St 051618 final

Citizen Week of May 16, 2018

| Vol. 1 | No. 40 | www.thechicagocitizen.com

Photo: Advocate South Suburban

SUBURBAN TIMES WEEKLY

SOUTH SUBURBAN NURSES MEET WITH LAWMAKERS IN SPRINGFIELD A group of nurses from Advocate South Suburban Hospital recently took a trip to Springfield where they met with lawmakers and discussed several pieces of legislation that would affect healthcare patients and workers.

See more on Page 3

Travel: Draken Harald Hårfagre, the World´s Largest Viking Ship Sailing in Modern Times - Page 2 Politiscope: Spotting the Political Calculus Behind Some Acts of Corporate Charity - Page 3 |

|

|

advertising@thechicagocitizen.com thechicagocitizen@thechicagocitiz www.facebook.com/durrell.garth.9 www.thechicagocitizen.com

2 | CITIZEN | Suburban Times Weekly | Week of May 16, 2018

ART SCENE

Rivendell Theatre Ensemble extends run of Midwest Premiere of ‘The Cake’ CHICAGO – Rivendell Theatre Ensemble

(RTE), Chicago’s only Equity theatre dedicated to producing new work with women at the core will add four performances to the run The Cake by Bekah Brunstetter, directed by Lauren Shouse, and featuring RTE Founders Tara Mallen and Keith Kupferer, RTE Member Krystel McNeil, with Tuckie White. Eight performances have been added to the run, which must close June 2, 2018 at Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, 5779 N. Ridge Avenue in Chicago.

The cast of The Cake includes RTE Founders (and real life married couple) Tara Mallen (Della) and Keith Kupferer (Tim), RTE Ensemble Member Krystel McNeil (Macy), and Tuckie White (Jen).

Jen lives in New York but has always dreamed of getting married in her small North Carolina hometown, so she heads down south with her partner to ask Della, her late mother’s best friend, to do the honors of making the wedding cake at her bakery.

Della’s cakes are legendary, even earning her a spot as a contestant on the “Great American Baking Show.” She is overjoyed at Jen’s request

until she realizes there’s not just one bride, but two, forcing her to re-examine some of her deeply-held beliefs, as well as her own marriage. Faith, family and frosting collide in this touching and timely new play.

The Cake comes from Bekah Brunstetter, Emmy-nominated producer and writer of the hit NBC drama “This Is Us.” The timely play is inspired in part by the Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, which is currently in front of the U.S. Supreme Court. In the coming months, our nation’s highest court will determine whether it was legal for a Colorado baker to turn away two men who wanted to place an order for their wedding reception.

The creative team includes RTE member, Janice Pytel (Costume Design), as well as Arnel Sancianco (Scenic Design), Cat Wilson (Lighting Design), Shannon Marie O’Neill (sound design) and Danielle Myerscough (Properties Design). The stage manager is Jenniffer Thusing and the “Cake Designer” is Erin Martin of ECBG cake+pastry studio.

Rivendell’s Town Hall Series: Finding Common Ground is being held now

through Saturday, May 19 following the 4pm performances.

Rivendell Theatre’s production of The Cake explores finding tolerance, acceptance and love with people who we don’t fundamentally understand through the event of a baker hesitating to make a cake for a same-sex wedding. It couldn’t be timelier with the current Supreme Court case surrounding Masterpiece Bakeshop in Colorado. Through a town hall discussion series, Rivendell brings together LGBTQIA and religious organizations to discuss the practice of tolerance in our communities. How to find common ground in intersections between acceptance, free speech, artistic expression, religious freedom and civil rights will be discussed.

DETAILS: Schedule: Thursdays-Saturdays at 8:00pm (EXCEPT Thursday, May 10 – no performance that day) Saturdays at 4:00pm Sunday, May 20 ONLY at 3:00pm Town Hall Discussions will

follow Saturday 4pm matinees on May 19 Location: Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, 5779 N. Ridge Avenue in Chicago Tickets: General Admission Previews: $28 Regular Run: $38 Student, Senior, Active Military, Veteran Preview: $18 Regular Run: $28 Pay What You Can: Five seats (10% of the house) are available for each performance.

Reservations are made on a first come, first served basis.

Three-show pass: $59-$80 for 3-plays Box Office: (773) 334-7728 or www.

RivendellTheatre.org

Parking and Transportation: Free parking is available in the Senn High School parking lot (located a block and a half from the theatre behind the school off Thorndale Avenue.)

There is limited paid and free street parking in the area. The theatre is easily accessible via the Clark (#22) or Broadway (#36) bus, and is a short walk from the Bryn Mawr Red Line El station.

TRAVEL

The World’s Largest Viking Ship Announces 2018 U.S. East Coast Tour

I

n 2016, the Draken successfully crossed the North Atlantic Ocean, recreating one of the most epic, mythical explorations of all time in the wake of the Viking Explorer, Leif Ericsson.

Visiting numerous ports and encountering thousands of people along her Trans-Atlantic journey, the Draken Harald Hårfagre emerged as a pillar of culture, education, and enrichment, bringing the illustrious Viking age of exploration to life in today’s modern age.

Following the overwhelming response and great show of interest and support from the public, the next leg of the Draken Harald Hårfagre North American tour will consist of 16 stopovers across the

U.S. East Coast states of Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Washington D.C., and Virginia. The final tour schedule and all stopover ports are yet to be announced and will be made public in late-spring 2018.

“Each Draken stopover offers a unique, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for visitors to relive history in a way never before experienced, said Captain, Björn Ahlander. “We offer guests the opportunity to not only marvel at this stunning Viking ship on guided deck tours – but also to interact with the crew while they share their personal experiences of the thrill, fear, and exhilaration felt from having relived one of the world’s

Photo: Peder Jacobsson

Draken Harald Hårfagre, the world´s largest Viking ship sailing in modern times.

most mythological sea voyages – the first transatlantic crossing and the Viking discovery of the New World, more than a thousand years ago.”

After initially setting sail from Haugesund, Norway the world’s largest Viking Ship sailing in modern times traveled via the Shetland Islands, Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland, before its arrival www.thechicagocitizen.com

to Newfoundland and subsequently the St. Lawrence Seaway and the Great Lakes, followed by New York City. The ship then arrived in Mystic Seaport, CT., where she has been docked since the conclusion of Expedition 2016.

The crew on board Draken is a team of 35 people; men and women from all over the world,

representing a diverse mix of age, gender, nationality, and background. The Draken is now inviting members of the public to take part in this once in a lifetime opportunity by applying for professional and volunteer crew positions. To learn more, please visit: www.drakenhh.com/join-thecrew

CITIZEN | Suburban Times Weekly | Week of May 16, 2018

|

3

COMMUNITY

South Suburban Nurses Meet with Lawmakers in Springfield Continued from page 1

BY KATHERINE NEWMAN

A

group of nurses from Advocate South Suburban Hospital recently took a trip to Springfield where they met with lawmakers and discussed several pieces of legislation that would affect healthcare patients and workers.

“We got on the bus and we went down to Springfield,” said Olympia Boe, nurse leader at Advocate South Suburban. “We walked through the capital and then we just kind of waited to find the representatives to speak to and let them know why we were down there and give them an idea of what we need as healthcare workers.”

For 13 years, the Nurse Advocacy Council for the Advocate Health Care system has been taking nurses to Springfield. This year’s Nurse Advocacy Day was focused on five legislative pieces. The nurses encouraged lawmakers to support a responsible state Medicaid budget, support the Nurse Licensure Compact, support the Tobacco 21 bill, support the mammography information bill, and support the Medicaid-telehealth bill.

“I think a lot of it is just the issues that come up in our day-to-day work that we see. We see the effects that certain things have on people and we want to do anything to help

Photo: Advocate South Suburban

For 13 years, the Nurse Advocacy Council for the Advocate Health Care system has been taking nurses to Springfield. This year’s Nurse Advocacy Day was focused on five legislative pieces. The nurses encouraged lawmakers to support a responsible state Medicaid budget, support the Nurse Licensure Compact, support the Tobacco 21 bill, support the mammography information bill, and support the Medicaid-telehealth bill.

prevent diseases from occurring.

Government policies can affect our work and sometimes lawmakers might not have an idea of how it

actually goes on our side. We feel like we need to let them know how it affects us and what their decisions do for our patients,” said Boe.

The nurses from the Advocate Health Care system that went to Springfield, including Boe, were able to see immediate results from

the conversations when the Tobacco 21 bill was passed out of the Illinois Senate the day after the nurses returned home.

The Tobacco 21 legislation aims to raise the legal age for purchasing tobacco products, electronic cigarettes, and alternative nicotine products from 18 to 21.

“I think that raising the age will give us more time to educate our kids, at least get them out of high school before they are able to purchase tobacco products. I just think that tobacco has such a horrible effect on the body and with prolonged use, it keeps getting worse and you don’t see the effects right away so kids especially just can’t understand what is happening?

I think that the longer we can keep them tobacco-free the better,” said Boe. The nurses are home for now, but they will return again next year to continue the conversation with Illinois lawmakers. Boe said she was happy with how the nurses were received and felt that the representatives were honest with them and listened to what they had to say.

“I can’t stress the importance of this enough, I think our legislators look forward to seeing us down there. They all know when we are there and always speak with us, we have never had an issue. It’s such a good experience for everyone, especially newer nurses,” said Boe.

POLITISCOPE Spotting the Political Calculus Behind Some Acts of Corporate Charity

O

BY RAYMOND FISMAN

ver the past few years, I have teamed up with fellow economists Marianne Bertrande, Matilde Bombardini and Francesco Trebbi to look into one underappreciated way that businesses may attempt to influence politicians: corporate philanthropy.

We found that what we call “politically linked charities” get more money from corporate foundations in general. We also find that when politicians gain leverage on issues tied to a company’s interests, charities in their districts

get more gifts from that company’s foundation.

For example, a nonprofit is more than four times more likely to receive grants from a corporate foundation if a politician sits on its board.

This means, in our view, that some corporate giving may influence members of Congress in both major political parties to a degree – indirectly bending laws and regulations in ways that boost profits rather than serve the public’s interests. www.thechicagocitizen.com

POLITICAL CHARITY Why would businesses rely on charitable donations rather than, say, campaign funds or lobbying efforts, to influence government?

One big reason is that there are limits on campaign contributions, but effectively no limit on what what corporations may give to charity.

And it appears that corporate charity is deployed in ways that look a lot like influencing.

First, companies may give to politicians’ pet charities.

For example, as detailed in a

recent New York Times article highlighting our research, the foundations of AT&T, ConAgra Foods, General Electric, Goldman Sachs, Medtronic, Merck, Monsanto, Nationwide Insurance, Principal Financial Group and Rockwell Collins all contributed to either the University of Northern Iowa or the Partnership for a Drug-Free Iowa. Perhaps not coincidentally, Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley is a trustee of Continued on page 4

4 | CITIZEN | Suburban Times Weekly | Week of May 16, 2018

FOOD

New Cookbook Dishes Up Healthy Recipes from the School Cafeteria S

chool catering company School Nutrition Plus (SNP) recently released its debut cookbook, A Chef Walks Into a Cafeteria.

SNP’s Founder and President, Emily Burson, RD, wrote the cookbook alongside her business partner, Executive Chef and Vice President, Brandon Neumen.

The book tells the story of the company on a mission to transform school food and shares family-friendly recipes served in cafeterias.

Inside the pages of A Chef Walks Into a Cafeteria…, readers will find: • 75 kid-approved recipes, featuring fresh ingredients and honoring the flavor values of scratch cooking • Recipes for all times of day, breakfast through dinner, and a variety of dietary needs, including vegetarian and gluten free • Dishes inspired by both familiar food traditions and the SNP team’s melting pot of global culinary influences.

“A Chef Walks Into a Cafeteria… shares the keys to creating simple, homemade meals both adults and children can enjoy and make together,” said Emily Burson, RD. “From Chicken Street Tacos to Spaghetti Bolognese to Pozole, the cookbook includes the same nutritious dishes we serve in schools, scaled down for family meals.”

Founded in 2009, SNP has grown yearover-year and today serves more than 20,000 scratch-cooked meals every day. As advocates for change, Burson and Neumen want to see healthier foods available in all schools, particularly those that participate in federal meal programs.

“Introducing children to fresh, wholesome, nutritious food is not only crucial for their

growth and development, it also helps establish healthy eating habits for life,” said Dr. Sonali Ruder, creator of The Foodie Physician website, author of Natural Baby Food, and mom. “A Chef Walks Into a Cafeteria… will hopefully advance the conversation about how to make healthy foods more accessible in all schools across the country.”

About School Nutrition Plus School Nutrition Plus (SNP) is made up of nutrition professionals, chefs and food lovers who believe in feeding children healthy family

“Introducing children to fresh, wholesome, nutritious food is not only crucial for their growth and development, it also helps establish healthy eating habits for life.”

DR. SONALI RUDER

favorites while they’re at school. The company was founded on a simple question: Is it possible to improve the taste, satisfaction and nutritional quality of school foods through scratch cooking and customized meal services? The answer was a resounding…YES! With a registered dietitian, Emily Burson, and professional chef, Brandon Neumen, at the helm, SNP has turned school food on its head.

Based in Los Angeles, SNP serves more than 20,000 made-from-scratch school meals every day – all while meeting the guidelines set forth by the USDA.

A Chef Walks Into a Cafeteria... cookbook from School Nutrition Plus

POLITISCOPE Continued from page 3 one of these organizations and an honorary board member of the other.

Second, companies may support nonprofits that serve the voters of individual politicians’ districts – thereby indirectly helping him or her get re-elected. For example, an investigation by The New York Times of former Democratic Rep. Joe Baca of California concluded that he used his family foundation and its generous giveaways “to run something akin to a permanent political campaign.” But much of the foundation’s largesse was funded by local companies and major corporations “that have often turned to Mr. Baca’s Washington office for help,” not by his family.

Then there is the stealth factor. It’s relatively easy to look up how much investment

management giant BlackRock’s political action committee, or PAC, gave Rep. Carolyn Maloney, in the 2016 election cycle.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics’ OpenSecrets database, the New York Democrat got US$10,000. That’s because federal law has required all such donations to be publicly disclosed since the 1970s.

It’s harder, however, to connect the dots between BlackRock’s charitable giving that indirectly benefits Maloney and her colleagues who have New York City’s financial service businesses as their constituents.

STRIKING PATTERNS To uncover potential links between corporate donations and legislative interests, we looked at the grants provided by the foundations of companies in the S&P 500 and Fortune 500 lists that comprise

many of America’s largest companies.

Because these grants must by law be disclosed on tax returns, we could link most donations to specific nonprofits. That, in turn, meant we could pinpoint in which congressional districts the nonprofits were located.

As the Grassley and Baca examples indicate, it is fair to say that corporate foundations are more likely to give to nonprofits tied to politicians if those lawmakers belong to committees that matter to the company.

We also have found that companies’ foundations give more to nonprofits in districts represented by politicians who also get campaign cash from those same enterprises. That suggests that corporate giving does double duty as a form of stealth campaign finance.

www.thechicagocitizen.com

WHAT CAN BE DONE ABOUT IT Corporate charitable contributions totaled nearly $18 billion in 2014, the most recent year that we analyzed in our data. My colleagues and I estimated that 7 percent of them were politically motivated – about $1.3 billion. At that level, the political donations delivered through charity may be as important as more easily observable channels of influence.

For example, corporate PACs spent less than $500 million in 2014 while lobbying expenditures amounted to $3.3 billion.

In light of our findings, we believe that corporate-funded activities of all kinds should require more disclosure, including the donations companies give to charity.

Raymond Fisman is a Slater Family Professor in Behavioral Economics at Boston University.

CITIZEN | Suburban Times Weekly | Week of May 16, 2018

2018

COMMUNITY JOB FAIR Tuesday, May 22nd 10:00 am to 2:00 pm SSC Fitness Center 15800 South State Street South Holland, IL www.ssc.edu

The Village of

South Holland Faith, Family, & Future

The Village of

South Holland Faith, Family, & Future

The Village of

For Information Call:

South Holland Faith, Family, & Future

Career Development Center @ (708) 210-5748 For free resume help please call, 708-210-5748 or email: dwight@ssc.edu

|

5

6 | CITIZEN | Suburban Times Weekly | Week of May 16, 2018

NEWS

VPC Study Provides Update on Black Homicide Rates

BY LISETTE GUSHINIERE

T

he National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) recently released NFPA 3000TM (PS), Standard for an Active Shooter / Hostile Event Response (ASHER) Program to help communities holistically deal with the fast-growing number of mass casualty incidents that continue to occur throughout the world.

“The proactive, integrated strategies recommended and defined in NFPA 3000 will go a long way in helping communities plan, respond and recover from active shooter and hostile events,” said NFPA President and CEO Jim Pauley.

The new ASHER program marked the second time in NFPA’s 122-year history that they have issued a provisional standard.

Provisional standards are developed in an expedited process to address an emergency situation or other special circumstance, according to the NFPA. While NFPA works to help communities plan, respond and recover from active shooter and hostile events, another national crisis involving gun violence in America is disproportionately affecting blacks.

According to a recently released national study now in its 12th year, black men are dying needlessly at disproportionate rates.

In a study called, Black Homicide Victimization in the United States: An Analysis of 2015 Homicide Data, the Violence Policy Center (VPC), a national educational organization working to stop gun death and injury concluded that in the U.S., in 2015, the national black homicide victimization rate was 18.68 per 100,000, and the overall national homicide victimization rate was 4.62 per 100,000. Nationwide, 86 percent of black homicide victims were killed with guns.

Of the 7,014 black homicide victims in the U.S., 6,152 were male and 862 were female.

The homicide victimization rate for black male victims was 34.21 per 100,000. The homicide victimization rate for black female victims was 4.41 per 100,000.

“Blacks in the United States are disproportionately affected by homicide,” said VPC Executive Director Josh Sugarmann.

“For the year 2015, blacks represented 13 percent of the nation’s population, yet accounted for 51 percent of all homicide victims,” he added. “Successful efforts to reduce America’s black homicide toll, like America’s homicide toll as a whole, must put a focus on reducing access and exposure to firearms,” he said.

“Successful efforts to reduce America’s black homicide toll, like America’s homicide toll as a whole, must put a focus on reducing access and exposure to firearms.”

JOSH SUGARMANN VPC EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Even though homicides among blacks are up at alarming rates, VPC pointed out in the introduction to its companion study that far too often incidents of violence often go ignored outside of those communities most affected by the crimes.

The companion study called, Black Homicide Victimization in the Great Lakes States An Analysis of 2015 Homicide Data, also concluded that in Illinois at the time of a homicide, more often than not, the victims knew the identity of their offenders. For homicides in which the victim to offender

ComEd Customers Have Saved More than $3 Billion by Making Smarter Energy Choices CHICAGO – Every one of ComEd’s more

than 4 million customers could put about $15 toward groceries every week for a year with the money they have saved thanks to the company’s energy efficiency program. That’s more than $3 billion total since the program started in 2008.

Residential, commercial, and industrial customers have used 27.9 million fewer net megawatt- hours of electricity because of ComEd’s energy efficiency offerings – enough to power 3.1 million average homes for a year.

Offerings range from free assessments of homes and businesses to rebates and incentives for buying or investing in products or changing habits that reduce energy consumption.

“More and more customers are discovering that they can take advantage of ComEd programs to take greater control of their

energy use, save money, and reduce their carbon footprint,” said Anne Pramaggiore, president and CEO of ComEd, “and we’ve seen the power of smart and creative ideas that show customers the way. Our energy efficiency program has grown substantially over the past 10 years, and it will continue to grow for at least the next 10, allowing homeowners, businesses, and other facilities to save even more energy and money.”

As a result of ComEd’s energy efficiency program, customers have avoided 38.9 billion pounds of carbon emissions from entering the atmosphere. That’s equivalent to planting enough trees to cover more than half of the state Illinois or taking 3.7 million cars off the road for one year. For more information, visit ComEd.com/WaysToSave. For business customers, visit ComEd.com/WaysToSave/ ForYourBusiness.

relationship could be identified, 61 percent of victims (51 out of 83) were killed by someone they knew and only 32 victims were killed by strangers.

Moreover, research from the study stated, for homicides involving blacks in Illinois, in which the circumstances could be identified, 83 percent (280 out of 337) were not related to the commission of any other felony. Of these, 18 percent (50 homicides) involved arguments between the victim and the offender. In total, there were 394 black homicide victims in Illinois in 2015.

In an April 18 press release issued on the heels of VPC’s annual study, Sugarmann said, “Each day in America, the number of black homicide victims exceeds the toll in the Parkland, Florida mass shooting. And just like Parkland and other mass shootings, these deaths devastate families, traumatize whole communities, and should provoke an outcry for change.

“The devastating and disproportionate impact homicide, almost always involving a gun, has on black men, boys, women, and girls in America is an ongoing national crisis,” he added. “We hope our research will help educate the public and policymakers, spur action, and aid community leaders already working to end this grave injustice.”

VPC also points out that individuals living in communities where violence is prevalent are at a higher risk for a broad range of negative health and behavior outcomes. An increased understanding of how trauma resulting from community violence influences development, health, and behavior can lead to improvements in the way many social services are delivered as well as policy changes at the local and federal levels, a recent VPC press release stated.

According to The Relationship Between Community Violence and Trauma: How Violence Affects Learning, Health, and Behavior, a 2017 report also issued by VPC

and the Violence Prevention Coalition of Greater Los Angeles (VPCGLA), violence goes far beyond the physical injury that a bullet can inflict. Negative outcomes include: IMPACT ON LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT • Disrupts brain development causing lower impulse control and impaired ability to concentrate, make decisions, and follow instructions • Reduces academic performance, lowers education and career aspirations IMPACT ON MENTAL HEALTH AND BEHAVIOR • Increases incidence of PTSD, substance abuse, and suicide • Causes hypersensitivity to threats and desensitization to violence • Causes aggressive, violent behavior • Increases acceptance of violence as a legitimate response, leads to perpetuation of cycle of violence IMPACT ON CHRONIC ILLNESS • Increases risk for heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and asthma • Increases risk for obesity and reduced physical activity A VPC press release reported that, “In the context of gun violence prevention, evidence suggests that living in violent communities compromises residents’ ability to break intergenerational cycles of violence. Research has also shown that exposure to the trauma of community violence is uniquely linked to [the] development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), especially among children and adolescents.” For the full report, visit http://www.vpc.org/studies/trauma17.pdf and in Spanish at http://www.vpc.org/studies/ traumaesp17.pdf. For more information on VPC, visit www.vpc.org.

Vaccine Bill Designed to Fight the Flu Epidemic Passes General Assembly SPRINGFIELD, IL – A legislative effort

by State Senator Bill Cunningham to help stop the spread of influenza in hospitals and other health facilities passed the Illinois Senate recently.

The measure, House Bill 2984, allows certified local health departments and any facility licensed by the Illinois Department of Public Health to implement more stringent flu vaccination policies aimed at protecting patients from exposure to the flu and improving vaccination rates.

“Given the concrete science behind the effectiveness of flu vaccines, we have a responsibility to protect patients from being exposed to the flu virus

www.thechicagocitizen.com

by the public employees charged with caring for them,” said Cunningham, a Democrat who represents Chicago and the Southwest Suburbs.

Under current law, employees of hospitals can refuse a flu vaccination for any reason as long as they declare a “philosophical objection.” Public health experts have testified that this loophole leaves patients vulnerable to the spread of influenza while they are hospitalized.

If HB 2984 becomes law, only hospital employees with religious objections and certain medical conditions will be able to refuse the offer of a vaccination.

HB 2984 now moves to the Governor’s desk for his signature.

CITIZEN | Suburban Times Weekly | Week of May 16, 2018

|

7

NEWS

Crown Castle recently hosted a nationwide community service program where 1,700 employees, including employees in Chicago, volunteered to enhance parks as part of a company initiative.

Crown Castle Hosts Community Service Program

C

rown Castle, the nation’s largest provider of shared communications infrastructure, hosted a day of service as part of its Connected

by Good community parks initiative. Doubling its efforts from last year, Crown Castle identified 22 parks in 20 of the company’s largest markets. Employees spent the day planting, building, painting and improving public spaces. The company-wide program focuses on improving and enhancing parks across the country. This reinforces Crown Castle’s commitment to connecting people, businesses, and communities through communications infrastructure networks.

“In just one day, our employees made a meaningful difference in 20 cities across the country where we work and live,” said Jay Brown, president and CEO of Crown Castle. “Connecting with communities is at the core of our business. While this is the second year of our ongoing Connected

by Good program, the parks community service initiative has become an integral part of our company culture and will continue to grow each year.”

More than 1,700 employees participated in the day of service, contributing more than 7,036 hours of planting, building, painting and

cleaning up parks. The 20 cities included: •A tlanta, GA – Planting, mulching, clearing and trail building at Jennie Drake Park •B altimore, MD – Tree planting in the Berea neighborhood •B oston, MA – Invasive species removal, weeding and clean up www.thechicagocitizen.com

at Nira Rock in Jamaica Plain •B oxborough, MA – Removal of invasive species bittersweet throughout Steele Farm •C harlotte, NC – Mulching and landscaping at Sugaw Creek Park •C hicago, IL – Tree mulching, playground fibar and trash cleanup at McKinley Park •D allas, TX – Painting railings, curbs and concessions at the football fields at Trinity View Park in Irving, TX •H erndon, VA – Trail clearing, invasive species removal and painting projects at Runnymede Park •H ouston, TX – Cutting back more than 175 shrubs at the city’s iconic Hermann Park • I rvine, CA – Clearing walking trails and painting throughout Peter F. Shabarum Regional Park in LA County • L os Angeles, CA – Brush removal, painting and clearing of walking trails at Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area • L ouisville, KY – Weeding and

mulching at Seneca Park •M elville, NY – Trail maintenance and cleanup at Blydenburgh Park •M iami, FL – Removal of invasive species and debris at Virginia Key Beach North Point Park •N ew York City – Mulching and clearing at St. Mary’s Park in the Bronx •P hiladelphia, PA – Weeding and invasive plant removal at the Schuylkill River Trail •P hoenix, AZ – Spreading 325 tons of landscaping rocks, painting, playground and debris clean up at Pecos Ranch Park in Chandler, AZ •P ittsburgh, PA – Erosion control, clearing, planting and trail work at Schenley Park, Cindy’s Memorial Bark Park and Point State Park •R ochester, NY – Debris cleanup at Mendon Ponds Park •S eattle, WA – Spreading wood chips, invasive plant removal and cutting back bamboo at Mt. Baker Park

8 | CITIZEN | Suburban Times Weekly | Week of May 16, 2018

CHEVROLET AND NNPA JOIN TOGETHER TO OFFER HISTORICALLY BLACK COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY STUDENTS A $15K FELLOWSHIP! The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) is excited to partner with the all-new 2018 Chevrolet Equinox to present Discover the Unexpected (DTU) – an amazing journalism fellowship.

Selected DTU Fellows from Historically Black Colleges and Universities earn a $10,000 scholarship, $5,000 stipend and an exciting summer road trip in the all-new 2018 Chevrolet Equinox.

Join our DTU Fellows on this multi-city journey as they discover unsung heroes and share stories from African-American communities that will surprise and inspire. DTU is back and better than ever! Are you ready to ride? #ChevyEquinox, #Chevy, #NNPA

#DTU2018