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New after school mentoring program launches in Austin
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FREE Vol. 36 No. 2
January 12, 2022
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Also serving Garfield Park
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Meet author h Vee Harrison, page 16
Emmet School redevelopment clears zoning hurdles Westside Health Authority’s project to break ground in spring, with partial opening anticipated in 2023 By IGOR STUDENKOV Contributing Reporter
The Chicago City Council unanimously approved a series of zoning changes that will allow Westside Health Authority (WHA) to turn the former Emmet Elementary School, 55005536 W. Madison St., into a job training center and a community hub known as the Aspire Center for Workplace Innovation, clearing the way for renovations to start this spring. The Aspire Center is part of the larger Aspire Initiative, which also includes 60 units of affordable housing and a new health and fitness center in other parts of Austin. Spearheaded by WHA and the Austin Coming Together (ACT) coalition, it aims to improve daycare, education, job readiness and housing in Austin through several projects. The Aspire Center would handle the career aspect of the initiative, offering workforce training, social services and banking. Since Emmet School was closed in 2013, the zoning changed to residential use, so the City Council had to change the zoning to allow business and social service uses. The application cleared the council’s Committee on Zoning, Landmarks and Building Standards on Dec. 14, and it cleared the full City Council the following day. While WHA still needs to come up with at least $10 million, they want to at least get the workforce development component up and running by the beginning of 2023. See EMMET SCHOOL on page 15
Data shows that opt-in COVID testing rates have fallen short of the city’s 10% threshold goal.
Chicago Department of Public Health
City schools’ vax rates vary widely by campus, data shows
At more than 200 schools, the opt-in COVID testing rates fall short of the city’s 10% threshold goal By MAURICIO PENA & CASSIE WALKER Chalkbeat Chicago
At Manley Career Academy High School on Chicago’s West Side, only 10% of stu-
dents are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. That’s a sharp contrast with Lane Tech High School on Chicago’s North Side where 83% of students have received both doses of the coronavirus vaccine. Even at the district’s regional vaccination hubs – created to make COVID vaccines more accessible to students — rates swing widely from 56% at Theodore Roosevelt High School on the Northwest Side to 19.6% at Chicago Vocational Career Academy on the Far South Side. The school-based COVID vaccination data, which reflects fully vaccinated students
S W E N LASH! F
through Dec. 1, was obtained by Chalkbeat through a public records request. It illustrates the vast disparities in vaccination rates within the city and touches on the heart of the debate that has abruptly shuttered Chicago schools this week — that safety measures look vastly different school to school. Chalkbeat also obtained data through Dec. 10 showing wide variances among campuses for school-based COVID testing enrollment, which sits at 16% across city schools. See VAX RATES on page 4
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