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Olivia Cunningham

Olivia Cunningham is a freelance writer and digital content specialist. As a two-time City Bureau Reporting Fellow, she investigated school resource officers in Chicago Public Schools and Black generational wealth in Chicago.

Museos mexicanos y puertorriqueños de Chicago organizan un verano digital durante COVID-19

Museos para la comunidad, por la comunidad, alcanzan familias de Chicago y más allá

by Olivia Cunningham
August 22, 2020September 21, 2020

Chicago’s Mexican and Puerto Rican Museums Host a Digital Summer During COVID-19

Community museums reach families in Chicago and beyond

by Olivia Cunningham
July 31, 2020December 3, 2020

How to Get in the Room

Panelists explored questions of Black generational wealth in an unconventional, but fitting, setting

by Olivia Cunningham
March 4, 2020March 31, 2020

Print Edition

Latest

All Chicago Homeless Shelters to Receive Vaccines by the End of the Month

The goal is to address the inequitable distribution of vaccines for the most vulnerable across the city.

Op-Ed: How Undocumented Chicagoans Are Ensuring a True Sanctuary City

An “inside/outside” organizing strategy and determination helped Chicago immigrants and their allies win six major immigration policy changes in five years.

Cops Got Overtime for Anjanette Young Raid

Five of the officers named in Young’s lawsuit had overtime requests approved for the night of the raid

Karl Battiste, photo courtesy of Karla Battiste

What Went Wrong at Cook County Jail 

A year after the first known case of COVID-19 in Illinois, the Weekly takes a look back at the thousands of infections and ten lives lost in the jail

AFRICOBRA. Courtesy of Duke University Press Books

AfriCOBRA Through the Eyes of Its Members

The radical Black collective’s art and politics are keenly relevant fifty years later

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Feb 25

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Op-Ed: How Undocumented Chicagoans Are Ensuring a True Sanctuary City Mayor Rahm Emanuel would leave office with exceptions to the sanctuary city ordinance still in place, but because of our continued coordinated organizing efforts, both inside City Hall via progressive council members and outside via campaigns led by our communities building collective power—what we call inside/outside organizing—we won measures that we had called for since 2015.

Op-Ed: How Undocumented Chicagoans Are Ensuring a True Sanctuary City

Mayor Rahm Emanuel would leave office with exceptions to the sanctuary city ordinance still in place, but because of our continued coordinated organizing efforts, both inside City Hall via progressive council members and outside via campaigns led by our communities building collective power—what we call inside/outside organizing—we won measures that we had called for since 2015. ...

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Feb 22

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School Desegregation History on the Far Southwest Side: Scottsdale and Ashburn experienced the wrath of white supremacy against a busing program to integrate schools like Bogan High School in the 70s. Archival photos courtesy of the Sun-Times.

School Desegregation History on the Far Southwest Side: Scottsdale and Ashburn experienced the wrath of white supremacy against a busing program to integrate schools like Bogan High School in the 70s. Archival photos courtesy of the Sun-Times. ...

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Feb 21

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A map of 80+ vaccination sites in South Side Chicago

A map of 80+ vaccination sites in South Side Chicago ...

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Feb 19

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New issue out now! Cover story by @thetriibechicago Plus vaccine info, AfriCOBRA, school desegregation history, homeless shelters during COVID, and more inside! Cover illustration: @theartbyizzie

New issue out now! Cover story by @thetriibechicago
Plus vaccine info, AfriCOBRA, school desegregation history, homeless shelters during COVID, and more inside!
Cover illustration: @theartbyizzie ...

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Feb 15

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A Planned Amazon Warehouse in Bridgeport is the Latest Site in the Fight Against Industrial Development on the South and Southwest Sides: As some Chicagoans disproportionately reap the benefits of the city’s growing logistics sector, others bear a disproportionate burden. Story by Amy Qin Illustration by @haleytweedell Full story at the link in the bio

A Planned Amazon Warehouse in Bridgeport is the Latest Site in the Fight Against Industrial Development on the South and Southwest Sides: As some Chicagoans disproportionately reap the benefits of the city’s growing logistics sector, others bear a disproportionate burden.

Story by Amy Qin

Illustration by @haleytweedell

Full story at the link in the bio ...

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Feb 8

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Rest in power Karen Lewis, an unapologetic labor leader who left her mark on the South Side and reshaped mayoral politics and teacher organizing. She would say, “We are the city of big shoulders and so we intend to put up a fight.”

Rest in power Karen Lewis, an unapologetic labor leader who left her mark on the South Side and reshaped mayoral politics and teacher organizing. She would say, “We are the city of big shoulders and so we intend to put up a fight.” ...

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Feb 7

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The conditions of the pandemic have made urgent the opportunity to get more people involved with tenant organizing than ever before. Tenants of a particular building or tenants that live in buildings owned by a single landlord can form their own unions to represent their demands. The formation of tenant unions across the city is just the first step in a greater project that brings self-determination to tenants. 📸@thoughtpoet77

The conditions of the pandemic have made urgent the opportunity to get more people involved with tenant organizing than ever before. Tenants of a particular building or tenants that live in buildings owned by a single landlord can form their own unions to represent their demands. The formation of tenant unions across the city is just the first step in a greater project that brings self-determination to tenants.

📸@thoughtpoet77 ...

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Feb 6

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Tenants at 32nd and Kedzie are facing eviction during COVID, which organizers are calling illegal due to the state and nationwide moratorium. A notice of demolition from Saint Anthony Hospital's developer was placed on the front gate, giving them until November 2020 to vacate the property. But they’ve stayed put. The tenants, who include artists and mechanics, say they have been facing harassment from security guards and cops, but they continue to organize eviction defenses in the building. 📸@gerrifernandez

Tenants at 32nd and Kedzie are facing eviction during COVID, which organizers are calling illegal due to the state and nationwide moratorium. A notice of demolition from Saint Anthony Hospital's developer was placed on the front gate, giving them until November 2020 to vacate the property. But they’ve stayed put. The tenants, who include artists and mechanics, say they have been facing harassment from security guards and cops, but they continue to organize eviction defenses in the building.
📸@gerrifernandez ...

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Feb 5

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Last year we couldn’t publish our annual Housing Issue due to the uncertainty of COVID-19, but this year we found it appropriate to bring back the special issue and look at housing through the pandemic lens. 🎨@lilycozzens

Last year we couldn’t publish our annual Housing Issue due to the uncertainty of COVID-19, but this year we found it appropriate to bring back the special issue and look at housing through the pandemic lens.

🎨@lilycozzens ...

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Feb 4

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Breaking: Cook County Jail Starts Vaccinating Detainees for COVID-19. On Monday, February 1, authorities started vaccinating people incarcerated in Cook County Jail for COVID-19, beginning with a small number of the most vulnerable residents. Approximately 150 of the more than 5,000 people detained in the jail had been vaccinated in the first three days of vaccine administration. Vaccinations for guards and staff at the jail started on January 20. Chicago receives its allotment of vaccines directly from the federal government and has a vaccine prioritization and distribution plan independent from the state’s. When Chicago entered phase 1b of vaccination on January 25, the city prioritized people incarcerated in the jail as phase 1b recipients, along with all other Chicagoans living in non-healthcare residential settings. This inclusion of incarcerated people in Chicago in phase 1b aligns with Illinois’s vaccine distribution prioritization plan, which also categorizes incarcerated people as phase 1b recipients. “We have been planning for months and have started with our highest-risk patients,” said Caryn Stancik, chief communications officer for Cook County Health and Cermak Health Services, the clinic in charge of administering vaccinations in the jail. “Ultimately, we look forward to offering vaccinations to all interested patients.” Story: Kiran Misra Photo: Eric Allix Rogers, licensed under Creative Commons Link in bio for full story

Breaking: Cook County Jail Starts Vaccinating Detainees for COVID-19.

On Monday, February 1, authorities started vaccinating people incarcerated in Cook County Jail for COVID-19, beginning with a small number of the most vulnerable residents. Approximately 150 of the more than 5,000 people detained in the jail had been vaccinated in the first three days of vaccine administration. Vaccinations for guards and staff at the jail started on January 20.

Chicago receives its allotment of vaccines directly from the federal government and has a vaccine prioritization and distribution plan independent from the state’s. When Chicago entered phase 1b of vaccination on January 25, the city prioritized people incarcerated in the jail as phase 1b recipients, along with all other Chicagoans living in non-healthcare residential settings. This inclusion of incarcerated people in Chicago in phase 1b aligns with Illinois’s vaccine distribution prioritization plan, which also categorizes incarcerated people as phase 1b recipients.

“We have been planning for months and have started with our highest-risk patients,” said Caryn Stancik, chief communications officer for Cook County Health and Cermak Health Services, the clinic in charge of administering vaccinations in the jail. “Ultimately, we look forward to offering vaccinations to all interested patients.”

Story: Kiran Misra

Photo: Eric Allix Rogers, licensed under Creative Commons

Link in bio for full story ...

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Feb 3

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The Displacement of Chinatown’s Low-Income Residents Is Aggravated by COVID-19: Data from the Chinese American Service League shows an exodus to the South and West. By: Yilun Cheng Photo: @sarahdererphoto Link to full story in bio

The Displacement of Chinatown’s Low-Income Residents Is Aggravated by COVID-19: Data from the Chinese American Service League shows an exodus to the South and West.

By: Yilun Cheng

Photo: @sarahdererphoto

Link to full story in bio ...

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Jan 31

Open
Mexican Modes of Empowerment in Chicagoland, a book review. Map: Mexican “colonies” of the Chicago area in 1928, courtesy of John H. Flores and UI Press.

Mexican Modes of Empowerment in Chicagoland, a book review.

Map: Mexican “colonies” of the Chicago area in 1928, courtesy of John H. Flores and UI Press. ...

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  • Get Involved
  • Subscribe
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Notes

RIP Karen Lewis

February 17, 2021

The Housing Issue

February 3, 2021February 12, 2021

Is your CPS school safe? Search your school

January 20, 2021February 2, 2021