New Communities Program News and Articles

Clinicians, health organizers challenge feds

Mon, 9 Nov 2009 14:00:15 CST

[Articles]

Community-level wellness programs fueled by public-health research and organizing bring great benefits to low- to moderate-income communities like Humboldt Park. But federal reform efforts are likely to produce limited gains, according to panelists who appeared Oct. 23 at a daylong forum at Association House, sponsored by the Greater Humboldt Park Community of Wellness.

“What’s in the [federal] bills is not comprehensive, and it doesn’t address communities,” said Dr. Jose E. Lopez, executive director of the Puerto Rican Cultural Center, who closed the event with a high-voltage speech that roused the several hundred health workers and activists in attendance. “We as a community can come together to address asthma, diabetes, I don’t care what it is.”

The symposium on Oct. 23 at Association House sparked spirited discussion and debate.

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Lopez referred to a much-discussed, groundbreaking 2004 study of health disparities by the Sinai Urban Health Institute in Chicago.

“You have to be able to harness resources. That’s what the Community of Wellness does,” he said. “For the issues addressed by the Sinai study, we’ve brought together $10 million [in grant money]. That’s an amazing feat for a poor community.”

During a panel discussion on the competing federal health care proposals, Juana Ballesteros, executive director of the Community of Wellness, said she tuned out of the debate months ago. “I saw no role for what I considered primary prevention. I saw no role for communities and those of us who worked in them,” she said. “There needs to be a role for a wellness approach.”

Dr. Lee Francis, president and CEO of Erie Family Health Center, referred to the likely outcome of federal reform as a “half-baked pie” and said those working at the community level will have to work creatively to gain eligibility for their clients.

The event detailed problems found in a 2004 Sinai Urban Health Institute study and the grants applied for and received since then to address those problems.

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For example, the 12 million or so “unauthorized” residents of the U.S. will not be eligible for federal subsidies and might not be eligible to buy into any government-subsidized plan, depending on which version of the bill passes, Francis said. “Immigration policy has become part of the health care debate,” he said. “That is not the right track for us to go on.”

In addition, many others will be left out through a “donut hole” of moderate-income people who can’t afford health care and won’t receive enough subsidy, Francis said. “Who would be covered? Probably not everyone. That’s the big tragedy,” he said. “Does this get us part of the way there? Yes. It is good? I don’t know yet.”

Dr. Anne Scheetz, a private physician who makes house calls to frail, elderly people who can’t leave home, gave a passionate endorsement of a single-payer plan, similar to Canada’s, which is not being seriously considered in the U.S.

Speakers and audience members alike urged federal health care reformers to take into account community-level and primary preventative providers.

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“Now, you get health care according to what you can afford. If you can’t afford it, you don’t get it, or you go bankrupt,” said Scheetz, a member of Physicians for a National Health Program and Chicago co-chair of the Illinois Single Payer Coalition. “Health care as a human right makes it cheaper” without the huge administrative costs involved in multiple insurance companies determining eligibility case by case. “Everybody in; nobody out. One nation; one health plan.”

One audience member responding to the federal panel urged those in attendance to try to get community voices heard on Capitol Hill. “We have a great national model here,” the attendee said. “We should reshape the national agenda to talk about wellness communities. Creating communities of wellness is something we could disseminate throughout the nation.”

Dr. Molly Martin of Rush University cited the community health care worker movement, which has taken hold more quickly abroad than in the U.S., in which services are taken out of clinical settings and into neighborhoods. “In our current system, there is no motivation for prevention,” she said.

State and community level
Two state legislators, Sen. Willie Delgado and Rep. Cynthia Soto, talked about what they and their colleagues in Springfield have done to address community health care.

Two state legislators addressed the crowd about health-care initiatives in Springfield.

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Delgado spoke of the importance of codifying reforms in statutes rather than relying on one administration’s policies, which can be changed by the next one.

“The Puerto Rican Cultural Centers and the Vida/SIDAs of the world need to come together and say, ‘We need to shape existing policy,’ ” he said, the latter referring to a health clinic that treats HIV/AIDS patients. “I challenge you to be involved with our existing networks. When we talk about diabetes, when we talk about asthma, historically, in our communities we have to talk about working together.”

Chairman of the state senate’s public health committee, Delgado said he and his colleagues have worked issue by issue to address challenges ranging from access to mammograms, to adequate detoxification treatment for the scourge of heroin addiction. “This is like a pizza,” he said. “If you try to eat it all at once, it’s going to be very difficult. We have to take it slice by slice.”

Break-out sessions addressed a variety of health-related challenges -- and solutions.

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Soto detailed initiatives that included expanding access to community dental clinics, treatment for veterans and others with brain injuries, and services for children with autism and other special education needs. “If you have any ideas, please reach out to me,” she asked those in attendance.

Dr. Steven Whitman, director of Sinai Urban Health Institute, reminded attendees of some of the stark realities uncovered by his agency’s five-year-old study – and summarized a few of the major grants that have flowed into the community since then.

Life expectancy in Humboldt Park is among the lowest in the city, at 71.5 years, nearly three years below the average, while smoking rates are double the U.S. average, diabetes rates for those of Puerto Rican descent triple the citywide averages, and one-third of Puerto Rican children have asthma, Whitman said.

Challenges addressed
Such challenges have been addressed through programs like the “Helping Her Live,” breast cancer awareness and education program, which has brought $2 million over three years; a $500,000 grant over five years for the Co-Op Humboldt Park anti-obesity program; and another $275,000 for the La C.U.R.A. program to address pediatric asthma.

Several hundred clinicians and activists attended the event.

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“These dollar amounts are numbers that are coming to Humboldt Park,” Whitman said. “This collaboration is built on the suffering of the community and the strength of the community. It’s your ability to be organized through the Community of Wellness.”v“This community did not just lay back and say, ‘We’re sick. We have high rates of asthma and diabetes.’ We took action,” Ballesteros said. “We work with public health researchers who see us as partners, not just subjects.”

Community partnerships are key for medical institutions, said Martin, who detailed a $600,000, two-year grant from the National Institutes for Health to address asthma in schools. Rush’s partners include the Greater Humboldt Park Community of Wellness, Puerto Rican Cultural Center and Near Northwest Neighborhood Network.

The resulting study will include 50 elementary school and 50 high school students who have uncontrolled asthma, half of whom will receive home visits and half mailed information, and all of whom will get home inspections. “We don’t do things without their approval,” Martin said of Rush’s partners in the effort. “There is no way I can recruit 100 Puerto Rican kids to be part of a study. They can.”

Chicago Rising

Thu, 5 Nov 2009 00:37:37 CST

[Articles]

President Barack Obama’s urban policy team is looking to Chicago, and especially to the tools and tactics of NCP, as they craft a new, “bottoms up” federal approach to neighborhood revitalization.

So declared Adolfo Carrión, Jr., director of the new White House Office of Urban Affairs, in his keynote speech to NCP’s annual assembly held Oct. 29 at the Fairmont Hotel.

Andrew Mooney of LISC/Chicago (from left) and Julia Stasch of the MacArthur Foundation welcomed Adolfo Carrion of the newly created White House Office of Urban Affairs.

Photo: Eric Young Smith

"At the street level, people have been coming up with smart, innovative solutions,” Carrión told the 500 neighborhood leaders, activists and volunteers gathered for “Chicago Rising: What a Community Can Be.”

"You’ve been doing it here in Chicago,” he said. “We want to follow your lead.” (To see a video of Carrion's speech, please click here.)

Carrión is no stranger to the NCP’s grassroots approach. As Bishop Arthur Brazier explained in his introduction of Carrión, the former president of New York’s Bronx borough worked closely with the Comprehensive Community Revitalization Program (CCRP), a LISC-supported effort credited by many with sparking that community’s remarkable turnaround during the 1990s.

A rave-up roll call
But before he talked about the success of grassroots programs there and here, a smiling Carrión confessed he was “taken back” by the raw, bordering on raucous, enthusiasm displayed by NCP’s local delegations during the roll call of neighborhoods before his speech.

“At the street level, people have been coming up with smart, innovative solutions,” Carrión told the 500 neighborhood leaders, activists and volunteers. “You’ve been doing it here in Chicago. We want to follow your lead.”

Photo: Eric Young Smith

One at a time, as each neighborhood was asked to report, delegations jumped up from their luncheon tables and cut loose. They hooted. They hollered. They blew whistles and pounded on an assortment of drums.

NCP lead agency Greater Southwest Community Development Corp. unfurled its room-sized banner still bearing the signatures of all who committed to that neighborhood’s quality-of-life plan.

Perhaps inspired by all the neighborhood pride, emcee Earnest Gates, executive director of NCP lead agency the Near West Side Community Development Corp., declared he had proof that -- contrary to the claims of others -- President Obama actually was born on the West Side.

“I’ve spoken in many settings. But Reverend Mooney,” Carrión began his keynote, nodding at LISC/Chicago’s executive director, “I have never been to a church like this … or even a rally like this.”

Carlos Nelson, executive director of Greater Auburn Gresham Development Corp., listens to Susan Yanun, NCP director at Logan Square Neighborhood Association.

Photo: Eric Young Smith
Hard times, harder issues
Once the opening bravado subsided, however, NCP leaders focused intently on the issues facing their communities, first as outlined by speakers at the opening plenary, and later as participants in a series of small-group Recovery Roundtables, where they shared ideas on how to keep pushing forward against the headwinds of today’s Great Recession.

“I don’t need to remind you of the litany of our distress—foreclosures, unemployment, violence,” host Andrew Mooney sympathized before the Roundtables began. “You are the leaders. You have taken responsibility for your communities. Because of you, Chicago will rise, and the NCP platform will be one of its foundations.”

Mooney and Gates also made a special presentation—a pair of bright red boxing gloves—to Julia Stasch, the MacArthur Foundation’s vice president for Human and Community Development. They hailed her “unbending” support of NCP, now in its eighth year of MacArthur’s 10-year financial commitment.

Speakers at the Chicago Rising event included Michael Johnson, principal of Reavis Elementary; and Juana Ballesteros, executive director of the Greater Humboldt Park Community of Wellness.

Photo: Eric Young Smith

“It is the urban neighborhood that shapes the quality of life for most people in this country,” Stasch said in accepting her fighter’s trophy. “It’s a new day for the relationship between neighborhoods and the federal government, and the New Communities Program is the platform, the model, for that relationship.”

Other luncheon speakers included Livia Villarreal, director of the Southwest REACH Center, where in just three years more than 1,000 families have received anti-foreclosure counseling along with help in seeking jobs and applying for public benefits.

She urged Carrión, when he returns to Washington, to get the president and his White House staff to “face west on a clear day, and tell them that the warm red glow on the horizon is Chicago rising.”

She was followed by Michael Johnson, principal of Reavis Elementary School, who has been working with NCP lead agency Quad Communities Development Corp. (QCDC) on its version of the LISC/Chicago-supported Elev8 academic enrichment program.

Will Towns of The Community Builders makes a point as others listen during a roundtable discussion.

Photo: Eric Young Smith

“Our children are not only learning but thriving,” said Johnson, who closed by reminding Carrión that Reavis is located just three blocks from the president’s Kenwood home.

Other featured speakers included Carlos Nelson, executive director of NCP lead agency the Greater Auburn-Gresham Development Corp.; and Juana Ballesteros, executive director of the Greater Humboldt Park Community of Wellness.

Besides conducting the animated neighborhood roll call, the pair, with apologies to author Charles Dickens, recited a “best of times, worst of times” list of challenges and opportunities “here in the Land of Obama.”

Notes of the Roundtable
It was at the afternoon Recovery Roundtables, however, that the local leaders and volunteers got down to serious details. At a table focused on getting deals done in a brutal real estate market, QCDC Executive Director Bernita Johnson-Gabriel talked about how her agency had switched a planned project from condominiums to rentals and suggested that similar flexibility could help others find solutions.

“There was no way anybody was going to build more condos,” she said of a change recently made to keep alive their Shops on 47 mixed-use development on Cottage Grove Avenue. “You have to think outside the box. You have to bring together people who have never met.”

“If we bond together as one, we can take the streets back.” was the way James Riddle of Bethel New Life described anti-violence efforts in and around Garfield Park.

Developer David Baum speaks during a workshop session.

Photo: Eric Young Smith

Two major themes emerged from the Violence Prevention roundtable: the power of collaboration, and the need to develop career paths for ex-offenders.

At the table on Education and Youth Development, Luis Bermudez, director of the Elev8 program at Orozco Academy in Pilsen, connected the personal with the professional. “My mother was only asked to come to my school when there was some sort of trouble,” he said. “It's about changing that culture.”

And in a discussion about Youth Sports, Adolfo Hernandez, advocacy director for the Active Transportation Alliance noted: “It’s not just a game. It’s about developing future leaders, future organizers who are going to be in a room like this. It’s about more than just throwing a ball into a hoop.”

David Baum, whose Baum Realty Group is transforming an old lamp factory in Logan Square into a Green Exchange for entrepreneurs, told the Green & Sustainable roundtable that one key is convincing local residents of the health, economic and environmental benefits of going green.

For example, buying produce from an urban garden supports local jobs, reduces carbon usage and sustains a project that contributes to neighborhood health. “The more people who understand the benefits of that whole cycle,” said Baum, “the more demand there will be.”

LISC/Chicago's Joel Bookman hands the mic to Adolfo Hernandez of the Active Transportation Alliance during a workshop at "Chicago Rising."

Photo: Eric Young Smith

Baum’s point echoed a theme of Carrión’s earlier keynote—that NCP points the way to a “paradigm shift from a consumption model to a production model.”

Rather than beg a supermarket chain to come into a neighborhood and extract its disposable income, Carrión said, smart neighborhoods ask developers, “Where’s the community partner that can build the store, the [local] manager that can manage the store, the [local] suppliers that can supply the store.”

Heroes recognized
Following the Roundtables, NCP’s local leaders and volunteers returned to the Fairmont ballroom for a ceremony honoring “Community Heroes” selected by each of NCP’s 16 neighborhoods. A complete listing of the Heroes and a description of their heroic service can be found in this booklet and program for the ceremony.

“They have planted the seeds in our communities to make them the very best they can be,” said Gates of Near West CDC. Commissioner Chris Raguso of the city’s Department of Community Development then saluted the Heroes on behalf of Mayor Daley.

The day ended with a ceremony to honor "Community Heroes" from each of NCP's 16 neighborhoods.

Photo: Eric Young Smith

A reception followed for the Heroes and their friends and families. Then on Oct. 30, Carrión and Mooney toured two NCP neighborhoods to observe first hand what is being accomplished. Carrión met with NCP leaders at Perspectives/Calumet Charter School in Auburn Gresham (click here for an account of that), and then had a discussion with Humboldt Park leaders at La Estancia, a Bickerdike development on Division Street.

“You’ve been holding us together with local solutions, without much help from Washington,” Carrión said. “At the end of the day, when all is said and done, we ought to be investing in smart plans--plans driven by the communities all across this country.”

Elizabeth Duffrin, Ed Finkel, Maureen Kelleher and Carl Vogel contributed to this report.

Plaza gets new face, residents get new space

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:56:51 CST

[Articles]

Streetlights shined on the benches and browning trees lining Little Village’s Manuel Perez, Jr. Memorial Plaza in early October – a space made a little brighter with the unveiling of two murals and a mosaic created by students as part of Enlace Chicago’s Community Schools Program.

The artwork at 26^th and Kolin, which includes depictions of Latin American heroes such as Cesar Chavez, recently appointed Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, and war hero Manuel Perez, Jr. is a significant shot in the arm for the plaza, the only public space along Little Village’s busy 26^th Street.

The student-muralists from Little Village-Lawndale High School filled out formal written applications for their positions.

Photo: Cristobal Martinez

Other depictions include Our Lady of Guadalupe and a priest, and images of families hugging -- all signifying family, faith, and the neighborhood’s proud Latino culture.

For years, the plaza had been a magnet for homeless people, drug dealers and gangbangers who discouraged residents from enjoying the space. Ditto for the neighborhood’s other public spaces, including Piotrowski and Douglas parks.

Enlace Chicago, NCP lead agency in Little Village, finally said: “Enough!” Instead of tolerating a community eyesore, said Christina Bronsing, NCP’s interim program director, Enlace decided to transform it into a community resource.

“We targeted the plaza as one of our early action projects,” said Bronsing. “We felt the area needed to be more inviting. Our hope is that everyone uses the open space for good and not for what it has been known for in the past.” (To see an album of photos of the mural, the plaza and the unveiling ceremony taken by Bronsing, please click here.)

The plaza is named for Private First Class Manuel Perez Jr., who fought for the 511^th Parachute Infantry during World War II and received the Congressional Medal of Honor for defeating 18 Japanese enemies during an engagement in the Philippines. A unique mosaic covers the base of the stage where the memorial to Perez is located.

Consisting of small, vibrantly colored tiles, positive messages – “Inspiration, Wisdom, Familia, Esperanza” in both English and Spanish – are laid out on rectangular concrete slabs. The phrase, “Si Se Puede” stands out even as the sky becomes dark.

To create the murals and mosaics, Enlace Chicago enlisted students from Little Village Lawndale High School. Each student completed a formal application, and those who were chosen received a stipend for their work.

“We wanted the students to treat the art project like a real job,” says Paulina Camacho, resource coordinator for Enlace Chicago at the high school. “Having them fill out an application and going through an interview process will certainly sharpen their life skills.”

The mural depicts Latin American heroes such as Cesar Chavez, recently appointed Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, and war hero Manuel Perez, Jr.

Photo: Cristobal Martinez

When the idea of adding art to the plaza came up, some American Legion Post veterans grumbled. They were concerned that the memorial’s significance might be overshadowed.

Lead artists Pablo Serrano and Rahmaan “Statik” Barnes were sympathetic to the veterans’ concerns. So, with the students, they reached out to the community for advice. Many residents voiced concern for keeping the plaza safe and clean, but also suggested adding some type of art to the space for beautification.

“Surveying the neighborhood was key to what this art project was going to look like.” said Barnes. “We received suggestions from local businesses, nearby residents, veterans and even the students involved; essentially they designed the mural and we created what they wanted!”

The students added to their art skills while boosting civic pride. “The mural was fairly easy to create because I love to paint, but I had no clue that we could create art with cement,” said Reyna Mijangos, a senior at Little Village Lawndale High School. “I think the stage stands out a bit more than it used to now that we added some creativity to the plaza.”

The project took an entire summer to complete, but the goal of creating a more inviting place for families and visitors could be seen even before the unveiling.

“When the students would arrive to set up their workstations, we always started by cleaning up all sorts of garbage around the plaza.” says Camacho. “But as the project progressed, we began seeing less garbage and broken glass on the ground. All of that was replaced with families playing with their children and residents asking questions about our work as they passed by.”

Creating more enjoyable areas for Little Village residents will ultimately give them safer recreational options, said Enlace’s Christina Bronsing. “On any given summer day, you'll find people in vacant lots and alleys playing soccer, football, softball, opening pumps and swimming in the street.” At 26^th and Kolin they now have a more pleasant place to gather.

Fool me once ...

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:03:48 CST

[Articles]

It wasn’t bad enough that Marian Rodriguez’s mother got jammed by one of those slippery adjustable rate mortgages. When she reached out for help, the “friend of a friend” she hired to renegotiate her mortgage proceeded to disappear, along with $3,000 of her hard-earned cash.

Rodriguez shared her mother’s painful lesson recently at the annual Congress of NCP lead agency the Logan Square Neighborhood Association, where she participates in LSNA’s parent-mentor program at Funston School.

Beware of mortgage counselors and debt consolidators who ask for upfront fees. Federally certified counselors offer services for no fee whatsoever.

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“The guy had no business card, no paperwork, nothing,” recounted Rodriguez, adding that her mom later found honest counsel and obtained better terms on her mortgage. That $3,000, however, got chalked up to bitter experience.

“We caught that one too late,” said Marcel Ferrer, LSNA’s family resource coordinator. “But it prompted us to write an article for our newsletter and to strengthen ties with (Illinois Attorney General) Lisa Madigan’s office and with organizations that provide good counseling like NHS (Neighborhood Housing Services) and LUCHA (Latin United Community Housing Assn.)”

The info war
“In a way,” Ferrer said, “what we’ve got here is a war of information. These phony mortgage counselors and debt consolidators are targeting the most vulnerable people—people desperate for help, often the Spanish-speakers. We have to fight back with good information.”

Ferrer and other counselors affiliated with the NCP Foreclosure Response Fund say the single most important message to get across is: Never pay in advance for mortgage modification or other debt relief. Legitimate counselors never ask for payment upfront, and those affiliated with NCP seek no payment at all.

This map full of red dots provides a stark portrayal of the acuity of the foreclosure crisis in Chicago Lawn.

Photo: Courtesy Southwest Organizing Project

But the good guys in the info war are often out-hustled by the sharks as they paper working-class neighborhoods with signs, placards and handbills. They’re also advertising on radio, TV and the Internet, making outlandish promises to “get creditors off your back” and “save your house.”

Direct-mail scammers, moreover, know exactly when and where to strike, targeting their solicitations at families who, according to Circuit Court records, have just been hit with a foreclosure petition. NCP foreclosure prevention specialists report that homeowners who’ve fallen two or three months behind typically receive dozens of odiferous offers within days of when their bank files for foreclosure.

Many don’t realize that, if they have a job, a federally-certified counselor usually can help get their mortgage modified for no fee whatsoever. And even if they don’t qualify for modification, families often can remain in their houses for a year or more just by making the requisite court appearances. Unfortunately, many owners simply panic, which is blood-in-the-water for sharks.

Clever come-ons
“They try to look very official,” said Livia Villarreal, director of counseling services for the Southwest Reach Center, an NCP-backed foreclosure prevention effort affiliated with lead agency Greater Southwest CDC. “They’re very clever. They even claim to be working with President Obama’s Making Homes Affordable mortgage mod program. But they’re not.”

Especially pernicious are scam artists who insist owners sign over the deed or title to their property. “They are out to steal your home and your equity,” warns David McDowell, a senior organizer for key NCP partner the Southwest Organizing Project.

The MacArthur Foundation and LISC-NCP have created a Foreclosure Response Fund that has made initial grants to seven NCP lead agencies.

Photo: Ernest Sanders

As of this summer, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan had filed 28 lawsuits against mortgage rescue fraud schemes, winning judgments in nine cases and almost $2 million in restitution for homeowners. Anyone thinking they’ve been scammed can call the AG’s Homeowner Helpline at 1-866-544-7151.

Homeowners seeking mortgage modification should call Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago at 773-329-4185 for the time and location of the next NHS informational workshop. If your situation warrants, you then can make an appointment with an NHS federally-certified mortgage counselor.

Don’t be fooled twice!

Bronzeville retail tour gets 'em in the door

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 00:46:13 CST

[Articles]

As every retailer knows, you could have the greatest merchandise in the world, but unless you get customers in the door, what’s the point? Last month, an enterprising group in Bronzeville addressed that issue by scheduling retail tours and offering special discounts to interested shoppers.

The outreach was part of Connect 4, the first of what its organizers – the United Bronzeville Businesses (UB²for short) and NCP lead agency Quad Communities Development Corp. (QCDC) – hope will be an annual event to promote community togetherness and local shopping along the Cottage Grove corridor.

Denise Sanders, a South Loop resident, shops at Fort Smith Boutique during a Bronzeville business tour.

Photo: Juan Francisco Hernandez

“People don’t know about the businesses and therefore could not support them,” said Bernita Johnson-Gabriel, QCDC’s executive director, who also conducted the tours. (For an article about how business owners along Cottage Grove Avenue have formed an association to strengthen their collective hand, please click here.)

UB²comprises 10 local businesses that got together three months ago to come up with a strategy for attracting new shoppers. Faye Edwards, the owner of Faié African Art Gallery, 4317 S. Cottage Grove Ave.; and Nicole Jones, owner of Sensual Shoes, 4518 S. Cottage Grove Ave., are co-chairing the organization.

The Gabriela, 4315 S. Cottage Grove Ave., was the pick-up and drop-off site on September 26 for the 15-minute tours conducted by trolley. Residents waiting inside the building watched slide shows of the businesses and QCDC, listened to various community and political leaders discuss community and retail development, and picked up business cards and other information about UB² members.

“The more people who become interested in this area, the better it will be,” said Denise Sanders, a South Loop resident who shopped at Fort Smith Boutique, one of the Bronzeville businesses at 1007 E. 43^rd St. The boutique’s owner, Clifford Fort Smith, said his business, which sells designer clothing, custom-made jewelry, purses and accessories, is the only boutique between 16^th and 53^rd streets to offer such items.

“People who live in the community are not aware of what is down the street from them,” he said. “This opens up what is available, and then the word spreads.” As a member of the UB², Smith said the business association “is not just interested in the growth of their businesses, but also the growth of Bronzeville.”

For an article about the new association of business owners along Cottage Grove Avenue, please click here.

Association strengthens Cottage businesses

Thu, 8 Oct 2009 00:47:55 CST

[Articles]

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.

Sixteen planters and four murals have been added to Cottage Grove Avenue between 43rd and 46th streets.

Photo: Juan Francisco Hernandez

“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.

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).

Nicole Jones, owner of shoe store Sensual Steps at 4518 S. Cottage Grove Ave., says she's "not waiting for foot traffic."

Photo: Juan Francisco Hernandez

“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.

New Age Chicago Furniture Co. at 4238 S. Cottage Grove Ave. has been in the same family for four generations.

Photo: Juan Francisco Hernandez

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.

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.

Loron Kaplan owns New Age Chicago Furniture Company, which has been in his family for four generations.

Photo: Juan Francisco Hernandez

“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, 528 E. 43rd St., recently opened a second store, Regents Cup, at at 5020-5050 S. Lake Park Ave.

Photo: 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.

Washington Park rally decries gun violence

Thu, 1 Oct 2009 00:44:26 CST

[Articles]

The message at the first annual Washington Park Peace Festival and Back-to-School Rally was non-violence and personal responsibility.

The seven-hour event in the K.L.E.O. (Keep Loving Each Other) Community Center parking lot, at 119 E. Garfield Blvd., featured youth activities, live music and entertainment, free food, school supplies, health screenings and goods from area vendors.

The new "Love Mural" in the parking lot of the K.L.E.O. (Keep Loving Each Other) Community Center sent a simple message: Stop the violence!

Photo: Eric Young Smith

Among the highlights of the rally was the unveiling of a “Love Mural” in the community center’s parking lot, and the announcement of a safety committee to develop a Peace Plan to be presented at next year’s festival.

The mural and the peace plan working group were developed under the leadership of NCP lead agency the Washington Park Consortium, in partnership with the K.L.E.O. Center.

“The common cause today is ending gun violence,” said Chicago police officer Ronald Holt to the assembly of neighborhood residents. “It’s not done with one person, or one church. It will get done with everyone around here. Together, we can break the chain of violence. As one, we will move forward to keep our children and schools safe.”

NCP lead agency The Washington Park Consortium worked with the K.L.E.O. Center to develop the mural and "peace plan" that will be unveiled at next year's festival.

Photo: Eric Young Smith

Holt, whose 16-year-old son Blair was killed in 2007 when he jumped into the line of fire to save the life of a teenage girl on a CTA bus, is working with U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) in crafting Blair’s Bill, or HR0045, which would have gun identification numbers go into a federal database.

Ald. Willie Cochran, whose 20^th Ward includes six communities – Woodlawn, Washington Park, Englewood, New City, Park Manor and Back-of- the-Yards – said each community has its own separate issues.

But “all of them face challenges, and all experience violence and disorder,” he said. “What we find as leaders, parents and children in school is frustration. Whether gun violence is the result of lack of jobs or quality education, all communities face this issue.”

Cochran plans to create a safety committee for the 63^rd Street corridor from Halsted Street to Stony Island Avenue covering the high-violence areas traveled by children from Englewood, Washington Park and Woodlawn.

Chicago police officer Ronald Holt, whose son Blair was killed on a CTA bus, addresses the crowd.

Photo: Eric Young Smith

The alderman will be working with government, the private sector and human and social service agencies to give safe haven to the children of these communities.

“Next year we hope to have [the] safety and youth education committee focused on a quality of life which is better than what it is now,” Cochran said.

Serving as the backdrop for the peace festival, the 80-foot-by-20-foot “Love Mural,” created by artists Dwel, Statik, Base and Knew, symbolizes Washington Park’s movement toward peace and serves as a catalyst for other peace projects through the 20^th and 3^rd Wards.

Two weeks ago a young man driving his car was shot and killed across the street from the K.L.E.O Community Center‘s parking lot, said Rev. Torrey L. Barrett Jr. Barrett said his sister Kleo Y. Barrett died in April 2007 as a result of domestic violence, and he started the K.L.E.O. Community Center to promote peace in the community.

Barrett said the mural’s message is no violence in sight of the wall.

“The wall is watching the community,” he said. “This is a safe haven for anyone who comes into the community.”

Auburn-Gresham continues Renaissance; Quad Communities keeps on Groovin'

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 01:00:06 CST

[Articles]

Two South Side NCP communities, Auburn Gresham and Quad Communities, held annual festivals the same weekend in mid-September.

In Quad Communities, several hundred people came out for the Groovin’ & Gospel on the Grove Festival, a two-day event held Sept. 12-13 along the 4400 and 4500 blocks of South Cottage Grove Avenue.

NBA star Dwyane Wade shares a few thoughts during the opening ceremony at the 79th Street Renaissance Festival.

Photo: Aum Mu Ra-El

Meanwhile, on Sept. 12, the fourth annual 79^th Street Renaissance Festival kicked off with Miami Heat sensation Dwayne Wade leading hundreds of youth in a silent march against violence.

“It was very powerful seeing those 300 orange shirts in twos, walking silently,” said Carlos Nelson, executive director of NCP lead agency the Greater Auburn-Gresham Development Corporation (GADC).

When the group gathered at the Renaissance Festival’s main stage, Wade asked how many present knew someone who had been killed. “About 85 percent of the kids raised their hands. It was sickening,” Nelson recalled.

Though the message was somber, the kickoff ended on a hopeful note, recognizing Fr. Michael Pfleger for his decades of work to end violence in the Auburn Gresham community and beyond.

Although the Renaissance Festival’s primary goal is to promote local businesses in the neighborhood, it has evolved over its four-year lifespan to include a number of youth-friendly activities, including a daylong basketball tournament run by In the Paint Basketball.

Three bounce houses kept the younger set jumping. “There was much more to offer the children in terms of activities,” noted Louise Butler of Alpha Learning Center, a daycare and after-school program located at 8422 S. Damen Ave.

Tragil Wade (left), sister of Dwyane and executive director of Wade's World Foundation, speaks during the opening ceremony, during which Fr. Michael Pfleger (center) was honored for his decades of work to end violence in the Auburn Gresham community and beyond.

Photo: Aum Mu Ra-El

Her daughter, Rhonda, the director of the center, said that attending the festival has been a useful marketing tool. “Each year, we have gotten clients,” she said. “It’s a great opportunity for networking as well.”

Plankton Viewing
All ages enjoyed performances by perennial favorites the Jesse White Tumblers and the South Shore Drill Team, and a new favorite, the Shedd Aquarium booth, which featured microscopes for visitors to view different types of plankton eaten by baleen whales, and a sample of the baleen plate the whales use to filter the plankton from the ocean.

“It’s so small,” a male passerby remarked. “How can they eat and get filled up from all that?”

“They eat lots and lots,” explained Mark Hallett of the Shedd, who said the museum’s first appearance at the Renaissance Festival was very successful. “People have had lots of questions and been real enthusiastic. It’s been a great day,” he said.

Raw Footage churns out its blend of hip-hop, rock, funk and R & B during the Groovin' on the Grove festival.

Photo: Courtesy QCDC

This great day was just another step in a budding partnership between the Shedd and GADC, who Nelson said are working together to design neighborhood-based programming.

For starters, the Shedd is offering a free admission pass to anyone who brings a bag of recyclables to the GADC office at 79^th and Racine.

To Nelson, the most important aspect of the festival is that it has evolved into a neighborhood institution. “It has grown its own pulse. This is now a staple of Chicago neighborhood festivals,” he said. “The neighborhood now expects it and looks forward to it. It’s camaraderie. The elders and the youth, the businesses and the residents just come together to join in celebration. Thousands of people expect it.”

Groovin’ & Gospel
The main stage at Groovin' on the Grove featured musical acts that spanned such genres as reggae, funk-rock, R&B, rap, and inspirational, said Yvette Kelly, NCP organizer for lead agency Quad Communities Development Corp.

This threesome, (from left) sisters Bre' shayia and Isabella Kelly and a friend, seemed to enjoy the Groovin' festival -- and one another's company.

Photo: Yvette Kelly

Acts included Tony Backhouse & The New Zealand/Australian Accapella Choir, Candace Marie, TJ Brown, Rocky Year, Phaze 2, Raw Footage, Ace Watkins, Ifficial Reggae Band, Felona, Rollin B, and Joe Jr Kebon Carr and Friends Gospel Inspirational Group.

Vendors sold everything from smoothies to earrings, and children played at the “Giggles & Grunt Kid pavilion,” on an inflatable playground complete with four bounce-houses and a waterslide, she said. Free hot dogs, hamburgers, chips and watermelon slices were hungrily consumed all day.

The City of Chicago Clerk’s Office offered identification cards for children, for use in case they ever get lost, as well as licenses for pets, Kelly said. Pet groomer Paws Chicago Inc. talked to attendees about keeping their animals healthy and getting them spayed or neutered, she said.

On Saturday night, about 70 people stayed after the festival for “Movie in the Park” featuring “The Long Shots,” based on a true story about a little girl in southern Illinois, starring Ice Cube along with Ke Ke Palmer from “Akeelah and the Bee.”

“We served hot buttered popcorn all evening,” Kelly said. “The response was so great that QCDC will feature three movies next year – in July, August and September 2010.”

-- Ed Finkel contributed to this article

Summer jobs get youth employment-ready

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 12:48:56 CST

[Articles]

Most of the year, Michael Harris Jr. is a mild-mannered student at Austin Polytechnical Academy on the West Side. But this summer, Harris was transformed into "Solar Mike" -- thanks to Youth Ready Chicago at the Science Institute at Columbia College.

Harris was one of 20 students, recruited through NCP, who received paid, eight-week internships at the Science Institute through the city's Youth Ready Chicago program.

Michael Harris Jr., a/k/a "Solar Mike"

Photo: Gordon Walek

The program is intended to help people ages 14 to 24 find internships, apprenticeships and jobs in Chicago’s public and private sectors, providing hands-on experience and the chance to learn marketable skills.

At Columbia’s Science Institute, students learned about alternative energy sources and other topics in a program called "Science in Everyday Life." They interviewed people on the street about solar power and posted videos of those interviews – and their own efforts – on YouTube. Which is how Solar Mike was created.

"We didn't want just a boring documentary, with people talking. We decided to have a superhero," Harris said at an August reception honoring the 20 interns. "So I said, "I'll do it!' " His quickly created costume of green garbage bags, goggles, duct tape and solar panels was a hit with his fellow interns, who hooted and clapped as it was shown at the reception.

Students spent 20 hours a week at the Institute. While there, besides studying energy, the interns took a walking architectural tour of the Loop, a double-decker bus tour and a trip to the John Hancock Observatory. They also learned some life skills, such as how to prepare a resume and conduct themselves in a job interview.

Conservation and energy efficiency were key parts of the summer program.

Photo: Gordon Walek

"They gave us a lot of information, almost like job training," said Imani West, a sophomore at Jones College Prep in the South Loop. "This was my first job, so I learned how to act and how to react to people."

West also praised her supervisor, Marcelo Caplan, technology coordinator at the Science Institute, for the way he explained power and energy. "I didn't even know what a circuit was," she said. "Marcelo made it seem so simple, and I always thought it was so complicated."

This is the first year the Science Institute teamed up with Youth Ready Chicago. "For us, it was a learning experience, as well," said Victoria Liu, outreach coordinator for the institute.

Besides the work by the institute and its staff, Liu said, the students also benefited from contributions from the John Hancock Observatory, Adler Planetarium, Chicago Trolley & Double Decker Co., Chicago Architecture Foundation, Grand Lux Cafe, Cheesecake Factory and California Pizza Kitchen. "We had a great time with them," Liu said. "We gave them something to bring back to their communities."

Denise Weekly, a junior at Englewood High School, beside a model skyscraper.

Photo: Gordon Walek

Denise Weekly will bring back a greater awareness of her city. "I learned a lot," said Weekly, 17, a junior at Englewood High School who wants to be a lawyer. She enjoyed learning about Chicago architecture the most.

Before the internship, "I only knew two buildings down here – and one of them was the Water Tower," she said. The job training also was crucial, Weekly said. "They taught us job skills, how to do resumes and how to express ourselves."

Caplan reminded the students that their ties to the institute don't end just because summer is over. He urged them to stay in touch and let the staff know how they're doing. "This relationship will continue until you decide it should stop," Caplan said. "We are here for you."

Zafra Lerman, head of the Science Institute, flew back into town just in time for the students’ reception. She encouraged students to aim high in their education. "Your goal now is to graduate from high school, go to college,” Lerman said. “Our planet is sick. We need lots of new scientists with a new way of thinking. We look to you to become those people."

Angela Hurlock brings affordable green housing to South Chicago

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 13:21:52 CST

[NCP in the news]

She develops affordable green housing in South Chicago. When steel was king, South Chicago thrived. But after years of neglect the area’s almost forgotten, known for its blight if at all. Angela Hurlock is trying to turn things around, with an approach to development that emphasizes family.

(What follows is a transcript of the interview. Click through to http://www.chicagopublicradio.org for the audio and a slide show.)

In Chicago you can learn a lot about someone by asking them where they live – most Chicagoans take a lot of pride in their neighborhoods. Angela Hurlock is walking me through the place she calls home.

HURLOCK: This is my home here. I’m excited because I actually own one of our green homes. And there are about twenty different green features in this home…

Hurlock’s single family home has solar panels and carpets made out of recycled ketchup bottles. It was built by the same organization she heads - Claretian Associates.

She’s just down the block from her office, one in a row of neat wood frame homes new and old. They give a small town feel to the neighborhood, despite the urban setting.

But as we head down the street and east, it’s clear this neighborhood is struggling. There are plenty of boarded up warehouses covered in years of dust and neglect.

HURLOCK: What we see now is a lot of crime, a lot of unemployment, things that come with neighborhoods that have been disinvested in.

Foreclosures and board-ups have hit many areas of the city recently. But they’re not new to South Chicago. This neighborhood was once defined by the steel industry and the immigrants who came here to work and live. When steel died, the jobs went away and people couldn’t afford to stay.

Turning South Chicago back into an affordable place to live is the mission of Claretian. The non-profit has been developing housing in the neighborhood since the early nineties. So far it’s built 120 units, including rental apartments and senior housing, in an area roughly seven by five city blocks. All of the single family homes use green energy sources to cut down costs over time.

HURLOCK: So it’s thinking about what really is affordable for all of our families. It’s not just in the purchase it’s in the upkeep and the usage. And if your utility bill is too high your home is not affordable.

Through its housing projects and related services Hurlock estimates Claretian has brought about $30 million worth of investment into South Chicago. But it isn’t easy. Claretian only builds houses when they have a contract, and even that cautious approach has been hit by the economic downturn. A couple of its houses stand incomplete and vacant, including one right next door to Hurlock’s.

HURLOCK: It’s been on hold since about December because some of the buyers they were going through transition. We had people who lost their jobs so the bank is no longer willing to lend to you if you don’t have a job.

Claretian helps there too. Besides housing, it provides services ranging from after-school programs to jobs for people in the community. Even as landlords its approach is very hands on.

Every year Claretian staff throw a small back-to-school party for the residents of Casa Kirk, a family rental complex it built. There’s chicken grilling on a barbeque, free school supplies and of course, one of those blow-up moon bounces.

Resident Ree’ne Morrison is at the party with one of her daughters. She likes the event, but says the home she found through Claretian means much more.

MORRISON: It was a break, it was a big break.

Before coming to Casa Kirk Morrison lived in shelters with her six children.

MORRISON: It was very rough especially when you know you’re moving from one shelter to another and you don’t have no work, no childcare and you’re by yourself.

Now Ree’ne is working and feels settled in the neighborhood. But she’s already aspiring to something more. Her goal is a Claretian-built house just across the way.

MORRISON: See that house right down the corner alley? That’s MY house. I look at every day out my kitchen. Just to sit in my backyard and have my kids mow my lawn, that’s my house.

Morrison’s dream of a future in the neighborhood matches the vision Hurlock has for her entire community.

HURLOCK: A lot of time people say you know I always wondered when I go over the Skyway what was that down there (laughs) and that’s South Chicago – you know, there’s a lot going on here, a lot of families making life for themselves here in South Chicago.

If those families can stay then Hurlock believes South Chicago will emerge from the shadows of its past, and from beneath the Chicago Skyway looming overhead.

Youth paint school mural, explore selves

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 00:43:42 CST

[Articles]

The West Haven “Phoenix Rising” mural on the back wall of Victor Herbert Elementary School facing Touhy Herbert Park looked faded, chipped, warped and slumped over earlier this summer, but soon it will rise again and look just like new.

That’s because it is new – the mural was repainted on cloth earlier this summer by 15 West Haven high school students, and that cloth will be glued onto the wall in place of the old wooden panels this month. Muralist Damon Lamar Reed, who led the summer project, says this process will be much more durable for the outdoors.

The previous mural is warped and faded, which is what prompted the summer project in the first place.

Photo: Ed Finkel

“After it’s done, it actually looks like it’s part of the wall,” said Reed, speaking during the six-week program he ran in a classroom at Crane High School, with funding from LISC/Chicago and After School Matters, and assistance from NCP lead agency Near West Side Community Development Corp. in recruiting the student-artists.

NCP director Paulette Boyd contacted Reed through the Chicago Public Art Group. “They were questioning, ‘What’s the best way to go about redoing it?’ ” Reed recalled. Students applied online, where they filled out a questionnaire about their experience and interests; they received a stipend for the summer.

Three or four students at a time, assigned different sections of the mural based on their artistic strengths, sprawled on the floor of the classroom amidst their paint palettes while others worked on side projects that Reed assigned. A visitor to the classroom needed to tread carefully to avoid ending up splashed with colors.

Reed interrupted answering questions to direct students at various points: “If you’re not working on the mural, you should be working on your own projects,” he said at one point. Sometimes, his directions were more technical: “Your lights are too light,” or, “Try and make your colors blend together.”

Who Am I?

The 15 students from Crane and surrounding high schools spent six weeks on the mural, which is being glued to the wall of the school.

Photo: Ed Finkel

But Reed said he recognizes that most of the students probably will not grow up to become professional artists, and he wanted to offer a broader value-added for them than just technical art tips.

In addition to the class project to repaint the mural, students took on a half-dozen individual projects, ranging from self-portraits, to cityscapes, to their own money.

“Even though it’s an art class, a lot of times most of them realistically are not giong to be artists, or trying to be artists,” Reed said. “At the beginning, we worked on different projects to get them warmed up. I try to focus the projects on trying to understand something about themselves, to discover something. For each of the projects, there was a question they had to answer.”

In addition to visually portraying that answer and learning painting techniques, students wrote a paragraph to accompany their artwork. For the self-portrait, for example, that written piece covered “how you see yourself, and what makes you you,” he said. The money design came with a written answer to the question, “What makes you valuable?”

Reed said he’s been undertaking similar projects through the Public Art Group for several years and has worked with NCP lead agency Lawndale Christian Development Corp. in the past. “It’s always about more than just teaching art skills,” he said. “Usually four or five are really interested in art. The rest, it’s to build self-confidence and understand their purpose in life. It’s about, what can they take with them after the program?”

‘New Experience’
Participants said they had taken plenty. “I never painted a mural, and I always wanted to,” said Andrew Singleton, who’s entering his freshman year at the rebuilt Westinghouse High School. “The part I liked most was learning how to draw, and making sure to be neat with it and get the details right.”

Holy Trinity senior Brooke Dunlap shows the self-portrait she painted.

Photo: Ed Finkel

Jessica Hill, entering her freshman year at Crane, said she’s done plenty of artwork over the years but never anything like the mural. “It was very creative,” she said. “I liked the [other projects]. I like to cooperate together and work as a team.”

Cortez Sanders, a sophomore at Chicago Hope Academy, said he’s been painting since fifth grade and helped with a mural on a wall of Circle Rock Prep School in Chicago. “It’s hard,” he said. “I like learning how to paint on different materials."

Holy Trinity senior Brooke Dunlap said she liked projects like the self-portrait. “I wouldn’t have been able to do that” before the class, she said. “I liked learning how to mix colors. It’s been a new experience.”

Food deserts slowly fill in

Thu, 3 Sep 2009 12:23:10 CST

[NCP in the news]

Mary Train, an independent contractor, had to start taking two buses to get to the nearest full-service grocery store after the Dominick’s closed two years ago in her Northwest Side neighborhood.

Now she’s thrilled that the Dominick’s will reopen Friday in the renovated store at 6623 N. Damen in the West Ridge neighborhood.

“There are lots of good ethnic markets on Devon (Avenue),” Train said. “But I couldn’t pick up staples like flour or towels in short errands early in the morning or late at night.”

The bus trips could take Train from 15 minutes to an hour. “If you’re carrying ice cream, it’s melted by the time you get home,” she said.

The reopened Dominick’s will have a Starbucks cafe, a hearth oven for baking breads and a full-service fish counter. The store opening is the latest example of how Chicago’s food deserts are, little by little, sprouting oases.

Discount grocer Aldi will open a new store at 6221 N. Broadway in the Edgewater community on Aug. 27, marking its 33rd store in Chicago.

On the Near West Side, residents are to learn later this month which grocer will open on a long-vacant lot on the southeast corner of Madison Street and Western Avenue.

Residents have lobbied for a Pete’s Fresh Market, saying they prefer the local grocer’s fresh and organic produce and ingredients to make meals from scratch over a no-frills discount store or a major supermarket that might make way for a strip center next door.

Pete’s will bring Fresh to Madison & Western

Thu, 3 Sep 2009 00:47:03 CST

[Articles]

Residents of Chicago’s Near West Side will be able to shop at a full-service grocery store for the first time in four decades when Pete’s Fresh Market opens in 2011.

The local, produce-oriented chain was officially awarded the city-owned site at the intersection of Madison and Western during a meeting Aug. 20. A Giordano’s pizza restaurant also will open as part of the development, which will take about 16 months to build and serve West Haven, East Garfield Park and nearby communities.

Pete's will offer dairy, meats, fish, poultry, bakery, deli and organic produce -- but not pharmacy or alcohol.

Photo:

"We’ll be coming out of the food desert shortly,” said Earnest Gates, executive director of the Near West Side Community Development Corp., which facilitated the selection process and served as lead agency in producing the community’s 2007 quality-of-life plan, “Rising Like the Phoenix,” which featured the grocery store as a key project. “It’s something that the neighborhood will be able to celebrate.”

Neighbors Development Network, comprised of about 300 homeowners, renters and public housing residents on the Near West Side, took up petitions to bring Pete’s to the community, said Andre Perrin, co-chair.

“We kind of coalesced around Pete’s two years ago,” he said. “We thought it met everybody’s needs. It’s affordable, high quality and has been helping to transform other neighborhoods.”
Perrin specifically mentioned Little Village, where Pete’s occupies a former Jewel location. “It’s been bringing that area back of life, and we envision it doing the same thing at Madison and Western,” he said.

Pete’s Fresh Market representative Charlie Poulakis said the store will encompass 55,000 square feet, and there will be an additional 10,000 square feet of development including Giordano’s and a couple of other restaurants or retailers yet to be determined.

The three-acre site at Madison and Western sits across from another shopping center anchored by a Walgreen's.

Photo: Mike Quinlan

“We thank the people and all the parties that were involved, especially the alderman, and the people who supported us,” Poulakis said. “The people [who live nearby] motivated us to go to that location.”

“Providing West Side residents with easy access to food shopping is a priority, because this area has been a food desert for far too long,” wrote Ald. Bob Fioretti (2nd) in his e-newsletter to constituents. “Pete’s is the best choice for the community. They have demonstrated a will to work with and hire from the neighborhood to ensure that local residents benefit fully."

Produce, Dairy – But No Alcohol, Rx
During a May 6 meeting at Crane High School, where other finalists Jewel-Osco and Food 4 Less also presented, Poulakis said Pete’s offers most typical grocery store departments except for pharmacy and liquor, and some in the diverse crowd of about 200 were happy to hear booze would not be included. The store will offer dairy, bakery, deli, meats, poultry, fish, organic produce and a salad bar.

“This is a food desert, not a pharmacy desert,” Poulakis said at the meeting, in a nod to the Walgreen’s across the street, although he later added that the store might include some non-prescription pharmacy-type items. “Pete’s likes to go into food deserts and make an oasis. This site fits Pete’s M.O.”

Ald. Robert Fioretti (2nd, at podium) co-hosted the meeting with representatives of the city's newly reorganized Department of Community Development.

Photo: Oji Eggleston

The chain, which accepts Food Stamps and LINK cards at its six existing stores on the South and Southwest sides of Chicago and one in south suburban Calumet City, Ill., expects to hire about 150 people at the Madison and Western store.

Fioretti said his office would work closely with Near West Side CDC to keep track of local hiring. Pete’s plans to provide job training before it opens and managerial training to all who qualify, and it pays butchers $16 per hour, according to Poulakis.

The city’s Department of Community Development considered numerous factors in making the selection, including time-line, financing, building design, community input, commitment to local and diverse hiring, commitment to environmentally friendly features, the level of city assistance needed, and total cost.

“We don’t want it to go any longer than you do,” said Mary Bonome, deputy commissioner with the department, during the May meeting. “Trust me: This has been a long and very expensive process from the city’s perspective.”

Perrin expressed gratitude that the process had reached an end. “The community is extremely happy with the result,” he said. “It’s been a long time coming. It’ll fill a big void that will make this neighborhood more of a true neighborhood, where you don’t have to go somewhere else to do daily activities.”

“The wait is over,” Amy Knapp, the other co-chair of Neighbors Development Network wrote in an e-mail announcing the deal. “It was a long fight but definitely worth it. Thanks to everyone for staying involved and being committed to making this a reality.”

Please click to read more about this subject from The Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, and Chicago Journal.

South Siders spend billions each year outside their neighborhoods

Thu, 3 Sep 2009 09:57:41 CST

[NCP in the news]

South Side of Chicago residents are forced to spend billions of dollars each year outside of their communities. There are few restaurants or retail shops for them to go to in their own neighborhoods. And basic shopping needs such as groceries and household items often go unmet.

Public policy, political will and race play into how the South Side is developed. But some communities are looking for ways to overcome those hurdles, and tap into the buying power of South Side residents.

ambi: in the car

Lauren McCadney lives in a lovely townhome on grassy Drexel Boulevard. She picked the mixed-income North Kenwood neighborhood because of the parks and price.

MCCADNEY: The downside is when it comes to things like grocery stores or vast merchandisers, it’s definitely a get in your car and it has to be a destination trip.

Today McCadney is running errands. She is driving seven miles to Target and Dominick’s on Roosevelt Road.

ambi: grocery store

At Dominick’s, McCadney buys fruit, salad greens and juice. She comes here to grocery shop because she doesn’t like the dollar store and corner store options back in her neighborhood.

I ask McCadney how much she spends outside of her neighborhood each month.

MCCADNEY: Holy cow! Outside of my neighborhood? Just in groceries or groceries and dining out and the trips to Target?

After some adding, she figured $500-$700 a month. McCadney realized 100 percent of it was outside of her neighborhood.

MCCADNEY: Number one, I’m mortified to actually speak to how much money I’m spending but it’s also unfortunate because I look around our neighborhood and I say our neighborhood can support the businesses.

What McCadney is doing, spending dollars outside of one’s home community, is called retail leakage. A WBEZ analysis examined retail leakage in Chicago neighborhoods. Thirty neighborhoods have more than 50 percent retail leakage. Of those, 20 are on the South Side. Almost all are majority-black neighborhoods. In 2007, residents in these neighborhoods spent a collective $3.8 billion outside of their own South Side communities.

If you want to find out about retail leakage, the place to go is LISC Chicago. It’s a nonprofit that promotes neighborhood growth. What a lot of people don’t know, says LISC Business manager Jake Cowan, is that underserved communities actually have a lot of spending power. Cowan says it may seem surprising, but the fact is a community’s buying power isn’t necessarily related to median income.

COWAN: The concentration of incomes, in specifically middle-income families, is great enough that in almost every Chicago neighborhood there is more buying power than in suburban neighborhoods and including affluent neighborhoods like the Wilmette’s of the world. Your average Chicago neighborhood – because of the dense population – has more money in the pockets of people going to stores.

Retail leakage occurs in lots of communities, even affluent ones. Every neighborhood isn’t going to get—or even want—the shiny new grocery store. And there are some South Side areas with bustling shopping districts such as Pilsen.

But for the Washington Park, Roseland, Oakland and Grand Boulevard neighborhoods, the dearth of shopping has a ripple effect: food deserts and overpriced low-quality goods at low-quality stores. Cowan says neighborhoods like these can attract retailers. He’s seen it happen – if they have the right strategy.

COWAN: With regard to graffiti and trash, can they get their sites cleaned up so that when they take that retailer on the tour to show them the opportunity they can picture themselves there. But a community’s determination is sometimes not enough. Other powerful forces are in play.

MERRIMAN: Public policy plays a big role in sort of determining what areas grow and what areas don’t grow.

David Merriman is a public economics professor at the University of Illinois-Chicago.

MERRIMAN: Sometimes the criteria is which alderman has the most power or what looks best for the mayor rather than whether or not is in the best interest of citizens.

Merriman points to retail corridors on the North Side that have benefited from city tax financing. Leaders in the Auburn-Gresham neighborhood have been deliberate as they try to spur economic development. ambi: Auburn-Gresham Auburn-Gresham is full of brick bungalows, two flats and black working families. Before white flight occurred between 1960 to 1970, there was a variety of businesses and department stores in the area.

NELSON: You typically didn’t need to leave your community to go and get the goods and services you needed to exist.

ambi: bakery

Carlos Nelson is buying a piece of red velvet cake at Perfect Peace Bakery along the West 79th Street corridor. He’s executive director of the Greater Auburn-Gresham Development Corporation. The annual 79th Street Renaissance Festival takes place along this stretch here where the bakery is, between Racine and Loomis. Nelson helped conceive this festival as a marketing tool.

NELSON: It’s not about the kids in the community. It’s not a back-to-school festival. This festival is really about bringing people to support the businesses.

This commercial strip of 79th Street has street-scaping, banners and a few new sit-down restaurants. Nelson has helped get private and government money to help small ma-and-pa businesses like the Perfect Peace Bakery open up.

Nelson is trying to recreate a vibrant shopping area and for him, that means limiting the storefront churches that don’t provide a tax base. He also doesn’t want the community overrun with national chains that are dollar stores, or overpopulated with chicken and fish fast-food joints.

NELSON: The national retailers that have shown an interest are the same ones that help us continue this cycle of poverty, unfortunately.

He’d rather promote florists, bookstores and more restaurants. Julie Welborn is co-owner of Perfect Peace bakery. She says she opened it up because 79th Street deserved something high quality.

WELBORN: What better place if not here? A lot of people that come in on their first time will say ‘wow this like being downtown or in Hyde Park or Beverly’ or people will even chastise us like ‘why are you here?’ ‘You could really be making a bunch of money if you moved.’

ambi: grocery

Back at Dominick’s, Lauren McCadney, muses over her neighborhood. It’s not exactly poor. Some of the homes are worth upwards of half a million dollars.

MCCADNEY: When does the tipping point come? How much of a change in demographics do the retailers have to see before they finally say it’s time? As it turns out, there is a tipping point: race.

Grocery gives sweet taste of victory

Thu, 3 Sep 2009 11:49:58 CST

[NCP in the news]

Andre Perrin drove over to Angelene Johnson's condo just to tell her the news. She shouted. She cried.

"I thought I blew his eardrum 'cause I hollered so loud," she said when I called her Thursday.

Not everyone would weep and shout over the coming of a grocery store, but the news that excited Perrin and Johnson and hundreds of other West Siders last week was about more than bananas.

This was the end of a fight, the end of a drought, the beginning of a new age in one of Chicago's official "food deserts."

I recently wrote about the neighborhood's campaign to get its first supermarket in a generation. In the often frustrated, fractured and changing community, the campaign had brought together neighbors of all kinds.

Some were like Johnson. She's a former public housing resident who moved into a mixed-income development after the demolition of Henry Horner Homes, where she raised three children.

Others were like Andre Perrin. He's a freelance speechwriter who moved with his girlfriend from hip Wicker Park to buy a home he could afford in a piece of Chicago he wanted to help reshape.

Johnson and Perrin and their allies didn't want just any grocery store though. No mushy vegetables mummified in plastic, please.

They wanted a Pete's Fresh Market, and they wanted it not only for the first-rate produce, low prices and spotless aisles but for what a store like that symbolized: respect for the neighborhood.

Finally last week, after years of delays, discussions and pitches from three stores, Ald. Bob Fioretti called a meeting to make the announcement.

As Perrin recounts it, more than 350 people showed up at Phoenix Military Academy.

At the end of a long suspenseful preamble -- "true political theater," said Perrin -- Fioretti gave the crowd what they wanted: A Pete's was coming to the corner of Madison and Western. So was a Giordano's pizzeria.

The applause, Perrin said, lasted for two minutes.

"One thing it's going to do," said Perrin, who led the campaign of e-mails, phone calls and petitions, "is make this a walkable community. Right now, people don't walk around much because there's not much to walk to. And it's not a neighborhood feeling when you don't see people walking."

His new neighborhood may never rival Wicker Park, with its abundance of coffeehouses, bookstores, dry cleaners and restaurants. But at least there will be somewhere to go on foot, an incentive to get exercise and more neighbors to greet on the sidewalk.

"To have a grocery store in the heart of the West Side," Johnson said, "to have one at my doorstep -- you know what I'm saying? -- it's a godsend."

Construction on the store won't start until June. In the meantime, Perrin and his neighbors will keep building their neighborhood in little ways.

On Sunday mornings this summer, they've held their first farmers market, in a long-neglected park. Perrin is planning to give tennis lessons to neighborhood kids. They're looking for a yoga teacher.

Monday evening, they screened their first film in the park -- "Kung Fu Panda" -- and passed out free hot dogs.

Afterward, a former public housing resident told Perrin, "Nobody's ever thought to do that for the kids before."

In the glow of the grocery store victory, Perrin offers this advice for anyone else looking to improve their neighborhood against the odds: Stick together. Be patient. Be relentless.

It's Pete's

Thu, 3 Sep 2009 12:01:07 CST

[NCP in the news]

Marie Reichardt remembers when the commercial strips along Western Avenue and Madison Street offered everything from meat markets to movie theatres. A family could shop very locally.

“We had our needs met right there in that area,” she said.

A resident of East Garfield Park for more than 70 years, Reichardt said those options withered following the riots sparked by the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968. After retailers fled, her family patronized stores in the wholesale packing district further east, near Halsted Street. For bread and canned goods, she traveled to grocery stores further west or down to Roosevelt Road.

With the announcement that Pete’s Fresh Market has been chosen to build near her neighborhood, however, Reichardt once again hopes to be getting her groceries close to home.

“Pete’s coming back to the area will make more people feel happy,” she said. “They won’t have to run all over the city to find a place to shop. You’ve got your meat, your vegetables. You’ve got all of that.”

Construction of a Pete’s on the vacant, city-owned parcel at the southeast corner of Madison and Western would mark a sea-change for the Near West Side, an area that’s been without a full-service grocery store for years, thus earning parts of the neighborhood the label of “food desert.”

Department of Community Development Commissioner Mary Bonome told residents at meeting last week that Pete’s offered the best package out of 12 criteria — from financing options and proposed construction timeline to local hiring plans — established by the city.

The Chicago-based firm plans to build a 50,000-square-foot store, with a typical spread of produce, meats and fish, deli and bakery. Additional possibilities will be available in another 10,000 square feet of retail space. Pete’s hopes to break ground next summer and open in June 2011. An estimated 150 full-time jobs will be available at the store.

Cost of the project is expected to total $18 million. The firm has already put down a good-faith deposit of $650,000 and the company will finance the project itself, instead of partnering with West Haven Phoenix LLC, which the Community Development Commission designated in June 2004 as the developer of the land.

Earnest Gates, one of the co-managers of the West Haven Phoenix and executive director of the Near West Side Community Development Corporation, sent The Chicago Journal a statement that read:

"Residents of West Haven have a lot to celebrate. We're about to leave the food desert. Near West kept this issue alive and was responsible for getting grocers to the table. This was the result of years of hard work and advocacy on behalf of the community. We can all be proud of this major accomplishment. Power concedes nothing without a demand. We demanded and we got it."

Beside Pete’s, Food4Less and Jewel-Osco expressed interest in building stores at Madison and Western.

Selection of the store has generated an intense level of neighborhood interest over the years, from the days when Aldi’s was floated for the site to lobbying efforts carried out earlier this year.

The Neighbors’ Development Network, a group made up largely of Near West Side homeowners, collected around 1,100 signatures earlier this year backing a Pete’s, for example.

Ald. Robert Fioretti (2nd) referenced another petition drive, this one gathering 2,000 signatures calling for a Food4Less. No individual or organization has taken public credit for the latter drive, and Fioretti has been unable to identify its organizers.

The alderman acknowledged lobbying about the store was not confined to constituents. His colleagues on the city council and representatives from the United Food and Commercial Worker’s union weighed in too.

“There were a lot of people from all different sources and all different aldermen,” Fioretti said. “There were people for all of them, whether it was Jewel-Osco, Food4Less or Pete’s.”

Selection of Pete’s was greeted by applause at a meeting last week. Many attendees registered their approval of the decision.

“It takes a step up in terms of the quality of services coming to the community,” said Mike Cunningham, active in the Homeowners of Westtown group. “It gives us an opportunity to continue to grow.”

But opinions are not unanimously in favor of Pete’s. Carolyn Cole preferred Food4Less, because of its low prices and bulk purchasing options.

“You have to accept what you’re going to get,” she said.

Martha Maratre also cited prices at Food4Less to explain her support of the chain. A resident of the Oakley and Jackson area, Maratre does much of her shopping at the Walgreens on the northeast corner of Madison and Western. To her, Pete’s is a solid second choice, however.

“I think it’s good. We need could use the fruit and vegetables. And the prices are good at Pete’s,” she said.

For residents like Reichardt, the longtime East Garfield dweller, however, the news signals a broader shift.

“To me, it will feel like, to be honest with you, that what was taken from us is now coming back,” she said.

New job listings in community development

Wed, 13 Jun 2007 17:18:30 CST

[Articles]

The following job postings were current as of Aug. 26, 2009. Contact the agencies for more information.

Bickerdike Development Corp. is advertising for a Communications Coordinator, an Office Manager, and a Digital Excellence Program Manager. The Communications Coordinator coordinates and executives written and electronic communications and public relations materials. The Office Manager directs and plans the general clerical and support operations of the property management main office. The Program Manager coordinates and implements key strategies identified in the Digital Excellence planning process. Click on job titles above to see full position descriptions.

The Greater Humboldt Park Community of Wellness is spreading the word about open positions for a bike shop manager, a couple of research jobs and a community liaison position with the Active Transportation Alliance.

Claretian Associates is promoting jobs at the soon-to-open Victory Centre of South Chicago, an assisted living facility with 112 apartments. Available positions include nurses, CNAs, office manager, receptionist, food service staff, maintenance staff, community life manager, among others.

Other positions in Chicago:

Commercial District Manager. The Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance seeks a Commercial District Manager to complete specific projects and further the development goals outlined in the comprehensive retail plan for Madison Street, titled "East Garfield Park Quality and Opportunity: A Retail and Urban Design Plan" and published in February 2007. The CDM also will identify financial resources that can support various activities focused on strengthening the Madison St Trade Area. For a full position description, please click here.

Program Officer. Community Reinvestment Corporation, which provides financial programs to help preserve affordable housing, seeks a Program Officer responsible for coordinating intervention on troubled multifamily properties to move them toward code compliance and responsible management. Typically, the Program Officer will act as a court appointed receiver or supervise another receiver appointed by the court, oversee emergency repairs and short-term management and security and if necessary, identify a capable new rehabber-owner to acquire and rehab the property. For a full description, please click here.

The Resurrection Project (TRP), bilingual (English/Spanish) Financial Counselor. This counselor will implement foreclosure prevention services in TRP’s target communities, including educational workshops and one-on-one financial counseling. As a member of the Financial Services Division you will work with other staff to further TRP’s mission through the promotion of financial literacy, sustainable homeownership, and wealth building. This is an exempt, full-time position. Some evening and weekend hours are required. Please submit a resume and cover letter describing your interest and skill set to trpjobs@resurrectionproject.org or by fax to 312.942.1123. Please no phone calls!

11 'Hoods square off in ‘Hoops’ finals

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 21:52:49 CST

[Articles]

The damp day forced the action inside onto the hardwood in the Boys & Girls Club at 27^th and Ridgeway.

Last year’s defending champs in the 11- to 14-year-old boys’ division, the Wild Bunch, battled to an 8-8 halftime stalemate with the Chi-Town Ballers before breaking the game open in the second half to prevail, 24-15.

The 2009 citywide finals brought together 11 neighborhoods.

Photo: David Babb

The rest of the day’s schedule included the Ballers vs. the Jets and Team Jordan vs. the Warriors in the 11- to 14-year-old set and the Rockets vs. Redeem Team among the 15- to 19-year-olds.

But this June 13 event, the kickoff to a summer-long series of Hoops in the Hood basketball tournaments that culminated with the citywide championship on Aug. 22, was about far more than scores and highlights.

To see an article about the results of the citywide championship along with video highlights, please see www.neighborhoodsports.chicago.org.

The Hoops in the Hood program combines basketball tournaments, arts activities, health information and screenings, and a police presence to keep the peace and bring people together from corners of the neighborhood that seldom mix. Little Village has added a new sports-related wrinkle this summer: Soccer on the Street.

Little Village is one of 11 Chicago communities -- 10 from NCP plus the Back of the Yards neighborhood -- that participated in the Cross-City Final last Saturday in Seward Park (an article and video will be posted later in the week to the neighborhoodsportschicago.org site). New to the program this year are Back of the Yards, East Garfield Park, Auburn Gresham and Chicago Lawn. The program began in Pilsen a decade ago, and that 10^th anniversary is being celebrated.

The 'Hoops' action opened June 13 on the hardwood at the Boys & Girls Club in Little Village due to inclement weather. Most of the summer's action has occurred outside at block party-like events in various locations.

Photo: Ed Finkel

The program is variously called “B-Ball on the Block” in some communities (Humboldt Park, Little Village and Logan Square), “Hoops in the Hood” in others (Back of the Yards and East Garfield Park) and unique names in the rest -- “In the Paint” in Auburn Gresham, “Summer Slam” in North Lawndale, “Safe Zone Basketball Camp” in Chicago Lawn, “Resurrection Basketball League” in Pilsen, “Hoops in Englewood,” and the “West Haven Safe Summer BBall League.”

Unlike the kickoff event in Little Village, most of the summer’s action has taken place outside at various locations in the dozen neighborhoods, at block-party-like events.

Hoops will continue past the citywide championship in Auburn Gresham, Englewood, Logan Square and North Lawndale. (For a full schedule, please click here.)

'Home Court'
The first Hoops season in East Garfield Park focused on establishing the St. Louis Playlot at St. Louis and Carroll as "Home Court" for the program, says Rusty Funk, athletic coordinator for coordinating agency Breakthrough Urban Ministries.

The 2009 Hoops action in North Lawndale unfolds inside Lawndale Christian Health Center on the 3800-block of Ogden Avenue.

Photo: Courtesy Lawndale Christian Development Corp.

The season finished with 138 players on 17 teams in three age groups: 8-10, 11-14 and 15-18, having served more than 300 meals alongside arts-and-crafts and other family activities, Funk says. "Our main focus was for the community to have the opportunity to take ownership of the specific park we played on," he says. "Normally, in the summertime, there's not a spot for families to hang out. ... There's conflict in that park, and it's intimidating for families in the neighborhood to go out in that setting if there's not a structured environment."

But some of that sense of intimidation may have waned: Funk reports seeing younger kids playing a 5-on-5 pickup game, dressed in their "Home Court" T-shirts, one recent Monday. "One of them walked up and said, 'See, you do something good for the park and it continues,' " he says. "It's had a positive effect. We hope it sticks."

The first summer of Hoops in Auburn Gresham has been mostly basketball-focused but will add health screenings and other vendors on its remaining dates, which will culminate with the 79th Street Renaissance Festival on Sept. 12, says Mike Robinson, president of organizing agency In the Paint.

A happy hoopster sports a smile wider than the 3-point arc.

Photo: Juan Francisco Hernandez

"It's been exciting. We've pulled a lot of kids from the community," he says. "There's a real eagerness among kids who want to be involved in summer activities. The heat didn't seem to bother them. Kids love structure, contrary to popular belief. We had a very dedicated coaching staff."

In the Paint partnered with local churches and the fire department. "It's been a good outreach to the community."

Robinson also expresses pride in the teaching aspect provided by In the Paint, which runs camps and clinics throughout the city. "We spent time teaching the fundamentals of the game," he says. "Hoops is just one aspect of what we do. We bring basketball programming to existing entities."

To launch its inaugural season in 2009, Back of the Yards Neighborhood Council has partnered with six other groups – Cornell Park, Davis Square, St. Michael Elementary School, Lara Academy, U.N.I.O.N. Impact Center, and Kids and Kops.

“I wanted to bring together as many neighborhood people and agencies as possible to encourage the diverse population of our neighborhood to cross common boundaries,” Sean O’Farrell, program director, told Cristobal Martinez of www.neighborhoodsportschicago.org. “47^th Street is sort of a barrier in this neighborhood. The Hispanics live north of it, and the African Americans live to the south.”

Hoopsters in West Haven.

Photo: Alex Fledderjohn

“The interaction between all of the Hispanics, Asians and African Americans is wonderful and is something that I don’t usually see,” added police officer Sabrina King, who volunteers with Kids and Kops and has been coaching a team of 12-year-olds. (For the full story on Back of the Yards, please click here.)

Other 'Hoods Expand

Rev. Rodney Walker, executive director of NCP lead agency Teamwork Englewood, says the Hoops in Englewood program has gone co-ed and attracted a wider fan base in its second year, featuring four teams with 12 players apiece, who play on Friday nights at the Salvation Army Red Shield Center, at 69^th and Morgan.

The Hoops in Englewood program has partnered with St. Bernard’s Hospital, which brings a mobile van to do health screenings, as well as the Salvation Army on everything from motivational speakers to musical acts. The speakers are part of Teamwork Englewood’s African American Male Initiative, which provides academic enhancement and life skills, Rev. Walker says.

“We try to encourage the boys to live a positive life and try for some positive goals,” he says. A couple of college volunteers, including a basketball player from University of Illinois-Chicago, help with this effort. “He says, ‘Look, I’m from the community, I go to school, you should go to school, too,’ ” Rev. Walker says. “It’s much, much more than basketball. Basketball is just to get them to come in.”

This young man clearly worked hard for his trophies during the 2007 Hoops finals..

Photo: Juan Francisco Hernandez

The league will continue through late September at the Salvation Army, then switch to Catholic Charities at 62^nd and Sangamon from October through December. “The kids just keep coming,” Rev. Walker says. “They’re sad when we close down in January.”

Summer Slam in North Lawndale enrolled several hundred participants in three age groups, 7-12, 12-16 and 16-21. The younger age group was especially enthusiastic, according to Gerald Bryant, a community resident and high school basketball official who helped to coordinate the summer's schedule.

"The 7- to 12-year-old group was just totally fantastic," he says. "They were very competitive and enjoyed it. I see these kids on the street, and they ask, 'Do we have any more [competitions]? Are we through yet?' The opportunity to get there and see what your talent level was, was really nice. We had no problems. They're a good group of kids."

Bryant praises NCP lead agency Lawndale Christian Development Corp. for its emphasis on hard, clean competition and inspiring youth to achieve new heights, which he attempted to further on the court. "They're keeping these kids off the streets," he says. "Before the game, we say a prayer. We shake hands before the game and after the game. We tell them someone has to win and someone has to lose. We have zero tolerance for profanity and fighting."

"They're there for these kids 100 percent," he adds. "Anything's possible. I went to college. My sister went to college. We both came up out of this neighborhood. Get your education, and great things can happen to you."

Are You Ready for Some Futsal?

The 3-on-3 "Soccer on the Street" league started this year in Little Village and could spread to other neighborhoods in the future.

Photo: Ed Finkel

The ability to shift the contests inside on a rainy day in Little Village underscores one of the program’s growing strengths: community partnerships. “We have a lot of relationships,” says Christina Bronsing, NCP director at Enlace Chicago. “It’s the kind of program that doesn’t work well without that.”

The deepening roots of those relationships with organizations – such as CeaseFire, Beyond the Ball, the YMCA Street Intervention Program and La Villita Community Church in Little Village -- have established a well of rapport that has enabled Enlace and its partners to ask evaluative questions and not just do what they’ve always done, Bronsing says.

“What’s going well? What values are we trying to promote, and how is that going? If this is going to grow, how is it going to grow?” she says. “At this point, we all know each other and trust each other.”

Among the fruits of those conversations has been a new wrinkle that’s debuted in Little Village and could grow in the future: Soccer in the Street.

In addition to the hoops itself, Hoops in the Hood brought together art activities -- which these girls clearly enjoyed -- public health information, and a public safety presence.

Photo: Juan Francisco Hernandez

The 3-on-3 contests use a fast-moving style popular in South America called futsal, which uses tiny goals, no goalies, a smaller, heavier ball, and netting around the outside of the playing area that creates a rink-like feel more akin to indoor soccer.

Played on the same schedule as B-Ball on the Block, the soccer league has featured weekly tournaments. “Soccer is the dominant sport [in Little Village],” says Dahriian Espinoza, director of the effort and a member of La Villita Community Church. “If there’s a neighborhood to do it, this is it.”

But he hopes to follow in the footsteps of Hoops in the Hood itself by dribbling futsal into other communities. “That would be fantastic,” Espinoza says.

To see an article about the results of the citywide championship along with video highlights, please see www.neighborhoodsports.chicago.org.For an article about the 2007 Hoops finals, please click here.

Pilsen industrial land retooled for housing

Fri, 7 Aug 2009 00:50:52 CST

[Articles]

Two new affordable apartment buildings are benefiting Pilsen residents in two ways: they’re providing residents with high-quality, low-cost housing, and they’re occupying vacant industrial sites that had become neighborhood eyesores.

The recently completed 45-unit Casa Morelos Apartments – one of the two resident buildings – sits on previously vacant land at 2015 S. Morgan St. that, in addition to contributing nothing in the way of taxes or services, had become a source of blight.

The Pilsen neighborhood, home to Chicago's Mexican culture, is the site of two new affordable apartment buildings.

Photo: Eric Young Smith

“It had been vacant for years before we bought it, and people began to just dump all kinds of junk there,” said Guacolda Reyes, director of community development at NCP lead agency The Resurrection Project, the non-profit developer that built the apartment building.

In April 2006, TRP purchased the plot of a little more than two acres from Alivio Medical Center, which operates a clinic at 21st and Morgan streets, within blighted industrial land that dots several blocks around the medical center and Casa Morelos.

“All of this vacant land was gray and dusty, under-used, under-everything,” said Teresa Fraga, a medical center board member. The center, a key NCP partner agency, sold TRP’s development site for a less-than-market-rate price, Fraga said.

The seven-story Casa Morelos, completed earlier this summer, has begun leasing its one- to three-bedroom apartments, with 552 square feet to 1,116 square feet of space. The apartments will be fully occupied by fall, Reyes said.

Under terms of the developer’s agreement with Illinois Housing Development Authority, which provided the project’s low-income-housing tax credits, most of the apartments will command affordable rents that begin at $530. Four of the apartments will be leased at market-rates from $800 to $1,050, Reyes said, and another four apartments will be leased to Section 8 voucher tenants.

A second, 73-unit building
On that same two-acre site, and directly south of the new apartment building, at 2021 S. Morgan St., TRP this spring started construction of the 73-unit Casa Maravilla.

Casa Morelos Apartments, a new building at 2015 S. Morgan St. in Pilsen, offers low-cost rental units. It displaces a former industrial site that had become a neighborhood eyesore.

Photo: Eric Young Smith

That $20 million, five-story building, designed by Weese Langley Weese, will be completed by spring 2010, said Reyes. While senior buildings constructed throughout the city in recent years have tended to consist of fairly small, studio-sized apartments, Casa Maravilla will include 13 two-bedroom units.

“We want to accommodate our Latino housing needs and lifestyles,” Reyes said. “These apartments are big enough so that seniors who want to share their apartment with a sister, a brother or a friend can do so.”

In addition to the two-bedroom units, Casa Maravilla will have a mix of studio and one-bedroom apartments. All will range from 700 to 1,100 square feet of space. Built under Chicago Green Homes program guidelines, the senior building will have several green elements, including a green roof and permeable pavement.

Income-based rents for tenants who are at least 55 years old and who earn 60 percent down to 30 percent of the Chicago area median income, will range from $350 to $550 for studios; $600 to $800 for one-bedroom apartments; and $750 to $900 for two-bedroom units.

Casa Maravilla has received up to $4 million in HOME loan funds from the City of Chicago. A combination of $800,000 in city low income housing tax credits and $883,342 in Illinois Housing Development Authority low income housing tax credits will generate an estimated $13.2 million in equity for the project, according to officials from the city’s Community Development Department.

National Equity Fund Inc. is tax credit syndicator for the project, which also received $108,400 in investment donated tax credits.

Dignitaries cut the ribbon at Casa Morelos' grand opening earlier ths summer.

Photo: David Pintor

The senior building’s location next door to Alivio Medical Center is a big plus, said Reyes. A Chicago Department of Senior Services satellite center will operate from the ground floor. Other amenities will include a large ground floor community space and a fitness center.

Finding appropriate new use for unused industrial lots – a rare opportunity to modernize segments of the long established Pilsen neighborhood where vast land tracts are rarely available for larger developments – has brought several factions of the Pilsen neighborhood together.

TRP, long involved in building affordable housing and providing social services, now works with block clubs and community groups such as Fraga’s Pilsen Neighbors Community Council. All of those factions came together through NCP about three years ago, said Fraga, and the community’s resulting quality-of-life plan articulates several goals for the neighborhood, including how to re-use those former industrial properties.

El Paseo on the way
Not the least of those plans is the eventual conversion of the unused rail tracks along Sangamon Street, between Cermak Road and 16th Street, into the north/south landscaped pedestrian corridor to be called El Paseo. Since rail cars years ago stopped serving industrial users in the area, the land around them has been threatened with blight.

El Paseo is modeled after the Mexican paseos found in so many Mexican villages – town squares where residents come to meet. TRP, Pilsen Neighbors and community leaders are now working with city officials to gain control of the rail company-owned tracks, said a spokesman from Alderman Daniel Solis’ 25th ward office.

The city, which is negotiating a use agreement with the rail track owner, already owns land to the east and west of the tracks which is slated for use as part of the El Paseo corridor, Fraga said. Once completed, Alivio and TRP expect to share management of the paseo. In roughly five years Fraga hopes El Paseo will attract all the social factions that are today’s Pilsen.

“Historically we have had differences,” she said. “The art district on Halsted Street differed with the families who live in West Pilsen. But we are changing that and, when the Paseo is there, we will all gather as one neighborhood and all those differences won’t matter.”

Weatherization = Energy Conservation + Jobs

Wed, 5 Aug 2009 14:47:26 CST

[Articles]

Residents of four NCP neighborhoods completed training for entry-level, green-collar jobs earlier this summer under a pilot program launched at the Local Economic Employment Development (LEED) Council.

The 27 residents, referred by NCP lead agencies Logan Square Neighborhood Association, Greater Auburn-Gresham Development Corp., Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance and Claretian Associates of South Chicago, enrolled in the five-week training program to learn weatherization skills.

Class instructor Dean Rennie (red shirt, front row), with students Carmika Young and DeAndre Estes. In second row are Joel Jacinto, Paul McNealy, Charleston R. Motley, Nathan Hudson and Burke Greenwood

Photo: Eric Young Smith

The LEED Council -- a nonprofit CDC serving businesses in the North River Industrial Corridor from Milwaukee Avenue, Kinzie and Desplaines (southeast) to Belmont Avenue and the Kennedy Expressway (northwest) -- provided the curriculum and training in its building at 1866 N. Marcey St. LISC/Chicago provided funding through NCP.

President Obama has said that for the U.S. to truly transform the economy, protect our security and save the environment from the ravages of climate change, the country needs profitable and renewable sources of energy – a green economy – to be competitive.

Weatherization is one of the fastest-growing segments of the green economy, offering career opportunities in protecting the interiors of single and multi-family buildings, building maintenance and property management, and jobs in energy efficiency with additional training and education, said Margie Gonwa, LEED director of workforce development.

“We want to prepare people with good skills,” she said.

“This field is really going to explode,” said Dennis Rennie, LEED skills trainer. “A lot of what people learn here will become mandatory by the government. The Obama administration is pushing real hard to get things rolling. This will create jobs, lots of jobs.”

Dean Rennie shows students how to weatherize a window sash.

Photo: Eric Young Smith

Hoping for Explosion
That’s what Juan Martinez of South Chicago is hoping. Martinez currently does not have permanent employment and is working side jobs in construction as a day laborer.

The 27-year-old said participating in the training program offers “the opportunity to be informed and gain more job skills.” He will take the knowledge he learns from the program and use it with his 15 years of experience in construction to make his next job better and smarter. “I like to do things the right way and by the book,” he said.

Carmika Young, also of South Chicago and unemployed, had no construction experience and knew nothing about weatherization prior to the program.

“But it sounds like a good program,” said the 27-year-old. “I’m always up for learning new stuff. I figured I could do this. And it will be helpful for the community, that’s another plus.”

The pilot program fits into LISC/Chicago’s goal to build sustainable communities, which includes fostering a livable, safe and healthy environment.

One of the program’s goals, said Gonwa, is to prepare a pool of people who would take the results of an energy audit and implement a work plan. This could include adding insulation to an attic and applying caulking and weather stripping to doors and windows. In an extreme situation the people in the program would replace windows, she said.

The program combines classroom instruction in math, measurement and energy efficiency principles with hands-on, workshop-based training in carpentry, house sealing and mechanical systems. Jobs as energy auditors require higher levels of job training, said Gonwa, adding that another program goal is to prepare people for jobs beyond weatherization.

Beyond the nuts-and-bolts of weatherization, the LEED Council hopes to impart a broader sense of energy conservation-related issues.

Photo: Eric Young Smith

The training program included field trips to home improvement stores like Home Depot to check out weatherization materials and different window types. Program participants visited homes to observe a weatherization in progress -- or to do the actual work themselves.

A Broader Vision
In addition to the field trips, the LEED Council building has a mock up of a house for participants to get hands-on experience installing insulation or caulking.

“We don’t want to train people for a task – to caulk a window or nail a door sweep,” Gonwa said. “We want them to have a more conceptual framework about how energy efficiency affects people, a building and the planet. We want people to learn the effects of the task they are doing.”

Gonwa said with the advent of the assembly line in the manufacturing industry, people were taught to do one task. Workers in the auto industry, for example, learned to install windows in a car while another group of workers installed the hood.

The LEED Council envisions a different approach for the 21^st Century. “We want to make this training as a foundation to move around in the energy efficiency field,” she said.

Program participant Alanda Turner has watched a lot of the construction on Chicago’s West Side through the Neighborhood Stabilization Program. Turner, 41, of East Garfield Park, said the skills she learned would be put to good use as she helps her father, who owns property, renovate his buildings, and in her work with the non-profit Community Male Empowerment Project.

Burke Greenwood, an architect from Logan Square, entered the program because of his interest in community growth. The 36-year-old said he will use the skills he acquires to rehab existing housing as well as work with new construction.

“This [the training] will make sure housing is built right and energy efficient,” Greenwood said.

For Terrence James of Auburn-Gresham, the program is an opportunity to build up his resume and skills. The 38-year-old is an ex-offender who was released from prison after serving 17 years. James has experience in landscaping, volunteer work, planted flowers and demolition. He sees the program as a way to “get into my own business of heating, ventilation, air conditioning and self-growth.”

The LEED Council is assisting graduates with job placement. Gonwa said the pilot program is testing out the curriculum, the program design and partnerships. Once the pilot is completed, there will be a review and revisions.

“We want to be ahead of the curve to develop, revise curriculum and align ourselves with different entities which are going to get weatherization money,” she said. “Other agencies do energy weatherization training just as we do this pilot.”

The LEED Council also will identify and set up meetings with contractors who are expected to do weatherization for the City of Chicago, Chicago Housing Authority, and the Community of Economic Development Association (CEDA) of Cook County.

In addition, the agency will look at other employers who don’t do government work, such as heating, ventilation and air conditioning companies, as well as home retrofitting and weatherization businesses.

“We would like to implement this as a permanent course starting in the fall,” Gonwa said. “We need funding and we need employer relationships beyond the course.”