Crain's: Dorms in the future for community college students

State Rep Nick Smith

I wonder if this legislation affects the City Colleges of Chicago. Closer to the south side imagine dorms at Olive-Harvey, Kennedy-King, or even Daley Colleges. This is an initiative of 34th District State Representative Nicholas Smith who has a history with two-year colleges.

Now that he’s a member of the Illinois General Assembly, Nick Smith isn’t embarrassed to say he struggled early in college. As he bounced back and forth between classes and his job, he spent little time on campus.

It wasn’t until Smith got a work-study job at Olive-Harvey College, a Far South Side community college, that things changed. “I started to feel immersed in the academic setting. I started to feel focused,” he recalls. After completing the two-year program, Smith went on to get a bachelor’s degree from nearby Chicago State University, and since 2019 he has represented the 34th District in the State Assembly.

With his personal experience in mind, Smith introduced legislation in Springfield this year that allows community colleges to add student housing for the first time. Signed into law July 9 by Gov. J.B. Pritzker, the measure allows for residential projects to begin on or near campuses throughout the state starting in January.

The law is an empty vessel at the moment, expressing the ambition to do something new to address housing insecurity for people aiming to lift themselves out of poverty via a community college education. Nontrivial matters—most crucially, how the idea will be paid for—aren’t addressed in a piece of legislation that is only a few paragraphs long.

Here are some things specific to the city colleges:

At City Colleges, a network of seven campuses in Chicago, more than half of all students said they lacked stable housing in the last 12 months, according to a survey conducted in 2018 by the Hope Center for College, Community & Justice at Temple University. About 15 percent of students said they experienced homelessness in the same period. Black students, students identifying as LGBTQ and those who were independent of their parents or guardians in financial aid packages were more likely to experience needs insecurity, the report found. “Housing insecurity and homelessness have a particularly strong, statistically significant relationship with college completion rates, persistence, and credit attainment,” the report said.

City Colleges Chancellor Juan Salgado issued a statement to Crain’s saying the schools are committed to addressing students’ “comprehensive needs,” including housing and food insecurity, so attendees can focus on their schoolwork. The network looks forward to “exploring partnerships that would create affordable housing for our students, in particular the many City Colleges students experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity,” the statement said.

For students who are homeless and not connected to their parents, there’s a specific way their academic program is harmed, said Niya Kelly, director of state legislation at the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless. Because of “the presumption in this country that your parents help you until you’re 23 or 25 years old,” Kelly said, colleges generally require a parent’s Social Security and other tax information.

Students who don’t have that “get dinged and have to go through an appeal process,” Kelly said, which results in “getting their packets later, which means registering for classes after other people and dealing with that uncertainty of not knowing whether they’re going to get to go back to school or not.”

Removing any of these obstacles, Smith said, “is adding to our students’ chances of succeeding” and using that college degree to improve their circumstances.

You know how could this affect the surrounding area. With Olive-Harvey and Kennedy-King for example could this be a good thing for the surrounding neighborhoods? 

CBS 2: Homeless Shelter Shut Down After CBS 2 Exposes Disgusting Living Conditions

[VIDEO] I found this CBS2 report from this morning. A Little Bit of Heaven men's homeless shelter (11321 S. Wentworth Ave) was shut down after reports of appalling conditions for residents. It took an anonymous report to bring this to the media's attention and then ultimately the city followed up on other violations there were violations shown in this report that went back to 2018.

Operation: Help-A-Hero #6WardChicago

I'm sorry I didn't trot this out on Memorial Day which is one of those holidays that we celebrate the sacrifices of America's military personnel & veterans. If you have an item to donate to homeless - or transitioning from homeless - military veterans you can do so at any Aldermanic office, any Jewel-Osco store or select Chicago Park district locations. A complete list is available at www.cityofchicago.org/helpahero

If you've subscribed to either Ald. Sawyer's or Ald. Beale's e-mail distribution lists you will see variations of the flyer below. If you want more information call your Alderman's office. This flyer contains the contact information for Ald. Sawyer.

Refer to the flyer below to see what items to donate.

The story of the Foster Sisters is now up at the Chicago Tribune

The Chicago Tribune has published the story about the Foster sisters.

You can find the story at http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-met-south-side-homeless-sisters-20180502-story.html

If you are interested in a hard copy we suggest going to a convenience store RIGHT NOW. I (JP Paulus) bought the last one at the Starbucks at 87th & the Dan Ryan. But if you are near others, i was informed that at the end of the day, they often throw out that day's paper.

We thank all of the community members who helped contribute to the story, and welcome any responses and reactions to the story, not just in the comments, but even as a guest blog post.

We especially want to thank Lolly Bowean , Abel Uribe and others at the Chicago Tribune as well as everyone who helped us on the social networking site Next Door to make this happen.

We have posted on these sisters before, such as in January when we noticed that their tarp and belongings were abandoned, to the initial report of possibly (now confirmed) one of them dying, and the obituary of Susan Foster.

Update on the homeless sisters

By JP Paulus in January 2018

I'll let Worlee Glover's post from Concerned Citizens of Chatham speak for itself. We know them as the homeless sisters, however, we don't know their acutal identity. Hopefully in any further reports we'll find out soon. What is known, is that they have a brother in Ohio.

Previously: What a sad story that occurred over the weekend in Chatham

What happened to the homeless sisters?

The sisters' tent has collapsed, and has been this way for days

Does anyone know what happened to the homeless sisters who have camped out in various parts of our neighborhood?

You have probably seen them somewhere around the neighborhood.  They have camped out at 75th & King Drive (just before and after the fire that took down the building), at 87th & The Dan Ryan, 84th & King, and most recently in front of the former Church's Chicken at 87th & King Drive.

They are two sisters who sit under a makeshift tarp tent. They claim it is a church, and that as such, gives them the right to be encamped wherever they are.  They seem to sit in 2 chairs under the tarp, stay there all day, and then sleep there. They only occasionally come out.

They have been encamped by the former Church's Chicken on 87th & King Drive. They seem to have been there some time after it closed, and when they took off the Church's sign.So it has been a number of weeks, if not months.

Last week, I noticed that one of the chairs seemed to be down. A few days later, the "tent" hadn't returned to normal.

That made me suspicious,so I stopped by. Now, if someone was there, if someone tried to do anythign, they would be out and chasing people away. But there was no response. In fact, one chair had fell over, and rain water had filled the top of that part of the tarp.  I couldn't lift the other one, but there did not seem to be a body (also, no odor).

Their encampment has been abandoned for days

Even with this bitterly cold weather, it doesn't seem like they died. Does anyone know if they have been arrested, taken , or brought to the hospital?

They are very protective of their stuff and territory (for example, arguing with the owner of a truck which was parked in the lot). So it seems odd for it to just be left there. At some point, I know someone will want to have the debris removed.

If you have any information on them, please e-mail the blog at blog+blog@thesixthward.us

We hope they are OK.

The sisters are fierce in keeping their home.  

Tiny houses for the homeless

Perhaps an idea whose time has come and the city council is talking about it:

The City Council held a hearing about tiny houses after powerful Southwest Side Ald. Edward Burke, 14th, introduced a resolution for the city to consider them. The homes measure about 160 square feet, and builders say they can be completed in less than two weeks.

Catholic Charities would like to put up seven tiny homes for homeless veterans on a couple of lots near 78th Street and Emerald Avenue in the Gresham neighborhood, said Eileen Higgins, a vice president for the organization.

The houses would be put up near an existing Catholic Charities campus with services for veterans. Higgins said building tiny houses is less expensive in most cases than renovating an existing house, and she added that veterans often prefer a much smaller place to live without the upkeep of bigger residences.

So far the development is just a proposal, and Higgins said the organization is looking into zoning issues at the site.

Anthony Simpkins, of the city planning department, said the city is also in the preliminary stages of considering whether it should build lots of little houses to increase affordable housing around Chicago.

"Can it be publicly financed? Should it be publicly financed?" Simpkins said. "Is it on city land? Is it not? What are the design elements? Are there wraparound services involved? We're sort of looking at all that stuff right now."

Now if you want to see what these tiny houses could involved, check out the video below by Reason. This was more done by an individual instead of the city and unfortunately there was some controversy that included taking away the houses because they were in city streets & sidewalks. I'm glad the city is looking into this and better still will place these houses in lots instead of on city streets and sidewalks. [VIDEO]

#JRW Player's Plight Opens Door For More To Get Help

After such a joyous week in sports, we learned of an unfortunate story. Jaheim Benton, a young man who went all the way to the Little League World Series as a member of the Chicago-based Jackie Robinson West team turned out to be homeless.

Thankfully, Spencer Leak, Jr. -- a local mortician-- sent the young man and his family some help.

I'm not big on utilizing religious imagery but I'm truly glad this young man and his family is getting the help he needs. It's certainly good that he gets this attention because he's part of a champion little league baseball team.

We must remember that he isn't the only child who may be part of a family who's homeless. Hopefully these other young people and their families will also get the help they need.
Crossposted to Zack's TV!

Did Liberation Christian Center Disrespect The Park Manor Community

Talking about religion or more specifically a church is consider taboo but in this case it's necessary. This past Monday evening I attended the Park Manor Neighbors Community Council (PMNCC) monthly meeting. There was a full agenda, but most of the 100+ attendees came out for one issue. Only through communication through PMNCC were they notified that an organization Unity Parenting and Counseling had approach the Alderman about signing off on a special use permit. The need for the permit was to establish a shelter for homeless teens. In most cases the PMNCC meeting attendees are even tempered but this subject angered the attendees. The shelter wanted to open inside what was once a small elementary school operated by St. Peter Lutheran Church. The building is being leased by a Liberation Christian Center. The church is new to the community and little was known or communicated about the church to the community. As the representatives of Unity attempted to make their case, the temperature in the room was going to start to boil over and both representatives from Unity and attendees became upset. No answer that Unity gave was or would have persuaded the members of the 74th,73rd Wabash and Michigan block club members who were in attendance. The bottom line was and is that 7400 S Michigan is the wrong location and YES, this is definitely the wrong time. On May 19th, the Red Line train line will shut down for 6-9 months and limit transportation options including several bus lines to the community and require possible walking through the community to get to alternative routes. So to state that the shelter would have no impact on the community is a very shortsighted and somewhat delusional.  Per Unity, if someone is expelled for not following the rules they are not allowed to loiter around the building . This would lead the individuals to walk up to 75th street where there are stores and several nightclubs. 75th Street is the dividing line for the Chicago Police Department 3rd and 6th districts. Both districts already have their hands full and having homeless teens loitering is just a problem the y do not need. While it became very apparent that the community was not going to support the special use permit, what did become apparent the church and pastor attempted to pimp both groups. During the presentation, Unity stated the pastor Bishop James E. Dukes offered the space to them, and never mentioned he had any conversations with the community. The church and pastor certainly didn't make any friends by blowing off this meeting or ever coming out to introduce themselves to the community. Sources characterize the pastor as "Shady". Per Unity representatives, the pastor was out of town. I and many others question the timing of this proposal. In a time when our city and state government are suppose to be broke, where is the money coming from to pay for this shelter? In a time when city services such as Mental health facilities that serve this community are being eliminated or consolidated to other areas why is there such an urgency to open this facility? Lastly, why did this group not notify any of the other social service agencies that service the community of their intentions to open this facility? So the bottom line is the Liberation Church feels that they can do what they want and not answer to anyone, such as engage in construction work without obtaining permits. So is this what churches are suppose to do? Is this what men of god suppose to do? So it will be interesting to see if the pastor steps up and apologizes to the community and work with community.

Two Holiday Celebrations at Chatham Food Market

Click logo to visit their website

This information was forward to us on Saturday.

Annual Christmas Coat Drive

Chatham Food and Featherfist, a not-for-profit, organization (with a mission to eliminate homelessness) are co-sponsoring the Chatham Food Market's annual Holiday Coat Drive through December 31st.

They're asking everyone in our community to rummage through your closest and donate clean, good condition coats whether they are for men, women, children or infants.

If you have the extra cash, wouldn't it be nice this holiday to just buy a new coat on sale at one of the discount stores to donate?

Remember, winter is especially tough when you're homeless.

The V103 Radio & Chatham Food Market Holiday Promotion

Okay, guys, we can't give you all of the secret details on this special Christmas promotion.

But we can tell you this much. So pay attention!

1. Judge Greg Mathis will be there!
2. Several grocery shopping sprees are involved--- and
3. You need to listen to the radio station first thing on Monday, December 17th to participate.

VIDEO Life of a homeless CPS student

Very sad story about a homeless CPS student and her mother that aired on WTTW's Chicago Tonight on the day of May 27th, 2009.

Via Uptown Update!