Austin Weekly News 052720

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Vol. 34 No. 22

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As weed revenues pour in, grant opportunities open up,

May 27, 2020

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Also serving Garfield Park

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Moo & Oinkk building b ld sold, PAGE 5

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New warehouse coming to North Lawndale

Will Group, expanding to 801-825 S. Kilpatrick Ave., open to multiple tenants — even craft cannabis grower

By IGOR STUDENKOV Contributing Reporter

The Will Group, a black-owned electric power equipment manufacturer based in suburban Wheaton, is building a 60,000-square foot warehouse in North Lawndale at 801-825 S. Kilpatrick Ave., in order to expand and consolidate its operations. And the company said that it’s keeping its options open when it comes to attracting possible tenants — even a craft cannabis grower.

In a statement, Jessica Garmon, the company’s chief operating officer, said that they are “exploring a variety of uses and tenants for this $20 million investment in the Lawndale neighborhood; however, it is very early in the process and no final decisions have been made regarding the building’s utilization.”

Garmon said that the company has not applied for a craft growing license for the K-Town site, but that it has applied for a city zoning change that would allow the facility to host a licensed craft cannabis grower, if the opportunity ever arises.

The company, which currently rents a manufacturing and distribution facility at 5261 W. Harrison St. in Austin, was founded 33 See WILL GROUP on page 5

Photo provided by Deborah Pieritz

Henry Pieritz and his father Ludwig Pieritz in Pieritz Bros. in the late 1890s. Ludwig was a cabinet maker and would help his sons with the store that would be located in Austin for 75 years before moving to Oak Park.

Pieritz calls it quits

After 125 years, office supply shop Pieritz Bros., a longtime Austin institution before moving to Oak Park, is closing

By STACEY SHERIDAN Wednesday J ournal

After 125 years selling office supplies, the beloved family-run Pieritz Bros., 401 South Blvd., is closing up shop at the end of June.

“It was a really difficult decision. I had been thinking about it for the last decade just because of the climate for small, independent office supply retailors. It just wasn’t real viable anymore as a business,”

said co-manager Deborah Pieritz “We kept it going just purely out of love and sentiment.”

A true family business, Pieritz’s grandfather, Robert Pieritz founded Pieritz Bros. in 1895 with his two brothers, Henry and Arthur. The original location was on the corner of Laramie Avenue and Lake Street in Austin.

Growing up, Pieritz and her sister played together there. They also helped keep the shop tidy, earning a nickel for

every cabinet they cleaned out. “It was kind of a mysterious place with all this cool stuff,” she said.

After 75 years at the first location, Pieritz Bros. moved to the corner of South Boulevard and Ridgeland Avenue in Oak Park.

Her father Alvin Pieritz ran the shop for many years. Her mother turned the shop over to Pieritz and her sister in 2005.

State Farm Mutual Automobile • Insurance Company State Farm Indemnity Company • Bloomington, IL • statefarm.com® Larry and his staff are licensed and together have over 75 years of State Farm experience.

See PIERITZ on page 3

Larry Williams,Agent 5932 W. Lake Street Chicago, 60644 (773) 379-9010 larry.williams.b0bk@statefarm.com

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Austin Weekly News, May 27, 2020

West Side community gardens get hit with spike in water cost Cost to tap into water for West Side community gardens $5 last year, much less than $1,700 cost this year

By PASCAL SABINO Block Club Chicago

New city regulations have left community gardens high and dry when it comes to getting the water they need for produce to thrive.

Until recently, gardeners were able to tap a hose into fire hydrants using a vacuum breaker, a piece of equipment that costs about $5 and is designed to prevent water from flowing back into the city’s pipes and contaminating the system. But now the city requires community gardens to install a sturdier piece of equipment to connect to the hydrants, costing gardeners as much as $1,700.

water from a hydrant from $5 to at least $1,700, she said.

After the initial installation, the city also requires the reduced pressure zone valve to be recertified twice a year, tacking on an additional $150 each time.

With so many people out of work because of coronavirus, Fernández-Pellón said the timing for the new rules couldn’t be worse.

The new barriers to accessing water will have “a significant effect in the way that people are able to address their own food insecurity,” she said.

Vidis said the city plans to address the impacts of the new rules on food insecurity in the near future.

“The city is committed to helping Chicagoans grow their own food, particularly during these unprecedented times, and there will be meetings with stakeholder groups in the coming weeks to review the costs of hydrant access,” Vidis said in a statement.

The new costs were an unwelcome surprise for Gardeneers, a Lawndale-based gardening nonprofit that provides school gardens with ongoing support. The group had planned on spending only a few dollars for vacuum breakers. The squeeze of the pandemic makes the unexpected cost to access water even more “inaccessible,” said Plus Sign, who helped manage the group’s garden at North Lawndale College Prep.

“A lot of our employees had to be furloughed.

We weren’t able to pay our regular salaries.

So that’s hard enough,” Sign said. “We’ve been spending the whole pandemic trying to getting money from either the government or private foundations who are helping out with COVID relief.”

With no room in the budget to pay for the valve, Sign said employees have had to foot the bill. But Sign said many other gardens in the Lawndale area might not be able to afford the valve.

Gardens have an enormous benefit to the community beyond food access: They improve mental health, reduce crime, foster kinship between neighbors and expand green space, Sign said.

“It will affect the people who need the food most desperately, the most negatively,” Sign

That change triggers such a drastic cost spike for community gardening that it risks pricing out people who most benefit from the gardens, advocates said.

“We’re looking at thousands of dollars right now to be able to get the permit,” said Viviana Gentry Fernández-Pellón, program director for Advocates for Urban Agriculture. “The cost has just increased so exorbitantly that it’s just it really not financially feasible for people who are just trying to grow a little bit of their own food.”

The mandated device, called a reduced pressure zone valve, starts at about $300.

It is designed to prevent water from flowing back into the city’s drinking water system and potentially contaminating it, said Department of Water Management spokeswoman Megan Vidis.

The valves also need to be installed by a licensed union plumber, then inspected by the water department, Fernández-Pellón said. That raises the cost to start tapping

Photo provided

The raised beds at the Madison Street Garden are managed by John Perryman.

said. “I think it’ll create the most barriers for people who stand to benefit the most from vacant lots and from access to water and being able to grow their own food and connect around it.”

John Perryman, who manages the Madison Street Garden in East Garfield Park, said the new rules will halt the creation of community gardens in the West Side’s abundant vacant lots. Perryman said most gardens help maintain city-owned land that would otherwise become overgrown, trash-filled eyesores to the surrounding community.

“People wonder why the West Side is in such a mess, but it’s because people don’t get support from the city government,” Perryman said.

Years ago, when the city had a dedicated environmental department, Perryman said everything needed to run a community garden was free. When he started Madison Street Garden, the department provided him the tools to tap into hydrants, a budget for plants, a designer to develop the vacant lot and a crew to help install everything.

“Now there’s no one we can go to for help,” Perryman said. “We need the Department of Environment to come back.”

The Madison Street Garden transitioned away from using city water two years ago when the water department took away the adapter it initially provided to tap into the hydrant. After fighting hopelessly with city bureaucracy to get hydrant access reinstated, Perryman gave up and began filling rain barrels at the garden from a hose connected to his home.

The shift has cost Perryman around $400 each growing season, more than half the garden’s whole budget.

“We’re bringing fresh food to our community,” Perryman said. “It’s so frustrating that the city continues to take from the West Side. It doesn’t seem like there’s anything else they can take. And then they take something else.”

Pascal Sabino is a Report for America corps member covering Austin, North Lawndale and Garfield Park for Block Club Chicago.

CONTACT: pascal@blockclubchi.org

News that’s close to home FREE

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Vol. 34 No. 21

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Photos provided by Deborah Pieritz

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Henry Pieritz in the store’s first location at Laramie Avenue and Lake Street, circa 1890s. The CTA Green Line being built circa 1900 at Laramie Avenue and Lake Street, the first Pieritz Bros. location. John Roberts and Deborah Pieritz in Pieritz Bros. circa 2000. A cross section of office supplies sold over the years.

PIERITZ

A long run from page 1 Pieritz has manned the helm ever since alongside her brother-in-law and co-manager, John Roberts, who started working at the family business in the 1980s.

While Pieritz Bros. sells standard supplies, it is far more than just a peddler of pens and file folders – It’s an Oak Park institution.

The store also doubles as something of a quirky, walk-in time capsule filled with antique manual typewriters and vintage pens; Pieritz Bros. even sells bits of history, including typewriter ribbons and china markers.

As it currently exists, Pieritz Bros. is an earnest homage to yesteryears, completely devoid of the cheesiness that permeates nostalgia shops. And that makes it truly special.

With the rise of big box chains, business steadily decreased for Pieritz Bros. Now,

most of the store’s profits come from walk-in n customers.

“It was a cool, funky y place but ut in terms of an actual al business that hat was supposed ed to support us, that was kind ind of waning,” ng,” Pieritz said. “I’ve I’ve known that was happening for a long time. It was inevitable – and then the pandemic, that made it very clear.”

The memory of Pieritz Bros. will be preserved through the Oak Park River Forest Museum. Executive Director Frank Lipo has already collected some Pieritz signage and one of the store’s counters.

“He’s taking a few key things, which I’m really happy about, so I think we’re going to have a bit of a presence,” Pieritz said.

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Austin Weekly News, May 27, 2020

PIERITZ

Jumpword subhed from page 3 The museum will also house many of the typewriters displayed in Pieritz Bros., as well as an antique pen case originally from

the Oak Park Marshall Field’s.

Pieritz finds saying goodbye to the store bittersweet.

“Making the decision was really, really difficult,” she said.

However, once decided, Pieritz said it felt like a “weight just lifted off of” her.

“Part of me is sad,” she said. “And this is going to sound weird, but I want to kind of enjoy it – giving out pieces, expanding the

store on a different level.”

The store has been a monumental part of Pieritz’s life; the aftermath of its closure will, she said, “be sort of interesting,” but exciting.

Pieritz herself is an artist and her brotherin-law is an inventor. Both will now have more time to dedicate to their individual creative pursuits.

“I always have all these outside projects, and so does John,” she said. “It’ll be different. I’m excited to work on other ideas, see how it’s

going to affect my art.”

Many customers have expressed their sadness over the store’s impending closure to Pieritz.

“People are sad, but for the most part people are very understanding of why it’s happening,” she said.

“I was worried that we were letting them all down, and we are, I’m sure, but it just doesn’t make sense anymore.”

Throughout its many years in business, Pieritz Bros. served many of Oak Park’s most beloved residents, including Barbara Malarkey, Wednesday Journal founding member and former columnist, and housing integration pioneer Bobbie Raymond.

Saying goodbye to its customers has made closing Pieritz Bros. even more difficult.

“We will miss them terribly. They were just very good to us,” she said.

“That’s why it’s been really hard to move on.”

CONTACT: stacey@oakpark.com

‘REAL’ RETAIL: The outside of the store’s Oak Park location. Right, some positive mail sent to Pieritz Bros. A woman named Margaret lauds the typewriter she purchased and calls the store a “paradise for anyone who loves REAL things.”

Photos provided by Deborah Pieritz

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Austin Weekly News, May 27, 2020

Former Austin Moo & Oink building to get new tenant

Humboldt Park-based Purely Meat seeking to expand at 4848 W. Madison St.

By IGOR STUDENKOV Contributing Reporter

Purely Meat, a West Humboldt Park meat wholesaler, cleared the last legal hurdle to move its operations to the former Moo & Oink grocery store building in Austin at 4848 W. Madison St. Ald. Jason Ervin (28th), whose ward includes the property and half of the Austin portion of the Madison Street corridor, said that Purely Meat bought the property a few months earlier in order to expand. The one issue was that the zoning left over from the Moo & Oink days allowed the user to sell meat to customers, but not at wholesale, which is why the company requested a zoning change.

The zoning change was approved by the full Chicago City Council during its May 20 meeting, clearing that hurdle.

Moo & Oink operated four locations: one in Austin, two on the South Side and one in the south suburbs. All locations closed in 2011, after the company filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. As Austin Weekly News reported at the time, it was due to a combination of mounting debt and declining sales during the Great Recession.

Since then, the building has been sitting vacant. In 2016, Thom Alcazar, a businessman with experience in warehousing and supply chain management, expressed interest in using it for the Eats Groceries —a warehouselike store where customers would order food through touch screens and have it delivered to them. Ervin supported the idea and held a community meeting for it, but the concept ultimately didn’t get very far.

WILL GROUP

Considering craft cannabis from page 1 years ago and manufactures lighting and power equipment, as well as solar panels. It assembles street lights for ComEd as part of the city’s push to install smart LED lighting throughout Chicago. Most recently, the family-owned company was one of the four firms selected to make cloth face masks that that the city has been distributing for free.

Garmon previously explained that the firm was looking to buy the vacant, city-owned property between Polk Street, Kilpatrick Avenue, Arthington Avenue and the Belt Railway tracks in order to consolidate the company and its subsidiaries into one

Google

NEW LIFE: The former Moo & Oink at 4848 W. Madison St. in Austin will soon be home to Humboldt Park-based Purely Meat, which is seeking to expand.

Purely Meat is currently based at 4345 W. Division St. According to its website, the company has been in business for “over 80 years,” starting out at a small butcher shop in the Little Italy neighborhood. The Musillami family still retains ownership.

The company sells meat to stores and restaurants. According to a recent CBS Chicago article, when COVID-19 struck, its business fell by 75 percent. Pure Meats started offering delivery to make up for the revenue loss and its business has been picking up as other states reopen.

The article also mentioned that Purely Meat has been taking extra precautions during the pandemic, requiring all employees to put on “three-piece uniforms” before they enter the building, having employees work one per station instead of three and rotating breaks to maintain social distancing.

Purely Meat’s zoning change application lists Maribel Moreno-Musillami, the company’s current owner, as having a 60 percent stake in the project, with Mathew Pollack, head of Highland Park-based Red Rock Custom Homes, owning the remaining 40 percent.

Moreno-Musillami did not respond to requests for comment by deadline, but during the May 19 virtual meeting of the Chicago City Council’s Committee on Zoning, Landmarks & Building Standards, Robert Gamrath, the attorney for the project, confirmed that Purely Meat purchased the property. Ervin said at the meeting that the building “is being repurposed for another meat wholesaler and possibly retail.” He subsequently declined to elaborate on what the retail component would be.

During his 28th Ward virtual community meeting, which was held on the same day at

6 p.m., Ervin said that the company wanted to expand.

“They’re looking to expand their operations to another location, and when we met and talked about [the former Moo & Oink] location, it was perfect for operations they had, and I think it would be prefect for Austin community as we look to fill in balance of Madison [Street],” he said. “They anticipate getting [the construction] going sometime in the fall of this year and be up and functioning sometime in late 2021.”

Ervin mentioned that Purely Meat met with block clubs representing several nearby blocks, which approved the project.

And he said that he sees the project as part of the effort to revive the nearby blocks of Madison Street. The Austin portion of the 28th Ward includes the section of Madison Street between the neighborhood’s eastern border and Laramie Ave., as well as three

building. Garmon said that the Will Group would have more flexibility if the company owned a space outright. Garmon said at the time that the company didn’t plan to abandon the Austin facility if it moved into the North Lawndale space.

The Will Group’s Lyons View Manufacturing and Supply subsidiary will be the primary user of the new North Lawndale facility, with Electrical Resource Management, Lighting Solutions of Illinois, and TWiG Technologies — all subsidiaries of the company — using parts of building, as well. In addition to the 60,000-square-foot warehouse, there will be a building housing office space, as well, according to the zoning application.

The new space will be called the K-Town Business Centre. According to Will Group’s Facebook page, the name is a nod to both the western portion of North Lawndale, which is called “K-Town” because all the vertical streets have names that start with K, and

Knoxville, Tenn., which is the hometown of Will Group Chairman Stephen Davis.

Will Group bought the property for $332,500, less than the $440,000 for which it was appraised. While the Chicago City Council approved the sale in March 2019, the records included in the zoning application show that the deed wasn’t transferred until Jan. 8, 2020.

According to Will Group’s Facebook page, the company began construction of the larger building in February. A video posted on the company’s YouTube channel describes it as a “mixed-use facility” that will be used to make Smart LED lights, capacitor banks and electric distribution systems, while making an oblique reference to “more.”

The company expects the K-Town Business Centre to create “around 100” jobs and it said it wants to hire from the community.

Crain’s Chicago Business reported that the company is applying for one of the 40

state “craft-growing” cannabis cultivation licenses. Under the state regulations, those growers can put “5,000 square feet of canopy space on its premises” to grow cannabis, so it could potentially go into either building and still have space left over for other uses.

Garmon told Crain’s that the Will Group teamed up with a partner for this venture, but declined to name that partner. In an interview with Austin Weekly News, however, Garmon said that the Will Group was not applying for the license to grow craft cannabis.

The Will Group’s zoning application has been referred to the City Council’s Committee on Zoning, Landmarks & Building Standards, which is currently scheduled to have its next meeting virtually on June 16. Assuming the application clears the committee, it will go to the full City Council approval on June 17.

CONTACT: igorst3@hotmail.com

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Austin Weekly News, May 27, 2020

‘I’m not going to apologize for caring about Black Chicago’ Mayor Lightfoot defends decision to tell West Side youths to go home during lockdown

By PASCAL SABINO Block Club Chicago

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Mayor Lori Lightfoot defended her nononsense approach to enforcing the city’s stay at home order during the coronavirus pandemic, a tactic that drew controversy in a viral video earlier this month.

Lightfoot discussed the issue in a virtual Q&A with activist Ja’Mal Green on Saturday. While her tactics have earned her praise for some — with memes highlighting a stern Lightfoot and comparing her to a mom ready to turn the car around, which she’s joked about — others have said she was too harsh when, as the video shows, she told a group of Black youths to go home May 2.

“I’m not going to apologize for caring about Black Chicago,” Lightfoot told Green.

The video showed Lightfoot with city officials and police officers — including new Police Supt. David Brown — approaching a group of young people on the West Side and telling them to go home.

Just minutes beforehand, she’d finished a nearby press conference where she warned residents who are throwing parties throughout the city, violating orders that prohibit large gatherings.

The young men, on a playground and wearing masks, resisted the mayor when she told them to return home.

The video sparked a divided response and prompted questions about the mayor’s use of police to enforce the stay at home order, which critics say is disproportionately pressuring already over-policed Black neighborhoods on the South and West sides.

Some who commented on the video said the youths were disrespectful of the mayor and

shouldn’t have been gathering. Others said the mayor never bothered to ask the group why they weren’t complying and missed an opportunity to start a dialogue with them, or that she would have approached the situation differently in a white community on the North Side.

Lightfoot said the mixed response to her strategy highlights a gap between older and younger Chicagoans. Residents older than 40 generally are more supportive of Lightfoot’s approach, she said.

The mayor reiterated her commitment to equity on the South and West sides of the city, and she said she is not using a heavier fist to enforce the stay at home order in Black communities.

The same day the video was recorded, Lightfoot said she heard several reports of gatherings on the North Side and sent police to disperse them.

“These issues of parties and congregating, they’re happening all over the city. They’re not limited to Black Chicago.

They’re just not,” Lightfoot said.

Green suggested some young people haven’t been taking the stay at home order seriously because they don’t feel they are at risk.

“They say, ‘We dodge bullets every day. We ain’t scared of corona,’” Green said.

Lightfoot said the virus does not discriminate. People of any age can have chronic illnesses that makes them vulnerable to COVID-19, and 4,200 adults under the age of 30 have tested positive in Chicago, she said.

The mayor also warned young people could inadvertently expose their vulnerable loved ones if they aren’t careful.

“Part of the reason Black Chicago and Brown Chicago has really seen the uptick in cases and deaths is because we live in intergenerational households. That’s our great strength, but that’s a danger now in the time of COVID,” Lightfoot said.

Pascal Sabino is a Report for America corps member covering Austin, North Lawndale and Garfield Park for Block Club Chicago.

CONTACT: pascal@blockclubchi.org

JA’MAL GREEN

Austin Weekly News, May 27, 2020

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Austin Weekly News, May 27, 2020

Virtual town hall focuses on COVID19’s mental impact

May 14 town hall also addressed health disparities of West Garfield Park residents

By IGOR STUDENKOV Contributing Reporter

Some West Side house parties and sidewalk socials in defiance of the state’s stay-at-home order have made local and national news headlines, but one behavioral health expert says that the gatherings betray a deep truth.

“Young people are scared,” said Charles Levy, of Garfield Park Behavioral Hospital, 520 N. Ridgeway Ave. “It’s like they’re in jail. And that causes them to start feeling a sense of hopelessness, because they don’t know when they’re going to get out. And that tends to bring depression.”

Levy was one of several medical professions who spoke during the West Garfield Park Victual Town Hall on May 14. He emphasized that monitoring the mental states of young people is more important now than ever. So is getting them the support they need.

Levy acknowledged that there is a stigma in the black community about getting mental health services, he urged residents to be open-minded. The meeting came on the week when 17 West Garfield Park residents died of COVID-19.

The virtual town hall is part of a larger awareness campaign the city is conducting to bring attention to the stark realities in African American communities that may be exacerbating the COVID-19 pandemic—from a host of health issues and a lack of health insurance to grinding poverty.

The town halls are organized by Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s Racial Equity Rapid Response initiative, which works with community organizations throughout the South and West Sides in four “pillar” areas of education, prevention, testing and treatment.

“The young people we have now, they’ve never gone through a major virus, they haven’t seen anything like it,” Levy said.

He said that young people are also angry about the new normal brought on by the pandemic. The new restrictions can be particularly onerous on young people who experience domestic violence in their homes, Levy explained. Mix in a sense of invincibility shared by most young people and the logic of the crowded gatherings becomes much easier to understand.

Rev. Marshall Hatch, the pastor of New Mount Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church, 4301 W. Washington Blvd. in West Garfield Park, explained that his church has already been working on supporting young men who are dealing with stress.

The MAAFA Redemption Project provides career guidance, counseling and spiritual support for young men, ages 18 to 30, who are at risk. Hatch said that the project continues its work online, providing support and delivering meals for the men currently enrolled in the program.

Health disparities During the town hall, the medical professionals said that West Garfield Park residents are more likely to have underlying conditions that may increase their risks of contracting a serious case of COVID-19 and/or dying from the disease.

The rates of asthma, diabetes and hypertension are between 1.3 and two times the citywide average. West Garfield Park residents are also nearly twice as likely to lack health insurance, nearly three times as likely to rely on food and stamps and twice as likely to smoke as the typical Chicago resident.

David Ansell, the senior vice president for community health at Rush University Medical Center, encouraged residents, especially seniors, to call their doctors and get check-ups.

“Now is the time to see that your diabetes and blood pressure is under control,” he said.

CONTACT: igorst3@hotmail.com

Screenshot

FUNDING OPPORTUNITY: A map outlining R3 eligibility areas. Most of the West Side is included in a region eligible for grant funding.

As cannabis dollars pour in, grant opportunities open up

Restore, Reinvest, Renew to award $31.5M in grant funds to West Side entities

By MICHAEL ROMAIN Editor

Before recreational cannabis was legalized in Illinois at the start of the year, state lawmakers told residents in predominantly black and brown communities that 25 percent of cannabis tax revenue would go to fund programs designed to address some of the many issues within those communities, particularly those intertwined with the government’s War on Drugs policies that have led to high levels of incarceration in the African American and Latinx communities.

Now, some of that money is ready to be distributed to eligible entities in a qualifying areas across the state that have been affected by substance abuse and policies that have criminalized the practice.

In a statement, Senate Majority Leader Kimberly Lightford (7th), along with the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority — a state agency “dedicated to improving the administration of criminal justice,” according to its website — announced that $31.5 million in cannabis tax revenue is now available.

The funding is part of the state’s Restore, Reinvest, and Renew (R3) program, which funds “strategies that focus on violence prevention, re-entry and health services to areas across the state that [are] objectively found to be acutely suffering from the horrors of violence, bolstered by concentrated disinvestment,” according to the nonprofit Illinois

Justice Project.

Lightford explained that $3.1 million of that $31.5 million amount will go toward helping eligible entities with assessment and planning.

According to R3’s website, the grants will fund programs in five areas: civil legal aid, economic development, reentry, violence prevention and youth development.

Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton’s Justice, Equity and Opportunity Initiative (JEO) and the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority (ICJIA) identified communities across the state that are eligible for the funding. Stratton chairs the board that operates the R3 program.

According to an R3 eligibility map on its website, most of the West Side, including all of Austin, is within a qualifying area, where planning grants will range from $25,000 to $240,668.

Eligible entities include “nonprofit organizations, local units of government, tax-exempt faith-based organizations, businesses, and other community organizations,” that are located in a qualifying area and/or serve residents in those areas, Lightford explained in her statement.

The deadline for all applications is Monday, July 20, 2020.

“The work being done through the R3 Program is the most significant part of legalizing cannabis in Illinois,” said Lightford, who is a member of the R3 board. “Putting funding into poor and disadvantaged communities will finally start to reverse the dire effects of the war on drugs.”

The grant application, in addition to instructions on how to apply, are available at: r3.illinois.gov/.

If organizations need technical assistance with applying for the grants, they can visit: icjia.illinois. gov/gata/technical-assistance.

CONTACT: michael@austinweeklynews.com

Austin Weekly News, May 27, 2020

9

IL unemployment rate climbs to record 16.4% in April

State agency says 1.2M regular unemployment claims processed since March

By PETER HANCOCK Capitol News Illinois

SPRINGFIELD – The unemployment rate in Illinois reached a staggering 16.4 percent in April, the highest rate recorded since the modern system of tracking joblessness began in 1976, the Illinois Department of Employment Security said on May 21.

The previous record of 13.9 percent was set in February 1983, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. The rate in April was 12.2 percentage points higher than March, which was revised downward to 4.2 percent, reflecting a revised estimate of the number of people in the labor force that month.

That news came just a few months after the state set a record low unemployment rate of 3.4 percent in November, reflecting the speed with which the COVID-19 pandemic brought about a virtual shutdown of most of the state and national economies.

The numbers reflect an overall loss of 762,200 nonfarm jobs since March, the largest single-month decline in state history, and a decline of 822,800 jobs since April 2019.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented impact on our economy, as

has been the case in states across the nation,” Deputy Gov. Dan Hynes said in a statement.

“As we move to safely reopen much of our economy, we are focused on ensuring working families and small businesses have the resources they need to recover, and we urge the federal government to step up and provide additional relief.”

IDES said that because of the high unemployment rate, extended state benefits are now available to those who exhaust their 26 weeks of regular state unemployment and the additional 13 weeks of federal Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation, or PEUC. IDPH said that since March 1, it has processed more than 1.2 million claims for regular unemployment. In addition, it has processed 74,515 applications for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, or PUA, since that program launched May 11, and another 36,367 applications for the PEUC program.

Both of those programs are 100 percent federally funded.

During his daily COVID-19 media briefing, however, Gov. JB Pritzker said even those additional programs might not be enough to help unemployed workers weather the storm.

“I’ll be honest with you, I see the $600 extra that people got and are getting in unemployment benefits, even that added on top of the existing unemployment benefits doesn’t seem to be enough,” he said. “And when you think about the amount of time

that it looks like, that the economists, not me, the economists are saying that it might take us to get back to normal, I’m concerned that the typical number of weeks that are allowed may not be enough.”

Ben Orner of Capitol News Illinois Perhaps not HISTORIC HIGH: Illinois unemployment claims by week for the past year. surprisingly, the Illinois leisure and hospitality industry was hit the hardest number, but an increase of just 145 from the by the pandemic, shedding more than 295,000 week before.

In addition, for the week ending May jobs during the month, or nearly half of the sector’s workforce. The trade, transportation 9, there were 733,466 workers in Illinois and utilities sector lost just fewer than receiving continuing unemployment benefits, 100,000 jobs, or about 8 percent since March. a decrease of 22,446 from the week before.

Pritzker said Wednesday that all four Professional and business services shrank regions of the state are on track to enter by 93,800 jobs, or 11.3 percent.

If there was any good news in last the next phase of his reopening plan on Thursday’s report, it was that the economic May 29. That will enable most offices and impact of the pandemic and shutdown retail establishments to reopen, using social distancing restrictions. Also, bars orders showed signs of leveling off.

The U.S. Department of Labor said and restaurants will be allowed to open for Thursday there were 72,816 new claims for outdoor seating using social distancing unemployment filed in Illinois during the practices. week ending May 16 – a staggeringly high CONTACT: thevillagefreepress@gmail.com

IDES confirms data breach in online unemployment system ‘Glitch’ allowed access to personal data in Pandemic Unemployment Assistance system

By PETER HANCOCK Capitol News Illinois

SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Department of Employment Security has confirmed that a new online portal that processes claims for federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance briefly allowed public access to applicants’ personal information including Social Security numbers.

The PUA system, which went online May 11, is a federal program that provides unemployment benefits to gig workers and other independent contractors who are not normally covered by regular unemployment insurance.

The data breach was first made public Saturday when state Rep. Terri Bryant, a Murphysboro Republican, said in a news release that she had been alerted to the issue

spreadsheet with thousands of names containing sensitive information. The information she was able to access included the name, address, Social Security number, and unemployment claimant ID number of thousands of people.”

In a statement Monday, IDES said its analysis found that one PUA claimant had “inadvertently” accessed personal data for a limited number of claimants.

“That claimant notified the department of the issue and within an hour, it was corrected to prevent any future unauthorized access,” the Courtesy repbryant.com agency said.

The state of Illinois contracted SOUNDING ALARM: Rep. Terri Bryant, R-Murwith the international business physboro, is shown in this file photo on the floor services company Deloitte to build of the House chambers at the Capitol in Springand maintain the web-based portal. field. Bryant revealed a data breach in the state’s IDES said it is now working with the company to run a “full-scale unemployment assistance portal online. investigation” into the problem while conducting additional tests to prevent by a constituent the previous day.

“Through a series of just two clicks, any future data breaches. It also said it is this constituent stumbled upon the working to notify affected individuals and personal information of thousands of will release the analysis of its investigation unemployment applicants on the IDES once it’s completed.

Asked about the issue during his daily website,” Bryant said. “This came up in a

COVID-19 briefing Monday in Chicago, Gov. JB Pritzker said similar issues have occurred elsewhere in the public and private sectors but that the state and Deloitte were working to resolve the problem.

“This, as you know, has happened in large corporations and other aspects of other governments around the United States, and we don’t like it happening here,” Pritzker said. “Deloitte, which built that system, and obviously the glitch that was in there is something that was a result of the work that was done to build it, but they are offering credit reporting for all of those who are affected by it to make sure that they can monitor their credit in case there’s any problem they may undergo.”

Meanwhile, IDES still encourages people covered by the program to continue filing for benefits through the PUA portal. The agency said more than 50,000 claims have been processed through the system so far.

The program provides up to 39 weeks’ worth of benefits for qualifying workers who have COVID-19-related claims.

People with questions or who need help with unemployment benefits are encouraged to visit IDES.Illinois.gov.

CONTACT: michael@austinweeklynews.com

10

Austin Weekly News, May 27, 2020

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deadline: 9:30 am Monday office hours: 9:00 am – 5:00 pm Monday – Friday

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River Forest Public Schools District 90 Student Support Services - Vacancies for the 2020-2021 School Year District 90 is seeking qualified and experienced student support educators for the following positions:

Professional Education License with endorsement in field of study, a Master’s Degree is preferred and successful teaching experience with students in a classroom setting is preferred.

• Special Education Multi Needs Instructional Teacher (Roosevelt Middle School)

General Duties: Provide excellence in education by developing and implementing activities that encourage students to be life-long learners. Possesses knowledge of District policies and regulations relating to areas of responsibilities.

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General Qualifications: Valid Illinois

Application: Apply online at www. district90.org. Application Procedure: Interested candidates should complete the online application available at district90.org. Please do not send hard copies of supporting documentation, i.e. cover letters, resumes, licensure, etc. to River Forest Schools District 90; instead, upload these materials onto the online job application system for proper processing.

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Public Notice: Your right to know In print • Online • Available to you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, every day of the year AustinWeeklyNews.com | PublicNoticeIllinois.com

PUBLIC NOTICES PUBLIC NOTICE PETITION FOR CHANGE OF NAME In the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, County Department, County Division.

Request of: MANCHING KWOCK for change of name to MANDY KWOK, Case Number 2020CONC000221.

There will be a court date on my Request to change my name from: Manching Kwock to the new name of: Mandy Kwok.

The court date will be held on June 24, 2020 at 9:30 a.m. at 50 West Washington Street, Chicago, Cook County in Courtroom #1706.

Published in Austin Weekly News 5/27, 6/3, 6/10/2020

REAL ESTATE FOR SAL IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENT CHANCERY DIVISION NEWREZ LLC D/B/A SHELLPOINT MORTGAGE SERVICING Plaintiff, -v.MARIA GLIBKA A/K/A MARIA GLIBCA, PETRO GLIBKA, ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, CITY OF CHICAGO, CAVALRY PORTFOLIO SERVICES, LLC, UNKNOWN OWNERS AND NONRECORD CLAIMANTS Defendants 19 CH 06878 1912 SOUTH HOMAN AVENUE CHICAGO, IL 60623 NOTICE OF SALE PUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that pursuant to a Judgment

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

of Foreclosure and Sale entered in the above cause on January 29, 2020, an agent for The Judicial Sales Corporation, will at 10:30 AM on June 5, 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 1912 SOUTH HOMAN AVENUE, CHICAGO, IL 60623 Property Index No. 16-23-418-0380000 The real estate is improved with a gray stone, two story single family home with no 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.

Where a sale of real estate is made to satisfy a lien prior to that of the United States, the United States shall have one year from the date of sale within which to redeem, except that with respect to a lien arising under the internal revenue laws the period shall be 120 days or the period allowable for redemption under State law, whichever is longer, and in any case in which, under the provisions of section 505 of the Housing Act of 1950, as amended (12 U.S.C. 1701k), and subsection (d) of section 3720 of title 38 of the United States Code, the right to redeem does not arise, there shall be no right of redemption.

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. 269521 Attorney ARDC No. 61256 Attorney Code. 61256 Case Number: 19 CH 06878 TJSC#: 40-716 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 06878 I3150556

U.S. BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS TRUSTEE, SUCCESSOR IN INTEREST TO BANK OF AMERICA NATIONAL ASSOCIATION AS SUCCESSOR BY MERGER TO LASALLE BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS TRUSTEE FOR CERTIFICATEHOLDERS OF BEAR STEARNS ASSET BACKED SECURITIES I LLC, ASSET BACKED-CERTIFICATES, SERIES 2006-EC2 Plaintiff, -v.TANYANYIKA JONES A/K/A TANYANYIKA D JONES, A/K/A TANYANYIKA JAMISON, DARREN L JONES A/K/A DARREN JONES Defendants 12 CH 11486 1308 NORTH WALLER AVENUE CHICAGO, IL 60651 NOTICE OF SALE PUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered in the above cause on May 29, 2018, an agent for The Judicial Sales Corporation, will at 10:30 AM on July 6, 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 1308 NORTH WALLER AVENUE, CHICAGO, IL 60651 Property Index No. 16-05-221-0330000 The real estate is improved with a three story single family home with a detached 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. 9321 Attorney ARDC No. 61256 Attorney Code. 61256 Case Number: 12 CH 11486 TJSC#: 40-1324 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 # 12 CH 11486 I3150459

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IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENT CHANCERY DIVISION

12

Austin Weekly News, May 27, 2020

May 27, 2020

AUSTIN FORWARD. TOGETHER. 2020 QUARTER 2

THE AUSTIN COMMUNITY PUBLISHED ITS FIRST QUALITY-OF-LIFE PLAN CALLED AUSTIN FORWARD. TOGETHER (AFT) IN 2019.

THIS QUARTERLY PUBLICATION DESCRIBES HOW AUSTIN COMING TOGETHER (ACT) IS SUPPORTING THE COMMUNITY TO IMPLEMENT AFT AND OTHER EFFORTS.

AUSTIN

ASPIRES FOR MORE How a set of redevelopment projects will catalyze growth

EMPOWERING RESIDENTS PAGE 3 | THE ASPIRE INITIATIVE PAGE 4 | FROM ASPIRATIONS TO ACTIONS PAGE 7

2

Austin Weekly News • May 27, 2020

AUSTIN FORWARD. TOGETHER. 2020 QUARTER 2

Since 2010, Austin Coming Together (ACT) has facilitated collaboration to improve education and economic development outcomes in Chicago’s Austin community.

Today, we serve a network of 50+ organizations committed to improving the quality of life of all residents. Our strategic plan is called Thrive 2025 and outlines how we will mobilize our resources to achieve four impact goals by the year 2025: Quality Early Learning, Safe Neighborhoods, Living Wage Careers, and Stable Housing Markets. Learn more at AustinComingTogether.org.

ACT BOARD OF DIRECTORS Officers CHAIR

Larry Williams Broker, State Farm Insurance VICE-CHAIR

Ruth Kimble Founder & CEO, Austin Childcare Providers’ Network SECRETARY

Angela Waller Community & Government Relations Director, Advocate Aurora Health

TREASURER

Deborah Williams Community Outreach & Engagement Specialist, Habilitative Systems, Inc.

Directors

Tenisha Jones

Jack Macnamara

Senior Director of Strategy and Operations, West Side United

Visiting Scholar, Center for Urban Research & Learning at Loyola University

Bradly Johnson Director of Core Programs, BUILD Inc.

Founders

Reginald Little

FOUNDING BOARD CHAIR

Director of Graduate Support & Community Outreach, Catalyst Schools

Mortgage Loan Officer for Residential Lending, Old Second National Bank

1955-2019

Reverend Reginald E. Bachus

Senior Marketing Strategist, Zoe Communications Group

Sharon Morgan

Mildred Wiley

Dawn Ferencak

Pastor, Friendship Baptist Church

ACT STAFF Leadership Team

Service Delivery Team

Darnell Shields*

Jerome Sader

Executive Director

Neighborhood Network Manager

Shavion Scott

Sandra Diaz

Director of Strategic Initiatives

Community Hub Coordinator

Alicia Plomin

Jai Jones

Marketing & Development Manager

Community Engagement Coordinator

Andrew Born

Dollie Sherman

Research & Evaluation

Youth Engagement Coordinator

*Ex Officio Member of the ACT Board of Directors

Aaliyah Phillips

Planning & Investment Team

Operations Team

Jose Abonce

Office Administrator

Tanner Beck

Lead Organizer

Ethan Ramsay Project Coordinator

Esther Ramsay Micro Market Recovery Program Coordinator

Hub Engagement Associate

ACT MEMBER ORGANIZATIONS A House in Austin

Chicago Community Loan Fund

KRA Westside American Job Center

St. Joseph Services

Accion

City of Refuge

St. Leonard’s Ministries

Austin Childcare Providers’ Network

Cluster Tutoring Program

Legal Aid Chicago (formerly known as LAF)

Erikson Institute

Manufacturing Renaissance

The Loretto Hospital

Friends of the Children

Mary Shyrese Daycare

The North Avenue District, Inc.

Because I Care

Friendship Community Development Corp. of Austin

Mercy Housing Lakefront New Moms

UIC Jane Addams College of Social Work

Beyond Hunger (formerly known as Oak Park River Forest Food Pantry)

Greater West Town Community Development Project

OAI, Inc.

VOCEL

Oak Park Regional Housing Center

Westside Health Authority

BUILD Inc.

Housing Forward

Open Books

By the Hand Club for Kids

I.C. Stars

PCC Community Wellness Center

West Side Forward (evolving from Bethel New Life)

Cara

IFF

Project Exploration

Worldvision

Catholic Charities

Institute for Nonviolence Chicago

Sarah’s Inn

Youth Guidance

Chicago Austin Youth Travel Adventures

Jane Addams Resource Corporation

South Austin Neighborhood Association

Austin Weekly News Be Strong Families Beat the Streets Chicago

Kids First Chicago

The Catalyst Schools

AUSTIN FORWARD. TOGETHER. 2020 QUARTER 2

Austin Weekly News • May 27, 2020

3

Austin is building upon its vision to empower residents

By Darnell Shields Executive Director, Austin Coming Together

A

community that enables its residents to live healthy and prosperous lives—that is the vision that the Austin community has been aspiring towards.

However, in Chicago, our ability to realize our aspirations is often limited by our zip code.

As a life-long Austin resident, I see every day the long-term impact that racial injustice and a lack of critical infrastructure and resources can have on a community. Austin has remained economically stagnant, while others are experiencing exponential growth.

have the opportunity to thrive. We were formed in 2010 because a group of leaders saw the potential in harnessing the power of partnership. When groups collaborate and stay committed to the greater good of the neighborhood, we can improve fundamentals like education and economic development.

Due to our proven success in this role, ACT was chosen to help the community create and implement its first quality-oflife plan. Almost two years of planning and input from over 500 stakeholders produced Austin Forward. Together (AFT) that was published in December 2018. AFT outlines a comprehensive way for Austin to improve the quality of life for every resident from the years 2019 through 2023. There are 84 actions across seven issue areas: Community Narrative, Education, Economic Development, Housing, Public Safety, Youth Empowerment, and Civic Engagement.

The COVID-19 pandemic has only served to further uncover the breadth of systemic inequalities that have weighed heavily on Now, in the second year of implementation, black and brown neighborhoods in our Austin is already seeing benefits from city. From access to quality education, the AFT. We accomplished the plan’s first healthcare options, and fresh food, to a action of having an lack of economic Austin high school investment and basic offer the International infrastructure, these Baccalaureate imbalances have and have caused challenges for ACT is a great convener Program, made progress toward years. In Chicago, our many of the other ability to realize our of organizations that steps. Additionally, aspirations is often AFT is garnering the have complementary limited by zip code. citywide and regional The current health recognition Austin services...that allowed us crisis has brought this deserves. reality to the surface. to build collectively on the But we will not allow A spotlight is now it to be covered up shining on Austin in a momentum of AFT. again. new way and a recent burst of opportunities Despite the economic MORRIS REED, have come from disparities, as well as PRESIDENT AND CEO OF it all. The Mayor’s the current pandemic, WESTSIDE HEALTH AUTHORITY INVEST South/West I know Chicago is Initiative has chosen to strong. Enabling include Austin in its neighborhood-focused neighborhoods like Austin to grow will development strategies which will lead to unlock a bright future for the entire city. new business opportunities in the community.

Even in these uncertain times, a clear path to Also, several community groups have come economic and racial equity remains open. together to submit a collaborative proposal in At Austin Coming Together (ACT), our role Austin for the Pritzker Traubert Foundation’s is to facilitate collaborative action so that $10 million Chicago Prize, and it was selected Austin becomes a place where residents as one of only six finalists. Austin is now

positioned to move past merely surviving to become the thriving community we’ve always known we could be.

Austin’s Chicago Prize proposal is called the ASPIRE Initiative and is designed to reflect the community’s needs for the development or enhancement of existing assets near Madison, Chicago, Central, and Laramie Avenues. This will create conditions for resident empowerment, health, prosperity, and happiness.

ASPIRE is led by ACT, Westside Health Authority (WHA), and By the Hand Club for Kids (BTH). The plans include a new state-of-the-art early learning, health and recreation center called The Aspire Education & Wellness Campus; new programs and support to increase enrollment at Austin’s only neighborhoodserving public high school, the Aspire Austin College and Career Academy (ACCA); renovation of the vacant Emmet School into the Aspire Center for Workforce Innovation; and Aspire Housing, a multitiered approach to provide homeownership assistance, plus new or renovated units for sale. To read more about each of these projects, see pages 4 and 5.

“We know that our kindergarten kids are already 1½ years behind academically,” said Donnita Travis, Executive Director of BTH, discussing the need for these new developments. “So for ASPIRE to create a cradle-to-career pipeline starting at birth is a way for us to have an even greater impact on their trajectory for school and life.”

With such large-scale construction projects, we estimate ASPIRE will create more than two hundred jobs here in Austin. Not only will this change the physical landscape, but it will also shift the mindset of people who will now look at Austin and see potential and focus on long-term solutions to generational problems.

“We hope ASPIRE will change the hearts, minds and perceptions of people,” said Reed. “When people see investment, they get encouraged, they get hopeful, and they start to aspire for themselves on how they can contribute, how they can be a part of the movement to be a good neighbor, to be an engaged citizen, and to make their neighborhoods better for their families and children. That will be the greatest story: when people see what is happening and they want to be a part of the change.” n

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Austin Weekly News • May 27, 2020

AUSTIN FORWARD. TOGETHER. 2020 QUARTER 2

The ASPIRE Initiative: A Cradle-to-Career Pipeline

O

ur neighborhood is at a critical moment in its history.

Decades of public and private disinvestment have caused a decline in Austin’s population and as a result, our neighborhood is in crisis. In response, hundreds of civic leaders have mobilized around a powerful vision for a healthy and prosperous future for Austin called the ASPIRE Initiative (ASPIRE).

ASPIRE is born out of Austin’s first qualityof-life plan called Austin Forward. Together (AFT). Reflecting input from 500 community stakeholders, AFT outlines 84 actions to improve the quality of life in Austin from the years 2019 through and 2023. A 20-member steering committee of local leaders, stewarded

by ACT staff and supported by LISC Chicago, coordinated this plan’s development over 20 months. Task forces for seven issue areas now oversee the implementation of AFT and have already secured nearly $14 million in public and private investments. This civic infrastructure will anchor ASPIRE in the community. In turn, ASPIRE will accelerate AFT and extend its impact into the future.

Although ASPIRE is one of six finalists competing for the $10 million Chicago Prize grant, the total investment necessary to actualize all of the ASPIRE projects is $122 million. ASPIRE will revitalize physical assets in Central Austin, a densely populated area bounded by Madison, Central, Chicago, and Laramie Avenues, through the projects projects listed on these two pages:

ASPIRE EDUCATION & WELLNESS CAMPUS

How the new Community Workspace could look inside the Education and Wellness Campus

This Campus will comprehensively serve 150 families, boost access to quality early learning opportunities and prepare children for kindergarten. By The Hand Club (BTH) will build upon the $60 million already invested in Austin to further investments in both education and wellness.

A new early learning, health and recreation facility, as well as a community workspace, will be created at Kinzie and Laramie.

The Early Learning Center will provide Austin children with access to the high-quality educational experience needed to positively influence their future life trajectory. Plus, increasing the kindergartner readiness levels of the children entering the Austin neighborhood elementary schools is critical to creating an effective K–12 pipeline. The Early Learning Center will serve as the first step toward building that pipeline by offering 120 new seats to the children of Austin.

Within the same facility as the Early Learning Center will be a new Fitness/Wellness Center, offering children and adults an opportunity to improve their physical and psychological well being.

The Campus will also include a community workspace large enough to host community meetings and events. It will house the local African-American-owned business, Lighthouse Café, becoming a key resource for Austin households without personal access to computers or WiFi. The second floor of the workspace will serve as BTH’s citywide headquarters for its 70 employees.

Project Lead

Partners

Potential Tenants

Supporting the ongoing reinvention of the Austin College and Career Academy (ACCA) will aid the school in reaching a Level1+ status where all local students can attain a quality secondary education.Engaging our community in the reactivation of ACCA will be instrumental to the long-term success of the cradle-to-career pipeline that ASPIRE will create.

ACCA is a historic asset that has benefited from the City’s investment of over $36 million in renovations. However, it is underutilized with fewer than 10% of high-school-aged Austin children currently attending. As Austin’s only neighborhood-serving public high school, our initiative will leverage previous investments by making new ones in curricular options that will boost student enrollment.

ASPIRE ACCA

Project Lead

Partners

Austin Weekly News • May 27, 2020

AUSTIN FORWARD. TOGETHER. 2020 QUARTER 2

For middle, moderate, and low-income households, this multi-tiered approach will ensure that vacant and under-utilized residential properties are revitalized and made available at affordable rents and prices. We will provide affordable housing for purchase and wealth building for Austin families by creating pathways to homeownership; rehabbing homes of existing residents; building 30 new housing units on vacant lots on Pine and Washington; and developing 30 additional scattered city-owned lots.

ASPIRE HOUSING Project Lead

Aspire Housing will trigger a housing reinvestment cycle in Austin—reclaiming much of the lost land and housing stock along residential blocks near other ASPIRE investments and returning it to active use. Home equity is the largest contributor to household wealth in the U.S. and therefore it is critical that our residents capture a large portion of the housing wealth we expect to be generated as a consequence of Austin’s return to health.

Partners Potential Habitat Chicago housing design rendering

ASPIRE CENTER FOR WORKFORCE INNOVATION We will revive the once-bustling intersection of Madison Street and Central Avenue by repurposing the former Emmet Elementary School, one of Chicago’s many public schools closed in 2014, into an anchor for commercial revitalization and a destination for top-notch workforce training.

Plans include renovating the existing school building currently owned by Westside Health Authority, adding an atrium space and plaza, and constructing a new building to house community-focused retail space. This will transform the abandoned land into a state-of-the-art, multi-use facility featuring an advanced manufacturing training center, small business incubator, community hub, and event space.

Including both career development programs as well as supportive services will not only improve the pathway to further postsecondary education for Austin’s young adults, but it will give Central Austin’s workers and entrepreneurs opportunities for careers that provide a living wage.

Project Lead

Partners

Potential Tenants

LEARN MORE ONLINE AT AUSTINCOMINGTOGETHER.ORG/ASPIRE

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Austin Weekly News • May 27, 2020

AUSTIN FORWARD. TOGETHER. 2020 QUARTER 2

Plan Leaders Community Narrative

Economic Development

TASK FORCE COMMITTEE CHAIRS

TASK FORCE COMMITTEE CHAIRS

Briana Shields

Jerrod Williams

Briana Janeé Arts

Kenneth Varner

Community Resident & SANA Member

Healthy Schools Campaign

Thomas Gary

STRATEGY LEADS

STRATEGY LEADS

Community Resident

Lasondra Kern

Erica Staley

Community Resident

Manufacturing Renaissance

Suzanne McBride

Heather Sattler

Austin Talks

Alicia Plomin

Austin Coming Together

Michael Romain

Austin Weekly News

Cindy Schneider Spaces-n-Places

Community Development Consultant

Emily Peters

Education TASK FORCE COMMITTEE CHAIRS

Natasha Smith-Walker Project Exploration

Crystal Bell

Ella Flagg Young Elementary School

Housing

Public Safety

TASK FORCE COMMITTEE CHAIRS

TASK FORCE COMMITTEE CHAIRS

Athena Williams

Bradly Johnson

West Cook Homeownership Center

Allison McGowan

Community Resident STRATEGY LEADS

Shirley Fields Hunters Realty

Rosie Dawson

Charles Anderson

Westside Health Authority

STRATEGY LEADS

West Cook Homeownership Center

Ruth Kimble

Chris Banks

Michele Clark High School

Austin Childcare Providers’ Network

Pam Price

Chicago Public Schools

Jane Addams Resource Corporation

Natasha Dunn

Melody Lewis

Cata Truss

Roxanne Charles

Sean Schindl

Athena Williams

Community Resident

Mindy Taylor

Mercy Housing Lakefront

VOCEL

Austin Chamber of Commerce Community Resident West Side Forward

Kids First Chicago

INTERESTED IN JOINING THE IMPLEMENTATION TASK FORCE?

BUILD Inc.

Marilyn Pitchford Heartland Alliance

Chris Patterson

Institute for Nonviolence Chicago

Youth Empowerment

Civic Engagement

TASK FORCE COMMITTEE CHAIRS

TASK FORCE COMMITTEE CHAIR

Carmen Scott-Boria

Deborah Williams

BUILD Inc.

D’elegance Lane Westside Health Authority

STRATEGY LEADS STRATEGY LEADS

Adam Alonso BUILD Inc.

Bradly Johnson BUILD Inc.

Edwina Hamilton

Deonna Hart BUILD Inc.

Jeramie McGill

Habilitative Systems Inc. STRATEGY LEADS

Arnold Bearden

South Austin Neighborhood Association (SANA)

Sharif Walker Austin Resident

St. Joseph Services

Frederica Malone Catholic Charities

BUILD Inc.

Juan Villalobos BUILD Inc.

Gina Young

Catholic Charities

Bertha Purnell

Institute for N onviolence Chicago

Jordan Bester Westside Health Authority

Contact ACT’s Lead Organizer, Jose Abonce at 773.417.8615 or jabonce@austincomingtogether.org for more information.

AUSTIN FORWARD. TOGETHER. 2020 QUARTER 2

Austin Weekly News • May 27, 2020

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From aspirations to actions: The ASPIRE Initiative proposal process

By Alicia Plomin Marketing & Development Manager, Austin Coming Together

A

ustin is restoring the vibrancy and sense of ownership it once had. The community is taking its destiny in its hands and revitalizing assets back to their former glory. Years of diligence and dedication from numerous organizations, including Austin Coming Together (ACT), have helped bring Austin into this position. Through changing times, ACT has proven its ability to adapt in order to take advantage of new opportunities like the Pritzker Traubert Foundation’s $10 million Chicago Prize.

ACT collaborated with Westside Health Authority (WHA) and By the Hand Club for Kids (BTH) to create a proposal for the Chicago Prize that clearly outlines the plans for Austin’s ASPIRE Initiative. ASPIRE is a continuation of the community’s first quality-of-life plan Austin Forward. Together (AFT) and describes four projects that build on existing efforts, specifically addressing

the needs Austin has identified for itself. The ASPIRE projects are multifaceted and will help progress almost all of AFT’s 7 Issue Areas (Community Narrative, Education, Economic Development, Housing, Public Safety, Youth Empowerment, and Civic Engagement).

most accurate data to drive forecasts and strategies. In addition, teams were provided with technical assistance resources through the Pritzker Traubert Foundation per the Chicago Prize opportunity.

“It was inspiring to be around such talent and diversity. Everyone really listened and Experts from a diverse set of industries learned from each other and to the input that and organizations lent their time to the had been received from demanding process of hundreds of residents drafting the proposal through Austin Forward. because they saw Together,” said Scott potential in the projects There is something that’s Goldstein of Teksa and were passionate Associates. about the issues being incredibly unique about addressed. In addition Purpose Built to representation Communities the amount of actionfrom the three lead considered the organizations, the oriented thoughtfulness proposal process to individuals on the be “a very fulfilling ASPIRE team included that makes this feel like experience,” and they folks from LISC Chicago; were particularly United Way of Metro a once-in-a-generation “impressed with the Chicago; IFF; Teska talent represented in the opportunity.

Associates; Lamar partners.”

Johnson Collaborative; In order to meet the Purpose Built DAVID FEINBERG, IFF proposal requirements Communities; k r i s t a, and tight timeline, a think & do tank; Kids ACT’s ability to effectively mobilize, lead, and First Chicago; City Open Workshop; and learn was put to the test.

Fortunately, ACT’s Applegate Thorne-Thomsen. The partners experience is cemented on relationship-based created working groups and leveraged community organizing, which served the resources from both within and outside of committee well throughout this endeavor. their own networks in order to gather the

“We had to make the proposal compelling and ambitious, but also feasible and comprehensible. This was a huge challenge so we needed to make sure everyone’s ideas were taken into account, questioned, critiqued, and confirmed,” said Andrew Born, head of Research and Evaluation for ACT and ASPIRE team lead.

A willingness to remain cooperative despite the intensive process built solid relationships, many of which will continue. Mount Auburn Consultants, Teska Associates, and other partners have committed to sustaining their support of the ASPIRE projects even now that the Chicago Prize proposal has been submitted.

Although it may have been a strenuous process, the end result is that the ASPIRE Initiative has now become an incredibly well-researched blueprint to execute largescale plans in Austin. Conversations are underway with essential key players, a proven infrastructure to lead implementation has been established, and projections of what this will mean for Austin over the next ten years are backed up by data.

ASPIRE will create the conditions needed to empower Austin residents to lead healthy, happy and prosperous lives.

“The breadth and scope geographically, by sector, with capital investment, and in terms of stakeholders all coming together in such an organized manner is pretty monumental.

This is Austin’s chance to enact story, and to participate in story-making through the process of building the environment,” said David Feinberg with IFF. “There is something that’s incredibly unique about the amount of action-oriented thoughtfulness that makes this feel like a once-in-a-generation opportunity.”

Austin is on its way to gaining the broader city and regional recognition that our community deserves. But if ASPIRE or any other efforts are able to truly reverse Austin’s vast inequities, it will take the support from the Chicago Prize, as well as significant additional investments. This ambition can only be realized by embracing this recent shift in prioritizing support for quality education and healthcare options; economic development; and housing that directly benefit Austin’s residents and businesses. n

ASPIRE and AFT leaders joined forces at a Summit in March to discover how to support each other’s efforts.

IS RESPONDING! ACT has established a COVID-19 Response Strategy to gather information on community needs and support them through: ADVOCACY â&#x20AC;˘ COMMUNICATION â&#x20AC;˘ RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT AND DEPLOYMENT

20K Masks Distributed

1,000+

500+

$20K+

Households Fed

Laptops Distributed

in Direct Financial Assistance to Families

Austin Coming Together (ACT) has been identified as the community lead to help develop and implement strategies to meet the need in Austin per the Racial Equity Rapid Response Team (RERRT).

As a collective effort to address the racial disparities in COVID-19 mortality outcomes, Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot and the collaborative West Side United recently formed the RERRT. Three communities have been identified for initial engagement, based on local COVID-19 data that indicated a need for urgent action: Austin, Auburn Gresham, and South Shore.

The RERRT has chosen a local anchor community organization in each of those neighborhoods to develop hyperlocal, data-informed strategies to slow the spread of COVID-19 and improve health outcomes in communities that have been most heavily impacted. ACT is the partner organization for Austin.

In order to continue supporting the safety net that is essential to Austin families right now, we need your help.

DONATE at AustinComingTogether.org/Donate VOLUNTEER at a neighborhood resource distribution event GIVE supplies like PPE, cleaning products, sanitizer, etc.

CONTRIBUTE other resources or connections

AustinComingTogether.org