Join the Bring Chicago Home Coalition at Grace United Methodist Church for a re-imagining of the committee hearing.
(More info coming soon...)
Grace United Methodist Church 3325 W Wrightwood Ave, Chicago, IL 60647
By Gregory Pratt, Alice Yin and A.D. Quig, February 8, 2023
Chicago mayoral candidates spoke out about dirty trains, late buses and low homicide clearance rates in the Police Department during the latest debate as Mayor Lori Lightfoot defended her record.
The latest mayoral forum, moderated by WBEZ Reset host Sasha-Ann Simons, largely focused on public safety, transportation and education. U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García, state Rep. Kambium “Kam” Buckner, former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas and Ald. Sophia King shared the stage with Lightfoot, while the remaining four candidates are expected to participate in a second event Thursday.
By Ariel Parrella-Aureli, February 7, 2023
The city's 2023 budget and recent national grants are allotted to address homelessness, but advocates say the city isn't spending the money where it's most needed.
CHICAGO — On a recent Tuesday morning, a group of people huddle outside a homeless outreach center at O’Hare International Airport, eager to get warm with a cup of hot ramen noodle soup and talk with friends.
A man who only wanted to be identified as Shorty woke up early to get a meal after spending the night in the airport’s Terminal 2.
Shorty, who is from Chicago, is one of several homeless people who take shelter at O’Hare in the winter, especially during frigid temperatures. Facing a complex medical condition and substance abuse issues, he said life has been extra challenging in recent months.
By Ben Joravsky, February 7, 2023
How far will Chicago dare to go in its experiment with democracy?
One of the more revealing scenes in City So Real—Steve James’s insightful documentary about Chicago politics, takes place in a Gold Coast penthouse.
It’s 2019. And James, chronicling the last mayoral election, is filming a dinner party hosted by Christie Hefner.
They’re talking politics and one of the guests—Norman Bobins, a retired banker—opines that no matter who wins the upcoming election, he hopes we don’t return to the days of Mayor Harold Washington.
By, EDWARD ROBERT MCCLELLAND, Dec 12, 2022
Democratic socialists see the upcoming City Council elections as a chance to build an influential bloc.
Mueze Bawany, who is running for alderman of the 50th Ward, is a high school teacher, a son of Pakistani immigrants, and a Muslim who keeps a prayer rug in his campaign office, a converted used-car showroom on Western Avenue. If he succeeds in his campaign to unseat Alderman Debra Silverstein, though, it may not be because of any of those qualities, but because he has the support of the Chicago chapter of Democratic Socialists of America. Every Sunday, in a tactic borrowed from the machine, a dozen socialists from around the city knock on doors in West Ridge for Bawany.
By Sean Lewis, Nov 14, 2022
CHICAGO — There was a hope that delaying the start of a city council meeting, there would be enough aldermen present to vote on a homelessness relief plan.
The Bring Chicago Home plan would plan to increase the city transfer tax on property sales more than $1 million, generating approximately $160 million a year to fund homelessness programs in the city.
The resolution planned to also offer mental health and employment services for the estimated 65,000 homeless people living in Chicago.
Grassroots groups say mayor Lightfoot has failed on a promised to help tens of thousands of people in Chicago who are homeless. April Harris with the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless says the mayor dropped her support for a measure that would have hiked the real estate transfer tax to raise needed funds to tackle homelessness it was a one-time payment which would raise 175 million. We need a dedicated revenue stream. The she has claimed there's only 6000 people homeless, there's over 65,000 plus all Mayor Lightfoot's administration has offered to meet with them, but only after the mid-November deadlines fast forgetting the measure.
Activists gathered Thursday morning in downtown Chicago to protest the removal of winterized tents that had been tagged by the city with notices warning occupants the tents had to be cleared for a street cleaning scheduled for Thursday.
Heather Cherone, Oct 11, 2022
Mayor Lori Lightfoot won a commanding victory in the 2019 race for Chicago mayor after campaigning on a progressive political platform that vowed to remake the city, but she will run for re-election after having spent nearly her entire term at odds with Chicago’s progressive political community.
With less than five months before Chicago voters will decide whether to make her the first woman to be re-elected as mayor, Lightfoot has touted her $16.4 billion budget for 2023 as the best way build on what she says are her progressive accomplishments.
By Matt Martin and Maria Hadden, Oct 7, 2022
On Sept. 6, a woman and her partner visited the 49th Ward service office. They were staying at a friend’s house near their 7-year-old daughter’s school and feared that they would have nowhere to live in two weeks when their friend’s lease ended.
