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LISC/Chicago honors South Chicago heroes

11/3/2009, 1:35 PM

South Chicago Heroes Kevin Murphy & Joann Podkul

Photo by Alex Fledderjohn

Two inspiring South Chicago couples, Joann Podkul and Kevin Murphy, and Zebedee & Tonya Rivera, were honored last week at the New Communities Program's annual Community Heroes Celebration sponsored by LISC/Chicago.

Joann & Kevin

When Joann Podkul and Kevin Murphy led “From Pollution to Solution,” a bus tour of South Chicago on May 16, 2009 for the Bold Plans, Big Dreams Community Showcase, it in many ways represented a satisfying crescendo of the couple’s tireless community work. For starters, the tour was an outgrowth of a comprehensive environmental tour of the Lake Calumet region created by the couple for South Chicago’s first annual Green Summit in 2008.

Podkul, an educator who has lived in South Chicago for 70 years, and Murphy, an author who has been in the community for a quarter century, worked with South Chicago’s NCP partner, Claretian Associates, to launch the summit, just the latest project for the two to promote a greener future for South Chicago. Podkul founded and was the director of the Bowen Environmental Studies Team High School, both have served on a slew of local environmental groups, and in 2007 they founded the Calumet Stewardship Initiative. “Our role is to help everyone network a bit better and work together,” Murphy says.

South Chicago Heroes Tonya & Zebedee Rivera

Photo by Alex Fledderjohn

Tonya & Zebedee

You wish you had neighbors like Zebedee and Tonya Rivera. Since moving to South Chicago in 2005, the young couple has become a powerhouse to support a better community, involved in everything from sitting on the transitional advisory council to open new public schools in the neighborhood to helping to organize community tours.

Tonya, a former teacher who is now a CPS instructional coach, and Zebedee, an artist, have worked with local youth to paint a mural of their hopes for the future on the wooden fence that lines their property. They sponsor a community garden on an empty lot next to their house, are active in the local block club, and even put up a haunted house for kids around Halloween. “They’re just a wonderful family for South Chicago,” says Jackie Samuels, the NCP director at Claretian Associates. A bit bemused by the attention, Zebedee is more modest. “We just want to be involved in the community,” he says. “Isn’t that what neighbors are supposed to do?”

Two positions available with Claretian Associates

11/9/2009, 2:37 PM

Claretian Associates is hiring a Senior Property Manager, a new position that includes the day-to-day management of our multi-family apartments while also overseeing the organization’s portfolio of affordable housing for seniors and families. For the full announcement, please click here.

We are also hiring a computer consultant with A+ Certification and PC system experience in a LAN enviornment. Click here for the details.

Census 2010: It's in our hands, South Chicago!

9/21/2009, 1:38 PM

Claretian Associates received a Count Me In grant through the Illinois Census Funders Initiative to increase response rates in the 2010 census in communities that are at risk for being undercounted. Over the next eight months, Claretian Associates will reach residents often overlooked by the census - through meetings, mailings, e-newsletters, door-to-door outreach and more.

The census is like a snapshot that helps define who we are as a nation. Data about changes in our community are crucial to many planning decisions, such as where to provide services for the elderly, where to build new roads and schools, or where to locate job training centers. If you'd like to volunteer to help, please click here to contact Valentina Gamboa-Turner.

Hear Hurlock on Chicago Public Radio

9/15/2009, 10:10 AM

Executive Director Angela Hurlock was selected as one of 15 visionaires leading our region into the next century, as part of the Chicago Matters series, Beyond Burham.

To hear her story - which aired September 15, 2009 on Chicago Public Radio - click here.

Chicago Matters features yearlong, original programming by WTTW11, WBEZ Chicago Public Radio, the Chicago Public Library and The Chicago Reporter.

Local residents get "green-collar" training

8/27/2009, 1:27 PM

Photo by Eric Young Smith

Ten South Chicago residents recently completed training for entry-level, green-collar jobs under a pilot program launched at the Local Economic Employment Development (LEED) Council.

The participants learned weatherization skills, which is one of the fastest-growing segments of the green economy, offering career opportunities in protecting the interiors of single and multi-family buildings, building maintenance and property management.

For the full story, click here.

Tour South Chicago - virtually!

8/27/2009, 4:03 PM

Enjoy a short tours of South Chicago online, thanks to YoChicago.com and NewHomeNotebook.com.

South Chicago's Southworks highlighted in Burnham Plan Centennial video

9/21/2009, 11:52 AM

Photo by Eric Young Smith

Watch a short video, "Unfinished Business" created by Kurtis Productions and The Burnham Plan Centennial, featuring Jackie Samuel, Director of South Chicago's New Communities Program. The Chicago region of today is vastly different from that of 1909, thanks in certain ways to the Burnham Plan, but there is still more to be done. The video explores the Chicago of 1909 and shows how the Plan transformed the region. Current projects underway are highlighted, showing there remains a civic-minded push toward improving our global metropolis, even 100 years after the Burnham Plan.

2009 summer program employs 117 local youth

8/27/2009, 3:55 PM

For the second year, Claretian Associates led the Youth Ready Chicago summer youth employement program. This year, we placed 117 youth at 27 job sites including the DuSable Museum of African American History, Little Black Pearl, South Chicago Chamber of Commerce, among others.

Overall the program was very successful. Some youth will continue their employment into the fall. The crime rate is down in South Chicago. Claretian Associates is steadily strengthening and building relationships and we are proud of the terrific youth of the community!

The purpose of the program was to provide an opportunity for youth to obtain basic life skills training, work readiness training, work experience and career knowledge through classes and internships opportunities with local businesses, and not-for-profit agencies.

We could not have done this without our partners including Olive-Harvey College that provided us with training rooms at the South Chicago Learning Center and supplied certificates of completion. The participants also opened free interest-bearing savings accounts where their checks were automatically deposited courtesy of Park National Bank.

The employers were amazing as well. Germano-Millgate Community Center partnered with Architreasures to create outdoor benches and improved the playlot for the children. The youth became young urban planners for their housing community. They created an icon called “Germano Man, protector of the youth.”

Another amazing feat was Master Gardener Gregory Bratton hiring 70 youth to work in various gardens in South Chicago. One of the youth noted, “Have you noticed that it has been quiet in the neighborhood lately and not a lot of violence?I guess because we have been working in the garden and we have something to do or we would have been into some trouble.”

10th Ward Fix Your Mortgage event a success

8/27/2009, 12:26 PM

Photo by Eric Young Smith

“When I came in I wasn’t smiling, but I’m smiling now!” That’s the response of one participant as she left her one-on-one counseling session at the 10th Ward Fix Your Mortgage event August 1.

Claretian Associates collaborated with Alderman John Pope, Spanish Coalition for Housing and Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago to host the event at the South Chicago Public Library. Bilingual (English/ Spanish) HUD certified housing counselors assisted residents with an services such as foreclosure, loan modifications or first time home buyers counseling. Everyone was able to speak one-on-one with counselors who completed assessments and made recommendations and follow- up appointments. SCFH and NHS did a fantastic job of educating clients and making them feel comfortable. Alderman Pope and his team greeted residents and lent a sympathetic ear to struggling home owners. The event was a great success and furthers Claretian Associates’ mission of bringing vital housing resources to the South Chicago community.

For more information, please contact Housing Preservation Coordinator Valentina Gamboa-Turner by clicking here or call her at 773-734-9181, x24.

New book highlights sustainable achievements - including Claretian Associates

6/4/2009, 3:28 PM

A new book by John F. Wasik titled, The Cul-de-Sac Syndrome: Turning Around the Unsustainable American Dream, highlights Claretian Associates' work through extensive interviews with Executive Director Angela Hurlock.

Published by Bloomberg Press, John Wasik "provides powerful insights into how the US suburban lifestyle became unsustainable and what can be done to salvage it." Wasik is the personal finance columnist for Bloomberg News and the author of several books.

Southeast Chicago Goes from STEEL to GREEN

7/20/2009, 1:19 PM

Where steel once was king, a green economy is beginning to bloom.

Photo by Maureen Kelleher

The second annual Tenth Ward Green Summit held May 9 in South Chicago and throughout the southeast side offered residents a snapshot of currently available green, eco-friendly and healthy initiatives designed to enhance the quality of life. The Summit promoted economic development consistent with the community’s cultural and economic diversity.

The Summit featured Keynote Speaker Naomi Davis. Naomi launched Blacks in Green on Earth Day 2007 to rally people across the country around the cause of “global green practices.” Her grand vision for the Calumet region is to connect people to the land, celebrate the area’s natural and cultural heritage, and turn it around economically for the residents. Other dignitaries included Tenth Ward Alderman John A. Pope.

Learning to live green on the Southeast Side was the focus of the 10th Ward Green Summit which drew over 100 area residents and visitors. Attendees learned about such greening efforts as new affordable, energy-efficient homes, roof gardens, community gardens, solar-operated trash collectors, and restoration of Hegewisch Marsh, the future site of the Ford Environmental Education Center.

Exhibits focused on healthy eating and energy efficiency as well as a flea market and recycled art activities for the family from South Chicago to Wolf Lake and Eggers Grove.

Also back by popular demand were free tours of the 10^th ward by streetcar, foot and bike. The tours allowed visitors to see and hear the history of Southeast Chicago and its transformation from the closing of the Steel Mills into a Greening Community.

“During these difficult economic times we really want participants to see how living a Greener lifestyle can be healthier and affordable,” says Jackie Samuel, Claretian Associates, New Communities Program Director. “We are so excited this year about the Green Summit because we are finally coming into our new identity as a greener community. Along with participating in this year’s Burnham Plan Centennial we are celebrating our history and showcasing our efforts to be a greener and healthier place to live.”

South Chicago's Streetcar – a great community resource

8/27/2009, 2:08 PM

A new model of affordable public transportation began rolling in January with the South Chicago Streetcar.

“Our Commercial Avenue shopping district is one of the few designated pedestrian shopping districts left in Chicago," says Neil Bosanko, Executive Director of the South Chicago Chamber, “and the streetcar system is a proven way to jumpstart retail and residential growth.”

The streetcar costs 25 cents a day, offering unlimited rides. It transports people over a four-mile route beginning in South Deering at 106th Street and Torrence Avenue through the Commercial Avenue shopping district and north to the Bush at 83rd Street and Burley Avenue. The streetcar has designated stops but riders can also flag the car when they see it coming. (See the complete interactive map below.)

The streetcar system responds to parking issues and helps curtail congestion on Commercial Avenue. The goal is to keep retail dollars in the community by bringing shoppers to the shopping district.

Bosanko and other South Chicago leaders attended the New Partners for Smart Growth conference in Washington, D.C. along with a representative from the City’s Department of Community Development last year. They learned about successful streetcar programs throughout the country, including one in Kenosha, Wisconsin, which a delegation from the neighborhood, including Bosanko, Tenth Ward Alderman John Pope and other city planning officials visited.

Beginning last fall, Bosanko created a “blue ribbon panel” of community leaders, stakeholders, City planners, among others to look at the needs, costs, route and other details that would benefit the community. The community was eager to welcome the new program. The president of Olive-Harvey College offered free commercial drivers license training for the three streetcar employees who will be hired, a local auto body shop offered its garage to store the trolley at night, and 13 local agencies and businesses have stepped up to sell the streetcar ticket coupon books from their various locations.

The streetcar hit the streets January 2 and has averaged about 50-85 riders daily with numbers rising each day. The trolley runs daily from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. with a break between 2:30 and 3:30. For the first few months, the Chamber has leased a streetcar, but will roll out the newly purchased streetcar this spring, says Bosanko.

The budget for the system is $138,000 for 2009, funded through the City of Chicago’s Special Service Area program, an economic development tool created by city and state statutes to levy additional real estate property taxes in commercial areas for added services. The service area for Commercial Avenue was put in place in 1986 with the goals of promoting and strengthening businesses through a business improvement program, safety, transportation, aesthetics and marketing initiatives. The South Chicago Chamber administers the Special Service Area program for South Chicago on behalf of the City of Chicago, which is overseen by 9 commissioners appointed by the mayor.

The streetcar initiative is also part of South Chicago’s Quality of Life Plan, a community-created five-year plan with concrete strategies to improve the neighborhood through transportation, housing, business, safety and arts and culture. The plan is part of the New Communities Program, a long-term initiative of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation/Chicago to support comprehensive community development in 16 Chicago neighborhoods, including South Chicago. Claretian Associates is the lead agency for the New Communities Program in South Chicago.

“We can talk all we want about shopping locally,” says Bosanko, “but it won’t happen unless it is easy, accessible and considers the community’s needs. Everything has to come together for it to work.”

SOUTH CHICAGO TROLLEY ROUTE: Click on a bus icon below to see how the map works.

View Larger Map

New Homes for South Chicago

11/19/2008, 1:39 PM

See inside one of our New Homes for South Chicago

Click here to see pictures of the spacious interiors of our two-flat (with rental unit in the basement). We are now developing single-family homes for $195,000 and two-flats for $265,000 through the City's New Homes for Chicago program. We have 20 lots available on Brandon, Burley, and Buffalo Avenues between 87th and 93rd Streets. Call Project Manager Lupe Castañeda at 773-734-9181, ext. 26.

Typical Features (subject to change)

3 bedrooms including a master bedroom

1 ½ - 2 ½ baths

large kitchen and spacious living areas

kitchen appliances

washer/dryer and A/C hook-ups

wood baseboard and door trim

wrought iron fencing along the front of the house

alarm system

oversized lot (where available)

Buyers also select from a range of options and upgrades, including: additional kitchen cabinetry, ceramic tile in the kitchen, central air-conditioning, skylights, a finished basement, a garage, and hardwood floors.

The energy-efficient ‘green friendly’ houses we developed in our last phase of development received national recognition from The Home Depot Foundation’s Award of Excellence and a Chicago Neighborhood Development Award sponsored by LISC/Chicago in 2005. To learn more about our award and see a short video, click here.