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AUSTINWEEKLY news ■
Vol. 33 No. 47
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November 20, 2019
CPS announces proposed makeup days,
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austinweeklynews.com
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Also serving Garfield Park
@AustinWeeklyChi
PAGE 11
@AustinWeeklyNews
Austin A ti park p k well comes vets, page 8
New digital docuseries explores ins, outs of gun violence
‘Firsthand: Gun Violence’ goes beyond the headlines, explores lives of five survivors By MICHAEL ROMAIN Editor
Reality Allah, an outreach worker with READI Chicago, an organization dedicated to lowering the number of shootings and homicides in the city by engaging the people most likely to shoot or be shot, walks into the home of a prospective client who is on house arrest and notices something. “Is that a bullet hole?” Allah said, pointing to the living room window. India Hart, a teenager in Chicago’s Auburn Gresham neighborhood, lives on a manicured block but attends a school eight blocks away where students play cards to pass the time because the teachers keep quitting. Hart has Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), the result of witnessing family members get shot during a balloon release in 2018, held to celebrate the birthday of her uncle, who was killed the previous year. Hart said her father and the mother of her uncle’s 3-year-old child were both wounded during the shooting. “After this event, I couldn’t sleep at night,” she said. “I kept replaying everything in my head. It was crazy to me. I was worried about where I was going. I was nervous in school. See FIRSTHAND on page 2
ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer
Opening up
Instructor Levette Haynes, of Chicago, stands in a room surrounded by artwork on Nov. 15, during an open art theater for the West Side Cultural Arts Council at the Garfield Park Gold Dome in Weat Garflield Park. More photos on page 6.
How to preserve the black middle class Federal Reserve holds conference to explore the question, possible solutions By IGOR STUDENKOV Contributing Reporter
The group of academics, real estate professionals, business owners and government officials sounded an alarm about the ongoing decline of historically middle-class neighborhoods on the South and West sides and argued that it would take significant changes to reverse the trends.
Preserving Chicago’s Middle Knighthoods Conference, which was held at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago (230 S. LaSalle St.), was organized by the bank’s consumer and community affairs division, as well as the Metropolitan Planning Council, which is currently helping to develop strategies for preserving affordability in East Garfield Park and the Greater Chatham Initiative, which works to encourage economic
growth in the area in and around that South Side, traditionally middle-class, African-American neighborhood. While the topic primarily dealt with middleclass black and brown neighborhoods that have seen declines since the early 2000s, it also touched on the broader decline of minority home ownership in general and the well-documented struggle of families
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 MIDDLE CLASS on page 9
Larry Williams,Agent 5932 W. Lake Street Chicago, 60644 (773) 379-9010 larry.williams.b0bk@statefarm.com