This week, the historic Scheelea Palm tree, a staple in the Garfield Park Conservatory since 1926, is being removed. The Scheelea has outgrown its glassy home and will be uprooted, along with two other palm trees.
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The past, present and future converged during a night of Afrofuturistic celebration.
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West Side residents of the 24th and 28th wards gathered to address aldermanic candidates at a forum held at Jensen Scholastic Academy on Feb. 12.
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In December 2018, the organization Austin Coming Together hosted a summit introducing its Austin Quality of Life Plan to the west-side Chicago community.
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Students are helping voters take the wheel of Chicago’s local election by driving around in a school bus they designed and refurbished.
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“Citizenship” is a loaded word, used to confer different sets of rights depending on the context in which it is used and the people it is describing.
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A recent American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois report found that traffic stops tripled from 2015 to 2017 in Chicago — rising from nearly 86,000 to over 285,000 in 2017.
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The Chicago West Community Music Center began in a North Lawndale kitchen. It was 1999, CPS had cut music and art funding from public schools, and Howard and Darlene Sandifer were frustrated with the lack of opportunities that young people in their home of North Lawndale had to pursue an affordable, accessible arts education. So, they took matters into their own hands.
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Chicagoans gathered at the National Museum of Mexican Art on Jan. 22 to celebrate the National Day of Racial Healing.
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From slow bus speeds to increased bus fares, Chicago’s bus transit system is rife with issues.
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Community groups in the greater Chinatown area announced a series of candidate forums Jan. 18 and encouraged community members to vote in the 2019 municipal election.
When Brenda Cargile first learned about the Deterra medical disposal bags, she took a handful home and went straight to her closet. There on the shelf was a shoebox filled with old medications she didn’t know how to get rid of.
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Jessica Fong still remembers the hours she spent playing outside and making mud pies as a kid growing up in Humboldt Park. Now the pre-K Chicago Public Schools teacher worries her students won’t have those memories. Up against a national trend of children spending hours staring at their phones, laptops, tablets and TV screens every day, Fong is employing a new kind of playground to help inspire a love of nature in her students.
Rev. Charles Straight and fellow activists stood before a cluster of microphones, reminding media members of the Chicago Police Department’s ongoing history of misconduct and the repercussions of pretrial incarceration.
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A typical Filipino greeting starts with “Kamusta?” (How are you?) followed by “Kumain ka na?” (Have you eaten?). It’s undeniable that food is at the center of almost every Filipino interaction and gathering. In most social events, the ever-present bilao (circular basket) of pancit (noodles) or tray of lumpia (spring rolls) is always on the table, but folks rarely talk about food beyond complimenting it or exchanging recipes.
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Trinisa Williams is a member of the Hatchery, a food business incubator opened Dec. 6 in East Garfield Park. She's also a resident of Garfield Park— one of only a few West Side entrepreneurs working with the Hatchery to start a business.
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CPS plan to close top performing, majority black school is halted by courts, and later dropped altogether
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In the early hours of the morning, hundreds of teachers and thousands of families finally got word that today would not be just another Tuesday. Unionized educators from 15 Acero charter schools walked picket lines instead of hallways today, after calling the first-ever charter school strike in American history over true sanctuary schools and better teaching conditions.
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Earlier this month, teens from across the city of Chicago came out to St. Paul’s United Church of Christ in the Lincoln Park neighborhood for UCAN’s fourth annual Youth Peace Summit. The daylong event held four peer-led workshops, which paved the way for conversations on diversity, mental health and leadership.
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The Bloc, a non-profit youth boxing club in North Lawndale, pairs mentorship with training in boxing for kids on the West Side of Chicago. Launched by Jamyle Cannon, the program offers a safe place for kids to go after school to do homework, learn discipline, and maximize their potential. Modeled after its success at DRW, the Bloc is now in the process of starting two new programs at Frazier Preparatory Academy and the KIPP One Academy.
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