Every year in October, Imagine Englewood If (IEI) participates in “Make a Difference Day.” On “Make a Difference Day,” people from all over the country do something to change others’ lives in a positive way. On Oct. 29 of last year, IEI put together an event for people living in the Englewood community to inform them of the dangers of lead poisoning. “Englewood has the highest percentage of people in the nation who are affected by lead poisoning,” said Jean Carter Hill, Executive Director of IEI.

People stopped by the Lead Information table to find out more about the affects lead poisoning has on children who has been diagnosed with it. Latunya McMurtry’s son was diagnosed with Lead Poising in 1990. McMurty said, “I did not understand the effects of it then, until he went to second grade. In kindergarten, the school tried to label him as a child with ADHD and put him on medication. It didn’t mess with my son mentally, but I knew I had to change his diet.” She said that after changing her son’s diet, he wasn’t affected seriously, but the lead still remained in his system.

According to a healthy diet booklet entitled “Fight Lead Poisoning with a Healthy Diet,” lead poisoning can be prevented or minimized by changing the eating habits of children under 6 years old. The breakfast diet suggestions are oatmeal swirls, sliced bananas and orange juice or french toast, orange sections and low fat milk. It suggests the child have grilled cheese and tomatoes, coleslaw, pizza bagel, 100% fruit juice, fresh or canned peaches, and low fat milk. Dinner options can be sloppy joe, watermelon, low fat milk, chicken stew, rice and strawberries. Healthy eating and early testing can prepare parents for dealing with lead poisoning.

Bernadette Williams, the tenants Local Advisory Council president, complaining to CHA Board members, on October 18, 2011, about increased shootings at the far south side public housing site. Photo by Mary C. Piemonte

Tenants of public housing have said throughout the Plan for Transformation that they see very little police activity in their areas, except during drug raids.

In decades past, police officers used to walk the beat, but they are little seen these days, and the public housing tenants living in CHA developments and in areas where they relocated wonder where “Officer Friendly” is, especially in light of the fact that the Chicago Housing Authority has been paying the Chicago Police Department millions of dollars annually to provide foot and car patrols.

CHA dismantled its own separate police department in 2000. Then, in March 2001, CHA officially contracted with the CPD and began paying them up to $12 million annually to provide “above baseline services,” which includes foot and car patrols of CHA public housing sites, along with patrols of other areas to where tenants relocated, such as in the Englewood and the Woodlawn communities. The amount of the contract between CHA and the police was as high as $13 million a year, but recently has been reduced to $6 million a year.

One of the police department’s efforts to secure CHA properties has been to install security cameras. Security cameras were purchased with $22.6 million in federal funding American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to be placed throughout CHA’s portfolio, including at all their all senior-designated properties, according to data on CHA’s website.

But tenants living in places like the Far South Side Altgeld Gardens public housing community, where there has been a spike in shootings over the past few months, questioned the utility of the security cameras and wondered if they are manned 24 hours a day. Bernadette Williams, the president of the residents’ Local Advisory Council at Altgeld, complained to CHA officials recently about the spike in crime at that public housing complex even though security cameras are installed there.

“The kids are going to wind up getting shot,” Williams declared to CHA Board Commissioners during their public meeting on October 18, 2011.

This wall contains the names of people killed at the CHA Altgeld Gardens public housing site. RJ archived 2009 photo by Mary C. Piemonte

Williams described a number of crimes at Altgeld that took place shortly before the meeting, including a burglary of the LAC office and another in which a car was riddled with bullet holes by a gunman who got away.
“Thursday, there was a truck, 3 o’clock in the afternoon shot up, with at least 50 bullets in the car,” Williams said. “Now, if they caught that on camera, why didn’t they catch the shooter?
“If they monitor the cameras, he should have been caught.”

The following month, on Nov. 6, 2011, four people were shot to death at a store in the Altgeld community.

CHA Responds
CHA spokesperson Matthew Aguilar stated in a Feb. 1 e-mail that under CHA’s contract with the police, officers “would not normally patrol” the area where the four people were shot and killed in Altgeld.
“That particular shooting did not occur at Altgeld; it was nearby. Officers assigned to Altgeld as part of the CHA/CPD IGA would not normally patrol that area.”

Former CHA interim chief Carlos Ponce, former Board chairman James Reynolds, and Commissioner Adela Cepeda listening to Bernadette Williams complain about recent shootings at the Altgeld Gardens public housing site, during a meeting on Oct. 18, 2011. Photo by Mary C. Piemonte

Aguilar added that CHA and the police department met regularly to discuss the safety of its properties, and said that that their security cameras are monitored around the clock.

“CHA works with Chicago Police Department to deploy additional resources to Altgeld as needed and continues to monitor cameras in hot spots, 24/7. CHA is committed to ensuring the public safety of residents within all of its residential communities. The camera initiative – along with the use of security guards and the partnership with CPD – has deterred criminal activity in developments over the past year,” Aguilar declared.

Per their contract agreement, the police are mandated to also provide the CHA with quarterly security reports on crime at CHA public housing sites as well as in areas where CHA tenants have relocated under the Plan for Transformation.

However, the CHA informed Residents’ Journal in the Feb. 1 email that they didn’t have any documented 2011 crime reports from the police.

“CHA does not yet have 2011 reports. We will contact you when available.”

You can read RJ’s ongoing investigation into public housing residents’ complaints about the security at CHA sites, and their questions about the police department’s duties at: http://wethepeoplemedia.org/uncategorized/residents-deny-security-improvements/.

You can read “Deadly Moves,” our award-winning investigation into crime in areas to where CHA tenants relocated, in our series of articles at: http://wethepeoplemedia.org/tag/August-September-2004-Issue/.

The John H. Johnson Forever Postage Stamp. Photo by Mary C. Piemonte

Pioneering entrepreneur and publisher John Harold Johnson received one of the U.S. Postal Service’s highest honors on Jan. 31 when he was commemorated with this year’s Black Heritage Forever Stamp.

Johnson, the founder of the Johnson Publishing Company, which publishes Ebony and Jet magazine, now joins the 34 other honorees in the Postal Service’s Black Heritage Stamp series since 1978.

Johnson was born on Jan. 19, 1918, and died of heart failure on Aug. 8, 2005, at the age of 87.

Johnson made the decision to first publish the horrific details and photos of the open casket funeral of 14-year-old Emmett Louis Till, a Chicago youth who was murdered in Mississippi by two white racists for whistling at one of their wives in August 1955.

You can see a video of Residents’ Journal’s coverage of the Johnson Publishing Company’s involvement in the memorial service on the 54th anniversary of Till’s death at: http://youtu.be/7CBfolmW1bM.

The Johnson “Forever Stamp” was designed by art director Howard E. Paine and is equal in value to the current First Class stamp, 45 cents each or $9 a sheet.

Speakers for the Dedication
During the ceremony, those in attendance included students from Johnson College Prep, a school named for the publisher. The speakers for the dedication included Linda Johnson Rice, chairman of Johnson Publishing Company and John Johnson’s daughter; Desiree Rogers, the chief executive officer of Johnson Publisher Company; Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel; former Mayor Richard M. Daley; U.S. Rep. Danny K. Davis (D-7); U.S. Rep. Bobby L. Rush, (D-1); U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-2); and Anthony Vaughan, senior plant manager at the Postal Service.

From left to right: Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel; former Mayor Richard M. Daley; Desiree Rogers, the chief executive officer of Johnson Publisher Company; Linda Johnson Rice, chairman of Johnson Publishing Company and John Johnson’s daughter; Anthony Vaughan, senior plant manager at the Postal Service; U.S. Rep. Danny K. Davis (D-7); U.S. Rep. Bobby L. Rush, (D-1); and U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-2), during the unveiling ceremony of the John J. Johnson Forever Stamp, on Jan. 31, 2012. Photo by Mary C. Piemonte

Vaughan said Johnson was known as a “trailblazing” publisher of several magazines that “showcased African American accomplishments at a time when such affirmation was rare in mainstream media.” Johnson received many awards in recognition of his achievements, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom from former President William Jefferson Clinton in 1996.
He added that Johnson was named by Bailey University “as the greatest minority entrepreneur in American history.”

“With this new stamp, we are honoring John H. Johnson’s business and publishing accomplishments of his life, and most importantly, his efforts to foster a truly equal society,” he said.

Johnson Rice said she was “overwhelmed” by the “very auspicious occasion,” adding that “this is really a great honor, not only for me and my family, but for all of Johnson Publishing Company, and all of the things that we work so hard to do.”

Mayor Emanuel told Rice during the ceremony that the moment was shared with the whole city.
“I’m so proud that you’ve allowed the city to share this moment with your family and the company because this is a great honor and a great recognition for the city of Chicago,” Emanuel said. “He not only changed the county, but he also changed the city.”

Former Mayor Daley said when you look at Johnson’s life, coming from where he came from, “He never knew a barrier, or never knew someone who said ‘No, you can’t do it.’”

Daley added, “His legacy has to be looked at, has to be read, and has to be followed, because what he accomplished is the whole concept of a great country. He looked at the city, this country and the world in a completely different way. And that is real leadership.”

To the audience’s amusement, Congressman Jackson declared that Johnson “was a tower of a man” who had “power over life and death.

“If he put you in his magazine and he said that you were influential, you were influential. He gave you life….And he had power over death. You’re not dead in the Black community until John H. Johnson said you’re dead,” he said.

Rush said Johnson’s accomplishments represents “a beacon” of hope to African Americans struggling to achieve their own accomplishments. “You can look towards this man and he will show you the way from your problems and your pain. He’ll show you the way to succeed against the odds,” Rush said.

Davis, who said he was born about 30 miles from where Johnson lived in Arkansas during the early part of his life, told the staff of the Johnson publishing company that they had not only “a great legacy” but also a “great challenge and a great responsibility” to make sure “that this empire continues to exist.”

Other Public Officials’ Take
After the event, Cook County Clerk of the Circuit Court Dorothy Brown told Residents’ Journal that she was happy that the Post Office decided to honor Johnson, and that the event made her proud of African Americans throughout the country. She added that Johnson Publications “must live on forever for the sake of our children and our children’s children. So they can know our history.”

The event was held in Ald. Robert Fioretti’s 2nd Ward, and he told RJ after the event that ceremony was “great” not only for what the Black Heritage stamp symbolizes but also for stamp collectors.
“And I’m a philatelist,” he said.

Fioretti added that what Johnson did, accomplished, and how he achieved it, “just inspires everybody in all walks of life…not just for our community here in the African American community but for all of Chicago and for all of the country.”

Past Honorees
Escaped slave and abolitionist Harriet Tubman was the first honoree and the first African American woman honored and inducted into the Black Heritage Stamp collection on Feb. 1, 1978. Other past honorees have included civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.; actor, singer and athlete Paul Robeson; Major League Baseball hall of famer Jackie Robinson; Marian Anderson, one of the greatest classical singers of the 20th Century; noted poet, novelist and playwright Langston Hughes; African American aviator Bessie Coleman; Thurgood Marshall, the first African American U.S. Supreme Court Justice; Madam C.J. Walker, one of the nation’s first female millionaires; and Barbara Jordan, the first African American woman elected to the U.S. Congress from the South, according to data from the Postal Service.

CHA youth practicing their moves on the ice, during Chicago Blackhawks “Event to Inspire” Hockey Clinic sponsored by 1 World Sports, at Johnny’s Ice House on January 19, 2012. Photo by Mary C. Piemonte

For the second year, the Chicago Blackhawks met and greeted 61 Chicago public housing youth during their “Event to Inspire” Hockey Clinic sponsored by 1 World Sports, at Johnny’s Ice House, 1350 W. Madison Street on January 19, 2012.

During the three-hour sports clinic, the girls and boys, ages 6 to 12 all from CHA family developments, laced up their ice skates and were instructed in the fundamentals of hockey.
Later, they applied the new skills they learned from Kevin Delahny, the Blackhawks skills coach, to score puck-shots on Blackhawks goalie Ray Emery.

Johnny’s Ice House, 1350 W. Madison St., practice home for the Chicago Blackhawks Hockey Team. Photo by Mary C. Piemonte

The event aimed “to foster leadership and teamwork in youth through sports and other recreational activities,” according to the CHA press release.

CHA Youth Opportunities Program instructor Dorian Figures told Residents’ Journal during the event the youth were recruited through the CHA Family Works Program, and the Chicago Park District. Figures added that the kids also had to do a workbook on their hockey and other sports activities.

This Chicago public housing youth, takes a break off the ice, during the Chicago Blackhawks’ “Event to Inspire” Hockey Clinic sponsored by 1 World Sports, at Johnny’s Ice House, on January 19, 2012. Photo by Mary C. Piemonte

“This is not just about skating. They are also here to learn about sportsmanship. They have to do a workbook centered around sports and different other activities. They have ten different goals that they’re responsible for,” Figures said.

Marshawn Frencha reciting a Dr. Margeret Burroughs speech to his peers and their parents during the Dr. Martin Luther King event at Sixth Grace Presbyterian Church on Jan. 16, 2012. Photo by Mary C. Piemonte

Listening to a radio show on WVON 1690 AM this past Monday, I was moved by the tributes to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s efforts to create change for Black people, as well as the diligent efforts of so many others who fought to honor him for his leadership in the civil rights movement.

The civil rights movement did so much more than win more rights for Black people; it defined basic community service towards our fellow human beings. As I contemplated this notion, I got off my rear end, left my comfort zone, and went out of the house to give some of my time to help others, keeping in tune with the ideology that Dr. King’s fought so hard for, and eventually died for.

Dr. King was a servant to his fellow human being, to the extent of putting his life on the line according to his faith. In his preacher’s heart was concern about his fellow man, as he went out of the trenches, straight ahead into the heat of battle against his enemies.

Through it all, he relied on God. And in his faith he did not waiver going forth to war on behalf of the mistreatment of the Black race of human beings, for the sake of righteousness. He showed himself to be a Good Samaritan.

My community service for the day was to serve as a guest speaker to a group of young boys and girls and their parents at the youth and adult health and educational fair, held at Sixth Grace Presbyterian Church, 600 E. 35th St.

I ran my mouth in an attempt to encourage the youth to be kind to each other even as the God of Creation instructed us to do. I did so by telling them how I raised my six children while living in the Chicago Housing Authority’s now-demolished Madden Park Homes, which was also known as “New Town,” down the street not far from the church. Then I enacted a short poem I had written several years ago, titled “Life in the ‘Jects,” which is my perception of how it was for me living in public housing for 22 years.

In addition to me, members from several other youth organizations such as Imagine Englewood If also took time out of their busy schedule to honor Dr. King by coming to the church that day. They shared pamphlets on parenting, diabetes, lead poisoning, heart disease, obesity, domestic violence and positive self awareness, and they talked to the youth in attendance about abstaining from sex before marriage. They pointed to national numbers of Black Americans who suffer from HIV/AIDS, and high rates of out-of-wedlock pregnancies for African American girls compared to their White, Hispanic, and Asian counterparts. Workshops were also held for the children between the ages of six and 21, and their parents.

Eric Arnold from the Illinois Masonic Outreach Program hosted a workshop on how addiction starts for people.
Alyce Ann Crump from “Peach Out of Reach,” International Ministry for Young Ladies, talked to the teenage girls about how they were worth more than just a “Happy Meal.”

In addition, “Off the Edge” youth group members LaTarcha Russell, Lucinda Carter, and Quintana Woodridge, (who is We the People Media’s youth coordinator), talked to the youths about personal hygiene, and provided the children and their parents with free hand massages and facials, and also painted their fingernails.

Several of the youths and adults also entertained the audience by reading their spoken word poetry, and Marshawn Frencha recited a Dr. Margret Burroughs speech.

After the workshops, Dawn Short, a freshman at Chicago State University and a member of “Real Talk” William Youth Service shared some of her past history with the youths in hopes of them not going down the same path she took. She kept it real and told them about how she got caught up in the life of prostitution, becoming a drug dealer, and how she changed her life after having her 2-year-old son. She strongly encouraged them to do better in their lives and avoid the dangerous path she took.

Former Ida B. Wells public housing resident Sandra Young, a board member of the Chicago Housing Authority (and We The People Media) and co-founder of Ujima Inc., an employment and job training for all low-income people in the Bronzeville area, including at the Oakwood shores mixed-income housing community, was also in the house of God encouraging the kids to stay on the straight and narrow path.

In addition, Keisha Barbee, also a member of Ujima, talked to the youth about channeling their anger through poetry.

16-year-old Praise and Worship dancer Rebekah Crump, dazzled the audience with her performance during the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. event on January 16, 2012. Photo by Mary C. Piemonte

Afterwards everyone enjoyed two ministerial “praise and worship” dance performances by Sixth Grace Church members 13-year-old Ashley Colman, and 16-year-old Rebekah Crump.

14-year-old Praise and Worship Dancer Ashley Colman glides across the room, during the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day event at Sixth Grace Presbtyrian Church on Jan. 16, 2012. Photo by Mary C. Piemonte

The event ended with the Rev. Bernard Clark leading a prayer thanking the Lord God our Creator for the opportunity to be of service to others, just as Dr. King did.

She said the reason she made clothes in India was because the women and kids needed money for clothes themselves. So she made the business fair trade.
Fair trade is when someone gives somebody a deal: a fair wage, benefits such as health care and child care, and dignity and respect.

Dunn and two other friends, Michelle King and Jonit Bookheim, spent four months in India on the same trip. While Dunn was on the trip she fell in love with shopping in India. She then returned the next year to start her fashion company, Mata Traders. She named her company Mata Traders “because its name is ‘mom’ in Hindi.”

King and Bookheim supported Dunn when she started up Mata Traders, and they became official business partners.
Dunn really likes India. When I talked to her on the phone, I asked her what other things she makes beside clothes. “We make table mats, big earrings and some small,” she said.

To learn more about Dunn or her fashion, you can go to Mata Traders’ blog at: http://www.matatraders.com/blog/

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Eco Youth Reporters visit the studio of “Off The Record,” a student-produced television news program, on the campus of Michigan State University as part of a group trip to that academic institution. Photo by Micah Maidenberg

The second weekend of November, I traveled to Michigan State University. It was a weekend of firsts for me. I had never been on an Amtrak train before. I also had never stayed over in a hotel. And I had never visited a college campus before.

Our group left on Saturday, Nov. 12, from Union Station in Chicago. The train was gray on the outside. Inside, it had comfortable seats, with a button on the side allowing you to lean back. There was a food court where I bought a breakfast sandwich and an orange juice

Later that day we arrived at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan. The campus is like a little town of their own. They had a flag but it had the campus logo on it. There even was a McDonald’s, with photos of Michigan State basketball players. The trees were fresh and the leaves were green. To me, the buildings on campus were huge.

During our trip, we met with Jim Detjen, our guide who is a professor of environmental journalism at the university. Jim has gray hair and wears glasses. He used to work as a newspaper reporter, and I thought he was a nice guy.

On Saturday, Jim took us to a place called Pizza House for lunch first, and then he brought us to see different parts of the Michigan State campus, like the 4-H Children’s Garden.

At the garden, we saw ponds and flowers, which were dead because it was fall. The garden also had a maze, a bridge and many other features. For example, there was a musical device in the ground. When you stepped on it, it made a sound like chandeliers were hitting each other.

But the main point of our trip to Michigan State was to see the journalism facilities on campus.
One of the facilities was The State News building, where the newspaper for the campus is created. The paper is independent, and not a branch of the university, said the paper’s student editor-in-chief Kate Jacobson, when she took us on a tour.

We also took a tour of a television station on the campus called WKAR, led by Gary Reid, the station manager.
Gary explained to us the different programs the station broadcasts. One, a political program, was called “Off The Record.” In the “Off The Record” studio, we pretended to be on the show. Micah, our journalism teacher, was the host, while me and the other students, Tyreshia, Makylia and Carlos, acted like we were journalists from different places, answering questions on television.

Some of the WKAR studios were very large.

“You can drive a vehicle in and you can bring a stage in,” station manager Gary said of one studio.

My trip to Michigan State University persuaded me to go there, because they have good programs. They also have good studying areas and they have the subject I want to study there. The campus has great food and food courts. I also like some of the journalism facilities: the television studio was great.

In my opinion, I think you can have fun at Michigan State and learn at the same time.

I stand out at Paul Robeson High School in Englewood, where I am a freshman. It’s not always easy.

One recent day, I walked in the lunchroom and everyone yelled out, “Freak!” and called me a Satanist. I ended up not even eating lunch that day. I had on the school uniform, but I was also wearing red contacts and fingerless gloves and my nails were painted black. I dress this way—and my peers yell at me—because I am emo. Let me explain what it means to me to be emo.

First of all, the word emo is shorthand for emotional. That means emo people are in touch with their emotions. People who are emo may dress differently, wearing dark clothing, and listening to different types of music than other teenagers.

I became emo at the age of 11. What first got me started is when I heard my first rock song, by Three Days Grace. It opened my mind to new music and I soon stopped listening to rap and just listened to rock music all day long.

Then I realized I was good with a skateboard and loved doing parkour, a form of free running and free jumping exercise. But it also is a strange thing that no one in my neighborhood understands, so they call me weird, which is understandable because it’s something no one in my neighborhood has even seen before.

I started wearing black clothing to match my personality. It was like nothing in the world mattered at all to me. I didn’t care about anything but skateboarding and rock and staying to myself. But to be very frank, all I need is emo hair, slick, shiny, hanging down over your face, and then I will be complete.

Emo teenagers are often outcasts in their schools. For example, I believe that I am the only emo person in all of Paul Robeson High School. I called my girlfriend, whose name is Railynn, and asked her if she thought emo people were treated unfairly. Railynn also has first-hand experience with this because she is also emo.

She told me that, “We are different and that’s our way of dealing with things. And if people don’t like it they can get lost and at school people report us to the principal and we have to get counseling but for nothing.

We are just being ourselves” The misunderstandings people have about emo teenagers are many. For example, my peers at Robeson sometime think that I worship the devil when I don’t.

But in all truth, I and many of my emo friends have a problem with which religion to follow, so we don’t follow any. Another misunderstanding is that people claim all emo kids and teens cut themselves.

I believe people should have more compassion for emo teenagers. We have a hard time already because we aren’t like other kids. It’s not right to be called a “freak” at lunch and it’s wrong for people to judge us for who we are.

Urban Youth International Journalism Program reporter Tyreshia Black interviews Willie “JR” Fleming, an activist with Occupy the Hood Chicago. Photo by Micah Maidenberg

There were only a few people on the steps of Herman Hall on the Illinois Institute of Technology campus in Bronzeville on Oct. 2, and they stood waiting to talk to distressed homeowners. It was a small event but one that had a big message and connected to a bigger movement.

The scene was part of Chicago’s version of the worldwide events known as the Occupy Movement – protests that have spread from state to state affecting different cities and neighborhoods. The event the group “Occupy the Hood” held at Herman Hall focused on home foreclosures and forced evictions.

Inside the building, homeowners were trying to get help modifying their mortgages under a separate program from the Illinois Attorney’s General’s Office.

I got a chance to interview a couple of activists and supporters at the Occupy event and also talked to people inside with the Illinois Attorney General’s Office. Both events were trying to help people in different ways.
Loren Taylor, who is from the South Side, is with the group Occupy the Hood Chicago. He provided an overview of the organization.

“It all started in Harlem, roughly 10 days after the Occupy Wall Street movement wasn’t reaching out to all people, mainly African Americans,” he said. “But soon the Occupy activism approach spread to 15 to 20 cities in two weeks! Then the Occupy the Hood started October 15.”

At first, I didn’t understand exactly what was going on with each group, so I asked Taylor to explain more.

“Each local chapter is independent, but the focus in Chicago is the…neighborhoods,” he said. “What better place to protest on foreclosure and eviction than Chicago? This is where it is needed the most at this point.”
The Occupy the Hood group in Chicago brings together different organizations. A key one is the Anti-Eviction Campaign, which works closely with homeowners facing foreclosure, and people illegally evicted from apartments.

The movement also brings together people of all ages. Crystal Vance Guerra, a 23-year-old from the South Side, explained: “This is a solidarity event. You can look at the occupation movement and come to a conclusion that it is a demand for justice. As an active participant, we mainly stand up for what’s right and the people who are responsible for it.”

Guerra told me their current demand is for proper education, prison reforms and economic justice. They’re also really concerned about the eviction process.
“This is what has everyone fired up” said Guerra. “Eight families in there had less than two weeks to be gone from their apartments in this upcoming winter due to immediate eviction. That’s not right, and this is why this event was held today.”

Guerra’s friend Gabriel Schivone, 27, from Arizona, also attended the event.
“I’ve been in the situation of being one step away from not having a house, and it’s not a pleasant feeling, so I can relate to those going through eviction,” he said.

J.R Fleming, an activist from Cabrini-Green, also attended the event at Herman Hall.
“I believe housing is a human right,” he said. “We help people from homeless to homeowners. The amount of foreclosures and evictions in Chicago are out of hand. It’s time for corrections. Not temporary, but permanent.”

The Attorney General
Inside Herman Hall, Lisa Thompson-Bennett, a housing liaison from the Illinois Attorney General’s Office, was handing out resources to people. Bennett said the office had fought against poor home lending practices, referencing a major law suit that occurred in Illinois. She explained that the attorney general’s office sued the company Countrywide for targeting minorities with “subprime mortgages” that had high interest rates.

“We won the lawsuit with an $8.7 billion settlement – the largest of its kind,” she said.

A portion went to families that lost their homes due to foreclosure and to families seeking Countrywide loan modifications to help them keep their homes.

After talking to people who had faced eviction, it seemed as though a lot of home owners didn’t know what to do when they were short or late on their mortgage payments.

Bennett’s advice was that borrowers should “respond to lenders at all times and pay what you can. People are better off with advocates. But what’s most important is that you should seek help as early as you can.”