n the spring of 2018, lifelong Gage Park resident Samantha MartĂnez was finishing up undergrad at Roosevelt University when she started to think about her next steps. âThere was the expectation of having to leave Gage Park in order to âmake itâ in Chicago, and we didnât want that,â MartĂnez says. Her twin sister Katia […]
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Posted inHousing
Lights Out
Arlanta Shelley was grocery shopping on a Friday morning in October when she got a call from her oldest son, who is nineteen and lives with schizophrenia. He had been at home playing video games until the screen went dark. âI thought maybe it was due to a mistake or something else could have went […]
Posted inLatest
Black Artists on the South and West Sides Show Resilience in Battle with Challenges Created by the PandemicÂ
ast summer, restorative justice clothing brand store TRAP House Chicago, in East Chatham, was full of musicians, poets and rappers. If there were any strangers at the monthly spoken word event no one wouldâve known. Known simply as âPeople Say,â the event felt like a family gathering for the creative community on the South Side: […]
Posted inUrban planning
Thereâs an Uptick in Street Overdoses During the Pandemic
atonia Easter, forty-six, waits in line to receive food and harm reduction supplies provided by a Chicago Recovery Alliance (CRA) truck parked at the corner of 68th and South Halsted. Easter has been homeless for more than ten years and struggles with chronic opioid use. The coronavirus pandemic has only reinforced her reluctance to seek […]
Posted inViolence
An End to Cash Bond in Illinois is Only the Beginning of Restorative Justice
ast month, state Senator Robert Peters and Representative Justin Slaughter announced a bill known as the Pretrial Fairness Act that, if passed, would make Illinois the second state to end the use of money bonds after New Jersey. In Cook County, where about a quarter of the countyâs detainees are kept incarcerated because they cannot […]
Posted inBest of the South Side 2020
Best of Bridgeport 2020
Best Comeback Best Use of Empty Lots Best Community Response Best Comfort Food in Uncomfortable Times In Memoriam: Johnny O’s hen I solidified my love affair with Chicago and became an official resident in 2016, I was struck by the sense of kinship that permeated the near South Side neighborhood of Bridgeport despite the diversity […]
Posted inArcher Heights
Best of the South Side In Memoriam 2020
Archer Heights & West Elsdon: Jan Kopec Archer Heights & West Elsdon: Mind + Hand Avalon Park & Calumet Heights: Taurus Flavors Bridgeport: Johnny O’s Chatham: Mather’sâMore Than a CafĂ© Chinatown: Chinese-language newspapers Clearing & Garfield Ridge: St. Camillus La Villita: Raspa Man Don Lupillo Roseland: Argus Brewery South Chicago: Carlos Rosas of Calumet Fisheries […]
Posted inArt
Best of South Chicago 2020
Best Replacement for a Christopher Columbus Statue Best Tucked Away CafĂ© Best Art Space to Rally the Community Best Steel Magnolia Best Youth Organizing In Memoriam: Carlos Rosas of Calumet Fisheries ny time Iâm in the Loop or on the North Side, people ask me where Iâm from. I tell them South Chicago. Then they […]
Posted inBest of the South Side 2020
Best of Chinatown 2020
Best Cross-Town Unity March Best Essential Delivery Service Best Pandemic Unemployment Hotline in a Chicago Landmark Best Class for Learning to Talk to Family Members Best Food Drive for Building Solidarity In Memoriam: Chinese-language newspapers serving Chinatown Anita Gist-Jonesâs family has called Archer Court home for three generations. She served on the Local School Council […]
Posted inBest of the South Side 2020
Best of Back of the Yards 2020
Best Food Pantry That Does It All Best Spiked ‘Booch Best Local Green Spaces Best Parent Activism ack of the Yards hasn’t historically been known for being a gorgeous residential area or a hub of commerceârather, itâs famous for its factories, its slaughterhouses, and for the former Union Stockyards that give the neighborhood its name. […]