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All Things Unequal

Fifty years of racial inequality from the UIC’s State of Racial Justice Report

by and 4 months ago 2 Comments

Ellen Hao

On Monday, the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Institute for Research on Race & Public Policy (IRRPP) released “A Tale of Three Cities: The State of Racial Justice in Chicago Report,” a study that analyzes disparities in housing, economics, education, justice, and health between Black, Latinx, and white communities in Chicago. Using robust quantitative evidence from a variety of sources, each section delves deep into the history, causes, and consequences of these racial and ethnic inequities that “remain pervasive, persistent, and consequential” in Chicago’s institutions and neighborhoods.”

Features | Media | Politics

A Crisis of Coverage

New York Times panel reflects failings of reporting on Chicago violence and solutions

by 5 months ago 1 Comment

Alyssa Schukar for the New York Times

Last week the New York Times came to Chicago to host a two-hour conversation about the city’s gun violence crisis. The event, “Chicago at a Crossroads,” was announced as an attempt to “work to turn the tide of violence” by “exploring realistic, promising strategies” and starting “provocative discussions.” It was produced in collaboration with the University of Chicago Crime Lab, which works with the Chicago Police Department to study patterns in the city’s violence though data analysis, and sponsored by, among other entities, Chase Bank. “Too many people are dying in Chicago. Let’s change that,” John Eligon, one of the Times reporters who hosted the conversation, wrote on Twitter in advance of the event.

History | Hyde Park | Kenwood | Politics | Woodlawn

The Past and Future of the SECC

Looking back on the South East Chicago Commission’s past as it enters a new era

by and 5 months ago

The University of Chicago announced on January 26 that over the course of this year, the nonprofit South East Chicago Commission (SECC) will gain considerable independence from the university. Much of the SECC’s university funding will be cut, and the university will no longer be able to appoint or approve the organization’s board members. According to both parties, the move reflects the SECC’s need to reevaluate its direction as an organization.

Politics

Is Safe Passage Safe from Budget Cuts?

Despite successes, patchwork funding leaves a CPS program’s future uncertain

by 5 months ago

Ellen Hao

When Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced in 2013 the closing of nearly fifty Chicago public schools, he attempted to address the concerns regarding student safety by calling for the expansion of the Safe Passage program. First launched in 2009, Safe Passage is a combination of programs that harnessed community involvement to ensure the safety of students traveling to and from school. The program enacts stronger punishments for the possession of guns, ammunition, and other dangerous weapons in designated Safe Passage routes and school safety zones. These routes linked closed schools and the “welcoming” schools that students were redirected into in 2013; the school safety zones cover 1,000 feet around any school and public park within the area.

Housing | Politics

Redeveloping the State Street Corridor: An Update

by 5 months ago 1 Comment

Ellen Hao

In January, the Weekly published an investigation into the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA)’s failure to redevelop public housing in Bronzeville after demolishing much of it in the early 2000s. The demolition of projects such as Ida B. Wells, Robert Taylor, and Stateway Gardens was part of the now-notorious Plan for Transformation, a federally funded initiative that promised to replace the demolished high-rises with new housing developments that would combine subsidized and market-rate housing units. The Plan also promised that the CHA would rebuild or rehabilitate a total of 25,000 units overall. 

Politics

Where is Your Alderman?

Low attendance rates in City Council take ward interests off the table

by 6 months ago 1 Comment

Lizzie Smith

The Chicago City Council’s Committee on Committees, Rules and Ethics (CCRE) met on December 1, 2015 to appoint two people to the city’s board of ethics. The committee’s chairman, Alderman Michelle Harris, was not present for the vote; neither were any of the three vice chairmen, Aldermen Carrie Austin, Ed Burke, and Marty Quinn. In a room filled with empty seats, seven of the committee’s fifty members confirmed the appointees by voice vote. The other thirty-nine were nowhere to be found.

Activism | Education | Politics

Students United in Power

High school activists in Brighton Park continue a familiar fight in the Trump era

by 6 months ago

In the summer and early fall of 2015, all eyes in Chicago’s education community were on the campaign and thirty-four-day hunger strike organized by community organizers, families, and educators, that successfully led to the reopening of Dyett High School in Washington Park as an arts school. Among the activists in the “Save Dyett” campaign were Dyett alumni and students, many of whom mobilized after feeling their communities and schools were being undervalued by city officials.

Education | Politics

Stumbling Blocks for Public Preschool

What’s behind the drop in CPS pre-K enrollment?

by 6 months ago 2 Comments

Turtel Onli

This school year, Chicago Public Schools saw a shocking enrollment loss of 1,882 students in its preschool programs, nearly six times greater than last year’s enrollment decrease. The drop in preschool enrollment accounted for seventeen percent of all attrition in the district—the largest decline in preschool enrollment since 2008. This dramatic change coincides with the introduction of a universal online application for Chicago public preschool programs, echoing a similar drop in preschool enrollment after a 2013 shift to a universal in-person application system.

Features | Pilsen | Politics | Religion

Selling St. Adalbert

The future of a Pilsen church puts parishioners and archdiocese at odds

by 6 months ago 2 Comments

Robert Harris

On the evening of February 28, about thirty congregants of St. Adalbert Church huddled under a tunnel of scaffolding outside the main doors of the church, seeking refuge from a downpour of rain. Holding posters, candles, and various Catholic paraphernalia, the churchgoers collectively chanted “La iglesia no se vende.” (The church is not for sale). At around 6:30pm, a few of the elderly parishioners, standing on the steps at the entrance of the church, began a prayer vigil.