By Harry Huggins March 16, 2016 by Medill News Service Hilda Sanchez sits at her desk with a street view of one of Chicago’s biggest retail corridors. Nearby are three rows of dresses in a rainbow of vibrant colors with skirts that billow out at least two feet from the mannequins that wear them. Sanchez’s… Continue reading CHICAGO’S DRESS SHOP ECONOMY
CHICAGO ARCHITECTS DESIGN TINY SOLUTION TO YOUTH HOMELESSNESS
By Harry Huggins March 16, 2016 for Medill News Service Three Chicago-based architects won a competition to design a minuscule solution to a large problem, youth homelessness. The Chicago chapter of the American Institute of Architects announced Thursday that Terry Howell, Marty Sandberg and Lon Stousland won the first ever Tiny Homes Competition. A prototype… Continue reading CHICAGO ARCHITECTS DESIGN TINY SOLUTION TO YOUTH HOMELESSNESS
OUTSIDE TRUMP RALLY, PROTESTERS SHOUT DOWN HATE
By Harry Huggins March 12, 2016 for Medill News Service Thousands of protesters gathered outside GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump’s rally at the University of Illinois at Chicago Pavilion Friday afternoon and evening. As fellow protesters inside disrupted the event and eventually contributed to its postponement, the outside protesters chanted insults about Trump and his… Continue reading OUTSIDE TRUMP RALLY, PROTESTERS SHOUT DOWN HATE
CHICAGO’S HOMELESS DISCOURAGED FROM VOTING IN PRIMARIES
By Harry Huggins March 9, 2016 for Medill News Service While Chicagoans line up next Tuesday to vote in the presidential primaries, those who suffer from policy and market failures will be on the streets and in shelters. In 2013, former Governor Pat Quinn signed the Illinois Bill of Rights for the Homeless, which includes… Continue reading CHICAGO’S HOMELESS DISCOURAGED FROM VOTING IN PRIMARIES
AUDIO: ACTIVISTS SUPPORT LOGAN SQUARE RESIDENT AGAINST PREDATORY DEVELOPER
By Harry Huggins March 1, 2016 for Medill News Service Rosalinda Hernandez has lived in the Logan Square area for more than 20 years. But the tide of development–and one particularly predatory developer–threatens to push her out of the community she loves. Hernandez feels safe in Logan Square. She likes that she can come home… Continue reading AUDIO: ACTIVISTS SUPPORT LOGAN SQUARE RESIDENT AGAINST PREDATORY DEVELOPER
AUDIO: CHICAGO LEGAL CENTER PILOTS JOB TRAINING, HOUSING PROGRAM
By Harry Huggins February 24, 2016 for Medill News Service Fredrick Dennis, Darrin Brown and Cecil Palmer are three young men renovating their own apartment on Chicago’s West Side. They’re part of the MAC House, a new program from the Lawndale Christian Legal Center that combines transitional housing with job training. The guys in the… Continue reading AUDIO: CHICAGO LEGAL CENTER PILOTS JOB TRAINING, HOUSING PROGRAM
AUDIO: LOGAN SQUARE PROTESTERS FEAR GENTRIFICATION
By Harry Huggins February 17, 2016 for Medill News Service On a freezing cold Thursday morning, a dozen protesters gathered outside a Blue Line station in Logan Square. They handed out flyers to the commuters sidling by them, and they chanted. “We are many! We are tough! Ten percent is not enough!” They marched in… Continue reading AUDIO: LOGAN SQUARE PROTESTERS FEAR GENTRIFICATION
AUDIO: VOLUNTEERS COUNT CHICAGO’S HOMELESS
By Harry Huggins February 10, 2016 for Medill News Service Hundreds of volunteers canvased Chicago late Jan. 26 to count every person sleeping in the city’s parks and underpasses. I drove around Chicago’s Near West Side with Dorothy Yancy, Phoebe DePree and Carolyn Hankins-Page for five hours that night as part of the annual point… Continue reading AUDIO: VOLUNTEERS COUNT CHICAGO’S HOMELESS
Little Village Residents Welcome Diversity, Fear Rising Rents
By Harry Huggins January 27, 2016 for Medill News Service Residents of Chicago’s largely Hispanic Little Village neighborhood are excited to greet their increasingly diverse neighbors, but the area’s popularity comes at the expense of long-time tenants who grew up in a community with more affordable housing. Jesus Zamudio was born and raised in Little… Continue reading Little Village Residents Welcome Diversity, Fear Rising Rents
CHA Approves Homeless Families Program, Bonus for New CEO
By Harry Huggins January 20, 2016 for Medill News Service The leadership of the Chicago Housing Authority approved a new voucher program for homeless families, as well as actions to expand the agency’s public housing stock during its first board meeting Tuesday. After the board announced a $10,000 bonus for new acting Chief Executive Officer,… Continue reading CHA Approves Homeless Families Program, Bonus for New CEO