A Black woman making an impact in her community
The woman standing and speaking at the podium is Rochelle Jackson.
The photo was taken by Valerie Leonard in the Summer of 2017.
Women's History Month is celebrated in March to remind people of all of the contributions women have made to the growth of culture and society from the past and in the present.
Rochelle Jackson, a Chicago native-born and raised in the North Lawndale community, has worked as an administrative specialist for the Juvenile Protective Association (JPA) for 31 years. Her position includes office management, providing neighborhood resources, and administering Medicaid services among several others over the years.
Jackson first got involved with JPA in 1990 when she saw an ad in the Chicago Tribune for a receptionist position, she answered it and was hired on. After working in that position for three years, she was promoted to research assistant.
In that role, Jackson would assist with a 20-year longitudinal study on child abuse and neglect. During that study, she was promoted from research assistant to project coordinator.
When that study ended, she began to work with the parent assessment team. Her job would be to assess parents with mental health issues on proper care of their children.
Then after that project was finished, she was given the administrative specialist role.
In the North Lawndale community, residents recognize her as an activist, but to her, she is a Black woman just doing good for the hood.
In addition to that, Jackson is a chairwoman of transportation/infrastructure committee within North Lawndale Community Coordinating Council (NLCCC).
Jackson got involved with NLCCC in October 2015 when the organization posted an invitation announcement on Facebook inviting people to come to a community meeting at Sinai Institute to hear about the North Lawndale Quality of Life Plan. She attended the meeting and decided to join the transportation and education committee.
She has noticed her involvement with NLCCC has inspired other people to help improve the community, too.
“I think it's made a tremendous impact on the residents because for the first time, I've noticed, because of the work that I'm doing, other people are wanting to get more involved in helping improve the community, which is always a good thing," Jackson said.
Based on the needs of her own neighborhood, Jackson believes growth is constructed of several components.
"Growth consists of building and having the capacity to create sustainability, improving economic development, improving education for our children," she said. "Creating more opportunities for arts and culture and more spaces, to create activities for kids in our community to grow. "
Jackson said others can also contribute to the community growth by being boots on the ground and advocating for North Lawndale, and recruiting more neighbors to get involved.
"I've been boots on the ground for the past six years now. Just getting more organizations, city agencies involved with the work that we want to do to improve transportation and infrastructure in the North Lawndale community," she said.