W E D N E S D A Y
October 30, 2019 Vol. 39, No. 13 ONE DOLLAR @oakpark @wednesdayjournal
JOURNAL of Oak Park and River Forest
Housing Center funding on bubble with Oak Park board
Key to a flourishing workplace? Spoken word Oak Parker wants to bring poetry to the corporate world By MICHAEL ROMAIN Staff Reporter
Oak Parker Jamael “Isaiah Makar” Clark is on a mission to show the corporate world just how beneficial spoken word poetry can be to workplace culture and, ultimately, the self-fulfillment of employees. The Oak Park and River Forest High School graduate and alum of OPRF’s Spoken Word Club is so confident about the mission that over the summer he left his position as District 97’s spoken word coordinator — which is funded by the Oak Park Education Foundation — to devote his full attention to building Impact Makars. Clark offers what he calls Makarshops to HR professionals and employees of large companies. The workshops, focusing on spoken word poetry and impromptu creativity, are designed to help people open up. “Unfortunately, a lot of people hide themselves when they clock in, so during the workshops I’m extracting what they suppress,” Clark said during a recent interview. See POET on page 13
Oak Park Regional Housing Center is facing a cut of over $391,000 By STACEY SHERIDAN Staff Reporter
ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer
MAN ON A MISSION: Jamael “Isaiah Makar” Clark is determined to utilize spoken word poetry to improve corporate culture. His company, Impact Makars, specializes in Makarshops and Makarzines, which are designed to help companies and employees flourish..
SHOPPER’S
The Oak Park Regional Housing Center (OPRHC) is facing a potentially debilitating budget cut after failing to turn in two reports to the village government on time. In its recommended budget for 2020, the village does not recommend the 47-year-old nonprofit housing center receive additional money on top of the $163,438 in Community Development Block Grant funding which the village authorized in September, “until such time as they demonstrate compliance with the Funding Grant Agreement for 2019.” The proposed 2020 budget document lists a budget reduction of $391,382, the entirety of the center’s village funding, which “the Village Board could restore either during the budget process or in the future if the OPRHC can demonstrate compliance with the 2019 Agreement which would call See HOUSING CENTER on page 1
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