CTA invites local Small and Disadvantaged Businesses to

a Contracting Networking Event for the Red Line Extension Project

Event brings together local small businesses and disadvantaged business enterprises to meet with prime contractors for opportunities to work on the historical project

By CNW Staff Report

The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) is inviting certified disadvantaged business enterprises (DBEs) and small businesses interested in certification to an event next Thursday to meet and connect with the three prequalified teams selected to submit proposals for the transformational Red Line Extension (RLE) and learn about sub-contracting opportunities.

The $3.6 billion proposed RLE project will extend the Red Line from the existing southern terminal at 95th Street to 130th Street. As part of this project, four new, fully accessible rail stations will be added, plus a new and modern, efficient railcar storage yard and maintenance facility that will benefit all users of the entire Red Line. The 5.6mile heavy rail line extension will provide long-awaited and much needed connection to jobs, education, commerce, and opportunity, while also serving as a catalyst for economic development that benefits the entire City of Chicago.

“CTA has awarded more than

$250 million to 96 unique, minority or women owned firms as part of the Red and Purple Modernization Phase 1 project. Forty of these firms had never previously conducted business with CTA,” said Juanpablo Prieto, CTA Director of Diversity Programs. “These great numbers did not happen overnight; it came through months and years of networking, supporting DBEs, and planning with the prime contractors to create opportunities for DBEs to get their foot in the door and compete. CTA is very proud of these

City Council Approves $51m in migrant funding

CNW Staff Report

The City of Chicago has taken a critical step in addressing the pressing needs of migrants and asylum seekers by passing a $51M budget amendment dedicated to the New Arrivals mission. This funding, approved by the Committee on the Budget and Government Operations last week, passed a full City Council vote today.

“Chicago is facing a humanitarian crisis as individuals and families continue to be sent here and other Democratic-led cities across the country without regard for their well-being,” said Mayor Brandon Johnson. “My administration will do everything in our power to support these new arrivals as they work to rebuild their accomplishments, and we look forward to doing the same, if not better, on the Red Line Extension project.”

Next week’s event is the latest in a series of measures taken by the CTA to extend contracting opportunities to the communities it serves and ensuring that equity and inclusion are central to this investment in Chicago’s Far South Side:

Thursday, June 8 9 am to 12 pm CTA Headquarters 567 West Lake St., Chicago 60661 lives in the U.S while still upholding our commitments to the residents of Chicago. This appropriation is critical to support our efforts to provide housing and services in the immediate future, and I will continue to advocate for additional state and federal funding for as long as needed.”

In 2022, the City expended a total of $17.5M to support the New Arrivals mission, which began on August 31, 2022. This included $5.5M received from the FEMA Emergency Food and Shelter (EFSP) grant, demonstrating the City’s commitment to providing immediate assistance and vital resources to migrants in need.

The City estimates projected costs of $102M to address the ongoing migrant crisis from January through

Presentation begins 9:30 am

Interested businesses and contractors in attendance will be provided with an update on the overall RLE project, information on benefits for small business participation in future contracting opportunities, as well as steps on how to become certified to do business with the CTA. Although the proposed RLE project is still in development, there are plenty of prospects for robust DBE participation throughout the project.

June 2023. To secure the necessary financial resources, the City has been awarded $30M from the State of Illinois, highlighting its recognition of the urgency and significance of the situation. Additionally, $4.3M has been granted to the City through the FEMA Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP-H). To cover the remaining costs, the City proposed a budget amendment of $51M , demonstrating its unwavering dedication to supporting new arrivals during their challenging journeys.

Ifhe hadn’t been murdered in Money, Mississippi, on August 28, 1955 — if he had lived long enough to develop wrinkles and gray hair, and bounce his children, grandchildren, and possibly his great-grandchildren on his knees — he might have celebrated his 82nd birthday this July.

His mother, Mamie Till-Mobely, who died in 2003, might have had many happy years with her beloved son. She wouldn’t have gone to her grave with horrifying memories of his brutalized body. She wouldn’t have had to make the courageous decision to leave his casket open. There would have been no reason for her to say these heartbreaking words: “I wanted the world to see what they did to my baby.”

But thanks to the need of White men in the Jim Crow South to preserve the purity and honor of 21-year-old Carolyn Bryant — the White woman who falsely accused Till of making sexual advances at her — Emmet Till never made it past 14. Carolyn Bryant — known later in life as Carolyn Bryant Donham — lived to the ripe old age of 88 without ever being held accountable for her part in Till’s murder. As reporter Ed Pilkington wrote in the Guardian in 2020 about the people involved in Till’s murder, “Not a day has been spent in jail nor a penny paid in compensation.” That was still true on April 25, the day Carolyn Bryant died.

A Last Chance for Justice

On the morning of April 27, before most people knew about Bryant’s death, the social media accounts of the Emmett Till Legacy Foundation — the nonprofit founded in 2005 by Till’s family posted black squares to their various pages. The squares were, perhaps, an acknowledgment that with Bryant’s death, the family’s last chance for justice for Emmett Till — for anyone involved in his murder to be held accountable — was now gone.

“This is not a celebratory moment,” Keith A. Beauchamp, the filmmaker who co-wrote and produced the 2022 feature film “Till,” explained on his Facebook page. “Since 1955, law enforcement and local officials have allowed Bryant – Donham to evade justice. It’s infuriating to come to the realization that the American judicial system has failed us