Volume 3 | Issue 1 | January 7, 2026
Bishop Claude Porter, Powerful Cleric and Community Builder, Dies at 88 PAGE 2
Why Murder in Chicago is at a 50-Year Low
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Bishop Claude Porter, Clerical Power Broker and Community Builder, Dies at 88 For more than half a century, he fused faith, politics, and social service into a network of institutions that reshaped Chicago’s Greater West Side
Kenn Cook Jr. Photographer Paul Goyette Photographer
EDITORIAL BOARD Morris Reed Westside Health Authority/CEO Karl Brinson Westside Branch NAACP/President Bernard Clay Introspect Youth Services/Executive Director Michael Romain The Culture
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On The Cover Bishop Claude Porter, the founder of Proviso Leyden Council for Community Action, stands inside of Proviso Missionary Baptist Church in Maywood in 2021. | FILE
2 THE CULTURE • January 7, 2026
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BY MICHAEL ROMAIN The Culture
ishop Claude Porter, one of the Greater West Side’s most well-connected clergymen, whose political and social influence extended well beyond the pulpit, died on Dec. 30. He was 88. The Proviso Leyden Council for Community Action (PLCCA), the Maywood nonprofit Mr. Porter founded in 1975, announced his death on its Facebook page. For more than half a century, Bishop Porter stood at the intersection of faith, politics, and social service on Chicago’s Greater West Side, quietly shaping institutions that outlived election cycles and transcended denominational lines. He was a pastor, organizer, nonprofit executive, mentor, and coalition builder whose work touched hundreds of thousands of residents in Illinois and across the country. Born on Jan. 21, 1937, in Memphis, Tenn., the seventh child of James and Corean Porter, Claude Porter grew up in a family already steeped in the Black church’s leadership tradition. His older brother, W. L. Porter Sr., later became a towering figure in the Church of God in Christ, serving as a member of the denomination’s General Board and founding bishop of the Tennessee Central Jurisdiction. His younger brother, David Porter, would become one of the most influential producers and songwriters of the Stax Records era. Mr. Porter answered the call to ministry in 1960 at Greater White Stone Missionary Baptist Church in Memphis. He moved to Chicago in 1963. By 1965, he was ordained and serving as assistant pastor at Greater Progressive Missionary Baptist Church. In 1972, he founded Proviso Missionary Baptist Church in Maywood, building a congregation that would become one of the area’s most influential religious institutions. He was consecrated and installed as bishop of the church in 2005. But the pulpit was only one platform. In 1968, amid the turbulence of the civil rights movement and urban disinvestment, Mr. Porter became a community organizer through the Uplift Community Service Center, helping
Bishop Claude Porter, the founder of Proviso Leyden Council for Community Action, stands inside of Proviso Missionary Baptist Church in Maywood in 2021. | FILE
organize the West Suburban Organization for Welfare Rights. Seven years later, he founded the Proviso-Leyden Council for Community Action (PLCCA), which grew into a major regional provider of social services, workforce development, youth programming, housing assistance, and energy assistance. With Mr. Porter at the helm, PLCCA would become an institutional anchor for working-class families across the western suburbs and the West Side. The organization’s reach and political credibility allowed it to function as both service provider and policy advocate — a dual role that made Mr. Porter a fixture in county and state politics for decades. Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, who represented the same 7th District communities Mr. Porter served for decades, called him a personal friend and a foundational leader. “Through decades of dedication and perseverance, he helped hundreds of thousands of people learn a life of self-sufficiency and independence,” Speaker Welch wrote in a statement he posted on Facebook. Rev. Ira Acree, the pastor of Greater St. John
Bible Church in Austin, described Bishop Porter as “one of the greatest leaders of our time” in a statement on Facebook. “He also played an essential role in the founding of Leaders Network Chicago, and he will forever hold a special place in our hearts and in our history,” Acree said. Mr. Porter’s influence extended well beyond nonprofit boardrooms. He was a frequent presence at public rallies, vaccine awareness campaigns, youth initiatives, and policy debates, and was widely regarded as one of the region’s most effective behind-the-scenes coalition builders. Beyond his work through PLCCA and Proviso Missionary Baptist Church, Bishop Porter helped architect the West Suburbs’ modern faith-based civic infrastructure. He was a founding leader and longtime chairman of Interfaith, a multidenominational coalition of congregations and clergy that became a visible force in regional elections and public life. The group regularly hosted candidate forums and mobilized voters in key races. The Rev. Clay
CLAUDE PORTER on page 5
Ellen Jones, 85, at the Laundromat of African American History
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BY MICHAEL ROMAIN The Culture
n any given day, West Siders can see Ellen Jones, 85, sitting inside Budget Wash, 5920 W. Madison St., in Austin. The Better Business Bureau lists the establishment—perhaps more accurately—as The Laundromat of African American History. When I spoke to Jones on Thursday, she had just washed a bundle of clothes someone had dropped off and was sitting contentedly near a window. All around the laundromat, customers can see relics of Black history: a historic faded headshot of Martin Luther King Jr.; the iconic photo of Olympians Tommie Smith and John Carlos raising their fists in the Black Power salute, taken by Life magazine photographer John Dominis in 1968; Jackie Robinson crouching to scoop up a baseball; an image of Frederick Douglass; photos of Thurgood Marshall and Booker T. Washington; images of Harriet Tubman; and quotes from Jesse Jackson (“America is not a blanket woven from one thread, one color, one cloth”)—and more. I asked Jones if she was familiar with one
iconic photo in particular that looms over patrons’ heads like sacred stained glass in a cathedral. The photo, “Negro Boys on Easter Morning,” was taken “on Easter Sunday in 1941 across from the Regal Theater in Bronzeville by a government photographer named Russell Lee,” WTTW reports. “Yeah, I’m familiar with that photo. I also remember when King came to Chicago. I moved to this area on the West Side around 1955. I’ve been coming to this laundromat for 28 years. This laundromat was here when my grandson graduated elementary school. The husband died and the wife took over the place. Her nephew Calvin Davis, bought it with her, and he’s responsible for all the pictures.”
[
[ WEST SIDE LIVES
Ellen Jones, 85, sits near the window at Budget Wash, where she’s been coming for nearly three decades. “Nothing bad happens up in here,” she says. “People know how to act.” | MICHAEL ROMAIN
You must have seen a lot over the years. “Nothing bad happens up in here. People know how to act when they come in here—for some reason,” she says, laughing. “Even the kids learn from all the stuff on the walls.” How’d you end up working here? “I used to live right on Menard and Washington, but now I’m further down—on MadiLeft, an enlarged photograph titled “Negro Boys on Easter Morning,” taken in 1941 across from the Regal Theater in Bronzeville by photographer Russell Lee, hangs like sacred stained glass above patrons at Budget Wash. Right, a collage of Barack Obama clippings and memorabilia forms a cross-shaped shrine on the back wall near the vending machines—another layer of living history inside the West Side laundromat. | MICHAEL ROMAIN
Relics of Black history line the walls above the dryers at Budget Wash on West Madison Street, turning an everyday laundromat into what many locals call The Laundromat of African American History.
son, near Hamlin. I worked at a preschool as a parent teacher. There was a laundromat on that corner down the street before they tore everything down. It was a cleaners, a laundromat, and a breakfast shop, and all that. They tore that down. I worked at that laundromat, and somebody gave the lady the word down here that I worked at a laundromat, and she sent for me to come down here, and I’ve been here ever since.” “I have two daughters. One, Paula, died from COVID four years ago. My oldest works
at Stroger Hospital. She’s been there for 47 years.” “I wash clothes that people drop off—85 cents a pound. I’m here every day. My daughter told me before she passed, ‘Mommy, you go to that laundromat every day, even when you off.’ I said, ‘Paula, I’m not sitting at home looking at no walls, now.’” These walls are much better, right? “That’s right,” she says, laughing.
| MICHAEL ROMAIN
January 7, 2026
• THE CULTURE 3
THE NUMBERS DON’T LIE:
MURDER IN CHICAGO AT A 50-YEAR LOW The city closed 2025 with a 50% drop in homicides in four years, thanks, in significant part, to social investments, Mayor Johnson says
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BY QUINN MYERS Block Club Chicago
hroughout 2025, Chicago faced a barrage of attacks from President Donald Trump and other politicians painting the city as a murder-ridden hellscape needing federal — and even military — intervention. Yet as the city brought the year to a close on the last week of December, it reported its lowest number of murders in more than half a century, according to preliminary data. The 29 percent decrease in homicides in Chicago last year outpaced declines in other major cities like New York and Philadelphia. It also kept with a larger national trend in violence reduction that generally stood in stark contrast to the spikes experienced around the COVID-19 pandemic. The city’s precipitous drop in murders came as other violent crimes, such as robberies and carjackings, also went down sharply in Chicago, as did property crimes like burglaries — what Mayor Brandon Johnson hailed this week as “one of the most transformative years in violence reduction in our city’s history.” The 416 murders reported in the latest police data for 2025 — which will be finalized this month — marked the lowest annual number since 1965 and represented an almost 50 percent decline since 2021, when Chicago reported 805 murders. Still, the city has been plagued by recent high-profile crimes that have gotten national attention, including a woman being set on
4 THE CULTURE • January 7, 2026
fire on the CTA’s Blue Line and two shootings Downtown following a Christmas tree lighting in November, one of which killed a 14-year-old boy. Academics who study crime trends told Block Club that it’s difficult to definitively explain the ongoing drop in Chicago and across the country, but they did point to an influx of investment in violence prevention and social programs after the pandemic as one potential factor. Andrew Papachristos, a Northwestern University sociology professor who studies gun violence and works with violence intervention groups, said the declines in Chicago murders should be seen in the context of a years-long trend that predates the pandemic or even 2016, when the city saw another major spike. He hopes the current drop is representative of “moving the ceiling down, not the floor” of crime rates, particularly murders. “In the 2000s, we sort of leveled off for a long period of time [around] 500 and 600 [murders]. And then there were ups and downs. 2012 was a bad year. Then we leveled off again. 2016 was a bad year, and then we started to see some gains,” Papachristos said. “I actually think we’re seeing a moving of the average these last five to seven years.” The 416 murders in 2025 fall just short of the 425 reported in 2013 and 2014, according to the city’s violence reduction dashboard. That means last year saw the fewest murders since the 396 reported in 1965, according to the police department’s annual reporting. Shootings also declined in 2025 by about 35 percent over 2024, and by almost 60 per-
CPD Supt. Larry Snelling speaks at the Chicago Police Department 1st District station, 1718 S. State St., — where a new Public Transportation Section Strategic Decision Support Center was just opened — in the South Loop on July 10, 2025.. | COLIN BOYLE/BLOCK CLUB CHICAGO
cent compared to 2021. A large part of that drop was driven by a handful of community areas on the South and West sides that have typically seen some of the highest shooting rates in Chicago. Seven community areas, including North Lawndale, Austin, West Englewood and West
Pullman, accounted for 35 percent of the total citywide decline in gun violence in 2025, according to a recent analysis by the University of Chicago Crime Lab. In an interview with Block Club this week, Johnson pointed to a mix of investments under his administration as major factors he
believes are contributing to the reduction and Kim Smith, director of national programs high. Fatal domestic shootings rose by 50 and external engagement at the University of percent in 2025, with overall domestic hoin violent crime. micides spiking by about 15 percent — one That includes increased collaboration be- Chicago Crime Lab, in interviews last month. “It’s not entirely clear what’s driving the of the few crime categories that went up, tween the Chicago Police Department and community violence intervention programs, decline,” Smith said. “If someone were to say not down. Johnson touted funding in the 2026 city known as CVI, where organizations hire definitively, I know ‘program x in city y’ is the street outreach workers to de-escalate con- thing that is contributing to this double-digit budget for gender-based violence programs decline over the past three years, we would — which was fully restored by his administraflicts and provide other resources. The mayor also cited promotions of 50 want to make sure that we’re pressure test- tion after an initial proposal would have led to partial cuts — and also said he’s confident more detectives in recent months and the ing that with the data.” “Crime trends change at the same time the upcoming state overhaul of the Chicago expansion of mental health clinics and other that other things are changing in the world,” transit system will help further streamline resources. “There’s still a lot more work to do, don’t she added. “And in the last three to five years, CTA security measures. The mayor also dismissed claims made by get me wrong. By no means are we taking a a lot has changed.” Papachristos said he’s looking at the role of the Department of Homeland Security that victory lap,” Johnson said. “What my commitment and my drive is, is to double down on increased investment in community violence credited its immigration enforcement raids the efforts that have proven to be effective, intervention and other programs during and this fall — known as Operation Midway Blitz — for contributing to to continue to save more lives the city’s violence deand to create more opportunicline. ties for people.” “For the president to Police Supt. Larry Snelling was try to take credit for the not made available for an interwork that community view in recent weeks, but during violence intervention a press conference on Dec. 29, workers are doing, to he touted his department’s work try and take credit for over the past year. what our police depart“Intelligence-driven policing, ment is doing, it’s reala leadership style amongst our ly disrespectful, quite command staff, where they lead frankly,” Johnson said. from the front, and just bureaus Continuing to build working across with each other, on 2025’s progress building relationships with comwill largely depend on munity members,” he said. “And funding for violence then officer wellness. When our intervention and other officers are doing better, we do programs, experts said better for others, so we just plan — a perennial issue to continue that through 2026.” with Chicago’s budget In an interview last month with woes. WGN News, Snelling also said Mayor Brandon Johnson speaks with Block Club Chicago in his ceremonial office at Smith said Chicago charging and detention decisions City Hall on Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2025.. | JEREMY BATTLE/BLOCK CLUB CHICAGO remains a hub for inby Cook County State’s Attorney novation in violence Eileen O’Neill Burke, who took office in December 2024, have contributed to after the pandemic as a factor in the crime prevention and research, allowing for unique drop in Chicago, as well as more strategic po- opportunities to evaluate specific programs the crime decline. and policies that aren’t available elsewhere. “By keeping those repeat offenders off the licing and targeted arrests. But sustained investment for violence pre“It’s all intermixed, right? Because you street, we’ve been able to keep down the shootings, the homicides, the robberies, the do see these changes with policing, these vention — especially with federal pandemic changes with people going back to school, relief dollars drying up — remains a major vehicular hijackings,” Snelling said. Robberies also saw a major drop last year the economy was pretty good for a minute challenge, she said. “We’re moving in the right direction with after sharply spiking in 2023, according to there,” Papachristos said. “All those things were kind of coming back online at the respect to violent crime in the city. We uncity data. fortunately were not starting from a good The numbers began to come down in same time.” For all the progress the city has made in place. Relatively speaking, we’re still not 2024, a trend which continued in 2025, when Chicago saw about 6,100 robberies — an al- bringing down crime numbers, Chicago still among the safest cities in the country,” most 50 percent drop from the 2023 peak grapples with high levels of gun violence and Smith said. “We still have a long way to go other violent crime, including the high-profile when we compare ourselves to our peers, and 2,000 fewer than 2019 levels. Carjackings have also fallen by 50 percent CTA fire attack and Downtown teen shoot- and I think it’s going to be difficult in the ings in November, as well as daily shootings coming years if we are not really thoughtful since 2024. about the investments that we’re going to Pointing to the “why” behind the decline in across the neighborhoods. Domestic violence incidents also remain make in violence prevention.” violent crime is complex, said Papachristos
Bishop Porter and his wife, Earnestine Porter. | PROVIDED
CLAUDE PORTER Continued from page 2
Evans, the late retired pastor of Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church in Chicago, served as Interfaith’s chairman emeritus. Mr. Porter was also the founder and chairman of the Proviso Township Ministerial Alliance Network (PTMAN), an Illinois affiliate of the International Ministerial Alliance Network, which he helped build into a coordinating body for faith leaders across Proviso Township. He stepped down as PTMAN’s chairman in 2015, turning leadership over to Bishop Reginald Saffo of United Faith Missionary Baptist Church in Maywood, but remained a guiding figure within the alliance as its institutional influence continued to grow. In 2016, after 44 years in the pulpit, he retired as senior pastor of Proviso Missionary Baptist Church and assumed the title of founder and overseer. That year, the Cook County Board adopted a resolution honoring his career, citing his “innumerable” contributions to improving life for county residents. In addition to his ministerial and organizing work, Bishop Porter served on numerous civic, health, and nonprofit boards, helping bridge the region’s faith institutions with its medical, business, and public-service sectors. His board service included leadership roles connected to major community health initiatives — among them the shuttered Doctors Hospital of Hyde Park — where he worked alongside elected officials, physicians, hospital executives, and clergy to expand access to screenings, preventive care, and public health education, particularly in Black communities facing disproportionate health risks. Bishop Porter was married to Earnestine Porter. The couple had three children, seven grandchildren, and 10 great-grandchildren. Bishop Porter’s nephew, Memphis Bishop Brandon Porter, who, like his father, is a member of COGIC’s General Board, called his uncle “a great community leader and businessman” who mentored many people, “including President Obama.”
January 7, 2026
• THE CULTURE 5
The Grind
North Lawndale businesswoman Pat Day-McCray has been a grief and journey coach for three decades, turning her own experience dealing with her daughter’s death into a mission to help others heal. | PROVIDED
How Pat Day-McCray Turned Personal Loss Into a Life’s Work
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By MICHAEL ROMAIN The Culture
arlier in December, I interviewed North Lawndale businesswoman Pat Day-McCray, 65, the founder of PDM Journey Coaching LLC and the nonprofit A Pathway From Grief. Day-McCray, a grief and journey coach, has been working with individuals, families, organizations, and corporations for more than three decades, formally operating her business since 2017. Her work focuses on helping people address unresolved grief connected to loss, trauma, parenting challenges, workplace stress, and generational experiences. “My belief around grief is to be grief-free,” Day-McCray said. “I take people on a journey of gratitude. Grief is not always about death. It can be your job, your health, your relation-
6 THE CULTURE • January 7, 2026
ships.” She said her work includes supporting parents with limited parenting skills, focusing heavily on communication and on reducing discipline-based violence in the home. “We have all these programs for children, but then we send them back home into the lion’s den,” she said. “Everything they learned from nine to five is easily dismantled. So I also work with parents, giving them the support they need to parent better.” Day-McCray operates primarily from North Lawndale, conducting sessions virtually and in person, and is transitioning from one-on-one coaching toward group sessions through partnerships with organizations. “Sometimes I’m working not just with the people an organization serves, but with the staff themselves,” she said. “You have people who are supposed to be helping others who
are so bogged down by their own trauma that they’re not able to give their best help. I tell them, ‘Put the light on yourself.’” She described her approach as faith-based and rooted in personal experience. In 1987, her daughter, Alicia Yvette Day, died at 18 months old after complications from a rare medical condition called gastrointestinal duplication. “My daughter was born with an extra piece of intestine,” she said. “As she grew, it wrapped around her good intestines and cut off circulation. By the time they operated, over 90 percent of her intestine was gangrenous. The last two months of her life, I was feeding her through a machine. And then she passed.” After Alicia’s death, Day-McCray joined a group of grieving mothers. “I was watching them and thinking, ‘What’s the plan? What do we do?’” she said. “There was no plan. The plan was just to grieve. I felt like I was watching people tumble over a cliff with no destination.” She said that experience pushed her to seek a different understanding of grief. “I started unpacking my grief with God, and that’s when I was introduced to this idea of being grief-free,” she said. “Unless you’re in a place where you can truly say you’re grateful for someone’s life and grateful for their death, then you’re still grieving.” Day-McCray said her daughter’s life and death reshaped her sense of purpose. “The experience of being Alicia’s mother was bigger than having her physically on this earth,” she said. “My journey with her wasn’t just about me or her. It was about me getting the message and taking it to people who are stuck in dark places.” She said she has been doing this work informally for more than 30 years and formally for about 20, launching PDM Journey Coaching as a private business in 2017 after completing an online business program that introduced her to branding and entrepreneurship. “Most of my friends worked nine to five, so I didn’t have people to ask about starting a business,” she said. “My first group of clients ended up being in California. A grocery store corporation reached out after one of their employees passed away.” That experience, she said, shaped how she works with employers. “When someone dies, corporations usually move on and fill the position,” she said. “But
people need space. Even if it’s just 24 hours. Put a ribbon on the chair. Let employees know that person mattered.” She said many people she works with are not dealing with mental illness but with unaddressed emotional weight. “I call it emotional constipation,” she said. “People are filled with unresolved emotions that have never been acknowledged.” Today, Day-McCray limits group sizes to ensure she can engage directly with each participant. “I truly want to help these people,” she said. “I need to lay eyes on everybody.” Through her nonprofit, A Pathway From Grief, she focuses particularly on the Black community. “Our grief is inherited,” she said. “Passed down through generations. We were never taught what it really is or how to release it.” Her goal, she said, is not to teach people how to cope indefinitely but how to reach an endpoint. “So many coaches and therapists give people coping skills,” she said. “But they never give them an end goal. People walk around wearing grief like a cloak around their neck. I want to show them they don’t have to live that way.”
Get In Touch To contact Pat Day McCray, visit her website pdmjourneycoaching.com or her Facebook page facebook.com/PDMJourneyCoaching
What This Is The Grind explores how West Side entrepreneurs are redefining what it means to build something lasting. Each installment profiles local innovators whose businesses strengthen the fabric of Austin, North Lawndale, Garfield Park, and beyond — creating jobs, community spaces, and new possibilities. Through their stories, The Culture chronicles not only how people work, but why they keep grinding for the neighborhoods they call home. If you know a business or social entrepreneur you want us to profile, send us a tip at stories@ourculture.us.
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BY STAFF The Culture
est Side residents are more likely to trust and engage with local media than national outlets, but even local journalism must continue earning confidence, according to four community surveys conducted by The Culture during a Dec. 11 networking and information event at the Aspire Center for Workforce Innovation, 5500 W. Madison St. in Austin. One component of the event was designed to pull residents directly into the local news production process. The evening drew roughly 30 community members, representing West Side and West Suburban communities, including Austin, North Lawndale, West Pullman, and Irving Park. Several respondents identified their location simply as “other.” A central feature of the event was introducing residents to the people who actually produce local news — and then allowing them to step inside that process themselves. Six participants represented local and independent media. They included: Igor Studenkov, freelance journalist; Bonnie McKeown, freelance journalist and nonprofit leader; Jessica Mordacq, reporter, Austin Weekly News; Max Reinsdorf, executive director, Growing Community Media; Isaac Lewis Jr., executive director and publisher, North Lawndale Community News; Charles Preston, community engagement manager, Injustice Watch; and Michael Romain, publisher, The Culture. Romain facilitated a wide-ranging dialogue on how local news is produced on the West Side. One of the event’s primary goals was to bring residents directly into the newsroom process by simulating an editorial meeting, allowing attendees to see how story ideas are debated, shaped, and prioritized.
WHO RESPONDED — AND WHO DIDN’T Four surveys were administered: • Media Experience Survey #1 (8 respondents) • Media Experience Survey #2 (4 respondents) • Where Do You Get Your Information? Survey (13 respondents) • Needs & Capacities Assessment Survey (4 respondents) In total, roughly one-third of attendees completed at least one survey — even though gift prizes were offered as incentives. That participation rate highlights a major
West Side Residents Say Local Media Earns Conditional Trust, National Coverage Falls Short Surveys and newsroom-style forum hosted by The Culture reveal how communities get information — and how they want journalism to work for them
WHERE RESIDENTS ACTUALLY GET INFORMATION The “Where Do You Get Your Information?” survey, in which 13 people responded, showed that residents build their own information ecosystems, drawing from: • Family and friends • Workplace and neighborhood organizations • Community meetings and faith spaces • Books, libraries, and newspapers • Email newsletters and local radio • Social media — especially Instagram and Facebook When asked for their single most trusted source, respondents named The New York Times, The Guardian, The Culture, peer-reviewed journals, and, repeatedly, their personal networks.
WHAT THE COMMUNITY SAYS IT NEEDS The Needs & Capacities Assessment survey (4 respondents) revealed that residents want stronger coverage of: • Employment and educational opportunities • Business and nonprofit development • Healthcare and wellness • Racial justice Attendees at Th Culture's networking and information event held at the Aspire Center for Workforce Innovation on Dec. 11. | SHANEL ROMAIN
challenge for community-based journalism on the West Side, prompting journalists to explore ways to better motivate residents to share their experiences, needs, and insights. Organizers say the low response rate is itself a critical data point, underscoring the need for deeper trust-building, clearer communication about how the information will be used, and more creative engagement strategies.
Outlets named included The Culture, Austin Weekly News, Block Club Chicago, Village Free Press, WTTW, ABC, CBS, WGN, Fox, BET, Triibe and CAN TV.
LOCAL TRUST, NATIONAL DISCONNECT
• 92% said their community is not fairly represented by national media
Across both Media Experience surveys (12 total respondents): • 67% said they feel comfortable contacting media outlets • 67% have reached out to a media outlet in the past
When asked about representation: • 76% said their community is fairly or somewhat fairly represented by local media
Several respondents noted that positive experiences with journalists were often tied to existing relationships, underscoring the role of trust and familiarity in whose stories are covered.
• Public safety • Faith and community programming At the same time, residents expressed a willingness to help build that coverage — volunteering as citizen reporters, researchers, photographers, editors, event coordinators, and donors. Taken together, the surveys and the editorial-meeting simulation reveal a community eager not just for better journalism, but for participation in its creation. The findings suggest that trust in journalism grows from proximity, accountability, and inclusion, while distance — especially at the national level — fuels disconnection. For The Culture, the message from Dec. 11 was unmistakable—meaningful journalism on the West Side is not something done to the community. It is something built with it.
January 7, 2026
• THE CULTURE 7
Key 2026 Races to Set Stage for Major Political Change
Candidate forums across the West Side and west suburbs will spotlight contests that could reshape leadership from the county assessor’s seat to the U.S. Senate
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BY STAFF The Culture
s the 2026 election season accelerates, a coalition of community organizations is bringing democracy directly to the neighborhoods most affected by the decisions made in City Hall, Springfield, and Washington. Over the next several weeks, a coordinated series of candidate forums will convene on Chicago’s West Side and in the west suburbs, allowing residents to question candidates seeking offices that shape housing policy, taxation, education, transportation, healthcare, and economic development across the region. The forums are organized by Interfaith Illinois, Proviso Votes, the Chicago Westside Branch NAACP, the Proviso West Suburban Branch NAACP, the South Austin Neighborhood Alliance (SANA), Township Ministerial Alliance Network (PTMAN), Austin Forward Together, Westside Health Authority, the North Lawndale Community News, and The Culture. A candidate questionnaire and a comprehensive Voter Awareness Guide will be published ahead of early voting. These races arrive at a moment of transition: multiple longtime officeholders are stepping aside, leaving voters with rare chances to redefine representation for the West Side and surrounding suburbs.
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED These events rely on community energy as much as civic engagement. The Chicago Westside Branch NAACP is actively seeking candidate forum volunteers to help with:
• Volunteer coordination • Event setup and breakdown • Registration and attendee/ candidate greeting • Question runners and refreshment service • Outreach and spreading the word Sign up to help at tinyurl.com/ cwbnaacpvolunteer or scan the volunteer QR code on flyers circulating in the community. PTMAN, Proviso Votes, and the Proviso West Suburban Branch NAACP will host a forum open to candidates running in multiple races on Saturday, Jan. 17, 1-4 p.m., at Proviso Math and Science Academy, 8601 W. Roosevelt Rd. in Forest Park. The forum will be moderated by Michael Romain.
U.S. SENATE — OPEN SEAT TO SUCCEED SEN. DICK DURBIN
For the first time in decades, Illinois voters will choose a new U.S. Senator following the retirement of Sen. Dick Durbin, who has represented the state since 1997 and currently serves as Senate Majority Whip. His departure opens a powerful seat with national consequences — and major implications for federal investment in Illinois communities. • Forum: Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. | Doors open at 5:30 p.m. | Forum begins at 6 p.m. | Collins Academy STEAM High School, 1313 S. Sacramento Dr., Chicago | Moderator: Remel Terry Candidates in both major parties
8 THE CULTURE • January 7, 2026
are seeking to define the future of Illinois’ role in Congress, including federal funding for infrastructure, housing, healthcare, public transportation, criminal justice reform, and economic development on the West Side.
Who’s Running Democratic • • • • • • • • • •
Clockwise from top right: U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, U.S. Rep. Danny Davis, Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi, and State Rep. La Shawn Ford. Each is an incumbent whose seat will be on the ballot in 2026, making next year’s elections among the most consequential in decades for the future of Illinois politics and governance. | PROVIDED
Sean Brown Awisi A. Bustos Jonathan Dean Robin Kelly Raja Krishnamoorthi Bryan Maxwell Kevin Ryan Juliana Stratton Christopher Swann Steve Botsford Jr.
Collins Academy STEAM High School, 1313 S. Sacramento Dr., Chicago | Moderator: Remel Terry, 1st Vice President and Political Action Committee Chair, Chicago | Westside Branch NAACP
Republican • • • • • • •
R. Cary Capparelli Casey Chlebek Casandra Claiborne Jeannie Evans Pamela Denise Long Don Tracy Jimmy Lee Tillman II
Candidates will face questions on federal oversight of housing, transportation funding, economic justice, education equity, healthcare access, and the role of Congress in protecting civil rights.
7TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT — SUCCESSOR TO REP. DANNY DAVIS After nearly three decades in office, U.S. Rep. Danny Davis is stepping down from the 7th Congressional District, a seat long associated with civil rights leadership, progressive politics, and deep ties to Greater West Side communities. The open contest is one of the most competitive and consequential in Illinois. • Forum: Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026 | Doors open at 5:30 p.m. | Forum starts at 6 p.m. |
Who’s Running Democratic • • • • • • • • • • • • •
La Shawn K. Ford Jazmin J. Robinson Melissa Conyears-Ervin Jason Friedman Rory Hoskins Reed Showalter Anabel Mendoza Anthony Driver Jr. Richard R. Boykin Felix Tello Kina Collins David Ehrlich Thomas Fisher
Republican • Chad Koppie • Patricia “P Rae” Easley
8TH STATE REPRESENTATIVE DISTRICT — SUCCESSOR TO REP. LA SHAWN FORD State Rep. La Shawn Ford, a veteran lawmaker known for mental health advocacy and criminal justice reform, is leaving the Illinois House seat he has held since 2007. The district, which includes significant portions of the West Side and near west suburbs, now faces a pivotal choice in Springfield. • Forum: Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2026 | Doors open at 12:30 p.m. | Forum starts at 1 p.m. | Aspire Center for Workforce Innovation, 5500 W. Madison St., Chicago | Moderator: TBD Candidates will address state funding priorities, public education, workforce development, community safety, and economic stability,
Austin Artisan Market Planned for Vacant West Side Lot: ‘Our Version of Christkindlmarket’ Local nonprofit Root2Fruit received $50,000 to jumpstart the open-air market, which is spearheaded and will be owned by young people from Austin
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By MICHAEL LIPTROT Block Club Chicago
community organization running Chicago’s first officially designated safe zone is working to bring an outdoor artisan market to Austin. The Austin Artisan Market is planning to open on a vacant lot at 5637 W. Lake St. that would house 12-15 West Side businesses and makers. The seasonal market is expected to debut in 2027 and run from March to December. The market would have several cottage-style retail spaces in an open-air setting that would also include space for food trucks, officials said. It is largely inspired by the Berwyn Shops, which collaborated with Root2Fruit for nearly a year to help plan the market. Other local inspirations include Bronzeville’s Boxville market and the Christkindlmarket. The project comes from Austin’s Root2Fruit
among other issues.
Who’s Running Democratic • • • •
LaToya Mitts Shantel Franklin John Harrell Jill Bush
COOK COUNTY BOARD PRESIDENT — COUNTYWIDE
Youth Foundation, with the market being an extension of the group’s Austin Safety Action Plan Safe Zone, also known as the ASAP Safe Zone. The market would be within the safe zone, a gathering space that offers year-round programs dedicated to violence prevention and career development. The artisan market would help with that mission by providing local young people opportunities for employment, community engagement, and business ownership. Last month, organizers announced that the project received a $50,000 grant from Elevated Chicago’s Equitable Transit-Oriented Development Program. “It’s our version of the Christkindlmarket,” said Root2Fruit founder Aisha Oliver, who grew up blocks away from the site, near the Austin Town Hall Park. “We have been walking through this empty, vacant lot in Austin for 22 years.” Oliver said many of the young people in
LEADERSHIP TRANSITION Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, one of the most powerful officials in Illinois government, is seeking re-election as she oversees a county responsible for healthcare, courts, public safety, transportation, and social services for more than five million residents. Forum details will be announced in the coming weeks.
Who’s Running Democratic
Members of the Austin Safety Action Plan Safe Zone participate in a basketball tournament hosted at the Austin Town Hall at 5610 W. Lake St. | PROVIDED
Root2Fruit’s program walk through the vacant space daily as they travel to school from the Central CTA station or a nearby bus stop. “I told them that I was going to purchase that lot and we were going to figure out a way to put something on it that would be beneficial to the community as a whole,” said Oliver, who purchased the lot in April. “We thought about things that we didn’t have in the neighborhood and [decided on] a retail space that is public, that is not a store, where some of the young people can have a space of their own to sell their products.” Not only have local youths associated with Root2Fruit been instrumental in the market’s planning, but they will also own it under a coop model alongside Oliver. The market will be co-owned by seven longtime Root2Fruit members who Oliver described as being involved since around third grade and have worked on previous efforts
• Toni Preckwinkle • Brendan Reilly Libertarian • Michael Murphy
COOK COUNTY ASSESSOR — PROPERTY TAXES & NEIGHBORHOOD STABILITY The Cook County Assessor’s Office — currently held by Fritz Kaegi —
like the safe zone. This market is fulfilling a promise made by Oliver to offer the young men a stake in their community. “I promised them when they were in high school that I would purchase something and be able to make them owners before they were 25,” Oliver said. “Everything that I purchase or projects that I am able to do will be shared with those young men that helped me to establish ASAP.” Fundraising is ongoing for the market, which is projected to need more than $300,000 to get off the ground, Oliver said. Root2Fruit plans to host youth engagement sessions for anyone looking to provide feedback or get involved in the market. Information on attending a session or being among the first cohort of tenants at the market will be announced on the foundation’s website at root2fruit.org.
controls property assessments that directly affect household finances, housing stability, and neighborhood investment. Property tax equity remains one of the most pressing issues across the West Side. • Forum: Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026 | Doors open at 5:30 p.m. | Forum starts at 6 p.m. | Collins Academy STEAM High School, 1313 S. Sacramento Dr., Chicago | Moderator: Remel Terry
This forum will focus on fairness, transparency, and long-term reform of Cook County’s property assessment system.
Who’s Running Democratic • Fritz Kaegi • Pat Hynes Libertarian • Nico Tsatsoulis
January 7, 2026
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New Laws to Take Effect in 2025 Illinois expands job-protected leave for parents with newborns in NICU, addresses AI in hiring, workplace transparency, organ donation leave, among other measures
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BY BRENDAN MOORE Capitol News Illinois
llinois workers with a newborn in a neonatal intensive care unit will soon have additional access to job-protected, unpaid leave. Gov. JB Pritzker signed House Bill 2978, dubbed the Family Neonatal Intensive Care Leave Act, last year, and it took, effect Jan. 1. It requires employers of between 16 and 50 workers to provide up to 10 days of unpaid leave to employees who have a child in the NICU. Larger employers must provide up to 20 days. The law applies to both part- and full-time workers. It covers a broader swath of workers than the federal Family and Medical Leave Act — the law requiring public agencies, K-12 schools, and private companies with at least 50 employees to provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave per year. Workers eligible for FMLA must exhaust that leave first before utilizing NICU leave. Employers covered under the law must maintain their employees’ health insurance benefits and guarantee their reinstatement upon the conclusion of leave. Employers can’t force workers to exhaust their paid leave instead of unpaid NICU leave, though employees can take it if they choose. Violations may result in fines of up to $5,000. Here are some other new labor laws that take effect in 2026.
AI IN EMPLOYMENT DECISIONS An amendment to the Illinois Human Rights Act, House Bill 3773, prohibits the use of AI in employment decisions such as recruitment, hiring, and promotion if that use results in discrimination due to race, religion, sex, and age. The law, which took effect on Jan. 1, will require employers to disclose the use of AI in employment decisions. The measure, however, could potentially run afoul of a recent order that limits how states can regulate AI.
10 THE CULTURE • January 7, 2026
The Illinois State Capitol is pictured in Springfield. | CAPITOL NEWS ILLINOIS PHOTO BY JERRY NOWICKI
DOCUMENTING DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
PAID LEAVE FOR ORGAN DONORS
House Bill 1278 prevents employers from disciplining employees for using work devices to document domestic violence, sexual violence, gender violence, or other forms of violence against them or a family member. Employers also have to grant employees access to such documentation and communications stored on the devices. The law was inspired by a New York woman who used her work device to document domestic abuse committed by her husband. She was disciplined by her employer and later murdered by her husband.
House Bill 1616 extends paid leave requirements for organ donors to part-time employees. Under the law, workers can use up to 10 days leave per year to serve as an organ donor. Part-time workers’ pay for these days will be their average daily pay rate over the previous two months.
WORKPLACE TRANSPARENCY House Bill 3638 amends the Illinois Workplace Transparency Act to broaden the definition of “unlawful employment practice” to include any act prohibited by the Illinois Human Rights Act, the federal Civil Rights Act, and any other state or federal law covering employment issues. Employment contracts can also no longer include terms that limit an employee’s ability to engage in “concerted activity” like collective bargaining. And it prohibits contract stipulations that shorten the statute of limitations for employee claims, apply the law of another state to claims, or require claims be resolved outside Illinois.
MILITARY HONORS Under Senate Bill 220, employers with more than 50 workers must offer up to eight hours of paid leave per month — capped at 40 hours per calendar year — for employees to participate in a military funeral honors detail. It is in addition to regular paid time off.
UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS House Bill 3200 allows for someone who voluntarily leaves their job for mental health reasons to be eligible for unemployment benefits. It is a three-year pilot program that sunsets Dec. 24, 2028. Maggie Dougherty contributed to this report.
Ernie Baumann, Maywood Arts Champion, Dies at 87
Alongside his wife, Lois, Baumann built Maywood Fine Arts into the premier cultural and arts education institution for Greater West Side youth
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By MICHAEL ROMAIN The Culture
rnie Baumann, a tumbling instructor, entrepreneur, and community builder whose five-decade mission helped shape the lives of tens of thousands of children across Chicago’s western suburbs and the West Side through Maywood Fine Arts, died on Dec. 28. He was 87. The nonprofit confirmed Mr. Baumann’s death on its Facebook page. Mr. Baumann and his wife, Lois Baumann, founded Maywood Fine Arts in 1967, transforming what began as modest tumbling and dance classes into one of the region’s most enduring and inclusive youth arts institutions — an organization that today serves thousands of children each week and has produced multiple generations of alumni working across the arts, education, and entertainment industries. Over the course of 50 years, the Baumanns’ work and marriage survived blizzards, fires, racial and economic upheaval, suburban flight, and the slow erosion of public recreation programs — yet the mission never wavered: to keep arts accessible, affordable, and centered on children. “The thing that bonded us from the very beginning was our commitment to children, and particularly, at that time, to the children in Maywood,” Mrs. Baumann said in a 2021 interview. “We saw the disparity in what was happening in the country. This was during the Civil Rights Movement.” Mr. Baumann grew up in Maywood and operated a small neighborhood business, The Newspaper Store, a gathering place for commuters and creatives alike — including a young John Prine, the future Grammy-winning songwriter and fellow Maywood native. The couple met in 1966, married weeks lat-
Ernie and Lois in front of the state-of-the-art Maywood dance studio that was completed in 2016, six years after a fire destroyed the studio’s original home inside the former Maywood Opera House. | MAYWOOD FINE ARTS/FACEBOOK
Ernie Baumann, who cofounded Maywood Fine Arts alongside Lois Baumann, his wife of more than 50 years, died on Dec. 28. He was 87. | PROVIDED
er — their wedding famously delayed by the historic blizzard of January 1967 — and immediately began building a life defined by service. They first worked within the Maywood Recreation Department, where Lois taught dance and Ernie taught tumbling, coordinating all-day park programming for neighborhood children. When village officials attempted to raise fees on their expanding arts programs, the Baumanns walked away. “They wanted to start raising the prices,” Mr. Baumann recalled. “We said, wait a minute. You’re eliminating people by doing this, which is not the way it should go. So we left and started our own thing and ran it how we thought it should be run.” That “own thing” became Maywood Fine Arts. In 2010, a fire destroyed the organization’s beloved home — the former Maywood Opera
Ernie and Lois on their wedding day in 1967, a week after the great blizzard that happened in January. | PROVIDED
House, which the Baumanns had transformed into the Stairway of the Stars dance studio. Former student Craig Hall, who began dancing there at age 4 and later spent 20 years with the New York City Ballet, remembers the phone call vividly. “She was crying and saying the studio was on fire,” Hall said, recalling the call from the Baumanns’ daughter, Purdie Baumann. “So my dad and I drove over here and saw the flames and couldn’t believe it.” What followed became one of Maywood’s
most cherished stories. To rebuild, Mr. Baumann mobilized the children themselves. More than $13,000 was raised — mostly in pennies — through a grassroots campaign called “Raising the Barre.” “We had these little jars… and hundreds and hundreds of kids would go home, bring the jars back and get another one,” Mr. Baumann said. “We were in there every day.” By 2016, a $2 million, state-of-the-art dance facility stood in its place. “When the old studio burned down, it was like a little piece of all of us was broken,” Hall said at the reopening. “But it’s a dream come true.” Mr. Baumann’s legacy now spans generations. His granddaughter, India Rose Renteria, a performer since childhood, has already appeared in productions including the Tony Award–winning musical Ragtime. His students continue to dance on Broadway, with major companies, and in classrooms across the country. Even as Maywood’s demographics shifted dramatically — from 60% white in 1970 to 75% Black by 1980 — and jobs, businesses, and public recreation programs disappeared, Mr. Baumann refused to leave. “We were right in the middle of ‘White Flight,’” he said. “People would say, ‘You’re leaving, aren’t you?’ We’d say, ‘Huh? We ain’t going anywhere.’”
January 7, 2026
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12 THE CULTURE • January 7, 2026