Citizen Suburban Times Weekly 3-27-2019

Citizen Week of March 27, 2019

| Vol. 2 | No. 33 | www.thechicagocitizen.com

SUBURBAN TIMES WEEKLY

The Village of Homewood recently launched this year’s Think Homewood marketing campaign that targets millennials and encourages them to consider Homewood when they are ready to leave the city. Photo Credit: Jessica Matushek Photography

NEW MARKETING CAMPAIGN HOPES TO ENTICE MILLENNIALS TO BUY HOMES IN THE SOUTH SUBURBS

The Village of Homewood recently launched their 2019 Think Homewood campaign which aims to attract young Chicagoans to the south suburbs. The marketing campaign highlights what Homewood has to offer, like good schools, community events, and affordable housing, in a creative way that is relatable and attractive to people who were born between 1981 and 1996, also known as Millennials. SEE PAGE 3

ART SCENE

The artist behind Oscar winning Hannah Beachler’s iconic face chain PAGE 2

TRAVEL

POLITISCOPE

Amtrak Pacific Surfliner Offers 50% Off Companion Rail Fares for Spring Getaways PAGE 2

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Adding a citizenship question to the 2020 census would cost some states their congressional seats PAGE 4

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Douriean Fletcher

2 | CITIZEN | Suburban Times Weekly | Week of March 27, 2019

ART SCENE The artist behind Oscar winning Hannah Beachler’s iconic face chain

Children of Afghanistan

Rich Poverty Presents the Alliance Collection A gallery of photographs made by veterans and their families is on display now inside the Pentagon.

The Alliance Collection, a project of photography company, Rich Poverty, will be on display now through March, 2020 in Apex 1/2, level 2 (2A-1/2 Apex).

Including over fifty veteran artists from around the globe (to include family members), The Alliance Collection promotes veterans in the arts. “Our intent is to bridge the gap

between the civilian population and our returning troops,” said founder, Tim Wallace. “We’re presenting a mix of imagery made by service members while in uniform and -also upon their return home. Our artists are sharing more than just the stories of their wartime missions - this is the full journey, through the eyes of the veteran.”

Much like the coalitions of overseas deployment, The Alliance Collection includes imagery from international

partners. Photographers hailing from Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Canada and more are prominently featured. The collection includes veterans from all branches of service and many different conflicts ranging from WWII through the present.

To explore the life stories of each photographer and their imagery, visit www.richpoverty.com or follow them on https://www.facebook. com/RichPoverty/ or https://www. instagram.com/rich_poverty/.

Douriean Fletcher, specialty jeweler for Oscar winning Marvel’s Black Panther, was commissioned to create the iconic face chain worn

by Academy Award winning production designer Hannah Beachler for her red carpet look.

Fletcher and Beachler maintained their connection after working together on the historic film. As a Los Angeles based metalsmith specializing in wearable fine art in lustrous gold tones, Douriean Fletcher seized the opportunity to fashion the delicate face adornment with its cascading chain ear cuff.

Her work has been seen on Oscar award winning Ruth Carter, Lupita Nyong’o, Angela Bassett and others making Douriean Fletcher, specialty jeweler for her no stranger to award Oscar winning Marvel’s Black Panther, was season requests. commissioned to create the iconic face Hannah’s groundbreaking chain worn by Academy Award winning win and moving speech was production designer Hannah Beachler a proud moment for the (pictured) for her red carpet look. entire Marvel Black Panther creative team and women of color everywhere including Douriean.

According to Fletcher, her “…immediate and primary passion as it relates to wearable art is her commitment in supporting women in revealing their true beauty by telling their stories through her work.” The story of film aesthetics has a new chapter and Douriean Fletcher’s masterpiece punctuated the moment.

To learn more about fine art adornments by Douriean, browse current collections and place custom orders, visit www.douriean.com

TRAVEL Amtrak Pacific Surfliner Offers 50 percent Off Companion Rail Fares for Spring Getaways The Amtrak Pacific Surfliner® is offering special savings on midweek train travel through May 23, 2019. For a limited time, passengers who travel midweek, from Monday through Thursday, can purchase one full-fare adult ticket and book an additional ticket on the same reservation at a 50 percent discount.

“We are excited to offer this promotion as part of our Hug the Coast campaign, which celebrates everything that makes Southern California great,” said Al Murray, chairman of the Los Angeles – San Diego – San Luis Obispo Rail Corridor Agency, which oversees the Pacific Surfliner service. “We hope this encourages midweek getaways and scenic train trips along the coast to our region’s beautiful beaches, natural preserves, and vibrant downtowns.”

Program details: To take advantage of the Midweek Getaway Discount, purchase one full-fare adult ticket for Pacific Surfliner travel, and receive one additional ticket at a 50 percent discount on the same reservation. Book through PacificSurfliner.com, Amtrak. com, or the Amtrak app, select “Adult” as passenger type (for all passengers), then enter V402 in the promotion code field.

Tickets can also be purchased by calling 800-USA-RAIL or visiting a staffed station and referring to discount code V402.

The Pacific Surfliner carries nearly 3 million passengers a year and offers daily service between San Diego, Orange, Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo counties, connecting

The Amtrak Pacific Surfliner® is offering special savings on midweek train travel through May 23, 2019.

travelers to popular destinations along the Southern California coast.

Visit pacificsurfliner.com/save to view complete details on the Midweek Getaway Discount.

About Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner® The Pacific Surfliner travels along a 351-mile coastal rail route through San Diego, Orange, Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo counties, serving 27 stations. It is the busiest state-supported intercity passenger rail route in the United States with 24 daily trains and annual ridership of nearly 3 million. To learn more and plan a trip, visit PacificSurfliner.com. www.thechicagocitizen.com

About the LOSSAN Rail Corridor Agency The Los Angeles – San Diego – San Luis Obispo (LOSSAN) Rail Corridor Agency is a joint powers authority composed of rail owners, operators and planning agencies along the entire LOSSAN rail corridor. In addition to working to improve passenger rail ridership, revenue, on-time performance, operational flexibility, and safety, the LOSSAN Agency assumed management responsibility for the Pacific Surfliner service in July 2015, following the execution of an interagency transfer agreement with the state of California. For more information, visit lossan.org.

SOURCE Amtrak Pacific Surfliner

CITIZEN | Suburban Times Weekly | Week of March 27, 2019

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COMMUNITY

New Marketing Campaign Hopes To Entice Millennials To Buy Homes In The South Suburbs Continued from page 1

BY KATHERINE NEWMAN

The Village of Homewood recently launched their 2019 Think Homewood campaign which aims to attract young Chicagoans to the south suburbs. The marketing campaign highlights what Homewood has to offer, like good schools, community events, and affordable housing, in a creative way that is relatable and attractive to people who were born between 1981 and 1996, also known as Millennials.

“Our whole goal is to attract millennials living in the city who have come to that moment in their life where they are trying to figure out their next move and have come to the realization that they would like to move out of the city,” said Jennifer Quirke, marketing director for The Village of Homewood.

This year’s Think Homewood campaign highlights “puzzling” issues that young city-dwellers face as they try to transition into

An image from the Think Homewood 2019 marketing campaign. Photo Credit: The Village of Homewood

the next phase of life. For example, one advertisement reads “Puzzling over where to get award-winning schools, walkability, and start a savings account? The pieces come together in Homewood.”

The puzzle represents the different desires, needs, and dislikes that a person takes into consideration when looking to move out of the city. Those elements should fit together like the pieces of a puzzle to create the perfect living environment for a person and their family.

“It is kind of like a puzzle because you are trying to put it all together in a way that will

make everybody happy including yourself,” said Quirke.

The Think Homewood Campaign will be on display on the Chicago Transit Authority’s Blue Line and the Pink Line trains which were selected because their routes go through many popular neighborhoods where young families are known to live. There will also be animated images, known as gifs, circulating on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to get people thinking about the south suburbs and The Village of Homewood.

“Traditionally, when people think about

moving to the suburbs, they don’t really think to look south,” said Quirke. “There are a lot of stereotypes that are associated with the south side and Homewood doesn’t necessarily fit any of those south side stereotypes. We are an inclusive and diverse community, we have an amazing park district and school district, and we are a community that millennials might find to be a perfect fit.”

The decision was made to target millennials because data from the U.S. Census Bureau showed that the millennial generation is currently the largest living generation and makes up the largest group of first-time homebuyers.

Aside from that, The Village of Homewood also recognized that millennials have very diverse interests and this campaign caters to that as well.

“We highlight everything that is great about Homewood and that you are not going to lose your sense of who you are if you go out to the suburbs,” said Quirke. “Just because you are giving up city living doesn’t mean you have to give up the city.”

NEWS

Proposed cannabis farm aided by consulting firm

BY WENDELL HUTSON Contributing Writer

A startup business was able to secure $144 million in funding for a proposed hemp farm in the south suburbs thanks to a Homewood-Flossmoor entrepreneur and his Chicago consulting firm.

In 2008, Fredrick Blackman founded DB Matterhorn Group Inc., a black-owned, capital funding consulting firm he said prepares, positions and presents clients for funding through third party resources. Until now, Blackman said the most funding his downtown firm helped secure for a client was $5 million.

“We get them [clients] lined up for funding and that could mean having our accountants analyze their finances to helping them create a business plan,” said Blackman.

According to Blackman, his firm recently assisted a client, OEP Group, with funding to build a 1.6 million square-foot indoor hemp facility in the south suburbs, which would serve as a hemp farm and processing plant.

An exact suburban location has not yet been determined, but the company’s five owners, who asked to remain anonymous, confirmed it is looking at south suburban locations.

“No land has been purchased yet or proposals made to any suburban villages. As far as a timetable when the plant will be up and running, that’s still in the planning stages,” said Blackman. “Their dream is to be the biggest cannabis company in the world. Cannabis is a global marketplace.”

While hemp is classified as cannabis, it is used more to develop products such as automobiles, body care, clothing, construction, food, and plastic. The chemical makeup of hemp is 0.3 percent, while marijuana has a chemical makeup of 5 to 35 percent.

Darrell Garth Darrell/ Garth President Publisher President / Publisher Janice Garth Garth SalesJanice Manager/ General Sales Manager/ ManagerGeneral Manager

Unlike marijuana, which is used to smoke, hemp, while considered cannabis, is oil used to make products, such as automobiles, body care, clothing, construction, food, and plastic.

A group of five, black entrepreneurs plan to build a 1.6 million square-foot indoor hemp farm in the south suburbs and hire 250 people. Photos by Wendell Hutson

“Hemp is cannabis but it’s not marijuana. It is oil extracted from marijuana plants,” added Blackman.

And one industry Blackman said could benefit from a hemp facility is farmers.

“I guarantee you the farmers are going to jump on this and start growing hemp,” he contends. “Look for farmers to get more involved with hemp once it takes off.”

Norbert Brauer, president of the Illinois Farmers Union, was unavailable for comment.

However, legal experts said while recreational marijuana has been legalized in 10 states, the federal government has not legalized it. And even more states, such as Illinois, allow people to use marijuana for medical purposes.

“Banks that deal in the industry could be liable for charges of money laundering if the U.S. Justice Department chose to prosecute them,” said Martin Snow, a Chicago attorney. “Even

Brinks trucks won’t transport cash for cannabis companies. Without access to the banking system, marijuana companies might have to operate solely in cash, unable to write checks, make deposits and obtain loans.”

In 2018, Illinois’ medical cannabis program had gross sales of $136.5 million, according to the state Treasurer’s Office. State lawmakers have drafted a bill to legalize recreational marijuana and if passed and signed by the governor, analysts estimate Illinois could generate sales of $224 million by 2022.

Big deals involving millions of dollars don’t come easy especially for black-owned businesses, contends Blackman.

“Usually the Europeans get these types of deals with all this money involved. These big deals don’t usually come to guys of color like me but that’s what I love about this deal,” explained Blackman. “It’s by black people, for black people and owned by black people.”

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4 | CITIZEN | Suburban Times Weekly | Week of March 27, 2019

POLITISCOPE

Adding a citizenship question to the 2020 census would cost some states their congressional seats

BY DUDLEY POSTON

A partisan battle is brewing over the 2020 census.

In March 2018, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross instructed the U.S. Census Bureau to add a new question to the 2020 questionnaire, asking respondents whether they were citizens of the U.S. This decision led to a host of legal challenges. Social scientists and many U.S. Census Bureau officials fear that the citizenship question could cause some immigrants, especially undocumented immigrants, not to fill out the questionnaire, out of they fear that the information could be used to arrest or deport them. A test run in Rhode Island suggests that this is likely.

The case has now reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which will decide by June whether the question may be added.

A study I published on Feb. 25 with my former student, Amanda Baumle, now a professor of sociology at the University of Houston, found that adding the citizenship question will likely cause many million people to not respond to the census. That will reduce the official population of some states, leading to political and economic harm.

The census is conducted every 10 years to

Dudley Poston

count the U.S. population. The U.S. Census Bureau then uses these population numbers to determine how the 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives are distributed.

The number of seats that a state receives also determines the size of its delegation to the Electoral College.

In addition, a state’s total population dictates the amount of federal dollars that it receives. In 2015 alone, the federal government used census data to distribute more than US$675 billion to the states. So, it’s to a state’s

economic advantage to have all its residents counted in the decennial census.

In our research, we projected the population of each state in 2020, assuming that the states’ annual population growth rates from 2010 to 2017 would continue through to 2020.

We then used these data to predict how the U.S. House would be apportioned.

Our work suggests that, in 2020, there should be a net change of nine seats in the U.S. House. Texas should gain three seats; Florida, two; and Arizona, Colorado, North Carolina and Oregon, one. Nine states should lose one seat: Alabama, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and West Virginia.

However, if a question about citizenship is added in the 2020 census, that changes things.

Researchers don’t know how many immigrants might not answer the questionnaire, so we looked at a number of scenarios, from only 10 percent avoiding the census, to all undocumented population doing so.

If all of the nearly 11 million undocumented immigrants residing in the U.S. do not respond and are not counted, then four states would lose a seat: Texas, Arizona, Florida and California. Meanwhile, Alabama, Minnesota, Montana and Ohio would gain one.

If 50 percent of the undocumented immi-

grants do not fill out the census questionnaire, then Texas, Arizona and California would lose a House seat, and Alabama, Minnesota and Montana would gain one.

A citizenship question would also carry an economic cost for some states. Let’s look at Texas, my home state. In 2015, the federal government gave Texas $40 billion. This was based on the size of the Texas population, which numbered over 27 million residents.

Texas stands to lose a great deal, if not the most of any state, if a citizenship question is added. About 1.6 million people in Texas are undocumented. If half a million or more undocumented Texans do not respond to the 2020 census, Texas will lose several billion dollars in federal funds every year starting in 2021.

Republicans generally favor the inclusion of the citizenship question on the 2020 census, while Democrats are arguing against it. But ultimately, if a citizenship question is added, Texas, Arizona and maybe Florida – all states that voted for Trump in 2016 – stand to lose the most. In my opinion, this battle is best left unfought.

Dudley Poston is a Professor of Sociology at Texas A&M University.

NEWS

6-Year-Old Philanthropist Receives Congressional Recognition for Anti-Bullying Work While most kindergartners spend their free time on play dates, one kindergarten philanthropist, Cavanaugh Bell is on a mission to spread positivity and change the world with his organization, Cool & Dope.

Following his month-long bullying awareness campaign in February that culminated in a kid-led bullying vigil, featured on CBS, and the distribution of 150 “We’re Cool” bags to local school counselors for bullying victims, Cavanaugh was presented with a Certificate of Congressional Recognition.

After being bullied in preschool for being advanced, Cavanaugh stopped eating for weeks. He has since channeled his experience to give other bullying victims a voice.

His bullying campaign began in late January when he delivered a moving 2-minute anti-bullying speech to area lawmakers to get February 21 designated as “Bullying Awareness Day,” in honor of children who have committed suicide due to bullying.

His message of positivity has even spread all the way to Capitol Hill, garnering him recognition from government officials, including Representatives Ayanna Pressley, Jahana Hayes, David Trone and

Cavanaugh Bell, Kindergarten Philanthropist

State Senator Cheryl Kagan.

“There’s so much hate in the world and I want to change that,” explained Cavanaugh during a recent interview. “I’m only six, but I want to show every kid that they can have an impact – at any age.”

By supporting a different cause each month, Cool & Dope gives kids, as young as two years old, the power to give back.

From his Cards for Sick Kids campaign, to his Bullying Awareness campaign, and now with his Love for Senior Citizens give back initiatives, Cavanaugh’s goal is to help 1,000 people this year.

To learn more about Cavanaugh Bell and his inspiring nonprofit, visit www. coolanddope.com and follow his philanthropic journey on Twitter.

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Peters moves to extend DCFS youth support SPRINGFIELD –Various state agencies will be required to provide support services to youth who are transitioning out of DCFS care under a measure sponsored by State Senator Robert Peters (D-Chicago).

“Several studies have shown that former foster children between the ages of 19 and 21 are at a significantly higher risk of experiencing homelessness, substance abuse, incarceration and difficulty receiving an education,” Peters said. “Our goal should be to intercept the youth who might fall into these bad experiences and divert them toward situations that are less difficult.”

Senate Bill 1808 requires many state agencies, including DCFS, the Illinois State Board of Education, The Illinois Urban Development Authority, and the Departments of Human Services, Juvenile Justice, Corrections, Healthcare and Family Services, and Human Services to enter into an interagency agreement to provide preventative services, including housing support, education support and employment support, to youth who are currently or who soon will be aging out of DCFS care.

“I’m a child of adoption myself, so I understand how much of a struggle life can be for kids in this situation,” Peters said. “We have the ability to provide them with continued support upon entering adulthood, so let’s provide it.”

The bill passed through the Senate with unanimous support. It will be sent to the House of Representatives for consideration.

CITIZEN | Suburban Times Weekly | Week of March 27, 2019

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NEWS

Illinois Medicaid officials vow to improve services Governor’s budget request depends on new tobacco and other taxes

BY PETER HANCOCK Capitol News Illinois phancock@capitolnewsillinois.com

SPRINGFIELD – Officials in charge of managing the Illinois Medicaid program told state lawmakers they are focused on improving services and reducing the program’s cost to taxpayers, but that will depend on whether lawmakers are willing to impose a new tax on insurance companies.

“This budget proposal has been referred to technically as a maintenance budget, but to us that means far from business as usual,” Theresa Eagleson, the new director at the Department of Healthcare and Family Services, told a Senate appropriations committee Tuesday. “The governor has vowed to preserve Medicaid funding, and under this budget not a single person will see their health coverage or their child support assistance reduced in any way.”

Gov. J.B. Pritzker is proposing a total operating budget for DHFS of $25.1 billion, or about $900 million more than the current year’s budget.

The vast majority of that is for the state Medicaid program, which is jointly funded with state and federal money to provide health coverage to more than 3 million low- and moderate-income people in Illinois.

However, under Pritzker’s proposal, the cost to Illinois taxpayers would actually be about $700 million less than it is this year. That’s because within the Medicaid program, Pritzker is proposing to levy a host of new taxes that would go into a special fund used to reimburse health care providers while at the same time drawing down additional federal matching funds.

Those new taxes include an assessment on certain insurance companies known as managed care organizations, or MCOs, which are

the type of companies that now administer most of the state’s Medicaid program. Pritzker is also seeking a 32-cent per-pack increase in the state’s cigarette tax as well as new taxes on e-cigarettes.

Among the things the new money would pay for would be the hiring of 59 additional staff members to coordinate physical and behavioral health care for Medicaid patients.

That new “managed care” system, however, has been the subject of intense criticism since it was implemented statewide in 2015. Known as “Health Choice Illinois,” it was intended to improve health outcomes and bring down costs by coordinating each individual’s care between their primary care provider and various therapists and specialists.

Sen. Heather Steans, a Chicago Democrat who chairs the committee, was among the group of lawmakers who pushed for shifting to a managed-care model for Medicaid. But she said Tuesday that there have been signs the new model isn’t working as planned, and that the MCOs have actually been controlling costs by denying claims.

“The history we’ve had with the MCOs has been much more (about) denials, not providing care,” she said.

Eagleson, a former executive director of the Office of Medicaid Innovation at the University of Illinois system, acknowledged earlier in her testimony the agency was “deeply aware” of concerns about denial rates, late payments and other issues in the program. But she also said there are indications managed care

A photo of the front door to the Department of Healthcare and Family Services building in Springfield.

Capitol News Illinois photo by Peter Hancock

is achieving some of its goals. “… We’re seeing anecdotally things like increased assessments of behavioral health needs, decreased hospital admissions, decreased (emergency room) utilization,” she said. “So we do think that the statistics are going in the right direction in most cases, but we’d like to bring more transparency to you around those issues as well.”

Sen. Laura Murphy, a Democrat from Des Plaines, meanwhile, said there were concerns that go beyond the managed care system, and that’s the difficulty people have getting recertified for Medicaid in order to continue their benefits after their initial period of approval expires.

“I’m sure my office is not unlike most other districts’ offices, where

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90 percent of my staff ’s time is spent on trying to get people recertified,” she said, calling the process “the most consumer-unfriendly thing we could possibly do.”

“And the amount of frustration that my constituents, and I’m sure everyone’s experienced, it is beyond unacceptable,” Murphy said.

Eagleson said the agency was working “across the board” to find solutions to that problem, including hiring and training new staff at local offices where Medicaid applications are processed. She said the agency was also looking into a more streamlined process for the frail elderly and people with chronic disabilities whose medical conditions that qualify them for Medicaid are unlikely to change.

Sen. Dale Righter, a Republi-

can from Mattoon, said his major concern about the budget request was the reliance on new taxes, which the General Assembly has not yet approved. He asked how the agency would make up the difference if lawmakers decline to enact those new taxes.

“We would have to explore other funding options for the budget, senator, whether that would be (general revenue funds) or other resources,” said Mike Casey, DHFS finance director. “We would have an issue of funding our budget, to the tune of approximately $400 million, net.”

The committee took no action Tuesday, but will continue discussing the proposed Medicaid budget as lawmakers work toward passing a final budget later in the session.

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