Today's debate: Can you serve a community non-profit and run for office? #6WardChicago

Today's debate, whether or not officers of community based organizations, churches, etc. should be allow to run for office while simultaneously working for these organizations. It's something you're probably following over at Concerned Citizen's of Chatham since last night at least.

And a candidate for 6th ward alderman addresses what was seen at Concerned Citizens of Chatham.

We were tagged in a comment to that post so Ms. Foster-Bonner made sure we got her response!

Kickstarting an Englewood "community cafe"

[VIDEO] A link to this page for the Kusanya Cafe to be located at 830 W. 69th St. was posted to Curbed Chicago recently. This is basically a fundraising page where by Jan 21, 2013 this project will get funding if $25,000 is raised.

Also, we noted an event that took place in Englewood to generate support for this cafe. I hope the people who wholeheartedly support this cafe will succeed in their effort!

Need Your Help: The 6th Ward Resource Guide

Over the next couple of weeks school will start for the remainder of the Chicago Public Schools, charter and private schools. While most students will have longer days they still will have unoccupied time.Most parents would like to have their children in afterschool programs.  But finding programs that are conveniently located and interesting is an issue for most parents.

In the 6th ward there are a number of  non profits, church's and individuals who are operating afterschool school programs such as karate, wrestling, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, etc. Also, there are organizations who are receiving tax dollars based on grant proposals that state they service the 6th ward or communities within the ward.

What we would like to do is create a working document that list these organizations and their programs. This  resource guide will be available for use by community organizations, block clubs, and individuals. Also, it will also tell us who is taking our tax dollars and not delivering services as promised.

If you know of organizations in the 6th ward who are offering programs open to the public, please email the organization, contact person and program to ccchatham@sbcglobal.net.

Growing Home, INC Open House on August 25

This information is from a press release that was e-mailed to us:

Nonprofit organization Growing Home, Inc. will open its doors to the public for a free open house on Saturday, August 25, 2012, from 11:00 am – 3:00 pm at its Wood Street Urban Farm and Honore Street Farm at 5814 S. Wood Street, Chicago IL 60636. The open house will offer tours of Chicago’s first and only USDA Certified organic local farms within city limits. Also available will be a fresh-picked farm stand, cooking demonstrations and samples of fresh produce, gardening workshops, and activities for children.

Alex Kotlowitz writes in the July/August issue of Mother Jones, “Growing Home has altered the landscape of the neighborhood [Englewood]- and it employs local residents, many of whom because of past indiscretions have trouble finding work elsewhere.” Growing Home was honored on May 1, 2012 by the Cook County Board of Commissioners with a resolution honoring the organization’s 10th anniversary.

In 2012, Growing Home is expanding its farming operations to a new site, the Honore Street Farm, which is expected to triple production capabilities to 50,000 lbs. of local organic produce grown annually in Englewood, a recognized food desert on Chicago’s South side.

Here's a flyer below where you can find more details:

Tribune: Emanuel hails South Side produce bus

Is this one way to give low-income neighborhoods access to fresh produce?

A bus loaded with pears, asparagus and other fruits and vegetables soon will start rolling through South Side neighborhoods in a circuit Mayor Rahm Emanuel likened Friday to a healthy ice cream truck route.

The former CTA bus will join one already operating on the West Side by the nonprofit organization Fresh Moves. The group aims to bring healthier eats to Chicago's food deserts, areas lacking proper grocery stores with produce sections.

TheU.S. Department of Agriculture agreed to give Fresh Moves a $70,000 grant to renovate a second bus after the first one proved to be a hit, selling produce during regular appearances at pre-set locations, Emanuel said.

"We knew growing up, 4 o'clock on a Thursday at the playground, here comes the ice cream truck," Emanuel said. "You took that model, turned it upside down, right side up and made it part of healthy living."

The bus should start rolling around on the south side starting in September!

The Enduring Effect of Neighborhoods

The Enduring Effect of Neighborhoods - The Atlantic Cities

The late Peter Drucker used to say that voluntary organizations and non-profits would increasingly drive the knowledge economy. Your focus on non-profits has helped to provide the social, civic and economic organizing glue of neighborhoods and cities. Lots of urbanists and Cities readers work in non-profits, I'm sure they'd like to hear more about this.

We live in an increasingly organizational society, and this reality plays out in neighborhoods as well. The density of nonprofit organizations leads to enhanced collective efficacy (for example neighbors watching out for others), collective civic engagement, and cohesion among community leaders. What’s important is not so much the existence of any specific type of organization but the overall organizational infrastructure of a community. Sometimes a disproportionate reliance on any one type of organization, such as the church, can be a problem. Surprisingly, for example, mistrust and cynicism in Chicago communities are highest in the well-churched communities. Although a fount of the civil rights movement, the church alone is clearly not enough to overcome the needs of African American communities, or any community for that matter. Communities with a diversity and density of many types of organizations seem to do better, creating collective spillover or “knock on” effects.

Nonprofit organizations can make a significant difference in how vulnerable neighborhoods face burdens such as foreclosures due to the recent recession. Community-based organizations are an important ingredient in building up the collective efficacy of communities to meet everyday challenges. While national policies are obviously crucial, nonprofits serve as a kind of social buffer that can make the difference between which neighborhoods tip into a spiral of decline and which turn themselves around. I call this process the "organizational imperative."

The last three paragraphs concluded this piece. I suggest you read the whole thing.

Do you think non-profits and community based organizations will make a difference here on the south side?

UPDATE: Hat-tip YoChicago!

A Hidden Gem- Salem House

I thought Salem House was gone but I found out that they running and doing more than ever. Salem House is a house adjacent to Salem Lutheran Church that was given to the church by the previous owner when she passed. The church had used it for the various Ministries in the church.

Now besides the ministries the property is functioning as a social service agency that offer referral services, adult day care and a food pantry to name a few. As with many of the non profit agencies in our community they always need volunteers. So stop by and offer your expertise.

Salem House
7359 S Prairie
Chicago, IL 60619