Citizen: Treasurer Summers Honors Dr. King by Launching “77 Proud” Initiative

This story involves Mr. Jahmal Cole and his My Block My Hood My City project.

In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., City Treasurer Kurt Summers on Monday brought together faith and community leaders to address disinvestment in Chicago’s communities and announce a new initiative that promotes non-violence by providing access to economic resources. “77 Proud” consists of 11 financial education resource fairs that will take place across the City from January to March. The announcement took place at Stone Temple Church on Chicago’s West Side where Dr. King spoke at a rally 50 years ago.

“Each of our 77 neighborhoods has great potential, but they don’t each have the same access to opportunity or to investment,” Treasurer Summers said. “As we honor Dr. King, it is dire that we immediately take a stand against the violence, the inequalities and the injustices that exist in Chicago’s communities. By investing in Our Chicago and providing tools and education to those who need it most, we can help empower more Chicagoans to pursue Dr. King’s dream.”

Treasurer Summers also spoke to inequity in the justice system and disinvestment in Chicago’s neighborhoods as it relates to the more than nearly 500 deaths that took place in 2015 and almost 30 that have taken place since January 1, 2016. Founder of My Block My Hood My City, Jahmal Cole, has partnered with the Treasurer’s Office to implement 77 Proud and help spread a message of peace across the City.   

Chicago City Treasurer Kurt Summers visits Flecks Coffee

New Chicago City Treasurer Kurt Summers kicked off his 77 Chicago community area tour with a breakfast conference at Flecks coffee today (Thursday, November 13). There were several reporters at the event, with a total of approximately 30 people in attendance, filling the entire establishment.  I (JP Paulus) was there from  8:30am until the end.

 

Summers explained his role as treasurer, which includes investing the city of Chicago’s money.  He stated that “conventional wisdom” was that investing in minority communities was a bad investment.  Summer said that was not true and would in fact invest in minority communities.

Summers said he worked with a group of leaders to work on a plan for Chatham, including bankers, investment community, and others. Ald. Rod Sawyer, after the meeting, said that they will release a public statement on the alliance in the near future. He also noted that Summers was involved with this long before being tapped to be City Treasurer.

He stated that there was a plan by World Business Chicago that was created three years ago, and wanted the community to help him answer the question of  “How do we bring this to Chatham?”

Summers also mentioned phrases such as "ministry of presence" during his conversation.

Attendees included Alderman Rod Sawyer, his chief of staff Brian Sleet, 6^th Ward aldermanic candidate Brian Garner, Chatham blogger Worlee Glover, Flecks Coffee owners Olga & Zuli Turner, among others.

We plan to post links to other stories about this event in a future blog entry, as well as sharing them on our Facebook page.