Village Free Press_072920

Maywood Park Dist. hosts outdoor movie night, PAGE 2

D209 hires new supt.

Dr. James Henderson hired to replace outgoing Supt. Jesse Rodriguez

Vol. IV No. 31

JULY 29, 2020

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Broadview unites, PAGE 2

NOT ONE MORE!: Activists with the Maywood-based Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership held a rally outside of the National Guard Armory in North Riverside on July 17 to protest against military sexual abuse. Read more on page 3.

By MICHAEL ROMAIN Editor

Dr. James Henderson, the 56-year-old incoming superintendent of Proviso Township High Schools District 209, was born and raised in Holmes County, Miss.

— the “poorest county in the poorest state in America,” he said in a July 27 phone interview.

The 15th of his parents’ 16 children (one died at birth), Henderson made a vow to his younger self never to return, because of incidents like the one that happened in 1986.

“I graduated from Jackson State University and became a news reporter at a CBS station in Iowa,” he recalled. “I went home to visit my parents and I had a toothache that was really painful, so I went to the dentist to have them extract it. I rushed in pointing at my tooth, asking them if they could pull it out.

“A white lady says, ‘Can you come over here?’ I went to the other side. Then I saw a white lady come into the same door I did and [the receptionist] waited on her. I’m looking and I back up, look to the side, and See Henderson on page 7

Alex Rogals

Maywood Housing Authority to dissolve After losing its charter, agency’s functions to be taken over by Joliet housing authority, village attorney says

By MICHAEL ROMAIN Editor

The Maywood Housing Authority is in the process of dissolving, according to Maywood village officials. Village attorney Michael Jurusik informed Maywood board members at a July 14 special meeting that

the long-troubled agency has lost its charter and is headed for dissolution.

Jurusik said that the housing authority must adopt a resolution “that it’s in effect completed all projects undertaken by it and has no other duties to perform.

After the agency files documentation with various entities, such as the Cook County Recorder of Deeds’ office, the state

will perform an audit of the agency and the housing authority will start liquidating its assets. Once that process is complete, the village board will draft an ordinance designed to notify the public that the agency no longer exists.

Jurusik said that “my understanding is that a housing authority out of Joliet is assuming See MHA on page 3

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Village Free Press | July 29, 2020

OUT and ABOUT the village free press Editor & Publisher Michael Romain Senior Sales & Strategic Consultant Kamil Brady Editorial Designer Andrew Mead Advertising Design Support Debbie Becker, Mark Moroney HOW TO REACH US Village Free Press c/o Wednesday Journal 141 S. Oak Park Ave. Oak Park, IL 60302 PHONE: 773-626-6332 FAX: (708) 467-9066

MOVIES THAT COUNT: On July 24, the Maywood Park District and Proviso Census 2020 hosted a movie in the park on the park district’s grounds located on the corner of 9th Avenue and Madison Street in Maywood. Maywood Trustee Nathaniel George Booker said that 17 people were counted in the upcoming 2020 Census as a result of the event.

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by Michael Romain. It is distributed free of charge at locations throughout Maywood. © 2020 Village Free Press

Photos courtesy Nathaniel George Booker

Broadview’s ‘Community Unity Day’ forges bonds

By IGOR STUDENKOV Contributing Reporter

We’re proud to partner with Growing Community Media, NFP. Publisher Dan Haley

“To learn to be human is to develop through the give and take of communication an effective sense of being an individually distinctive member of a community.”

—John Dewey

Around 60 people came out to Broadview’s first Community Unity Day, held July 25 at the Broadview Municipal Building, 2350 S. 25th Ave. Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson said during Saturday’s event that it was designed so that residents can have a chance to talk to elected officials, department heads, public works employees, police officers and firefighters.

Thompson said that she wants village residents to “continue to get to know each other and show how strong Broadview is, because we’re Broadview strong.”

The mayor added that the event was also a way to promote two major initiatives in the village — the Smart911 and MyID programs — both of which are designed to provide first-responders with information that would come in handy in case of an emergency.

The crowd of people who showed up, some of whom were from nearby Maywood, got free masks, gloves and hand sanitizer, and walked by booths sponsored by various village entities, including the mayor, village clerk, and fire and police departments.

Trustee Andrea Senior, who chairs the village board’s Streets, Sidewalks and Alleys committee, said that she hopes that these kinds of face-toface interactions would not only give residents a chance to ask questions, but find out who is actually in charge of village functions.

“Sometimes, people don’t know the people who work in the community here,” Senior said.

Local businesses were also present during Community Unity Day. DeVanna Pinson, of Broadview, runs D. Renee Beauty, a company that sells body and lip gloss products. She set up a tent where she gave visitors free samples and fliers, which she hopes will translate into online sales.

“I’m looking forward to seeing how the website traffic [grows] over the next few days,” she said, before explaining how much she appreciated Saturday’s event.

“For as long as I’ve been in this community, this is the most apart of the community I’ve felt, so it’s nice,” she said.

Ronald Jackson, of Maywood, found out about Community Unity Day from through a friend’s Facebook post. He was seeking to reach out to people who might be interested in joining his church — Empowerment Church, located at 501 Oak St. in Bellwood.

COMING TOGETHER: Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson, left, speaks with Debra Vines, founder of The Answer, Inc., and other community members during Saturday’s Community Unity Day.

Igor Studenkov

“[Community Unity Day] was actually very helpful, particularly [when it comes to] getting the PPE items,” he said.

Thompson said that, overall, she was satisfied with the village’s first Community Unity Day. CONTACT: thevillagefreepress@gmail.com

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Village Free Press | July 29, 2020

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Maywood nonprofit demands justice for Vanessa Guillen Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership held July 17 protest outside National Guard Armory in North Riverside

By MICHAEL ROMAIN Editor

Around 40 people gathered outside of the Illinois National Guard’s North Riverside Armory, 8660 Cermak Rd. in North Riverside, on July 17 chanting “Mu na mas! Not one more!” and holding signs demanding justice for Vanessa Guillen — the 20-year-old soldier who was murdered after complaining to family members about sexual harassment by her superiors.

Guillen’s murder resonated with Ansima Rosette Mamboleo, a member of the Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership, a social justice organization based in Maywood that organized the Friday morning demonstration held at the armory’s Ninth Avenue entrance.

“They tell us, ‘Ladies you are free,’” Mamboleo said. “But that [freedom] feels like an illusion.”

Mamboleo shared her own experiences enduring job interviews where she’s “double penalized” for being a Black woman. And when she reports the kind of harassment

MHA

Folding from page 1 and taking on all the obligations” of the Maywood Housing Authority, which is primarily responsible for administering the Housing Choice Voucher program (formerly Section 8) that helps low-income people afford housing, Attempts on Saturday to contact Tiffany Robinson, the Maywood Housing Authority director, were unsuccessful.

Back in 2017, Robinson told board members that the authority was in serious financial trouble related to incidents of theft and misconduct that happened over a decade ago, according to previous Village Free Press reporting.

In 2013, the Maywood Housing Authority’s former executive director, Gwendolyn Robinson (no relation), pleaded guilty to theft and official misconduct for stealing more than $400,000 from the authority during her tenure that lasted between May 2006 and November 2009. She was indicted in 2011 and eventually sentenced to six years in prison,

they didn’t find evidence of sexual harassment to confirm her family’s accusations,” ABC News reported.

During Friday’s demonstration in North Riverside, Melinda Garcia, another coalition member, said that her organization has joined the chorus of other activists across the country demanding the military require that sexual assault complaints be reported to a third-party agency and for a congressional investigation into Guillen’s death, among other demands.

Randall McFarland said that he attended Friday’s protest because he believes that the culture of abuse in the military has gone unchecked for too long.

Melinda Garcia, left, speaks to a group of supporters on July 17, 2020, during an Action for “All too often, this happens to some of Vanessa Gullien outside on the Illinois Army National Guard Training Facility on Cermak our young ladies who are in the military and it goes unchecked,” he said. “I know Road in North Riverside.

Alex Rogals personally, a few friends of mine who were in the military and they told me about their experiences. It’s not a good thing. It’s that Giullen complained to her family about to do a formal report because she was afraid beyond time for something to be done about “I am shut down,” Mamboleo said. of retaliation and being blackballed, and it.”

Guillen, a Houston native who was she, like most victims, just tried to deal with Coalition member Maria Hernandezstationed at Fort Hood, Texas, went missing it herself,” Lupe Guillen, Vanessa’s 16-yearFranco said that on July 30, a much larger in April before authorities discovered her old sister, told ABC News on July 1. call to action will take place in Washington, disfigured body on June 30.

Two suspects — a male soldier and his exD.C., in order to push for federal legislation After Guillen’s disappearance, her family girlfriend— were arrested in connection to designed to deal with sexual harassment in spoke out about her allegations to numerous Guillen’s murder. Authorities announced on the military. media outlets and on social media accounts July 1 that the man died by suicide while his “Here in North Riverside, we will call a they created. ex-girlfriend is in prison. press conference once again,” Hernandez“She reported it to her friends. She “Military officials said at a press Franco said. “We will be here and we will reported it to her family. She even reported conference that Robinson was not Guillen’s continue to fight.” to other soldiers on base, but she didn’t want superior and that during their investigation CONTACT: thevillagefreepress@gmail.com

according to the Chicago Tribune.

Robinson said that, due to the theft that happened in the agency, the government expected the Maywood Housing Authority to pay “over $1 million back to them.” She said that the authority filed an insurance claim but was denied. At the time, Robinson said the authority owed an outstanding balance of $813,967.

Robinson also said in 2017 that, in addition to the debt, the federal government hadn’t been automatically sending the money the authority needed to function.

According to one Maywood landlord interviewed by Village Free Press in the past, the Maywood Housing Authority’s dissolution could mean that the residency requirement for individuals who hold MHA-issued vouchers would dissolve, allowing those individuals to move to other areas.

During the July 14 meeting, the village board discussed what to do with the building at 801 S. 5th Ave. in Maywood that the housing authority owns.

Trustee Miguel Jones introduced a motion to direct village staff to research the current status of the building in order to explore redevelopment possibilities, but the motion failed.

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OUT THE DOOR: The Maywood Housing Authority’s headquarters at 801 S. 5th Ave. in Maywood. Now that the agency is in the process of dissolving, some village officials want to explore redeveloping the property.

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NEWS briefs

Maywood Old Timers picnic canceled

The annual Maywood Old Timers Picnic that’s typically held the second Saturday in August has been canceled due to COVID-19 concerns, members of the organizing committee recently announced.

The picnic had been planned for Aug. 15.

An annual fundraiser scheduled for earlier this year and that usually precedes the picnic was also canceled.

“We look forward to seeing everyone in 2021,” said Grady Rivers, one of the event’s organizers.

Maywood infant dies July 17 from ‘unknown causes’

Maywood Police announced in a statement released July 22 that an infant who had to be resuscitated by an officer on July 17 died the following Tuesday. The Cook County Medical Examiner’s office confirmed the infant’s death on Wednesday afternoon.

According to the police department’s statement, officers responded to a call of an unresponsive 8-month-old at a home on the 1900 block of South 10th Avenue in Maywood.

When they arrived, the infant “had no pulse and was not breathing,” police said.

Responding officers then began CPR until

the infant was transported by ambulance to the children’s unit at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, where doctors were able to stabilize the baby.

On July 21, however, the police were notified that the baby had died from unknown causes. The medical examiner’s report showed that autopsy results are pending.

A spokesperson for the Maywood Police Department said that she doesn’t have anymore information about the incident.

Westchester, Berkeley among places that beat COVID-19 home sales plunge, Crain’s says

Two suburbs in Proviso Township were listed in a recent Crain’s Chicago Business report as places where home sales avoided the COVID-19-related slump in the first six months of 2020 — a reality that is widespread.

Crain’s “A-list” includes just two of Chicago’s 77 community areas and seven of 166 suburbs, the publication noted — including Berkeley and Westchester.

The publication explained that home sales in Chicago and in suburbs in Cook, DuPage, Lake and Will counties were down 20 percent in the first half of 2020 from the same period

last year, according to data released by the Chicago Association of Realtors, Midwest Real Estate Data and Showing Time.

The publication’s “A-list” includes “places where first-half sales in 2020 were higher than first-half 2019, including in June. This is an indication that their strength was not only in the pre-COVID first quarter, but continued to be strong during the pandemic.”

Crain’s attributes that strength to a range of factors, including “low home prices relative to other parts of the region, epochal low mortgage interest rates and possibly a realization that living close to commuter rail won’t be so important if working from home becomes a long-term necessity.”

Driver ejected from car in fatal accident on I-290 July 22 A woman lost her life in a single-car accident on the I-290 expressway heading east through Forest Park when the car she was driving, which witnesses said was moving side to side, hit the barrier on the side of the traffic lane. She was ejected from the car and died from her injuries.

The car went up in flames, and a bystander pulled a child from the car. The child, whose injuries appeared minor, was transported to a nearby hospital.

The accident happened at 2:04 p.m. on July

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22, on the I-290 expressway, west of Circle Avenue.

Eastbound traffic was temporarily shut down as police and fire units responded to the accident and while Maywood and Forest Park fire departments put out the fire. As of 4:07 p.m., only one traffic lane was open.

Maywood man killed July19 Chicago shooting A Maywood man was murdered in a shooting that happened on July 19 in Chicago’s Loop, according to multiple media reports.

Gregory Crawford, 35, was riding in a vehicle with a woman “heading north in the 300 block of North Wabash Avenue about 2:35 a.m. when they saw a group of males on the east side of the bridge over the Chicago River arguing with someone in the middle of the street, according to Chicago police,” the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

The man in the street began shooting toward the group of men on the bridge, but hit Crawford and the female he was in the car with. Crawford was fatally shot in the neck. The woman was shot in both of her arms and is in serious condition, the SunTimes reported.

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State unemployment agency hit in nationwide fraud scheme IDES says federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program is ripe for abuse, urges residents to report fraudulent claims filed in their names

By PETER HANCOCK Capitol News Illinois

SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Department of Employment Security said on July 22, it has been affected by a nationwide fraud scheme involving the federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program.

That program, enacted as part of the federal CARES Act, provides 100 percent federally funded jobless benefits to independent contractors, gig workers and others who don’t normally qualify for the traditional unemployment insurance program.

In a statement last Wednesday, IDES said that program was designed hastily as the

COVID-19 crisis was unfolding and that it did not include adequate safeguards to prevent abuse. That’s because the program is designed for people who don’t have an employer.

In traditional unemployment, the agency said, an employer would be able to challenge a claim by reporting that a claimant was still employed or had not lost work through no fault of their own.

IDES spokeswoman Rebecca Cisco said in an interview that the scheme involves filing unemployment claims using false identities and then attempting to have the payment method switched from the debit cards that people receive when they qualify for benefits to a direct deposit.

The agency said those behind the fraud probably obtained people’s personal information through an earlier cyber hack or data breach such as the Equifax data breach of 2017.

IDES did not say how many fraudulent claims it has detected or how much money is involved, but it did say it is cooperating with both local and federal law enforcement agencies to track down and prosecute the individuals behind the scheme.

Gov. JB Pritzker addressed the fraud

scheme during a news conference Wednesday in Chicago, saying the scheme has affected nearly every state unemployment program in the nation.

“If you received a debit card in the mail, do not activate it,” Pritzker said. “It’s also highly recommended that you check your credit report for possible suspicious activity.

Again, this is a problem being experienced all across the country right now because the national program was poorly designed and susceptible to fraud.”

People who believe a fraudulent claim has been filed in their name are urged to call IDES immediately at 1 (800) 814-0513. When prompted, select the English or Spanish language option, then select option 1 for claimants and option 5 to report identity theft.

Information about identifying and reporting identity theft is available on the Federal Trade Commission’s website, www. ftc.gov.

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Maywood and River Forest form soccer alliance River Forest Youth Soccer League offering to cover fees for Maywood residents who can’t afford participation

By JAMES KAY Wednesday Journal

When the Black Lives Matter movement sparked a global racial reckoning over the last seven weeks, Adam Stern wanted to help fight the good fight at the local level.

As the regional commissioner of the River Forest Youth Soccer League, he reflected on the state of his organization and decided to pitch to the board the idea of including Maywood residents in the league.

“After George Floyd’s murder, my family and I attended marches and listened to all of the local leaders discuss racial inequality,” said Stern. “At that point, I had the idea to see if Maywood

had a soccer league and if it would want to join our [league]. Once I found out they didn’t, it was a no-brainer that we should reach out and try to make it happen.”

In June and July, River Forest’s and Maywood’s village boards voted to pass a Twin Village Covenant designed to help forge a greater bond between the two communities. With that in mind, Stern wanted to extend that to youth soccer.

In a time where financial security isn’t a given, the River Forest Youth Soccer League has offered to cover fees for Maywood residents who can’t afford the expenses needed to be a part of it.

The league is able to do this partially due to the spring season being canceled. According to Stern, 75 percent of the people who paid for the spring season decided to donate the money to the league instead of requesting a refund.

“We have a little bit of money now to use on getting Maywood residents involved because of that,” said Stern. “I have also had people from River Forest donate so that fees can be waived for Maywood residents to

participate even if they can’t pay the fees.

It’s been great.”

Maywood Trustee Miguel Jones is excited to give the community a chance to be a part of a soccer league, but he believes there are still concerns that need to be addressed.

“We are known for producing a lot of great athletes,” said Jones. “I think this is a great opportunity for our youth to be a part of one of the most popular sports in the world.

But there are things that I want to see from Maywood and River Forest in general that we need to figure out.”

Jones outlined concerns over COVID-19 safety precautions, transportation and the two towns trying to become more familiar with one another. “[Maywood and River Forest] are two different towns,” said Jones. “I think this is an extremely nice gesture that I would encourage Maywood’s youth to take advantage of, but there is the barrier of familiarity. There’s still a few more things that are the main issues that they might face in order to fully be able to participate fullthrottle, like getting to know the coaches and

the schedule.”

Something that Jones thinks is integral to having the two communities make the connection work is having residents from both villages come to each other’s areas.

This would include having games potentially being played in Maywood.

“I would definitely like to see games played in Maywood,” said Jones. “We have the parks for it. Again, this is an opportunity to grow the sport here and we have not only a large Black population but an equally and growing Hispanic community as well.

“What I would like to see from Maywoodians is having parents and neighbors encourage our youth to participate in this so that we aren’t putting the onus on the students.

We are committed to building bridges with our neighboring town and that starts with participation.”

Stern and Jones both said they are hoping more Maywood residents sign up for the league and that those looking for more information can contact Stern at adam@ adamsternlaw.com.

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Area school districts poised to start this fall

District 89 students could return to classes in fall while Bellwood, Lindop students may start remotely

By MICHAEL ROMAIN Editor

As the upcoming 2020-21 school year draws near, area elementary school districts have recently tentative reopening plans for the unprecedented fall semester.

Maywood-Melrose Park-Broadview School District 89 administrators announced in a letter sent to families on July 16 that they plan to start the fall on a blended learning model while Bellwood District 88 and Lindop District 92 will both start the fall on a remote learning, or e-learning, model.

According to D89’s reopening plan, students “will have in-person instruction 2 days a week with remote instruction (eLearning) 3 days a week,” D89 Supt. David Negron announced in the letter. “Your school principal will communicate the days that your children will be attending in person by the end of the month.”

Negron explained that the district’s goal is to make sure that siblings attend school on the same days.

“We will be modifying the instructional day, so students in 6th – 8th will be dismissed at 1:45 and students in K – 5th will be

dismissed at 2:30. There are no changes to the instructional day for preschool students.

“The modified schedule along with Wednesdays will allow for deep cleaning of our schools. More specific information regarding our hybrid approach will be shared in the coming weeks. We will also be developing a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document that will likely address additional questions and concerns you may have.”

In a statement released last week, Bellwood District 88 Supt. Mark Holder announced that after considering multiple reopening plans, “including full in-person instruction, a hybrid model with two consecutive days of in-person instruction followed by three remote learning days, and full remote instruction,” the district ultimately implement a “phased approach.”

Holder’s team is calling that approach an “e-learning 2.0 plan,” which will be made available at the end of the month.

“Embedded in the plan, students will engage in teacher led instruction and remote learning activities,” he explained.

“Standards, rigor, grading, and attendance are of the utmost importance and will also be included in the plan.”

Bellwood D88 students will begin the school year on Sept. 8 on a remote learning plan and at the end of the first quarter, administrators “will assess our current reality and decide how to proceed with either a hybrid model or continue with remote learning,” Holder said.

At a regular meeting on July 21, the D92 school board unanimously approved the district administration’s recommendation that the district start the 2020-21 school year remotely “with an assessment to re-enter school on campus as appropriate in January 2021.”

Administrators at all three districts said that their actions were based on guidances put forth by the Illinois Department of Public Health, the Centers for Disease Control and/or the Illinois State Board of Education.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic prompted

Gov. J.B. Pritzker to order schools closed back in March, school districts across the state have depended on information from those entities to guide their actions.

Administrators at the three districts also said that their reopening plans are subject to change based on new developments related to the viral disease and how local, state and federal governments are respond to it.

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HENDERSON Opening up from page 1 there’s a sign that said, ‘Colored.’ I walked around to the first door and it said, ‘White.’ I don’t know what happened to my toothache, but I rushed back home.”

Henderson said he called a friend who was a news reporter in Jackson, Miss., and tipped her to the story. His father overheard his pitch.

“My dad looks at me,” Henderson recalled.

“He said, ‘Boy don’t you come here starting no s—. I got to live here.’ I was furious with my dad and I left Mississippi and I never went back [except for] his funeral. By the time I got two hours away from Mississippi, I realized that it wasn’t his fault. I was mad at Mississippi and didn’t return for 33 years unless for a funeral of one of my siblings.”

In 2018, however, Jackson was faced with two job offers — one from a school district in Jackson and the other from the Holmes County Consolidated School District, where he attended. He took the latter opportunity, vowing this time to make his hometown schools better. What he found may shock even the most jaded observer of educational dysfunction in American schools.

“Holmes County was an ‘F’ district,” Henderson said. “This past year, I did a data dive and found that only 48 percent of the teachers in the district were certified and the rest were long-term substitutes who had been in the system—most of them worked anywhere from five to 15 years with no certification. I dug deeper and found almost 20 teachers who had never even been on a college campus and were teachers of record who had been in those positions from 12 to 20 years. And you question why we’re [failing].

You have to unearth this stuff if we’re going to do right by our Black and Brown children.”

What’s more, Henderson said, only 25 percent of students in Holmes County had access to the internet.

“This is in 2018,” he said.

The experience has hardened Henderson’s resolve to the point where he fashions himself an “equity warrior.”

“And one has to be, particularly for Black and Brown kids, because if not, they lose,” he said.

Leaving Holmes County Henderson said he’s leaving his hometown, because he believes his mission there is accomplished.

“My team and I have brought this district into the 21st century,” he said. “My work here is done and now it’s time for someone to pick it up and take it to the next level. I’ve tilled the soil, if you will.”

Now, 82 percent of teachers in the Holmes County district are certified and 98 percent of students in his district have access to the internet.

In the case of the uncertified teachers, Henderson said he required them to go back to school if they wanted to keep their jobs.

In the case of the students lacking internet

TAKING THE WHEEL: James Henderson, the incoming superintendent of District 209, calls himself an “equity warrior” who is passionate about righting systemic wrongs done to Black and Brown kids.

Photo provided

access, Henderson said he distributed 400 old computers to students who didn’t have them and purchased hotspots for kids.

Henderson said he looks at schools in District 209, particularly Proviso East, in a similar light as Holmes County, which he said had a 60 percent graduation rate when he arrived and is now at 96 percent as he prepares to leave.

In Holmes, Henderson said he achieved the sharp uptick forming a program called Graduates Within Reach, which entailed a coalition of community leaders (ministers, elected officials, teachers, etc.) identifying missing students and going into the community to bring them back into school.

“We went into certain parts of the community, a group of five or six over here and there, along with a counselor, and we enroll those kids immediately,” he said.

“In addition to that, everyone adopted a child. We checked in with those kids, at minimum once a week, but most teachers and administrators saw the kids almost on a daily basis just to make sure we got those kids to cross the line.”

Henderson said that he envisions possibly implementing a similar program at East, where the 4-year graduation rate is 67 percent, according to Illinois Report Card data.

Henderson said that he also plans to bring his experience at the frontlines of the intersection of COVID-19 and racial inequity.

In April, the Guardian newspaper highlighted Henderson’s effort to get meals to students who were stuck at home as the pandemic raged. In Holmes County, where every child in the district qualifies for free meals, COVID-19 became so pervasive that local leaders are required everyone in the county to wear face masks. In Holmes, the pandemic intermingled with poverty, which required some innovation.

“Many children in this rural district come from households too poor to afford a car,” the Guardian reported. “So the superintendent embarked on an improvised project, driving 6,000 meals a day out across the county in a small fleet of 70 school buses, dropping each

packet off at a stop along the route.

Even before the virus, Henderson said, he forged a remote learning partnership with Yale University, in which a teacher from Yale taught a remote AP physics course to Holmes students. The initiative resulted in a visit by U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos in 2018, which in turn allowed the district to secure a $3 million grant to continue the program, Henderson said.

As he helms District 209 in a time of COVID-19, Henderson said “I absolutely” see similar partnerships happening between D209 and area colleges and universities.

Henderson said that he realizes that the work laid by his predecessor, Dr. Jesse Rodriguez, who left to become superintendent of Zion-Benton Township High School. Henderson said that he appreciated the preliminary reopening plan that D209 officials put together under Interim Supt. Dan Johnson, which called for a hybrid model in the fall, with students returning to classes for two days and working remotely for three.

“They have done a great job of putting that plan together,” he said. “It was a data-driven plan and I love that.”

Henderson also complimented D209’s facilities master plan, one of Rodriguez’s and the board’s signature accomplishments.

Full transparency District 209’s incoming superintendent will start on a 3-year, $250,000 employment contract.

After the school board hired executive search firm Ray and Associates to help administer a national search, 45 applicants were whittled down to three finalists, but the board wasn’t satisfied with the candidates and so they decided to restart the search process from scratch in April. Henderson was hired from the second pool of candidates who applied for the position.

Henderson has a bachelor’s degree in mass communication from Jackson State University, a master’s degree in educational leadership and supervision from Prairie View A&M University and a doctorate in education from St. John’s University.

Henderson has also undergone professional development at the Howard Urban Superintendent Academy in Washington, D.C., and the Harvard University Graduate School of Education’s Leadership Institute for School Superintendents, among other institutions.

Henderson has nearly 20 years of executive experience in education. He’s been an English teacher, a middle school principal and sub-district superintendent in the Houston Independent School District, and a chief of staff for Normandy School District in St. Louis, among other positions.

During the hiring process, Henderson said he voluntarily provided to board members a series of potentially damaging news articles dating to 2005, when he was HISD’s North/ Acres Homes Superintendent.

One article in the Houston Chronicle implicated Henderson in a scandal involving Houston ISD’s former chief school administrator, to whom Henderson directly reported.

7

The former chief school administrator resigned in 2005 after district officials discovered that she had given computer contracts to her son. Henderson resigned the same year. After district official’s investigated the incident, however, “they found no clear evidence that the violation was intentional,” the Chronicle reports.

Another 2005 article published by the Baltimore Sun alludes to Henderson’s implication in an alleged cheating scandal.

During the July 27 interview, Henderson said that the state had found “400 schools with high erasure marks” and of those 400 schools, 22 were in HISD, with two being in his sub-district. Henderson said he immediately recommended to the superintendent of schools that “we should move forward with an external investigator and that’s exactly what we did. They found nothing was there.”

Henderson said that the schools that were implicated in the investigation had majority Black and Brown student populations, and were high-performing.

“It’s easy for us to catch attention, when we’re doing that well,” he said.

Henderson said that he volunteered the articles to the board, because “I always operate in full transparency,” before pointing out that he got caught in the crossfires in those incidents that the news articles highlighted.

Reaching out to Black and Brown boys Henderson — whose doctoral dissertation was entitled: “Investigating Classroom Colorism: African American Males’ Academic, Behavior, and School Connectedness by Skin Tone” — said that he’s compassionate about educating young men, particularly Black and Brown boys.

“We are so absent in the lives of our Black and Brown boys, so there’s a huge need for us to be present in their lives,” he said. “I call this compassionate leadership — strong, firm and fair.”

That concern, he said, extends to bringing minority men into classrooms. As chief HR officer for St. Louis Public Schools, Henderson said that he piloted a project that had his team visiting 70 Historically Black Colleges and Universities in an effort to hire more Black and Brown teachers.

Henderson said that he believes the demographic profile of the district’s teaching population should reflect that of its student body. Currently, 70 percent of D209 teachers are white while 56 percent of students are Latinx and 41 percent of students are Black. But Henderson emphasized that he’s “looking for good teachers, period.”

Henderson said his first priority, however, will be to listen and learn about D209 before acting.

“My first goal is really to just listen and learn,” he said. “I’m going to take 30 days to listen and learn. Although I’m responsible for the day-to-day operations, I don’t want to come in hitting the ground running. I want to hit the ground listening, so I can get a full understanding of what the community needs.”

CONTACT: thevillagefreepress@gmail.com

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Village Free Press | July 29, 2020

BE COUNTED.

2020 CENSUS

Your participation matters.

Questions about the 2020 Census? We have answers.

Text us your questions to 987987.

Complete your Census form online: my2020Census.gov

WE ARE BACK! REOPENING DAY, JUNE 29TH, 2020 • Our facilities will reopen with limited hours and at 50% capacity.

• Temperatures will be taken when entering our facilities.

• Face coverings must be worn when entering and in common areas.

Not required when working out but encouraged.

• Members are required to wipe down the machines after each use.

• Everyone is expected to practice social distancing and wash hands frequently.

Due to the closure of the facilities during the COVID-19 Pandemic, Executive Director Mark Flores has extended all current memberships an additional 4 months.

Any question regarding procedures or weight room use, please call us or email us at Mempark@msn.com We thank in advance for your cooperation as we enter Phase 4 Guidelines for re-opening our facilities.

Thank You & Stay Safe • Memorial Park District

Eisenhower Community Center, Hillside

Front Desk (708) 547-3900 x4 Monday –Friday 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. No weekend hours

Sharp Community Center, Melrose Park Front Desk (708) 547-3936 x4 Monday – Friday: 8:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M No weekend hours

The Center at Stevenson Park, Bellwood

Front Desk (708) 547-5400 x4 Monday – Thursday: 5:00 A.M. to 7:30 A.M. Seniors + (55 & up) Monday – Thursday: 7:30 A.M. to 7:00 P.M. Friday: Open (see Mon.-Thurs.)- Closes at 5:00 P.M. Saturday: 7:00 A.M. to 3:00 P.M. Sunday: Closed

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Village Free Press | July 29, 2020

9

Proviso suburbs allocated $5.5M in county COVID-19 aid

Aid from CARES Act to be used for direct expenses like PPE purchases

By MICHAEL ROMAIN Editor

When Congress passed the $2.2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, also known as the CARES Act, back in March, Cook County received around $429 million, of which the county decided to allocated $51 million that would be divided up among county municipalities for COVID-19 relief.

The 14 suburbs in Proviso Township were allocated a total of $5.5 million. County officials explained that the funding was allocated based on population and other factors that were looked at through an “equitable lens,” including how many resources each municipality has at its disposal to respond to the pandemic, its median income and a variety of public health statistics.

Suburbs were then given an “allocation score,” with the highest indicating the greatest amount of need.

The funds are reimbursable and only apply to “direct expenses related to coronavirus,” according to the county’s website. The funds cannot be spent to cover any revenue that

the municipalities lost due to the pandemic.

According to county data, the five suburbs in Proviso Township that were apportioned the most funding (with figures rounded up) were: Maywood ($686,000), Melrose Park ($658,000), Bellwood ($600,000), Stone Park ($585,000) and Broadview ($490,000).

In an interview on July 23, Maywood Village Manager Willie Norfleet Jr. said that not all suburbs that were allocated CARES Act funding from the county will necessarily spent that much.

He said that suburbs also can apply for reimbursable support up to 75 percent of eligible expenses from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA. “The county is asking that we submit to FEMA first,” Norfleet said, adding that it’s unlikely that Maywood will get even a third of the $686,000 that it’s been allocating since it hasn’t spent that much on direct COVID-19 expenses.

Norfleet said that the largest COVID-19 spending by the village has been roughly $100,000 spent on personal protective equipment that was distributed to residents earlier this year. Other, much smaller, expenses have been on furniture equipment like sneeze guards for the police station and Village Hall.

Norfleet said that the village may spend more reimbursable funds if circumstances change, such as if another surge of cases arises that will require the village to spend more on PPE.

“The only way you can get all of the money is if you have a justification for it,” he said.

Earlier this year, Maywood Trustee Nathaniel George Booker introduced a program that would provide financial support to local businesses affected

by COVID-19, but that idea was largely rejected because the village was cash-strapped and the county aid had not been authorized.

“We were quite AID COMING: A chart detailing the allocation of Cares Act funding conservative to suburbs in Proviso Township based on data from Cook County. and careful about Village Free Press our expenditures, because we didn’t know what revenue loss might be like in regards to property until Sept. 30 to indicate “its intent (or not) taxes,” Norfleet said.

With the county’s reimbursable CARES to fully expend its allocated funds” by the Act program solidly in place, the board may December deadline, according to an online CARES Act Funding FAQ prepared by feasibly revisit the idea, he indicated.

County officials said that municipalities county officials and last updated on July 14. have until Dec. 30 to submit reimbursable CONTACT: thevillagefreepress@gmail.com expenditures while each municipality has

Maywood to demolish 14 hazardous properties Village to raze properties as part of ‘fast track demolition’ process

By MICHAEL ROMAIN Editor

During a meeting on July 14, the Maywood Board of Trustees voted unanimously to approve a resolution that will allow village staffers to start the process of fast track demolition of 14 hazardous properties in the village — most of them abandoned singlefamily homes.

“We have a number of abandoned properties in our town and unfortunately the banks do not take care of them,” said David Myers, the village’s community development director, during the July 14 meeting. “The owners who have walked away, leave them in [bad] shape.”

The fast track demolition process allows municipalities to bypass the courts and

demolish properties, no higher than three stories that are “open and vacant and determined by the Village to be continuing hazard to the community,” according to a 2017 memo drafted by the village’s contract law firm, Klein, Thorpe & Jenkins.

The last time the board approved the fast track demolition process was in July 2016, when 12 vacant properties were targeted for demolition.

Myers told board members in 2017 that the first priority of village staff with respect to vacant and abandoned properties is to determine whether or not the properties can be salvaged and, ultimately, restored. In the case of the 12 listed for demolition, he said back then, that wasn’t a possibility.

Myers told the board on July 14 that, as with the 12 properties identified in 2016, village staffers attempted to contact the owners of the 10 properties identified this year and have spent money maintaining the properties, some of which are grounds for illegal activities like prostitution.

Below is the list of 10 sites that the village has identified for fast track demolition this year: § § § § § § § § § § § § § § Myers said that once the properties are demolished, the Cook County Land Bank Authority can acquire the sites and try selling them to prospective developers

313 S. 3rd Ave. 401 N. 4th Ave. 801 N. 5th Ave. 1323 S. 5th Ave. 417 N. 7th Ave. 809 S. 10th Ave. 811 S. 10th Ave. 305 S. 11th Ave. 430 S. 16th Ave. 422 S. 16th Ave. 828 S. 18th Ave. 227 S. 19th Ave. 611 S. 20th Ave. 18 S. 21st Ave.

interested in building new properties on them.

CONTACT: thevillagefreepress@gmail.com

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Village Free Press | July 29, 2020

By MICHAEL ROMAIN

John Lewis sacrificed for democracy

Editor

Two days after John Lewis died on July 17 at age 80, I called Congressman Danny K. Davis, who knew Lewis personally for two decades and recently MICHAEL ROMAIN sat with him on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee.

“I think John had the seniority to be chairman of Ways and Means, but he didn’t want to be chairman,” Davis said. “He was the second-ranking guy on the committee and he was chairman of the sub-committee, but he was the same way in committee business and hearings and discussions — just John Lewis. You couldn’t help but love him and he will go down in history as one of the most revered members of the Congress who ever lived.”

Davis said that Lewis was “unpretentious, easy to get along with, easy to deal with,” and never “got too carried away with himself and who he was. He was a very common, decent guy. Just the essence of decency. The essence of honesty. The essence of integrity.

The essence of virtue.”

About a week before his death, I watched Good Trouble, a new documentary about Lewis’ more than 60 years of social activism.

In the film, the Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates described an episode of “Finding Your Roots,” where he showed Lewis the 1867 voter card of his great-greatgrandfather — the last member of Lewis’ family to vote before the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

“The vote is the most powerful instrument, the most powerful non-violent tool in a democratic society,” Lewis told Gates on “Finding Your Roots”. “And knowing that a member of my family registered and voted in Alabama, 100 years before I did, before my mother, my father, my grandparents — it’s amazing. So maybe, just maybe, it is part of my DNA, my bloodline, whatever you want to call it.”

If Lewis’ great-great-grandfather knew that his descendant would put his teenage body on the line — would offer his face and skull to lynch mobs and Alabama State Troopers as a living sacrifice on the burnt altar of American democracy — what would he think?

On Monday, I took the first book in Taylor Branch’s seminal trilogy Parting the Waters off the shelf and opened it for the first time in a long time, in order to imagine the human dimensions of that historic, centurylong democratic void.

Perhaps Lewis’ ancestor would feel the kind of dread felt by James Farmer Sr., whose son, James Farmer Jr., was among what Branch described as a “motley collection” of people, ages 21 to 60, who decided in the summer of 1961 to embark on a Greyhound bus trip through the segregated South. The riders wanted to push federal and state governments to enforce a series of Supreme Court decisions that rendered segregated public buses unconstitutional.

Lewis had prepared for that summer a year earlier, while attending college in Nashville. He was among a group of students who attempted to desegregate the city’s businesses by sitting-in at lunch counters.

“White men kicked them,” a reporter for the Tennessean wrote in an article published in February to mark the 60th anniversary of the sit-ins. “They spat and blew cigar smoke in their faces. They extinguished lit cigarettes on their backs.”

And after all that, John Lewis went to jail.

“When a policeman said, ‘You’re under arrest’ to John Lewis, a lifetime of absorbed tattoos against any kind of trouble with the law quickened into terror” and dread, which gave way “to an exhilaration unlike any he had ever known,” Branch writes.

By the time he got off of the bus in Rock Hill, South Carolina on May 9, 1961, Lewis had shaken his fears and was well-versed and trained in non-violent resistance. In fact, Lewis was so confident in his convictions that he volunteered to be the first person among the motley collection to test the white mob that greeted them at the entrance of the whites-only waiting room inside of the Rock Hill Greyhound terminal.

“I have a right to go in here on grounds of the Supreme Court decision in the Boynton case,” Lewis started before a pause, “followed by a reply of ‘Shit on that’ and a shoving of Lewis back and forth in the doorway,” Branch writes. “One of the attackers threw a punch that caught Lewis in the mouth, making the first loud pop of fist against flesh on the Freedom Ride.”

On May 13, the Freedom Riders dined with Martin Luther King Jr. in Atlanta to celebrate “a successful journey through nearly seven hundred miles of upper Dixie.”

But amid the revelry, King sensed trouble ahead for the riders at their next destination — Alabama, the state where Lewis was born and from which King had just returned.

“You will never make it through Alabama,” King “whispered emotionally” to Simeon Booker, a Black reporter for Jet magazine, one of “only three reporters,” all of them Black, who took an interest in the Freedom Ride.

Booker, who had embedded himself with the riders on their long journey through the South, responded to King in jest.

“He’s the only one I can outrun,” Booker quipped about the “hulking” Farmer.

Booker joked with King that the group of riders “planned to leave Farmer behind to occupy any white hoodlums who might chase them.”

Later that night, Farmer was woken from his sleep with a phone call from his mother.

His father — the first Black man to earn a Ph.D. in Texas and a notable theologian — had died.

Farmer Sr. “had asked to see ‘Junior’s itinerary’ that night in his Washington hospital bed and, noting that Junior would cross into Alabama the next day, had promptly fallen into a coma and died. Mrs. Farmer would always insist that the old man had willed his own death in order to save his son’s life by forcing him to come home for the funeral.”

There was no such escape latch for John Lewis, whose life of bodily sacrifice culminated in Alabama, on Selma’s Edmund Pettus Bridge — a structure named after a former Confederate general and Ku Klux Klan leader. On March 7, 1965, during a march for voting rights, Lewis’ skull was fractured by the club of an Alabama State Trooper.

Since Lewis’ death 55 years later, Democrats in the House have rekindled the fight to restore the Voting Rights Act, which was effectively neutered with Shelby County vs. Holder, the 2013 Supreme Court decision that stripped the federal government of the power to prevent voter suppression, immediately plunging the country back into the void of the 1960s — when John Lewis risked death to force the government to give him his right to vote, and to stop segregation on public buses and in restaurants.

You’d be hard pressed to find more than a handful of Republicans in the House and Senate willing to restore the act; they will, however, tweet tributes.

This is what democracy looks like.

CONTACT: thevillagefreepress@gmail.com

VILLAGE perspectives Think Big Maywood It has been an honor to serve the residents of the village of Maywood for the past five years. In efforts to keep our residents engaged with current happenings within the village, I wanted you to be aware of some recent developments on the village board.

In the area of development, at our Tuesday, July 14, board meeting, Xsite Real Estate came to the village board and presented a proposal on developing the property adjacent to the Burger King on First and Lake Street.

The proposed project is a Popeyes Chicken restaurant. As I stated to the developers that evening, I was not excited by having another Popeyes Chicken in town, especially since we already have one in town on 13th and Roosevelt.

It is my strong belief that we must work together to chase a collective vision for this community. The same developer is expected to build a higher end development adjacent the Widows’ Home. I do not believe that a Popeyes Chicken is going to compliment what the developers have proposed for that other property.

The vote to direct staff to move forward with a redevelopment agreement was close, with four voting yes and three voting no. I believe that now, it’s time to hear from the residents of the village of Maywood on what you want to see in your community.

COVID-19 has taught us that unhealthy lifestyles lead to further complications and our fight to better the lives of Black and Brown communities in equity and fairness

has been validated. We are public servants working on your behalf and it is important that we make decisions with our residents in mind. I encourage Maywoodians to call members of the board to encourage them to think big on behalf of our community.

I also proposed to the village board to expand our facade program within our TIF areas to provide more assistance to our community and to make our business district with TIF areas more attractive. This proposal could also be an additional tool to attract business to those areas. The proposal would allow a $50,000 matching grant for businesses to upgrade their electrical, plumbing, roofing, landscaping and interior design. Changing the name from the Façade Program to the Business Improvement

Program.

In the area of police reform, I presented and received the support from my board colleagues to establish a database system that will allow the village to track excessive force cases throughout the village. This is one best practice model to curb excessive force cases within the village.

I proposed to the board to direct staff to identify the best way to establish Juneteenth as an official holiday within the village of Maywood. I offered to present the holiday as an alternative option to Columbus Day. I have been working closely with the village manager when it relates to keeping our residents, employees and businesses safe in the midst of this pandemic. Back in March, after attending a briefing on

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Village Free Press | July 29, 2020

11

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENT - CHANCERY DIVISION WELLS FARGO USA HOLDINGS INC.; Plaintiff, vs.

RUTH MONROE; FREDDIE L. WILLIAMS AKA FREDDIE WILLIAMS; DNF ASSOCIATION LLC; Defendants, 19 CH 11098 NOTICE OF SALE PUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered in the above entitled cause Intercounty Judicial Sales Corporation will on Monday, August 31, 2020 at the hour of 11 a.m. in their office at 120 West Madison Street, Suite 718A, Chicago, Illinois, sell at public auction to the highest bidder for cash, as set forth below, the following described mortgaged real estate: P.I.N. 15-16-106-036-0000.

Commonly known as 3300 Monroe Street, Bellwood, IL 60104.

The mortgaged real estate is improved with a single family residence. If the subject mortgaged real estate is a unit of a common interest community, the purchaser of the unit other than a mortgagee shall pay the assessments required by subsection (g-1) of Section 18.5 of the Condominium Property Act.

Sale terms: 10% down by certified funds, balance, by certified funds, within 24 hours. No refunds. The property will NOT be open for inspection.

For information call Sales Department at Plaintiff’s Attorney, Manley Deas Kochalski, LLC, One East Wacker Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60601. (614) 220-5611. 20-005821 F2 INTERCOUNTY JUDICIAL SALES CORPORATION intercountyjudicialsales.com I3153010

PUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered in the above entitled cause Intercounty Judicial Sales Corporation will on Monday, August 31, 2020 at the hour of 11 a.m. in their office at 120 West Madison Street, Suite 718A, Chicago, Illinois, sell at public auction to the highest bidder for cash, as set forth below, the following described mortgaged real estate: P.I.N. 15-10-302-030-0000.

Commonly known as 413 23rd Avenue, Bellwood, IL 60104.

The mortgaged real estate is improved with a single family residence. If the subject mortgaged real estate is a unit of a common interest community, the purchaser of the unit other than a mortgagee shall pay the assessments required by subsection (g-1) of Section 18.5 of the Condominium Property Act. Sale terms: 10% down by certified funds, balance, by certified funds, within 24 hours. No refunds. The property will NOT be open for inspection.

For information call Sales Department at Plaintiff’s Attorney, Manley Deas Kochalski, LLC, One East Wacker Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60601. (614) 220-5611. 19-007507 F2 INTERCOUNTY JUDICIAL SALES CORPORATION intercountyjudicialsales.com I3153011

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENT - CHANCERY DIVISION DITECH FINANCIAL LLC Plaintiff, -v.CLAUDIA S BREWSTER A/K/A CLAUDIA BREWSTER, MAURICE BREWSTER, U.S. SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION, CHICAGO TITLE LAND TRUST COMPANY S/I/I THE CHICAGO TRUST COMPANY Defendants 19 CH 02400 508 RICE AVENUE BELLWOOD, IL 60104 NOTICE OF SALE PUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered in the above cause on January 28, 2020, an agent for The Judicial Sales Corporation, will at 10:30 AM on September 8, 2020, at The Judicial Sales Corporation, One South Wacker Drive, CHICAGO, IL, 60606, sell at a public sale to the highest bidder, as set forth below, the following described real estate: Commonly known as 508 RICE AVENUE, BELLWOOD, IL 60104 Property Index No. 15-09-310-0790000 The real estate is improved with a red brick, two story single family home with a detached two car garage.

Sale terms: 25% down of the highest bid by certified funds at the close of the sale payable to The Judicial Sales Corporation. No third party checks will be accepted. The balance, including the Judicial Sale fee for the Abandoned Residential Property Municipality Relief Fund, which is calculated on residential real estate at the rate of $1 for each $1,000 or fraction thereof of the amount paid by the purchaser not to exceed $300, in certified funds/or wire transfer, is due within twenty-four (24) hours.

No fee shall be paid by the mortgagee acquiring the residential real estate pursuant to its credit bid at the sale or by any mortgagee, judgment creditor, or other lienor acquiring the residential real estate whose rights in and to the residential real estate arose prior to the sale. The subject property is subject to general real estate taxes, special assessments, or special taxes levied against said real estate and is offered for sale without any representation as to quality or quantity of title and without recourse to Plaintiff and in “AS IS” condition.

The sale is further subject to confirmation by the court.

Upon payment in full of the amount bid, the purchaser will receive a Certificate of Sale that will entitle the purchaser to a deed to the real estate after confirmation of the sale.

The property will NOT be open for inspection and plaintiff makes no representation as to the condition of

the property. Prospective bidders are admonished to check the court file to verify all information.

If this property is a condominium unit, the purchaser of the unit at the foreclosure sale, other than a mortgagee, shall pay the assessments and the legal fees required by The Condominium Property Act, 765 ILCS 605/9(g)(1) and (g)(4). If this property is a condominium unit which is part of a common interest community, the purchaser of the unit at the foreclosure sale other than a mortgagee shall pay the assessments required

by The Condominium Property Act, 765 ILCS 605/18.5(g-1).

IF YOU ARE THE MORTGAGOR (HOMEOWNER), YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN IN POSSESSION FOR 30 DAYS AFTER ENTRY OF AN ORDER OF POSSESSION, IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION 15-1701(C) OF THE ILLINOIS MORTGAGE FORECLOSURE LAW. You will need a photo identification issued by a government agency (driver’s license, passport, etc.) in order to gain entry into our building and the foreclosure sale room in Cook County and the same identification for sales held at other county venues where The Judicial Sales Corporation conducts foreclosure sales.

MCCALLA RAYMER LEIBERT PIERCE, LLC Plaintiff’s Attorneys, One North Dearborn Street, Suite 1200, Chicago, IL, 60602. Tel No.

(312) 346-9088.

THE JUDICIAL SALES CORPORATION One South Wacker Drive, 24th Floor, Chicago, IL 60606-4650 (312) 236SALE You can also visit The Judicial Sales Corporation at www.tjsc.com for a 7 day status report of pending sales.

MCCALLA RAYMER LEIBERT PIERCE, LLC One North Dearborn Street, Suite 1200 Chicago IL, 60602 312-346-9088 E-Mail: pleadings@mccalla.com Attorney File No. 268512 Attorney ARDC No. 61256 Attorney Code. 61256 Case Number: 19 CH 02400 TJSC#: 40-690 NOTE: Pursuant to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, you are advised that Plaintiff’s attorney is deemed to be a debt collector attempting to collect a debt and any information obtained will be used for that purpose.

Case # 19 CH 02400 I3151919

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENT - CHANCERY DIVISION US BANK NA AS SUCCESSOR TRUSTEE TO LASALLE BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, ON BEHALF OF THE HOLDERS OF BEAR STEARNS ASSET BACKED SECURITIES I TRUST 2006-AQ1, ASSET BACKED CERTIFICATES SERIES 2006-AQ Plaintiff, vs.

DERRICK FORD; THEODOCIA L. FORD; STATE OF ILLINOIS; UNKNOWN OWNERS AND NONRECORD CLAIMANTS; Defendants, 19 CH 2846 NOTICE OF SALE

. hands r u o y In Shine. r o n i Ra t.

Read i it. ge Smud smile. a Crack asket. g Pop a letter. a s u Write EQUAL HOUSING OPPORTUNITY

Covid-19, I asked the manager to convene a Keep Maywood Safe task force to identify a strategic plan to help bend the curve.

In the month of June, I worked with faith-based leaders, businesses, community leaders and community organizations from across the region to organize the biggest march protesting the injustice against minorities that we have seen in Proviso Township.

The theme of the march was love, unity and justice.

People joined in from all over to participate, there was a natural heartfelt energy amongst about a thousand marchers from all

ethnicities to make our voices heard together. The march started in Bellwood and ended in the village of Forest Park, with mayors and village officials from those respective towns involved and participating.

I also introduced a new initiative called Step UP Maywood to help lend a hand to those who are truly in need at this time. We have been able to provide over 400 meals to the Housing Forward homeless population. Our pledge is to continue to find ways to assist this organization.

As we prepare to enter phase two of our initiative, we have

identified another community organization to assist that we will be announcing in the coming days, so be on the lookout for the announcement.

Let us all remember that Maywood is a community with so many great talents and assets — from our strong housing stock to our prime location — and a rich history. We must work together to create a resilient and thriving community.

As always, Maywood, I am working with you in mind.

— Isiah Brandon, Maywood trustee

CONTACT: thevillagefreepress@gmail.com

All real estate advertising in this newspaper is subject to the Fair Housing Act, which makes it illegal to advertise any preference, limitation or discrimination based on age, race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin, or intention to make any such preferences, limitations or discrimination.

The Illinois Human Rights Act prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental or advertising of real estate based on factors in addition to those protected under federal law.

This newspaper will not knowingly accept any advertising for real estate which is in violation of the law. All persons are hereby informed that all dwellings advertised are available on an equal opportunity basis.

Restrictions or prohibitions of pets do not apply to service animals.

To complain of discrimination, call HUD toll free at: 1-800-669-9777.

Village Free Press

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Village Free Press | July 29, 2020

CONGRATULATIONS MAYOR KATRINA THOMPSON AND BROADVIEW ON CELEBRATING UNITY DAY #BroadviewStrong

CALLING ON VETERANS!!!

JOIN US Wednesday August 5, 2020 3pm – 5pm

American Legion

Participation Rates - 7.20.2020 1

Western Springs

84.8%

8

Hillside

69.6%

2

Westchester

80.6%

9

Northlake

68.5%

3

La Grange Park

78.2%

10

Bellwood

67.3%

4

Brookfield

77.1%

11

Forest Park

66.0%

5

North Riverside

74.4%

12

Maywood

58.5%

6

Berkeley

74.4%

13

Melrose Park

56.3%

7

Broadview

69.6%

14

Stone Park

50.6%

1219 Madison St. Maywood, IL 60153 National

Illinois

Proviso

62.4%

71.9%

68.3%

Proviso Census 2020 Awareness & Education Nathaniel George Booker nathaniel@provisocensus2020.com www.PROVISOCENSUS2020.COM