When federal regulators seized Park National Bank and its parent company last October and turned operations over to US Bank, it caused outcry through Chicago’s West Side and into Oak Park. And the fight is not over. On Saturday, March 13 at 10 a.m., the Coalition to Save Community Banking will meet at the...
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Residents of the West Side’s Austin neighborhood believe the community was undercounted in 2000, and are working to gain full representation for their neighborhood in the 2010 census. The 2000 census counted 117,527 people living inside the city-defined borders of Austin, representing 4.1 percent of Chicagoans. Community activist Malcolm Crawford says this number is...
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Gritty storefronts, boarded-up gas station windows, graffiti-covered pavement and a plethora of fast food restaurants are the sights that will meet your eyes on a drive through one of Chicago’s toughest neighborhoods. Located on the city’s West Side, Austin’s population is nearing 130,000, and as the population rises in what community activists call Chicago’s...
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Instead of toting her backpack to school on Friday mornings, high school sophomore Kyara Lee strays from her usual schedule to venture outside the classroom. For one day each week, she sets aside her school books to work alongside investment professionals. Lee remembers her first day of work last September, being nervous as she...
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Local school councils are out, Renaissance 2010 is in, and the fight against the machine has only begun. Activists and experts have taken a stand to bring back public schools and public involvement in education; they said they are fighting for their voice. Pauline Lipman, policy studies professor at the University of Illinois at...
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Officials at a Far West Side organization fear if client demand continues to rise, more and more recently released prisoners will be left fending for themselves. Roger Ehmen, director of Westside Health Authority’s Prisoner Re-Entry Center, said a recent jump in numbers shows the dire need for the program in Austin. Ehmen said the...
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Charles Ezzard speaks with ease and confidence, pausing from time-to-time as if visually sifting through the past chapters of his life. He recounts times of hardship, yet immediately changes pace when speaking about his future. His face lights up as he states his goals, such as finishing school and giving back to the community....
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Sharon Morgan sits at her desk surrounded by piles of paperwork and a cup of Dunkin Donuts coffee. As she shuffles through the paperwork, she marks her calendar on the day where she plans to speak to her 7th and 8th grade students about completing applications for the best high schools in the city....
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Local officials in Austin say if Chicago Public School leaders don’t create more high school seats in the West Side neighborhood, more youth will end up in the streets of Chicago’s toughest areas. But CPS officials say Austin residents will have to be content with their three Renaissance 2010 high schools. Austin High School,...
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As Jennifer T. Lacey reports, Santa Claus has arrived in Austin on the West Side, and it was a huge, community-wide event that brought out kids of all ages. The new parade and tradition means a lot to the neighborhood, as you will see here.
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