish in Wolf Lake, and then on to Calumet Park, built mostly on landfill at the edge of Lake Calumet, and home to the Southeast Chicago Historical Museum, where visitors can read everything from century-old news clippings to the latest issue of Re:New.

On its way back to Villa Guadalupe, the tour passed several more buildings that Pope touted as eco-friendly. The Solo Cup factory, which had planned to move out of Chicago into Indiana, stayed thanks to incentives that reduced permitting time and fees and enabled the building to achieve LEED certification.

The local police station has solar panels, Pope said, while the 10th Ward vehicle yard boasts wind turbines, energy-efficient windows, and a retention pond that catches storm water runoff. “We try to walk the walk with our buildings,” he said.

While the USX site has been remediated to residential standards, the former Wisconsin Steel site has not. And it never will be, Pope said, since it’s part of a Planned Manufacturing District and since some areas just need to be capped and designated as open space or parking lots, playgrounds or other uses that don’t need foundations poured below the surface.

“There’s little [pollution] goodies out there that haven’t been documented,” Pope said. “Some areas are just non-developable. … It would be too expensive to completely remediate. You identify and cap them. As long as we don’t disturb [the caps], there’s no chance for any environmental impact.”

The Chicago Police Department has said that they cannot alleviate the situation alone, and are looking for assistance from the community. This summer, much like others in the past, the police are looking to the Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy program, a 15-year old program that provides a unique outlet to Chicago communities.

“CAPS is about the best thing that happened to the community,” said Willie Morrow, a lifelong resident of Gresham and beat facilitator of the 6th police district.

CAPS, a problem solving tool that opens communication and partnerships with the community, has consistently had the support and input from communities. The 6th district has been an active participant of CAPS, but that hasn’t stopped violent crime in the neighborhood which is leading to residents questioning its effectiveness.

The 6th district has close to 100,000 residents, which has undoubtedly been a contributing factor to violence in the area. The district, nine miles big, has 310 officers to patrol the streets. And when the public housing projects were vacated nearly five years ago, there was an influx of residents relocating to the neighborhoods.

“We can’t arrest our way out of the situation,” said Rich Wooten, officer and CAPS liaison for the 6th district.

He said instead, CAPS offers a variety of programs and services to the residents each month. Residents can get involved in by attending any of the events including, crime prevention seminars, family service resources, record expungements and job fairs. The programs are not exclusive to the 6th district, but all are oriented toward helping the community and building a symbiotic bond.

“This helps CAPS bring down crime and help the people at the same time,” said Theresa Hubbard, a Gresham resident and organizer for the CAPS jobs fairs.

The 6th district jobs fairs have become so popular that they were forced to relocate to a bigger venue. On May 20, the job fairs were moved to the AFC Center, which has more space and is more practical, Hubbard said. She added that at last month’s job fair there were over 1,000 people, the largest turnout yet, lined around the block to get in contact with the 38 vendors.

Chicago has 25 police districts divided into 279 beats. CAPS has monthly beat meetings to share information, discuss strategies and problem-solve. All beat residents are encouraged to attend – participation is calculated by attendance.

“We got this opportunity, don’t let it go because what’s better than knowing who your officer is?” said Beverly Williams, CAPS community organizer.

Williams started working in CAPS when it was a pilot program funded by federal grants in 1993.  After proven successful in its five test districts, the 6th being one, the program was adopted by the Chicago Police Department and expanded to all 25 districts. Since 1995, CAPS has evolved greatly because of community involvement, Wooten said.

In the past the police department would primarily run the two-hour beat meetings, that has since changed due to its ineffectiveness, Morrow said.

“We’d get nothing done,” said Morrow, who’s been beat 614 facilitator since 1995.

Morrow and the CAPS office joined forces in 1998, and implemented a new strategy which included implementing an agenda and systematic order of running the new one-hour meetings.

At each meeting, residents and the police department bring forth new business, and remedy old, unfinished business. Each month’s crime data, as well as maps that include where crimes were committed are provided. The meetings are the essential effective component of CAPS, Wooten said.

“It creates a better understanding of the police department and what they’re doing for the community,” said Mary Castle-Enyard, co-facilitator of beat 614.

There are 12 beats in the 6th district, and although community participation has been increasing, crime is still prevalent.

“We’re not problem solving enough,” said Williams.

Problems are solved block-by-block. Williams said knowing your neighbor is crucial in crime prevention.

She said that a clean, orderly block deters criminals while uncut grass with vacant buildings is a breeding ground for illegal activity. She added that generally when a crime occurs it’s usually because the offender knows somebody on that block.

“The only way to solve problems in the neighborhood is you got to reach out to your neighbors,” said Morrow.

In 2007, Williams and Morrow started a new strategy in the 6th district – total block organization.  They gathered polling sheets that had the names and addresses for everyone in beat 614; then four teams of two spent roughly four hours a day knocking on the doors of the 120 blocks in the beat.

“This is something that’s never been done in CAPS before,” Williams said, although she has been advocating it for a while.

The teams introduce themselves, and talk about the importance of getting involved with CAPS. Most residents were unfamiliar with their neighbors, and there were a handful that had been living on the same block for over 30 years, Castle-Enyard said.

“You can’t be in jail in your own home, you have to get involved,” she said.

As a result of the new program, Morrow organized 60 block representatives who report to him weekly. The widespread intelligence gathered has assisted in prevention, and kept crime low in beat 614. The program also increased the attendance at CAPS meetings.

Community involvement is even more instrumental after budget cuts have scaled down police resources, Wooten said.

“Community members have to step up their game and help the police department take back their streets,” he said.

It was almost like Lollapalooza for the elderly.

About 400 seniors gathered for free health screenings, and health-related information while enjoying lunch, bingo, a raffle and live music during the 14th annual Cinco de Mayo Senior Health and Resource Fair on Chicago’s South Side.

Hosted in the gymnasium of the South Chicago YMCA – it had been planned for the street outside, but the weather did not cooperate – the event was coordinated by Villa Guadalupe Senior Services and the Senior Service Coalition of Southeast Chicago, which counts NCP lead agency Claretian Associates among its members.

The screenings, provided by nearly 60 vendors, covered issues of bone density, blood pressure, hearing, kidney function and incidence of prostate cancer, said Julia Lopez of Villa Guadalupe, who chairs the senior service coalition.

“This enables the community to receive free screenings that would otherwise be very costly to them, regardless of insurance or Medicare,” she said. “We invite major hospitals and many other medical providers. . . It’s a wonderful opportunity for seniors to come together.”

Major donors to the event included, Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center, Advocate Trinity Hospital, Atrium Healthcare Services LLC and Caring Tree. While other key supporters included, Ald. John Pope (10^th), the City of Chicago Department of Family and Support Services, the 4^th District Police, and the South Chicago YMCA.

The Illinois Lions Club provided the hearing screenings out of a van parked outside Villa Guadalupe. Inside the YMCA gym, White Crane Wellness Center handled PSA testing, Pee Dee Kay exhibited its durable medical equipment and Harwin Healthcare and Diagnostics screened for blood sugar. Not all the vendors were healthcare providers, The Federal Highway Administration, for example, gave out tips for senior behind the wheel.

Rush provided screenings for blood pressure, and handed out literature on the center’s senior health and wellness programs, said Dana Bright, coordinator of community health. She said Rush has partnered with Villa Guadalupe for a number of years.

“In the effort to provide educational services for older adults, you tend to meet providers in the community,” Bright said, as the Holy Cross Marimba ensemble got cooking. “We try to provide people with the information and educational opportunities for older adults, as well as a strong focus on family members caring for older adults.”

Advocate Trinity Hospital, another senior service coalition member, handed out information that reflected May’s status as Stroke Awareness Month, said Patrick Owens, coordinator of community relations for the hospital.

“I wanted to get the word out about the signs and symptoms,” he said. “We’re here to provide services that the coalition is looking for. We like to be a good steward of the community, so we come out and (advertise) the services we offer on the Southeast Side.”

Atrium, which provides home health and wellness, dispensed educational information on prevention and early detection, said Pam Fernandes, clinical director.

“We work a lot with patients who have chronic diseases like osteoarthritis, diabetes, congestive heart failure and Parkinson’s,” she said. “We wanted to bring better health for the community.”

Phillips, located at at 244 E. Pershing Road, has been placed in the care of the Academy of Urban School Leadership, an institution trained to revamp some of Chicago’s most under-performing schools in some of the city’s most economically disadvantaged communities.

The turnaround process includes four main components: firing and replacing the current principal, eliminating the entire staff from teachers to janitors, reconstructing the curriculum and renewing the culture.

A Wendell Phillips Oversight Committee has convened to oversee the process; members include Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd), Chicago Public Schools staff, Chicago Board of Education members, a professional educator from the University of Chicago and community leaders.

The committee, which will meet twice a month, held its first meeting on Tuesday, April 20 at the Bronzeville Community Clubhouse, a small community center located across the street from Phillips High School.

Bronzeville Club house Founder and President John Cook, who also sits on the oversight committee, said much of the first meeting was spent talking to new principal, Terrence Little, currently principal of Morton School of Excellence.

“I like the hands-on approach that the principal is stressing,” said Cook, “I think it’s going to work out providing everything goes to plan.”

The committee’s main priorities will be to ensure that students are able to pick up where they left off and have a chance to be educated from this point forward, Cook said.

But he does fear that because of the recent trauma the students and the school has experienced, the academic progress made by students may slip. The oversight committee agreed, saying that many teachers have been distracted, worrying about their own futures and students, too.

Dr. Sokoni Karanja, president and chief executive officer of the Center for New Horizons, an organization that works to empower communities, thinks there’s more to the closing of Phillips and other Chicago high schools in that area that meets the eye, or is being reported.

Karanja also serves on the oversight committee, which is currently looking for parent and student representatives from Phillips.

“The goal is to essentially minimize disruption to the students during the turnaround process,” said Elchert.

The committee will meet twice a month and is slated to stick around even after the turnaround is complete.

“Everybody’s pretty much excited,” said Elchert when he described the energy of the committee.

“They definitely have the kids interest at heart,” said Cook, adding “I’m excited about the possibilities.”

Youth Guidance Resource Coordinator Ben White said he was inspired to create this condensed version based on the popular African-American play “The Wiz” because he wanted to stress the importance of believing in yourself for his students.

“As the kids learn it and they understand it, even if it’s subliminal, they’re saying it over and over and over again,” said White.

Youth Guidance works with students in 50 Chicago Public Schools, providing after-school programs for at-risk youth. White said while the two-year old program at Parker has been successful, it has faced a few challenges with keeping some students enrolled.

White said when many of the students join the Youth Guidance program, they are introverted and “living in a box.”

“They don’t know if they are going to get laughed at or ostracized because they are doing something a little different,” said White. “We’re getting them out of that box.”

Playing the role of the “Wicked Witch Eveline” has been “life changing” for seventh-grader Briana Johnson. Johnson said prior to joining Youth Guidance, her life was unstable.  However, the program has allowed her to make friends and let her personality shine.

“When I came here, I got all excited and stuff and … started showing what I can really do with my life,” said Johnson.  “I felt like I got it. I can do this and it kept building and building up. So it’s a great level of confidence I have right now.”

During practice, Johnson dominated the stage as much as she was engrossed in her role as “Evaline.”

The demand of performing an hour-long play and his students’ response to that demand has encouraged White. He said he has noticed his students are able to focus more and apply recently learned memorization skills to their studies.

Through performing drama, White said, the students could face challenges in their lives and gain necessary tools to overcome them.

“It’s about the message. It’s about what the Wiz says,” said White. “If you believe in yourself, then that’s the key. It’s all about believing in your heart the things that you can do.”

“The Wiz that Wuz”

Thursday, May 20 at 4:30 p.m. at Parker Elementary Academy, 6800 S. Stewart St.

Tickets are $2

For more information, call 773-535-3375

First Aid Comics in Hyde Park reigns supreme as the only comic book store on the South Side of Chicago. Although there have been some attempts to establish others in the area, they’ve failed, which raises the question: why?

“I opened my store because there weren’t shops on the South Side of the city,” First Aid Comics owner James Nurss said. He knew there were comic book readers in the area and wanted to provide for them. “People are pig-headed … I knew other owners weren’t going to do it, because they feel people don’t have any money,” he said. “I figured it would provide more business for me, so I took the opportunity others wouldn’t.”

The small store space filled to capacity as a diverse range of customers questioned Nurss about the newest issues and made purchases. A unique sense of community developed. At age 60, Nurss’ oldest customer, who everyone knows as Dock, explained how First Aid Comics made history by being the only “true” comic book store on the South Side.

“I learned how to read with comic books … and I wish I did have a store like this when I was growing up,” he said.

Dock was born and raised in Kenwood and Hyde Park and said he could recall purchasing comics from the newspaper stand when he was young. There was nowhere else to buy comic books back in his day; comic book stores on the South Side were unheard off.

“They weren’t really a necessity,” he said. “Folks probably wouldn’t have ever guessed comics would blow up into the huge industry it is today.”

All-American Comics owner Carl Bonasera has been in business since the summer of 1981 and is the longest reigning comic retailer in the city of Chicago. Although he’s owned eight stores since he’s been in business, one of his first locations was located in the Englewood community.

“I was born and raised on the South side of Chicago,” Bonasera said. “So I wanted a store located in the inner city.”

However, that location of All-American Comics only lasted three years before it went out of business. His only remaining store is currently in Evergreen Park. He said he fought to keep this particular shop open because it was close to the South Side; this way, his original customers could still get to him.

“I have customers that have been with me since I first opened,” he stated. “Now their kids and grandchildren are coming in … generations of families.”

Toney Halbert, an African American and former South Side resident who used to travel some distance to purchase his own comics, feels store owners have a right to place their shops in locations they feel will make them the most money.

“There are certain areas that are just better places to have comic book stores,” he said. “I feel the urban areas of the South Side are not one of them.” As a young African-American male, Halbert added that he doesn’t know too many young blacks that actually enjoy comic books. “I can remember being teased for reading comic books when I was younger,” he said. He was called names like nerd, geek and people gave him weird looks, he said.

Amy Wainwright, a devoted comic book reader, has heard about women experiencing sexism in some comic book shops. This sparked an interest in doing research on the diversity problem in the comic industry.

“It’s institutionalized racism,” Wainwright said. “Just like there is sexism in the comic book industry, there is also racism and this is probably why there are hardly any comic book stores on the South Side of Chicago, unfortunately.”

Wainwright said this won’t change until everyone working in the industry, from store owners to their distributors, realizes there are more people reading comics than the average stereotype — “white and nerdy teenage boys.”

Halbert thinks for the South Side to see more shops, the main focus is to get young blacks interested in comics. He said movies are helping with creating that interest and only then will more stores come into the area.

As for the leading South Side store, there are big plans in the near future. Nurss said he plans on expanding and is currently looking at property downstate in Champaign-Urbana. “I’m thinking of opening a store so smaller towns in southern Illinois can have access to comics again.”

Pauline Lipman, policy studies professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, said the elimination of local school councils are negatively affecting South Side and West Side communities by taking away their involvement in public education.

“In the Austin neighborhood particularly, this is a major issue,” she said. “The charter schools in Austin are public schools; the people who live in Austin are the public, and they no longer have any say of what happens in the community, and this is happening all over Chicago.”

In June 2004, Mayor Richard M. Daley launched Renaissance 2010 with the goal of increasing the number of high quality educational options in communities across Chicago by 2010 by opening 100 new schools. In order to open these turnaround schools, CPS would have to shut the doors on schools with low performance.

To date, Chicago has 94 Renaissance schools, with plans to open seven more in the Fall of 2010, said Malon Edwards, spokesman for CPS. He said each of the Renaissance schools works hard to achieve community involvement.

Edwards said Renaissance 2010 schools are still required by law to have governing boards that include parental and community involvement.

Austin High School was one of those schools. It closed four years ago, and in its place are two charter schools: Austin Business and Entrepreneurship Academy and VOISE Academy High School, and one performance school, Austin Polytechnical School. These are three examples of schools in a community that do not have local school councils, Lipman said.

In 1988, the Illinois General Assembly created Chicago’s local school councils, which are elected, decision-making councils that have significant power over each of Chicago’s schools, such as the ability to hire and fire principals, plan the schools curriculum and oversee all activities for the school, similar to what the school board does.

At the high school level, the local school council consists of 12 voting members, including the principal, six parent representatives, two community representatives, two teacher representatives and one student representative.

However, Chicago Public Schools officials, who are hand-selected by Mayor Daley, have never been supporters of the councils, Lipman said. In an October 2007 speech, Rufus Williams, then-CPS board president, said it was one of his administration’s main goals to eliminate local school councils.

“Not all local school councils are bad, but this is a flawed system,” Williams said in the speech. “There are many examples of adults getting in the way of the progress of children. Those of us who are responsible for the schools simply ask that we have the authority because we have the accountability for them.”

Williams said CPS is known for its leading reform.

“But this is one of the reform efforts that not one group, system or area has bothered to replicate,” he said. “We are the only system in the world that has this kind of governing structure; it must be fixed; it must be changed so that we can best operate our system for the benefit of our children.”

Rosemaria Genova, press secretary for Marilyn Stewart, president of Chicago Teachers Union, said it is these sentiments and non-transparent ideas that are hurting community involvement in public education.

“We are losing the public in Chicago Public Schools,” she said. “We have too much privatization going on in Chicago, and it is taking away any and all parent and community involvement.”

Julie Woestehoff, executive director of Parents United for Responsible Education said CPS is not fighting for community involvement, and they never have.

“Taking away local school councils drives a stake right through the heart of community involvement,” she said. “As a parent organization, we will continue to stand up against CPS’s total disregard for community and parent involvement. These are our children; we should have a say in their education.”

Woestehoff noted that most of the schools which have closed due to Renaissance 2010 are on the city’s South and West Sides.

“They are closing schools in neighborhoods and communities that are already struggling with being heard and finding their voice,” she said. “This is disempowering people who are historically disempowered anyway.”

Mike Klonsky, director of Small School Workshops, a non-profit organization, said in a community like Austin, the district’s complete disregard for the community has been devastating.

Klonsky, a professor in the College of Education at DePaul University, said in a community like Austin where parent involvement is limited, the loss of a local school council is immense.

“These new schools for the most part are run by private boards that are usually made up by business people,” he said. “There is little to no input from the community, and that must change.”

“The governing boards serve as local school councils, to ensure community involvement,” he said.

But Klonsky disagreed. He said Renaissance 2010 was originally created to open 100 new schools in Chicago and take a “serious stance on the value of our education.”

“But what Renaissance 2010 has turned into is basically a school-closing initiative,” he said. “The closing of schools means the end of local school councils, which means a lack of community voice and community power over how schools and education should operate.”

Check out these related stories from Chicago Public Radio WBEZ: Daley Says School Closings Are Necessary and Education Reporter Linda Lutton Talks School Closings with Host Melba Lara.

Auburn Gresham‘s “food desert” got a bit less empty, as international grocery retail store ALDI opened a new 18,000 square foot store on the South Side of Chicago at 7627 S. Ashland Ave. Read the newsletter to see how this is bringing jobs as well as food into the neighborhood.

Mayor Richard M. Daley accompanied Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Julius Genachowski and a host of other civic and community leaders at the recent announcement of the Smart Communities Digital Excellence Initiative. This initiative is a collaboration of the City of Chicago, MacArthur Foundation, Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC/Chicago) and “Smart Communities” Chicago neighborhoods: Auburn Gresham, Chicago Lawn, Englewood, Humboldt Park and Pilsen.

Get all the details in the newsletter. Keep up the great work, GADC organizers. You can contact GADC’s Ernest Sanders at 773.483.3696 or via email at [email protected] or [email protected]. The GADC offices are at 1159 West 79th Street, Chicago, IL 60620.

Boyer was the latest to take the dais as part of the Breakfast with the Experts series sponsored by the Beverly Area Planning Association (BAPA) and SXU. He spoke for approximately 30 minutes before taking questions from those who had paid $20 a plate to attend. One of the first questions was from O’Toole, and it was a doozy. The question about Sox Fest was not a curveball or changeup, to borrow from baseball vernacular, but rather a fastball right down the middle.

“Why do I have to take a room at the Palmer House [hotel]? It seems like an illegal tie. I’m not going to sue the Sox, but I do want to know why,” O’Toole asked Boyer.

Boyer showed that he wasn’t a bad tap dancer when he responded, “The philosophy is all about paying for the event.”

To that, O’Toole countered, “Then raise the ticket prices [for Sox Fest].”

“It’s kind of how we have to do business. We have to pay for the event,” Boyer reiterated. He spoke a language that all Chicagoans understand when he added, “The Palmer House was one of the only places we could go. We [White Sox] get a kickback or a cut from every room that is used. In the City of Chicago, it’s union. There’s no way around that.”

O’Toole said after the event, “He really didn’t answer the question. I don’t buy that about the hotel. I go to 60 or 65 [Sox] games a year. I go for the baseball. I’m not there for ‘Mullet Night’ or ‘Elvis Night.’ Going to Sox Fest is like getting some baseball in the offseason. I live in the city. I could take the train in. Why should I have to stay at a hotel?”

O’Toole concluded, “Why don’t they just have Sox Fest at the ball park?”

According to the Chicago White Sox website, a weekend pass for SoxFest is available only if fans purchase a two-night package deal for $259 plus taxes and fees. The White Sox mandate that purchasers book a room at the Palmer House, where the event will be held. If the event does not sell out, a limited number of Saturday-only and Sunday-only passes may be sold. SoxFest is Jan. 22-24.

O’Toole was one of approximately one hundred serious Sox fans (and a few admitted Cubs fans) who had breakfast at the Center on the SXU campus and listened to Boyer’s lecture on “The Business of Baseball.” For the most part, everyone seemed to be on the same page with Boyer, who described going to U.S. Celluar Field as “a driveway to driveway experience.” Boyer and fans defended the Sox ball park.

“I’ve been to many ball parks, and it [U.S. Celluar Field] is among the best. I don’t understand why people knock the park,” one fan told Boyer.

“Criticism of the ball park isn’t current,” Boyer agreed. “That comes from people who haven’t been to U.S. Celluar Field lately.

Over the last six years, the White Sox have spent an estimated $80 million on improvements to the ball park. Boyer told the audience, “We’re trying to make people as happy as we can. We want you to walk out of the ballpark and say, ‘Wow! I feel like I got value for my money.’ In the city of Chicago, we’re lucky to have two great ballpark experiences. Ours is just better.”

Boyer believes Sox fans will have that ‘Wow” experience again during 2010 because of good young talent and personnel moves made by Sox general manager Kenny Williams. Boyer mentioned holdover young stars Gordon Beckham and Carlos Quentin and mid-season acquisition Jake Peavy. New members of the Sox lineup will include Juan Pierre, picked up from the Dodgers on Dec. 15, and free agent signee J.J. Putz (pronounced poots). Pierre will play center field. Putz will be a set-up man for the closer, who will be either Matt Thornton or Bobby Jenks.

Boyer confirmed a link between his putting fans in the stands and the general manager’s ability to acquire talent when he said, “Kenny says that if fans don’t come out, the Sox won’t have money to compete.” Alluding to the Sox projected 2010 payroll of approximately $100 million, Boyer quipped, “I told Kenny, ‘Dude, could you please stop telling people you don’t have any money. The reason you don’t have any money is because you spent it.”

According to USA Today, the Sox 2009 payroll was $96,068,500. Putz reportedly signed a one-year contract for $3 million plus incentives. According to CBS Sports.com, Peavy earns $11 million annually.

Referencing the 2003 book Moneyball, a fan asked Boyer if he would hire a general manager who completely relies on statistics. Written by Michael Lewis, Moneyball is the story of how Oakland A’s president (then GM) Billy Beane based all of his decisions on statistics while operating the franchise on a very low (by baseball standards) budget.

“The guy out there [Beane] hasn’t won any rings,” Boyer responded. He drew laughter when he added, “If you asked Ozzie [Sox manager Guillen] about Moneyball, he’d probably say, ‘Are we going to the casino?’”

Boyer said that the Sox 2010 slogan, “It’s White Sox baseball. It’s black and white,” is based upon the team’s passion, pride and tradition. White Sox tradition also was brought up by a fan in attendance who asked how much of Bill Veeck’s legacy is left. Veeck was the legendary promoter who owned the Sox twice. The first time was in the early 1960s, and the second time was in the mid-1970’s. Some of those at the breakfast mentioned that they had read Veeck’s autobiography, Veeck as in Wreck.

“Bill Veeck reached out to fans. He was the guy who would hang out with them in the parking lot and drink with them at the bar,” said Boyer. Alluding to Veeck’s problems as owner of the St. Louis Browns and the Sox, Boyer added, “He wasn’t a good businessman. He ran a couple of teams into the ground. He was a great promoter.”

Speaking of promotions, one ongoing Sox promotion, “Mullet Night,” came from Boyer, who is a native of Concord, Mich. Boyer referred to Concord as “the Mullet capital of the world.” On “Mullet Night” fans display their own unusual hairdos or wear wild wigs. They also can get a haircut from one of the event’s sponsors, Great Clips.

Boyer talked about joining the White Sox staff in 2004. “It was the height of Cubdom. The Cubs were just four outs from the World Series. We [Sox] stunk. Ozzie Guillen had just been named manager. He’s introduced, and he talks about drinking beer in the clubhouse, and nobody can understand him,” recalled Boyer.

Prior to joining the White Sox, Boyer spent six years working for the same owner, Jerry Reinsdorf, with the Chicago Bulls. It was the Jordan Era, but it wasn’t always glamorous, at least not for Boyer.

“Steve Shonwald was the vice president of marketing, and he said to me, ‘We’re getting inquiries about restroom advertising, and I want you to check into it.’ So I ended up writing a business plan. Later, Steve said to me, ‘Mr. Reinsdorf really likes your plan. We want you to be in charge of this.’ I was really excited, and then I thought, ‘Wait a minute. I’m selling ads that go above urinals and toilets.’”

Boyer is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame, where he also played basketball. He needled himself and fellow Notre Dame alums when he said, “We’re the smartest people in the world, right?” A few hands went up after he asked, “Are there any other Domers out there?”

Boyer displayed his sense of humor early in his presentation. After learning there were a few Cubs fans in attendance, he said with a smile, “For you guys, we’ll make sure we speak a little slower and a little louder.”

“We’re here to bring awareness to the massive cuts and layoffs,” said Keith Hill, a CTA bus driver for 13 years and union representative. “They’re laying people off at the coldest time of the year. The mayor has no compassion; the governor has no compassion.”

On Monday, Dec. 14 layoff notices for 1,067 union and 30 non-union workers were to be sent, telling workers they’ll be out of a job Feb. 7.

“We’re not happy about the fact that we have to cut service,” said CTA Board Chairman Terry Peterson.

The CTA is facing a $300 million deficit, and Peterson said the cuts are necessary to keep it functioning.

Carlos Acevedo, a union representative and CTA mechanic for 15 years, said the cuts would most hurt underserved communities.

“They’re eliminating a lot of the express routes, and of course, it’s affecting the low-income, minority areas mostly; six express routes cut on the South Side and one on the North Side,” Acevedo said.

Acevedo said these services are vital, and funds are available.

“They’re getting $700 million Jan. 1,” said Acevedo. “They’re sitting on $900 million. They need $320 million to avert all of this, so there are solutions.”

The union has made sacrifices, but the CTA won’t compromise, said Avecedo.

“They’re looking for concessions from the unions,” said Acevedo. “The level of service you have now is off the backs of the workers; the workers almost lost their pension due to concessions they gave.”

But CTA spokeswoman Noelle Gaffney said the unions haven’t made concessions.

“We’ve been meeting with the unions for the last two months,” said Gaffney. “We would be happy not to do the cuts if unions would agree to concessions that would help us.”

Gaffney points to the sacrifices non-union workers have made during the CTA budget crisis.

“Our non-union employees are taking up to 18 unpaid days, including unpaid holidays; they haven’t gotten raises in four years,” said Gaffney. “The unions got raises this year, and they’re getting raises next year. If the unions would agree to take some steps, we would have the necessary monies.”

Roger Smittle, spokesman for the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization, said the cuts are not only affecting low-income communities but violating the Americans with Disabilities Act. He said the disabled and seniors wouldn’t have regular daily bus service on the South Side.

Gary Arnold, a spokesman for the disabled group Access Living, said it targeted certain stations that weren’t accessible to help them get in compliance.

“Two years ago, the CTA bus line became officially 100 percent lift-equipped,” said Arnold. “We would like to see more CTA train stations more accessible but see how this won’t be given attention if there are services cuts.”

Michael Pitula, organizer for the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization, said these cuts would negatively impact Latino and African-American communities. His organization has tried to restore the bus route on 31st Street, which has been out of service for the past 13 years.

“Seven out of the 9 express routes CTA is cutting serve the South Side–predominately African-Americans and Latinos,” said Pitula. “The CTA is opening up a can of rooms here in terms of civil rights.”

Jeannetta Bradshaw, spokeswoman for Seniors Taking Action Together, said seniors, especially those with health issues, would be hurt by these cuts.

“Service cuts to us are devastating,” said Bradshaw. “I think in the areas where seniors take public transportation to go the doctor–these areas should be looked at first.”

If additional funding comes through, the CTA has a plan to rescind the layoff efforts and notify the public that service will be restored, said Gaffney.

“Mass transit is the life and blood of the city,” said Acevedo.

But a national program, the Health Careers Opportunity Program, aims to change this by sparking the interest of students in Morgan Park and other low-income communities in becoming health care professionals themselves. HCOP gives them an opportunity to earn a degree in public health and go back to their community to help.

“We take students from impoverished areas who are interested in a career in health care, and when they are finished with the program and college, he or she can go to an area where health care is lacking and offer it,” said Dorothy Washington-Calvin, a UIC School of Public Health staffer who administers HCOP.

HCOP is run through the University of Illinois at Chicago and Chicago State University, serving 6th through 12th grade students from Morgan Park and other elementary and high schools on the South and West Sides of the city. The program covers 95 percent of the state areas designated as Health Professional Shortage Areas, meaning they lack residents with Masters and Doctoral degrees in public health.

The program revolves around “Public Health Sciences Saturday Colleges.” Every Saturday for 30 weeks, students spend six hours a day learning subjects that will help their academics and expose them to public health research. The classes aim to increase students’ interest in science, math and public health. Students are encouraged to take Honors and Advanced Placement science courses.

Along with the Saturday classes, students take field trips to labs, science museums and health care institutions, where they can observe health care professionals at work. The program also offers free ACT prep classes.

Program leaders hope training youth in health care fields can improve health care access in the community as a whole.

According to the Encyclopedia of Public Health, people in low-income neighborhoods are especially prone to health problems and disproportionately lack health care. They are more likely to become ill and die at younger ages than those with higher incomes.

During the last school year, 71.4 percent of Morgan Park High School’s 1,744 students qualified as low-income, according to the Chicago Public Schools. Additionally, 83.2 percent of students at Alice L. Barnard Computer, Math & Science Center, an elementary school in Morgan Park, were low-income.

HCOP began in 1981, but in 2006 the program was put on hold due to a lack of funding. When HCOP was re-launched in 2007, Morgan Park High School did not get involved. But at the start of this school year, Washington-Calvin came to the school as principal for a day. She talked with faculty about the program, and they decided to get back into it.

Remy Washington, math and science coordinator at Morgan Park and co-sponsor of HCOP at the school, says there are about 15 Morgan Park students in the program, mostly girls.

Morgan Park junior Jirmiah Leverette said there are various reasons he is participating. Among other things he wants to raise awareness of how healthy habits pay off in better quality of life. Because of the program, he said he reads up on health care issues, and he wants to help provide affordable health care to under-served communities.

“I want to assist in designing an electronic medical database that makes things easier for people with legal cases with health care,” he said.

The Lakeview Action Coalition has made the clinics its top priority after conducting a survey in 2007 that indicated a need for primary health care within the community.

But one city health official says the neighborhood doesn’t need a clinic as much as other areas on the South and West Sides, and an aide to the alderman’s office said no public money is available.

Hannah Gelder, spokeswoman for Lakeview Action Coalition, said the goal is to improve access to affordable health care by bringing a community center to the neighborhood.

“The results showed that community members are leaving Lakeview for other neighborhoods to find affordable care,” she said. “The survey clearly showed a need for a clinic in Lakeview, so we are fighting for the residents of Lakeview.”

Max Bevar, spokesman for Ald. Tom Tunney (44th), said the alderman is always in support for services that benefit the residents of Lakeview. But, he said, there will be no city resources put into this project.

“We are always looking for increased and low cost health care for our ward’s most needy residents,” Bevar said. “As far as we know, Lakeview Action Coalition is looking directly to the hospitals and outside resources to provide funding and services for a free clinic.”

The exact cost of the clinics is unknown, but Gelder said the Lakeview Action Coalition is looking to secure some grant money along with getting assistance from the local hospitals.

The Lakeview Action Coalition is currently in the process of doing more research and will be conducting a health assessment need for the Lakeview community. Until then, Gelder said the statistics in the survey are enough to “get the ball rolling.”

In that survey, 10 percent of respondents have been sued over hospital bills, and 34 percent of insured and 44 percent of uninsured respondents have had their credit affected by hospital bills. Gelder said these statistics alone are proof enough that Lakeview residents need health care assistance.

Tim Hadac, spokesman for Chicago Department of Public Health, said there is some need for a free clinic in every community, but Lakeview would not rank high on the list.

“Lakeview used to have a free clinic about 10 years ago when there was a significant need, but now that need really isn’t there,” he said.

The Chicago Department of Public Health conducted a Community Area Health Inventory study that was updated in November 2007, which showed the needs in the 77 neighborhoods of Chicago. Lakeview stood out on the study, but not because of its need for services, rather for its flourishing, rich community.

The study showed that the median income for the Chicago is $38,625, and in Lakeview it is $53,881. It also showed the poverty level for Chicago is 19.6 percent, and in Lakeview it’s less than half that at 8.7 percent, with only 3 percent of its residents unemployed.

“I think if you look at Lakeview today, the levels of income are higher than they have ever been,” Hadac said. “Generally speaking, people are better off than they used to be in that neighborhood and there isn’t much poverty.”

Gelder disagreed. She said the fact that 15 percent of residents take advantage of charity care programs, which offer free or reduced care in the Lakeview community, shows the “clear need for a clinic in the community.”

Hadac said every community thinks it has a great need, but Lakeview isn’t a community that needs immediate action.

“Don’t get me wrong, we are always supportive of clinics and furthering health care throughout Chicago,” he said. “But there are a number of neighborhoods in Chicago that have a greater need than Lakeview does.”

Morgan Park High School on Chicago’s South Side is one of many schools considering “track” scheduling beginning in the 2010-11 school year.

Non-traditional “track” scheduling gives students the same number of weeks off as summer break, but the 10-week vacation is split up throughout the year. Track scheduling has class in session for six- to eights-weeks at a time, with two- to three-week breaks in between.

The idea was brought to Morgan Park principal Dr. Beryl P. Shingles by parents in the community, whose children attend one of the three elementary schools on track scheduling that feed into the high school. They asked Shingles if she would consider putting the high school on track scheduling to coincide with the elementary schools, making things easier for families with children in both high school and elementary school.

Shingles called Alan Mather, principal of Lindblom High School on Chicago’s West Side, the only CPS high school on track scheduling. She talked with Mather about the benefits of the format.

After many meetings with faculty, CPS administrators and parents discussing the pros and cons of track scheduling, a non-binding vote was taken at Morgan Park High School on Oct. 30. Of the 107 votes cast, 35 percent were in favor of the new schedule, and 28 percent were in favor only if a cooling system is installed in the school, since track scheduling means going to school in the hot summer months, and Morgan Park doesn’t have air conditioning. Thirty-five percent voted against the schedule change.

Peggy Goddard, a community resident and Morgan Park school council secretary, said some parents and students oppose the new schedule because of conflicts students would face in the summer.

“Some of the students work,” she said. “A lot work as lifeguards and work up to Labor Day. Some have internships, some are involved in collegiate programs.”

Mather said Lindblom’s track scheduling decision was discussed for two years. “If the teachers didn’t want it, it wouldn’t work,” he said. “We needed to build support. That’s why we spent so much time planning.”

Lindblom is in its second year on track scheduling and, according to Mather, everyone likes it.

“The students like it better than expected,” he said. “They get more regular breaks. It makes sense. People get burned out. Now they get to recharge regularly.”

One of the struggles that Lindblom faced when they changed scheduling was grading. There were no semesters, making it difficult for the school to collect grades, but eventually they figured it out.

The students didn’t seem to have a problem with the new grading period.

“The grades for the first grading period this year are higher than they were at the same time last year and in the first semester the year before that,” he said.

On Friday, Nov. 6, Shingles and Morgan Park submitted an application to the Chicago Board of Education for track scheduling, but with the installation of a cooling system.

Shingles didn’t spend as long deliberating the idea as Mather did at Lindbloom, but she’s confident that this is what’s best for the school.

“It was presented at LSC meetings, PTSA meetings, and we had enough interest from staff and many of the students are pro,” she said.

The school will not find out if they were approved for track scheduling until late January or early February of next year. Meanwhile, Morgan Park engineer Mike Cox is currently making appointments and getting estimates for the cooling system to be ready if they get the go-ahead.

A few years before that, Kessler’s son, then in his 20s, was also mugged. Kessler —who has lived in the area more than 30 years—said she feels like the “neighborhood nut,” because when there’s any kind of meeting on safety, she stands up and complains that nothing has been done on Morse Avenue—which is just a few blocks from her house— in more than a decade.

“It’s like nobody cares,” Kessler said at a Nov. 16 public safety seminar held at the Loyola Park fieldhouse. “I don’t go out. I feel like I’m trapped.”

Kessler’s sentiments echoed many of those expressed by some of the more than 30 people who attended the forum, held by state Rep. Harry Osterman (D-Chicago) and state Sen. Heather Steans (D-Chicago). Osterman scheduled the event after his office saw an increase in calls from constituents upset about crime in the Far North Side neighborhood.

“It’s getting darker out earlier, and we all have to protect ourselves and be safe,” said Osterman. “That doesn’t mean we have to be Charles Bronson. We just have to be aware.”

Osterman said he’s working to restore CeaseFire, an outreach program for at-risk youth whose funding was cut by former Gov. Rod Blagojevich. CeaseFire is currently active only in the 11th Police Distict’s West Humboldt and West Garfield Parks, and also on the South Side in West Englewood.

Yet it should be restored in 16 other neighborhoods by Dec. 1, Tio Hardiman, director of CeaseFire Illinois said. Osterman said he hopes to have it up and running in his area by Jan. 1.

Osterman also said he’s working with the Chicago Public Schools to get Sullivan High School “a little more under control” and to offer after-school and put-kids-to-work programs. And Osterman said he’s working with the new police commander to address concerns.

“People gotta involved,” Osterman said. “They have to call the police and get engaged.”

Besides the usual suggestions such as attending CAPS meetings and calling 9-1-1, the most valuable information was offered by Officer Jim Olszanski, who holds preventative programs for the Chicago Police Department. Olszanski provided helpful tips on what to do if you’re a victim of robbery, purse snatching, burglary, pick-pocketing or other crimes. He told attendees to kick, scream and do everything in their power to escape if they are a crime victim.

“Act crazy if someone approaches,” Olszanski said. “Have a conversation with yourself.”

The 24th police district, which includes Rogers Park, West Ridge and part of Edgewater, is bounded by Howard/Juneway Terrace, Lake Michigan, Thorndale and the North Shore Channel. Between January and October 2009, out of 25 districts, the 24th ranked No. 24, meaning it had the next to the highest increase in violent crimes, which include murder, robbery, aggravated sexual assault and criminal sexual assault, according to Chicago Police Department statistics. Only one district ranked higher — or worse— the 14th, Shakespeare District, in the North Side’s Logan Square neighborhood.

Through October in the 24th District, violent crimes were up 7.7 percent from the same time last year with three murders, 48 criminal sexual assaults, 447 robberies, 117 aggravated assaults, and 194 aggravated batteries. The same time span in 2008—January through October— saw seven murders, 39 criminal sexual assaults, 416 robberies, 111 aggravated assaults, and 178 aggravated batteries, police statistics show.

However, overall index crimes— which include property and violent crimes combined — were down 5.1 percent from the same time period in 2008. Property index crimes include arson, burglary, motor vehicle theft and theft.

“It’s certainly a lot quieter than it was,” said Ald. Joe Moore (49th), who sent his chief of staff to the meeting. “That doesn’t mean there aren’t significant issues to work on.”

Moore said Howard Street and Morse Avenue have improved considerably, “but there’s still work to be done,” he said. “They’re a work in progress.”

Kessler suggested a police outpost on Morse Avenue, where there was one several years ago. Jeanette Cotledge, president of the Birchwood Townhouse Association at Birchwood and Western, said in spots such as Morse Avenue, she has “a heightened sense of alert.”

“I’d like to feel safer,” she said. “I don’t feel as safe as I want to.”

The Kenwood Academy High School graduate and current DeVry University student applied for 16 positions over a two-day span, only to hear “no” from potential employers due to what she believed to be a lack of job experience.

Now, Lamon is worried about paying back the mounting costs of her student loans, about $10,000 for her first year at college.

“I’m gonna have to pay all that stuff back after I get out in three years,” said Lamon. “And by me being so young and not having experience, I really can’t get [a job].”

What has been helping Lamon so far has been her position with Kenwood-Oakland Community Organization (KOCO) performing community outreach and organizing events.

She was one of several hundred youth and parents in attendance at a South Side youth town hall at Walter H. Dyett High School on Sunday rallying to reduce teen violence and push for an increase in employment opportunities.

The Life Campaign, an umbrella organization for ten Chicago youth groups with the Roosevelt Institute at Northwestern University, hosted the event.

The rally began on a somber tone as Dyett principal Robert M. McMiller shared having to attend two funerals of Dyett students since becoming Dyett’s principal in February.

“This is an important day for all of you,” said McMiller. “So I just want all of you to make the best of it.”

Over the course of two hours, high school and college youth spoke about how the impact of Illinois’ current budget crisis and the recession has affected their future educational goals.

However, many offered words of encouragement for their pursuits.

“For those of you who are in high school, look for scholarships,” said Corkey, a student at De Paul University, who said she was stressing over the pending eviction of her mother and younger sister as she worried about paying back $9,500 in loans.

“Just keep pushing through. It’s going to work out in the end. I promise,” she said.

In a speech that was part campaign pitch, Illinois State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, who is running for the U.S. Senate, said the only way for youth to have work opportunities is if they are “engaged in the process.”

“The decisions that are going to be made over the next few years in Washington, D.C. are going to determine the course this country takes for generations,” said Giannoulias.

But students pressed Giannoulias for a meeting to discuss creating 20,000 jobs each year though state funding. Giannoulias said he would work with the student organizations to make sure that funding is created.

Earlier this year, KOCO worked with state Rep. Esther Golar (D-Chicago) to introduce the Community Youth Employment Act, HB 3631, a grant to fund six weeks of summer mentoring and employment. Currently, the bill is in the House Rules Committee.

Golar was unavailable for comment.

In September, unemployment in Illinois was at 10.5 percent according to the Illinois Department of Employment Security. In 2008, nearly 26,000 jobs were projected to be created for the 14 to 18 age group, according to the website.

Rally host, Angie Rollins, a student at Columbia College Chicago, said she wanted to hear more details from Giannoulias rather than “you can do it” talk. She wants legislators to discuss what actions they will take to increase youth employment.

“I want to see them voting on the bills we’ve presented,” said Rollins. “They’ve got money. Contrary to popular belief they got money sitting there. They can do it.”

Check out a related story from WBEZ, Chicago Public Radio.

Listen to audio clips on the WBEZ/Vocalo blog.

Gibson, 33, said he asked a number of “passers and mouth flappers” for a cigarette as he waited for a bus in front of a gas station on the corner of 35th Street and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.

After negotiating with a fellow smoker, Gibson finished a “bummed” Newport cigarette before he boarded the bus.

“If I ask enough people, it will help me avoid paying for cigarettes at the gas station and on the streets,” said Gibson.

Scenes like this are becoming increasingly common as high taxes on cigarettes are changing buying habits in Chicago.

A pack of cigarettes is worth 98 cents per pack to the state of Illinois and $1.01 per pack to the U.S. federal government. After state, local and federal taxes — the city of Chicago adds 68 cents while Cook County adds $2 in taxes —  a pack of cigarettes in Chicago is one of the most expensive in the Midwest, according to a yet to be published report by David Merriman, a professor at the University of Illinois-Chicago.

While neighboring states have increasingly higher tobacco taxes in Iowa–$1.36, Minnesota–$1.50 and Wisconsin–$2.52, Illinois’ residents in Chicago may be decreasing the city’s tobacco tax revenue by buying elsewhere, according to data received from Chicago’s Department of Revenue.

Buying habits have changed. Instead of buying cigarettes in Chicago, now consumers buy cigarettes outside the city, or even outside the state to avoid paying taxes, according to an emailed statement from Ed Walsh, spokesman for Chicago Department of Revenue.

Sales tax revenue on cigarettes in Chicago has decreased 67.78 percent since 2001, Walsh said.

On the South Side of Chicago, neighbors have witnessed last spring’s federal tax increase lead the distribution of cigarettes from stores to street corners where they are cheaper.

One local resident said he sees cigarettes sold on the corner of 47th Street and Cottage Grove Avenue when he heads to work at 6 a.m. and when he returns home at 7 p.m.

“From the moment I go to work until the moment I get off of work, I see them guys out there selling cigarettes,” said Tony, 52, who asked that his last name not be disclosed. He also said people can usually buy a single cigarette or a pack of cigarettes from men on the street because they are “cheaper.”

Experts believe that the increase in taxes could decrease Illinois’ tobacco tax revenue and increase illegal sales. Peddlers on the street are making a $2 to $3 profit on each pack sold.

“The proximity of Chicago to other cities could lead to an increase in smuggling in Chicago if taxes are raised,” said Michael LaFaive, executive director of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.

Professor Merriman’s report says a ratio of 3 out of 4 packs of cigarettes smoked in Chicago are purchased in neighboring states to avoid Illinois’ tobacco tax laws.

Since the tobacco tax increase in 2006, 289 businesses were cited for violating the tobacco tax law, according to Efrat Stein, spokeswoman for Chicago’s Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection.

And in 2008, 473 businesses in Chicago were cited for violating tobacco tax laws, Stein said. In the last two years, the city produced $600,000 in revenue from fines, she added.

The department has over 65 business inspectors, and 26 of them covertly and overtly enforce and investigate the sales of cigarettes at over 70,000 businesses in Chicago, Stein said.

Stein could not give numbers on the fines given to street peddlers, but said the department does investigate and fine them, too.

“We have a responsibility to even investigate and fine street peddlers that sell cigarettes without a license, not just businesses,” said Stein.

Adolph Parker opened his furniture store on South Cottage Grove Avenue in 1934, at the height of the Great Depression.

Despite record unemployment, Parker’s business grew because he established good relationships with his customers, offering payment plans and credit, said Loron Kaplan, Parker’s great grandson and a member of the fourth generation to run New Age Chicago Furniture Co. at 4238 S. Cottage Grove.

“My great-grandfather laid a foundation based on trust and nothing else,” said Kaplan. “We would trust customers and help them get credit established. We were able to build relationships early on with our customers. The relationships continue with their kids and grandkids.”

While today’s economy isn’t as bad as it was during the 1930s, the economic issues Kaplan sees – high unemployment, foreclosures, limited discretionary spending – are similar to what his great grandfather faced when he started the family-owned business 75 years ago.

New Age Chicago Furniture, photo by Juan Francisco Hernandez

But Kaplan and other business owners on Cottage Grove, between 43rd and 47th streets on Chicago’s South Side, aren’t confronting the current recession alone. Many are members of CG43, a business association designed to develop marketing strategies that help local retailers spotlight high-quality products available in the community. (To read about a complementary effort to conduct retail tours in Bronzeville, please click here.)

The business association, which serves North Kenwood, Oakland and portions of Douglas and Grand Boulevard, is a program of NCP lead agency Quad Communities Development Corp. (QCDC).

“CG43 creates a sense of density and allows the participating businesses to co-brand and co-market,” said Bernita Johnson-Gabriel, QCDC’s executive director. “The key for a lot of businesses is to give them the tools to move forward, to be a little more prepared.”

One of those tools is Chicago Community Ventures, a consulting firm that develops, manages and provides coordinated business assistance to residents and business owners in underserved neighborhoods. Johnson-Gabriel said that CCV helps businesses “make forecasts properly in this downturn and make sure everything is O.K.”

Chicago’s bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics also focused attention on the Cottage Grove corridor with nearby Washington Park as the proposed site for the Olympic Stadium.

Despite the poor economy, economic diversity in the area has improved. Since 1990 households making more than $50,000 have increased by 88 percent.

But along with this increase in income diversity, the area has experienced a modest population decrease and a modest decline in family size, as has been true for the rest of the region. Age diversity, however, is continuing to grow. In addition, rates of homeownership have increased since the early 1990s. These factors all imply that the Quad Communities area has a stable residential base for neighborhood-oriented retail.

$2 out of $3 spent elsewhere
The corridor, a prime area for commercial and residential development, has an annual buying power estimated at $675 million, according to a recent analysis by LISC/MetroEdge. Currently $2 out of every $3 is spent outside of the neighborhood – revenue that could be coming directly to local businesses. In particular, the area lacks dining opportunities and has unmet demand for general merchandise stores.

QCDC and the CG43 members want to keep those dollars close to home. The agency, said Johnson-Gabriel, worked with the city to get sidewalks repaired and bicycle racks installed on Cottage Grove, making the street more pedestrian friendly.

Planters in front of Sensual Steps, photo by Juan Francisco Hernandez

Distinctive acorn lighting fixtures were added, as were 16 planters and four murals between 43rd and 46th streets. The effect, said Johnson-Gabriel, was to “create a sense of place and beauty; to tell people something is different here.”

Those amenities alone, however, haven’t been enough to stop business from falling at Kaplan’s furniture store. But were it not for rebuilding in the area during the last five years, Kaplan said the impact on his business could have been worse. Construction and rehabbing in the Cottage Grove corridor “helped quite a bit,” he said.

In general, other CG43 business members also reported a decline in foot traffic earlier this year. As a result, many of them are taking innovative steps – such as renting out their space for other events – to promote their businesses.

Sales at Sensual Steps, a shoe store at 4518 S. Cottage Grove, are down 20 percent this year, said owner Nicole Jones, former NCP director at Greater Auburn Gresham Development Corp.

“Business was a little tough and it took a strong effort to sell,” she said, “but I’m not waiting for foot traffic.” She’s using Facebook and MySpace pages to promote her store.

“It allows products and services to be seen across the board – not just locally,” she said. “It‘s a way to be proactive, retain business and reach out via the Internet.”

The store, which opened in April 2005, is also the site for special events when Jones rents out the space. “It’s a way to bring in revenues during this economy and partner with other CG43 businesses,” she said.

Jones also offers Heels on Wheels, where she brings her shoes and accessories to customers through private parties. “I’m very hopeful that everything will work out,” she said. “It’s not easy right now. Customer service is everything to me.”

Margo Strotter and Ed Singleton, owners of Ain’t She Sweet Café at 4532 S. Cottage Grove Ave., said business earlier in the year was “decent, but it could be better.” Like Jones, Strotter also rents out the café for meetings and workshops during off hours.

Toughing it out
And so it goes for businesses throughout the neighborhood; for Chris Brack and Milton Latrell, owners of Agriculture, an upscale men’s clothing, shoe and accessories store at 532 E. 43rd St.; for Trez Pugh and Richard Chalmers, of the Bronzeville Coffee and Tea, 528 E. 43rd St., who recently opened a second store, Regents Cup, at Regent Park at 5020-5050 S. Lake Park Ave.; for Adama Ba and his brother, Djibi Ba, who opened Goree Shop five years ago at 1122 E. 47th St., selling authentic African clothing, jewelry and accessories; for Tim Schau’s Zaleski & Horvath Market Café at 1126 E. 47th St., which he describes as a neighborhood store; for Faye Edwards, owner of Faie African Art at 4317 S. Cottage Grove Ave. They’re all toughing it out.

Bronzeville Coffee and Tea, photo by Juan Francisco Hernandez

Edwards participates with other CG43 members in events to promote the Cottage Grove corridor and rents out gallery space for special events. “This year feels better,” she said. “More people are coming in. Some of the fears about what is happening in the economy have dissipated a little.”

Despite the slow economy, the business climate in the Cottage Grove corridor is looking up, said QCDC’s Johnson-Gabriel. “We try to attract retail to the community. People are interested, despite the downturn. It’s not doom and gloom.”

Johnson-Gabriel acknowledged that the neighborhood isn’t without challenges, particularly considering that for so long there was “so much disinterest in the area. It takes a while to get things done. It’s important for people to see something tangible. The planters, the acorn lighting, the murals and the businesses – there’s an investment in this community,” she said.

And there’s the example of Adolph Parker, whose business started in the hardest of times 75 years ago and is still going strong.

CG43 Business Members:
•    Faie African Art, 4317 S. Cottage Grove Ave. Gallery specializing in quality African art and education.
•    New Age Chicago Furniture, 4238 S. Cottage Grove Ave. Furniture, appliances and electronics.
•    Goree Shop, 1122 E. 47th St. Hand-crafted, authentic African wear for men and women.
•    Agriculture, 532 E. 43rd St. Upscale men’s clothing, shoes and accessories.
•    Sensual Steps, 4518 S. Cottage Grove Ave. Women’s designer shoes, handbags and accessories.
•    Bronzeville Coffee and Tea, 528 E. 43rd St. Community coffeehouse with high quality coffee roasts, teas and pastries.
•    Ain’t She Sweet Café, 4532 S. Cottage Grove Ave. Healthy sandwiches, smoothies and desserts.
•    Zaleski & Horvath Market Café, 1126 E. 47th St. Specialty grocery and café offering sandwiches, coffee and catering.
•    Little Black Pearl Café, 1060 E. 47th St. Art café offering a variety of beverages and pastries.

For an article about retail tours being conducted in Bronzeville, please click here.

Carol Caref, a math teacher at the Chicago Vocational Career Academy on the city’s southeast side, told Chicago Board of Education members that the late-September layoffs forced the school to shut down three of its areas of study.

As a result, 130 juniors and seniors in the sheet metal, radio and TV, and graphic arts majors were uprooted and randomly assigned to other areas of study, she said.

“Your actions necessitated massive, complicated program changes in the school, moving students and teachers from this class to that to fill every available spot, whether or not doing so was in the students’ best interest,” Caref told the board.

Yvonne Nelson, also a teacher at CVCA, said one of her senior students who had been studying graphics was quickly shuffled into the culinary arts program when her teacher was laid off.

It was the second time that student had been moved out of her major in the past three years, Nelson said, and she will now be at a disadvantage when she applies for college scholarships and admission.

Last-minute reorganizations like these are the effect of “20th-day” layoffs, a common yearly occurrence in Chicago Public Schools. As schools’ enrollment numbers fluctuate during the first weeks of the school year, district administrators have 20 days to lay off teachers or move them to other schools with higher numbers.

Such changes can be especially disruptive to students in low-income, predominantly African-American communities like CVCA’s, said Betty Porter, a member of the school’s local school council and mother of three CVCA graduates.

“You see everything these kids are up against,” said Porter, referring to the frequent reports of violence among CPS students. “When something like this happens, these children get the feeling that ‘ain’t nobody out there that cares about me.’”

But Ron Huberman, CEO of Chicago Public Schools, said little can be done to fix the problem. With CPS facing a massive $700 million deficit next year, the district cannot afford to keep teachers with small classrooms on the payroll, he said.

“I think I can speak for everyone in this room saying we would love to not cut positions at all on the 20th day,” Huberman told people gathered for the public participation portion of the board meeting. “But what is two or three positions across 600 (CPS) schools becomes a very big number in totality.”

Huberman said the district is working to make these staffing changes earlier in the school year in order to minimize disruption to students. This year, he said, last-minute hires in schools with increased enrollment were made by the fifth day of school, instead of the 20th.

Chicago Teachers Union President Marilyn Stewart said the 20th-day layoffs are a problem across the district, but it is “mainly in the schools in high-need areas, where you want stability, where (CPS) create(s) the most instability.”

He made that clear last week to the Chicago Board of Education as he spoke about Derrion, a 16-year-old honor roll student fatally beaten Sept. 24 on his way home from Fenger Academy High School, 11220 S. Wallace St.

A moment of silence was held at the board’s Oct. 28 meeting in honor of Derrion, one of eight Chicago Public Schools students killed since school started a little more than seven weeks ago.

“We must unite for a common cause to stop violence in this city,” said Walker.

Parents and staffers at Fenger agree, and that’s why they’re seeking to raise $100,000 to start a mentoring and life training program — possibly integrated into the South Side school’s curriculum — for the 1,300 students and their parents.

“The program’s critical, we have to start working together,” said Walker. “What can you lose if you implement a program into a school? You have winners coming out.”

To raise funds, Fenger’s acting Local School Council chairman, Curtis Brown, is seeking help from local Fortune 500 companies. He’s targeting 500 to 1,000 investors, “but one corporation could adopt Fenger,” he said. “We need private help, we don’t want people to just be here for the moment,” said Brown, whose son Darvezz Person is a junior at the school. “This should be something ongoing.”

Since Derrion was killed, Loyola University has offered mentoring and the Chicago Sky offered basketball camp for female students attending Fenger. But Brown is also hoping positive role models like Oprah or Michael Jordan, whose ex-wife Juanita attended Fenger, might visit.

“It would definitely motivate the majority of the students to see somebody of that stature paying attention to them,” said Brown, who is also the school’s basketball coach. “I believe it would speak volumes to their confidence. Kids need to see another side, other than violence and gang crime.

“Those kids are just thirsty little animals, just waiting for somebody to come in and tell them something positive,” said Brown. “It’s sad, because it’s a whole generation lost because they don’t feel they have mentors and anybody affecting them in a positive way.”

Generally, a credible community-based effort to provide mentoring for youth is a positive step, said Frank Shuftan, a spokesman for the Chicago Public Schools. According to the National Mentoring Partnership, students who meet regularly with a mentor are 52 percent less likely to skip a day of school and 46 percent less likely to start using illegal drugs.

There are more than 170 tutoring and/or mentoring programs in Chicago, said Dan Bassill, president of Cabrini Connections Tutor/Mentor Connection, a Cabrini-Green-based mentoring program.

Yet Bassill said there is little solid information on long-term outcomes because too few programs have maintained long-term connections with enough kids.

“The best thing a mentoring program can do,” said Bassill, “is add an extra layer of caring adults, surrogate relatives and community members to the lives of kids who have too few people who can model the wide range of jobs/careers available and who will provide on-going support.”

Also at last week’s Chicago Board of Education meeting, several people demanded a moratorium on Renaissance 2010, whose goal is to increase high-quality educational options across Chicago by creating 100 new schools and closing poorly performing ones. Parents said since Carver High became a military school as part of Renaissance 2010 and its students were relocated to Fenger, violence has increased.

“We see kids grieving all the time,” said Brown. “You can tell when you talk to our kids that something is happening, and us as adults and parents have to help them. That’s where mentoring would come in.”

Former Fenger student and volunteer Clotel Cameron — who runs the school’s Total You program through her nonprofit, Teach Them How — said she’d like to see students taken to places such as City Hall, The Oprah Show, Trump Tower, and even the penitentiary, “So they can see where they don’t want to go.”

“They need somebody to care,” said Cameron.

A group of local ministers demanded attention at city hall this week in an attempt to gain aldermanic support in their quest to set fair worker standards. Meanwhile, Ald. Howard Brookins (21st) continued to fight for Wal-Mart to finally set stake in his ward.

Brookins said Mayor Richard M. Daley has made it clear he will not support the development without approval from the city council.

About a dozen ministers set forth principles and standards they want met before aldermen allow any large retailer, specifically Wal-Mart, to set up shop. The coalition is requesting higher living wages and affordable and comprehensive healthcare, along with hiring and promoting from within the local community.

“We want to make sure our people are taken care of. We are not stopping. We are still in the battlefield trying to make sure that this isn’t being done in backrooms or through backdoors,” said Rev. Booker Vance, president of the Southsiders Organizing for Unity and Liberation (SOUL).

Vance said the next step for his organization is to seek support from local aldermen to make sure the project cannot be pushed through without standards in place.

Brookins said he supports the addition of a Wal-Mart to his ward, and during his four years of fighting for the development, he said his community has lost out on financial opportunities.

“The city has missed out on millions of dollars of tax revenue; people have missed out on hundreds of jobs,” Brookins said. “We need jobs now in the African-American communities where we are looking at a 20 percent unemployment rate. We are in desperate straits.”

Brookins said Wal-Mart should not be held to different standards than other retail companies.

“Retail has always paid low wages. They make it seem as if Wal-Mart created low paying jobs,” Brookins said.

Ald. Joe Moore (49th) said he will not support the addition of a Wal-Mart and said it’s a mistake to seek jobs without making sure workers have fair wages and healthcare benefits.

“It’s a guarantee to spiral into a race to the bottom. You need to have standards and you need to have decent wages, so that people can support their family and spend in a local economy,” Moore said.

Ald. Freddrenna M. Lyle (6th) is opposed to the Wal-Mart development and said the location will directly affect her ward by negatively impacting small businesses.

“Small businesses are the ones that support the little leagues and the PTA. I’m against anything that endangers the small businesses in my community and Wal-Mart does that,” Lyle said.

Brookins said he hopes the Wal-Mart development could break ground as soon as October.

Both Lyle and Moore said they don’t believe Brookins has the number of votes needed to bring the deal before the city council anytime soon.

“It would certainly be a battle and I don’t think anyone really has the stomach for such a battle at this time,” said Moore.

Clark attributes the flare-up to the trees and shrubs being dug up at the Michael Reese Hospital site, which is near his apartment. He said he and other residents are experiencing, “deep concern and dismay,” regarding the imminent demolition of more than two dozen buildings on the South Side site because as far as the environmental impact of the 2016 Olympic Village, “nothing is clear” about the project.

Clark said already the air is different, just from the greenery being yanked.

“I already feel the effects. There’s clearly dust if nothing else,” said Clark. “I’m very upset and distressed. If I’m feeling like this now and they haven’t even started.”

The 37-acre site could be the Olympic Village, if Chicago gets the 2016 games nod Oct. 2. As of Aug. 27, no demolition permits had been applied for by either contractor, Heneghan Wrecking Co. or Brandenburg Industrial Service Co., said Bill McCaffrey, spokesman for the city’s Department of Buildings.

With three schools and two residential apartment complexes so close, Clark’s concerns are valid, said Brian Urbaszewski, director of environmental programs at the Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago.

“Parents would have a reason to be concerned and all strategies should be employed to minimize dust from that project,” said Urbaszewski. “And asbestos is dangerous and leaves a ticking time bomb if you spread that stuff all over the place.”

Although Clark is white, according to the 2000 U.S. Census, 75 percent of residents over 18 in the 4th Ward—which houses Bronzeville— are African-American. Dust and respiratory irritants can trigger asthma attacks and African-Americans have higher risk factors, Urbaszewski said.

Additionally, according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America’s Web site, blacks are three times more likely to be hospitalized from asthma and to die from asthma.  African-American women, the site says, have the highest asthma mortality rate of all groups.

In the late 1990s, the Center for Neighborhood Technology conducted a study that theorized demolition from numerous CHA buildings caused higher than average rates of asthma/respiratory illnesses in Bronzeville. The latest demolition could be “hazardous to human health,” and a health plan needs to be developed, said Dave Chandler, principal business analyst with the center.

“It’s a legitimate concern with school kids breathing in the air for the duration of the demolition,” said Chandler.

Prairie Shores resident James Carpenter, who is black, said he would like to know more about the possible hazards involved.  He said he hadn’t been notified about anything regarding the demolition.

“If there is something that would affect my health without me knowing, I’d be upset and very concerned because I have a wife and three children,” said Carpenter.

Yet not everyone is worried. Luciana Jenkins wasn’t when she picked up her two-year-old son from day care at Lake Meadows apartments nearby.

“I think the air is just as polluted without the demolition,” said Jenkins.

Ald. Toni Preckwinkle (4th) said clean-up of interior asbestos/lead could start in September or October, with demolition in October. The contractors, she said, understand they’re in the middle of a residential neighborhood and special precautions are needed.

“They have to be very careful in this demolition,” said Preckwinkle.

But Clark said the alderman has not been responsive about this issue, and that residents have received, “inadequate information.”

By Jeffrey Biertzer

July 15, 2009 – Real estate developers will present changes to a Bronzeville redevelopment project at a July 15 meeting of the Chicago Plan Commission.

Metropolis 39th and State LLC wants to turn a vacant lot at 39th and State into a community shopping center.

The original plan for housing and retail development was modified because of a slow economy, said Matt Braun, an analyst for Capri Capital Partners LLC.  Braun added the new community shopping center would cost less than the original plan but declined to comment by how much.

“We wanted to make sure we saw this through. We made necessary adjustments to the plan to make this a viable option,” said Braun in reference to the project’s downsizing.

The Metropolis, located along Pershing Road between State and Federal streets and blocks away from the Dan Ryan Expressway, plans to develop retail and grocery store space in eight separate buildings.

So far, the only retailer to commit is Roundy’s, a Wisconsin-based chain of grocery stores. The 60,000 square-foot, full-service supermarket is scheduled to open in fall 2010.

“It’s a great retailer for this neighborhood,” said Bronzeville Community Club House President John A. Cook. “(Roundy’s) would be successful because there is no other retailer here. There’s nothing but upside in this community.”

“When a private sector company makes an investment like (Roundy’s), it helps attract other investors and retailers to the (community),” said Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd).

Bronzeville currently has few retailers and no grocery stores in the neighborhood.

“We have limited shopping options,” said Ald. Dowell. “We are in desperate need for a full-scale store to provide basic staples without leaving the community.”

The shopping center will bring money and jobs to a community where 38 percent of households were below the poverty level in 2000, according to the U.S. Census.

Quad Communities Development Corp. spokeswoman Lynn Kardasz said besides creating jobs and keeping money in the community, local retailers are better for the environment, increase home value and build a stronger community.

“It’s a very holistic approach to how we can get things done,” said Kardasz.

“(Redevelopment) creates a safer and denser environment where folks do not have to travel so far to get what they need,” said Kardasz. “As the community grows, they will know their neighbors better and create a better quality of life all the way around.”

In 2006, the population of the 39th and State Streets area was close to 220,000 residents, a 2.1 percent decline since 2000, according to national real estate researcher CB Richard Ellis Group, Inc.

“There is a lot of opportunity for the community to grow,” said Cook. “I think that will happen with proper placement of retailers.”

Metropolis 39th and State LLC wants to turn a vacant lot at 39th and State into a community shopping center.

The original plan for housing and retail development was modified because of a slow economy, said Matt Braun, an analyst for Capri Capital Partners LLC.  Braun added the new community shopping center would cost less than the original plan but declined to comment by how much.

“We wanted to make sure we saw this through. We made necessary adjustments to the plan to make this a viable option,” said Braun in reference to the project’s downsizing.

The Metropolis, located along Pershing Road between State and Federal streets and blocks away from the Dan Ryan Expressway, plans to develop retail and grocery store space in eight separate buildings.

So far, the only retailer to commit is Roundy’s, a Wisconsin-based chain of grocery stores. The 60,000 square-foot, full-service supermarket is scheduled to open in fall 2010.

“It’s a great retailer for this neighborhood,” said Bronzeville Community Club House President John A. Cook. “(Roundy’s) would be successful because there is no other retailer here. There’s nothing but upside in this community.”

“When a private sector company makes an investment like (Roundy’s), it helps attract other investors and retailers to the (community),” said Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd).

Bronzeville currently has few retailers and no grocery stores in the neighborhood.

“We have limited shopping options,” said Ald. Dowell. “We are in desperate need for a full-scale store to provide basic staples without leaving the community.”

The shopping center will bring money and jobs to a community where 38 percent of households were below the poverty level in 2000, according to the U.S. Census.

Quad Communities Development Corp. spokeswoman Lynn Kardasz said besides creating jobs and keeping money in the community, local retailers are better for the environment, increase home value and build a stronger community.

“It’s a very holistic approach to how we can get things done,” said Kardasz.

“(Redevelopment) creates a safer and denser environment where folks do not have to travel so far to get what they need,” said Kardasz. “As the community grows, they will know their neighbors better and create a better quality of life all the way around.”

In 2006, the population of the 39th and State Streets area was close to 220,000 residents, a 2.1 percent decline since 2000, according to national real estate researcher CB Richard Ellis Group, Inc.

“There is a lot of opportunity for the community to grow,” said Cook. “I think that will happen with proper placement of retailers.”

Business leaders offer CSA opportuntities on Chicago’s South Side from Jennifer T. Lacey on Vimeo.

June 18, 2009 – Englewood residents and food justice activists will celebrate “the death of a food desert” when a new food market featuring local and organic produce opens for a community dinner and fundraiser Friday.

Graffiti and Grub, a project of urban farm pioneer LaDonna Redmond and “hip-hop educator” Wil Seegars, will open on June 19 for a healthy soul food dinner and a program of performances to celebrate Juneteenth. They’re raising funds to complete renovations of the store, with a full-scale opening planned for later this summer.

The store has been ten years in the making for Redmond. In 1999, after her son was diagnosed with severe food allergies and she couldn’t find organic produce in her own neighborhood, she and her husband Tracey began their own food garden.

A former organizer with the North Austin Coalition and co-director of Sisterhouse, Redmond took up the issue of access to healthy food more broadly, developing urban farm sites and a farmers market on the West Side, and operating Organico, an organic market at the Garfield Park Conservatory, for three seasons.

Today six farm sites in Austin and West Garfield are part of her legacy, along with a program in which 175 teens will be learning about green technology and installing urban farm sites and individual home gardens this summer. But her longterm goal was always to open a year-round grocery store.

Graffiti and Grub is “a community-based solution to the issue of food deserts,” she said. “Just bringing in an outside major chain grocery store isn’t enough” to address broader issues of health disparities for African Americans. “In addition to choices, people need a support system,” and Redmond describes the store as a “wellness center” providing information and education on food and health issues.

“There really does need to be local ownership in order to get businesses that are responsive to the community,” she said.

Seegars’ role is to foster creativity and entreprenuership among young people.

Local chefs are preparing meals — with and without meat, and vegan as well — and d.j.s and entertainers will be performing late into the night at Graffiti and Grub’s Juneteenth Celebration, Friday, June 19, starting at 5 p.m. at 5923 S. Wentworth.