Logan Square Neighborhood Association latest news

Recursos de Covid-19 (Español)

Wed, 25 Mar 2020 12:00:00 -0600

Recursos COVID-19

actualizado el 25 de marzo de 2020

actualizaciones importantes

Chicago Public Schools are CANCELLED through April 20, 2020
DACA recipients are eligible for unemployment assistance
A Shelter-in-Place Order has been enacted in the state of Illinois ordering all residents to stay home with some exceptions.
U.S. Orders Up To A Yearlong Break On Mortgage Payments
Auction of delinquent Cook County property taxes postponed indefinitely

Recursos de salud

Recursos en general

Recursos de ingresos

LSNA COVID-19 Resources (English)

Wed, 25 Mar 2020 12:00:00 -0600

COVID-19 Resources

UPDATED MARCH 25, 2020

Important Updates

Chicago Public Schools are CANCELLED through April 20, 2020
DACA recipients are eligible for unemployment assistance
A Shelter-in-Place Order has been enacted in the state of Illinois ordering all residents to stay home with some exceptions.
U.S. Orders Up To A Yearlong Break On Mortgage Payments
Auction of delinquent Cook County property taxes postponed indefinitely

Health Resources

General Resources

Income and Mutual Aid Resources

Take Action

ATTEND ICIRR’S VIRTUAL ADVOCACY EVENT THIS THURSDAY

On Thursday, March 26th from 10AM-5PM, join the Campaign for a Welcoming Illinois for an urgent call to action for Illinois leadership to do everything possible to protect our communities during this time of the COVID-19 outbreak.

What LSNA is Doing

Repositioning our outreach efforts such as for Census 2020 and the Fair Tax legislation in Illinois. As door to door outreach is on hold, we are finding other ways to reach out to hard-to-count communities.
Continuing to organize for immigrants, particularly undocumented immigrants and Dreamers, during this difficult time, along with our partners, such as ICIRR.
Organizing and advocating for resources to support individuals, particularly those who might not have access to the type of support the federal government is discussing.
Responding to a virtual advocacy day on legislative items available at the State of Illinois level, organized by our partner ICIRR (see “Take Action” above).
Working with Parent Mentor Coordinators and our Parent Engagement Institute partners to determine what mutual support and social distancing look like in our 150 school communities. Meanwhile, our Parent Mentor Coordinators are checking in with over 100 local Parent Mentors twice a week. The Parent Mentor/Parent Engagement Institute team is making at least 1,200 calls per week across Illinois.

What LSNA Has Done

On March 13, LSNA issued a statement (one of the earliest such statements) calling for a number of items that were later fulfilled, such as closing CPS, halting evictions, a moratorium on utility cut offs, and cash assistance. Other calls include continued government payments even if services aren’t being performed and a halt to mortgage and loan payments. We have been in regular contact with our legislators, including our local aldermen, on these and other issues. We have also begun a number of the efforts described above, and are in communication with mutual aid platforms being developed.

Donate to LSNA

LSNA's Covid-19 Message

Tue, 17 Mar 2020 12:00:00 -0600

We Are Here to Support You and Our Community

(Español está abajo)

Dear friends,

Logan Square Neighborhood Association/Leaders Shaping Neighborhood Action (LSNA) is proud to continue its mission of advancing diversity, leader development, and models for engagement as the catalysts for social justice.

LSNA wants to be responsible and do our best to prevent the transmission of the COVID-19 virus. Keeping our community safe is our top priority. Based on the recommendations of the CDC, we have decided to close for the next two weeks, March 16 to March 31. We have also postponed our upcoming fundraising party, I Love Logan Square (originally scheduled for April 17, 2020.)

During this time, our staff will be working remotely. Our phones are still operational and we are committed to continuing to respond to the needs of the community so please contact us at 773-384-4370 or via email with your questions or concerns. We will continue to update you in the days and weeks to come on our website, Facebook, and Twitter.

Staff Contacts

Our work has always been personal. Our challenge now is to continue our organizing and connect with our community in a new way. And we need your support. Your donations will help LSNA fight for those who will be most affected during this health crisis.

Donate to LSNA

Please continue to be responsible and gentle with the way you share information in general; some people in our community, who were already dealing with anxiety or extreme levels of stress, are particularly struggling during this time.

It’s a time to be a community, looking out for one another with responsibility and compassion. Continue to be vigilant, gentle, and stay hopeful.

Finally, below is a list of COVID-19 resources available in both Spanish and English for the community.

Estamos aquí para apoyarlos y luchar por nuestra comunidad.

Queridos amigos,

Logan Square Neighborhood Association/Leaders Shaping Neighborhood Action (LSNA) se siente orgulloso al continuar su misión de promover la diversidad, el desarrollo de líderes y los modelos de participación como catalizadores de la justicia social.

LSNA quiere ser responsable y hacer todo lo posible para evitar la transmisión del virus COVID-19. Mantener nuestra comunidad segura es nuestra máxima prioridad. Basándonos en las recomendaciones de los CDC, hemos decidido cerrar la oficina durante las próximas dos semanas, del 16 de marzo al 31 de marzo. También hemos pospuesto nuestra próxima fiesta de recaudación de fondos, I Love Logan Square (originalmente programada para el 17 de abril de 2020).

Durante este tiempo, nuestro personal trabajará desde nuestras casas. Nuestros teléfonos siguen operando y estamos comprometidos a continuar para responder a las necesidades de la comunidad, así que póngase en contacto con nosotros en el 773-384-4370 o por correo electrónico con sus preguntas o inquietudes. Vamos a seguir dando información en próximos días y semanas en nuestro sitio web, Facebook y Twitter.

Contacta con personal de LSNA

Nuestro trabajo siempre ha tenido un enfoque de solidaridad comunitaria. Nuestro desafío ahora es de como continuar esa lucha y al mismo tiempo seguir la conexión humana que alimenta ese trabajo. Necesitamos su apoyo. Su donación le ayudará a LSNA ha seguir el trabajo de brigar por las personas más afectadas en esta crisis de salud que experimentamos.

Donar a LSNA

Por favor, continúe siendo responsable y amable con la forma en que comparte la información en general; algunas personas en nuestra comunidad, que ya tenían ansiedad o niveles extremos de estrés, están particularmente luchando durante este tiempo.

Es un momento para ser una comunidad y cuidarse unos a otros con responsabilidad y compasión. Continúen teniendo cuidado y siendo gentiles y mantengan la esperanza.

Por último, a continuación se muestra una lista de recursos COVID-19 disponibles en español e inglés para la comunidad.

Yours in community / Junto a la comunidad,

Nancy Aardema

Covid-19 Resources / Recursos de Covid-19

Chicago Department of Public Health

Illinois Department of Public Health

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

World Health Organization

Multilingual Resources on Covid-19

How to avoid being a livable streets jerk

Tue, 25 Feb 2020 12:00:00 -0600

Traffic safety and sustainable transportation boosters like myself like to believe we're on the right side of history. I’m confident that in the future more people will get behind our efforts to reduce driving and crashes, and create better conditions for walking, biking, transit, and public space.

On the other hand, urban planning and livable streets advocacy have historically been dominated by relatively privileged folks, who are typically white, male, middle class or affluent, well-educated, aren’t living with a disability, etc.

Read More

Logan Square Neighborhood Association Names First New Executive Director In More Than 30 Years

Fri, 07 Feb 2020 12:00:00 -0600

LOGAN SQUARE — Logan Square Neighborhood Association has hired its first new executive director in more than 30 years.

Juliet De Jesus Alejandre will take the helm of the influential neighborhood organization starting May 1, leaders announced this week. De Jesus Alejandre is taking over for Nancy Aardema, who has held the position for the last 32 years.

“As a woman who grew up on the Northwest Side, basically up and down Grand Avenue, from West Humboldt Park to Belmont-Cragin to in between — to be a part of creating change and solutions [in these neighborhoods] is poetic. It’s a gift to be able to use my life in this way, to honor my family,” De Jesus Alejandre said.

‘Green gentrification’ and lessons of the 606

Thu, 30 Jan 2020 12:00:00 -0600

Aldermen representing the area around the 606 Trail won a six-month freeze in demolition permits this month, hoping to use the time to devise strategies to reduce pressures causing the displacement of longtime residents from the area. The elevated trail and park system — a “new urban playground” — runs across the North and Northwest Sides and has spurred luxury development nearby.

Experts say that kind of planning should have taken place while the trail was still under discussion. Meanwhile, other communities are working to get ahead of the curve of outside real estate development gobbling up affordable housing, especially where park improvements are under discussion.

Read More

LSNA Announces New Executive Director

Mon, 27 Jan 2020 12:00:00 -0600

Juliet De Jesus Alejandre who will become the Executive Director of LSNA in May 2020.

LSNA Announces New Executive Director

Juliet De Jesus Alejandre, LSNA’s Youth Director, has been selected as the incoming Executive Director of Logan Square Neighborhood Association (LSNA). She will begin her journey as Executive Director at LSNA’s 58^th Annual Congress in May 2020.

Since joining LSNA in 2006, De Jesus Alejandre began to develop safe spaces within high schools and the community for young people of color to experience their personal and collective power. LSNA’s Youth Organizing Team has developed a strong racial justice framework that centers Latinx youth who grew up in the community in actions, policy conversations, and strategy meetings. Youth leaders’ analyses and experiences with gentrification, violence, resource-starved schools, and deportation guide LSNA’s leadership development programming and advocacy for policy change, and has urged LSNA to form an organizing model that combines trauma-informed healing practices with policy change and direct action.

According to LSNA Board President Norma Rios-Sierra, “LSNA is a strong organization that needs a leader who is willing to lead with compassion and love. Someone who understands that it is only with love and inclusion that we can begin to build equity in our communities. Juliet is just that person. Her experience in life and her work with youth and parents demonstrates her ability to not only build leadership but to create the systemic change that is increasingly necessary in our city.”

De Jesus Alejandre identifies as a brown, mixed-race Latina, co-parenting mother of three sons. “My sons Nano, Mateo, and Santi,” she says, “know that loving my whole self and my people is a necessary political stance.” She added, “I believe that personal healing and accountability are inseparable from collective justice. As a mother of two young children with disabilities, I understand the pain caused by systems built to dismiss both children of color and disabled/differently-abled bodies/minds and know what it’s like to have to fight with dignity anyway, every day.” She added that she is “shaped by the struggles and resiliency of my parents John and Julie De Jesus, as well as by my grandparents, whose cultural teachings and trips back home ensured that Puerto Rico and Ecuador were born in me.”

This is a key moment for the organization as LSNA is welcoming a new Executive Director for the first time in 30 years. LSNA Executive Director Nancy Aardema will be retiring at the end of this fiscal year. In addition, 2022 will mark LSNA’s 60^th anniversary of advancing racial equity, leader development, and models of civic engagement. Every year, LSNA trains hundreds of low-income leaders who are deeply invested in LSNA’s work, creating a leadership pipeline. Many LSNA staff, in fact, started out in LSNA programs.

Nancy Aardema, current Executive Director of LSNA with LSNA Youth Program Instructor, Arely Barrera.

According to Aardema, “It is natural and organic for LSNA to select the next Executive Director from among LSNA’s staff and who is from the community. We are so pleased Juliet has accepted this position. She has done deep work around healing justice and racial and gender equity with youth and parent leaders and has formally studied those issues that most deeply impact our communities.”

De Jesus Alejandre also received the Kellogg Foundation’s Emerging Leaders Fellowship and the Cultivate Women of Color Fellowship. She holds an MA in Community Development from North Park University in Chicago and a BA in Sociology and Latin American and Latino Studies from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

City Council Approves 6-Month Moratorium On Demolition Permits Near The 606 Trail

Wed, 15 Jan 2020 12:00:00 -0600

CHICAGO (CBS)– The City Council has approved an ordinance to freeze all building demolitions in an area near the popular 606 trail for six months, in a bid by local aldermen to address gentrification in their neighborhoods.

The measure sponsored by Ald. Roberto Maldonado (26^th) and Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35^th) sponsored the ordinance, which they said is aimed at providing a temporary halt to gentrification in the area, while the city studies more nuanced long-term solutions.

The ordinance would prevent property owners from obtaining demolition permits within an area near the 606 for six months, starting Feb. 1. The aldermen want to halt the trend of people buying existing affordable multi-family homes and replacing them with luxury housing, pushing out working class and middle class families.

People who live in the Logan Square neighborhood, one of a handful that border the 606, said home prices have skyrocketed since the popular trail was completed in 2016, forcing many longtime residents out.

Gary Jimenez, 19, said his family lived in the Logan Square neighborhood for 10 years, and he was looking forward to the 606 as a place to run and play with his friends, but his parents were forced to move in 2015 — even before the trail was completed — because their landlord raised their rent by $500.

“Our rent went from the hundreds to the thousands, and there’s no way my parents could afford that, so we had to move out,” he said.

Some building groups, however, have warned the measure could violate property rights, and have asked aldermen to quickly form a group to find a better solution.

Assistant Corporation Counsel Rey Phillips Santos, who drafted the compromise ordinance on behalf of the aldermen, said he’s confident it will pass legal muster.

“I don’t have an issue with the legality of this. I am quite secure that this ordinance is legal,” he said.

The City Council Housing Committee approved the measure Wednesday morning, sending the ordinance to the full City Council, which unanimously approved it without debate Wednesday afternoon.

Ramirez-Rosa has said displacement of local residents has reached a record pace since the 606 was completed, resulting in under-enrollment at public schools, and local businesses losing clientele.

“I think this is the right policy at this moment to pursue,” he said.

The moratorium would cover an area bounded by Armitage Avenue on the north, Kostner Avenue on the west, Hirsch Street on the south to Kedzie, Kedzie Avenue on the east from Hirsch Street to North Avenue, North Avenue on the south from Kedzie Avenue to California Avenue, and California Avenue on the east from North Avenue to Armitage Avenue.

Read more about this article here

Development Freeze Aims to Slow Displacement Near 606 Trail

Mon, 13 Jan 2020 12:00:00 -0600

Chicago’s popular 606 elevated trail has helped property values in the surrounding areas skyrocket since it opened in 2015.

But critics say that’s led to many multiunit buildings in the area to be converted into single-family homes, causing widespread displacement among longtime residents who live nearby.

In response, 26th Ward Ald. Roberto Maldonado and 35th Ward Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa have proposed an ordinance that would freeze nearly all demolition permits in a zone around part of the trail for six months.

“When you go from two, three families in one building, on one lot, to one family, our schools see under-enrollment, and as result they experience cuts, and our commercial corridors find it difficult to have the local clientele necessary to thrive,” Ramirez-Rosa said.

The proposed moratorium zone would stretch from Humboldt Boulevard west to Kostner Avenue, and Armitage Avenue south to North Avenue...

Read more about this article here

Residents along 606 Trail worry they'll be displaced by surging home prices in Logan Square, Humboldt Park

Wed, 08 Jan 2020 12:00:00 -0600

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Some residents living along Chicago's popular 606 Trail are concerned they will be displaced by surging home prices. Mayor Lori Lightfoot stopped a proposed ordinance to halt skyrocketing prices along the trail because of legal concerns.

The 606, a former freight right of way, has transformed the Humboldt Park and Logan Square neighborhoods. It has also brought gentrification, and for the people who have called these neighborhoods home for many years, that is a real problem.

Gary Jimenez Rodriguez, a 19-year-old accounting student at UIC, said his family and neighbors were summarily booted from their rental homes in eastern Humboldt Park soon after the 606 Trail came into being in 2015 when they couldn't afford a $500 a month rental increase...

Read more about this article here

Mayor's Affordable Housing Plan Hits Roadblock When Housing Advocates Cry Foul

Thu, 26 Sep 2019 12:00:00 -0600

Mayor Lori Lightfoot burst onto Chicago’s political stage with promises to run a transparent government that welcomed participation by grassroots neighborhood activists, groups that frequently critiqued her predecessor for shutting them out.

She also said it was time for Chicago to kick-start its affordable housing programs, especially in neighborhoods where residents complain about gentrification and escalating home prices. Those plans hit an obstacle earlier this month.

Courtesy of LUCHA A LUCHA homeownership workshop for Northwest Side residents

Brian Rogal, Bisnow Chicago

The Chicago Department of Housing, which Lightfoot just established as a separate city department, proposed at a Sept. 11 City Council committee meeting a series of reforms to the Chicago Community Land Trust, which provides affordable homes to city residents that meet certain income restrictions.

Strenuous opposition came almost immediately from the very neighborhood groups Lightfoot had courted throughout her campaign.

“It blindsided us,” Logan Square Neighborhood Association Planning Director Susan Adler Yanun said. “We didn’t know the administration was going to introduce this ordinance until two days before.”

City officials proposed allowing city property owners in several neighborhoods, including Humboldt Park, East Garfield Park and Woodlawn, to opt in to a new pilot program where they could pay reduced property taxes if they agreed to a 30-year covenant and deed restriction that kept the property affordable to lower-income households.

The city also wanted the CCLT to use $3M to start acquiring and rehabilitating properties, possibly bringing it into conflict with neighborhood groups, which have come to see land trusts as effective tools in the fight to slow down gentrification. LSNA, the Spanish Coalition for Housing, the Center of Chan...

Mural of Butterfly Symbolizes Journey of Immigrants

Wed, 18 Sep 2019 12:00:00 -0600

“Migration Is Beautiful,” the new theme on the mural on Marcelo Ferrer’s garage, is meant to counteract the negative rhetoric about immigration.

“Unleashing Peace” had roots in the Mayan culture. RoundTable photos"

The monarch butterfly catches the eye first. Seeming about to alight on a sea of pastels, it covers about a third of the garage door in the 1700 block of Crain Street. The words, “Migration Is Beautiful” seem to fit for this time of year, when the monarch butterflies return to their home in Mexico.

The story there is both straightforward and subtle, said Marcelo Ferrer, as he prepared to put finishing touches on the door last week. The monarch butterfly has come to symbolize immigration from Mexico.

“I see the monarch butterfly’s life cycle as a metaphor of people’s migration patterns that we see today,” Mr. Ferrer said.

A notch in the top of one wing indicates the hardship involved in migration. “It is meant to give a subtle reminder of the toll such a journey takes on those who come here,” Mr. Ferrer said.

The butterflies now making their journey to Mexico are not the same ones that arrived here this year, Mr. Ferrer said, but descendants of earlier winged migrants.

“The monarch makes an amazing journey from Mexico north to U.S. and Canada and back to Mexico, which takes four generations. It is the great-grandchildren that make it back to Michoacán, Mexico, to wait for warmer weather up north and then start the whole cycle once again. Many of us...

Read more about this article here

Put an eligible house into the Chicago land trust to lower its taxes and preserve affordability

Wed, 11 Sep 2019 12:00:00 -0600

The Chicago Department of Housing and the Chicago Community Land Trust (CCLT) want to start a novel pilot program to preserve existing affordable housing in community areas that are at risk of gentrifying. The Department of Housing asked for City Council’s permission on Wednesday at the regular Housing & Real Estate committee meeting, but was rebuffed due to insufficient engagement with community organizations.

One of the pilot program’s unique aspects is to encourage homeowners in six targeted community areas to opt in and “put” their houses in the land trust in exchange for significantly lower property taxes and access to a $30,000 grant for home repairs and energy upgrades. All while continuing to own the house.

The ordinance is entitled “Affordable Homeownership and Housing Pilot Program”, or AHHP (O2019–5555)....

Read the rest of the article here

Chicago Families Take on Gentrification and Housing

Fri, 23 Aug 2019 12:00:00 -0600

Gentrification is affecting housing in the U.S. In Chicago, families are organizing for solutions. Marguerite Casey Foundation is co-publishing this story, which first appeared in La Raza, as part of its partnership with ImpreMedia, a national media organization.

Gentrification is a process of exclusion and displacement. Not simply an individual process where people with money and resources move to poor communities, it is also a system that leaves the door open to investors who are attempting to profit.

This is what was explained by Norma Rios Sierra, a mother and president of Logan Square Neighborhood Association (LSNA), a community organization of families in Chicago who are attempting to fight for housing opportunities and against gentrification.

“I grew up in Logan Square,” Rios Sierra said over the phone. “It has always been a community-based area. We all know each other, and our children always played together.”

Read complete article here

Trolley Tour Highlights Chicago’s Housing Woes On The Northwest Side

Thu, 01 Aug 2019 12:00:00 -0600

Arionne Nettles/WBEZ

James Rudyk, executive director of the Northwest Side Housing Center, speaks during a trolley tour of neighborhood projects on Chicago's Northwest Side.

A trolley wound through neighborhoods on Chicago’s Northwest Side, passing wide boulevards and trendy bars, two-flats and glassy luxury apartment high rises as well as foreclosed homes and careworn bungalo... Read the complite story here

As Logan Square & Humboldt Park Property Taxes Skyrocket, Both Longtime And New Residents Consider Moving

Wed, 31 Jul 2019 12:00:00 -0600

Logan Square resident Silvia Gonzalez, 54, in front of her home, which she has owned since 1990.

LOGAN SQUARE — In 1990, Silvia Gonzalez and her husband bought a squat brick house just a block from Monroe Elementary, the school Gonzalez attended as a child, for $95,000.

‘A stranger in my own community’: Mixed feelings as young Latinos move back to gentrifying Chicago neighborhoods

Tue, 02 Jul 2019 12:00:00 -0600

Houses are seen on West Diversey Avenue in Logan Square. In 19 years, the Logan Square neighborhood has lost 20,000 Latino residents. (Kristen Norman/for the Chicago Tribune)

BIANCA SANCHEZ | CHICAGO TRIBUNE |

Rocio Velazquez Kato, 34, is her ancestor’s wildest dream come true; a first-generation American, first-generation college graduate, immigration policy analyst at the Latino Policy Forum, licensed attorney, wife, mother, and as of this spring, a homeowner.

Velazquez Kato and her husband had previously owned a River North high-rise condo, but as she explained, “owning a piece of air” was vastly different and not nearly as impressive to her immigrant family. Owning a house, for immigrants, she says, goes beyond even the American dream. “You own a piece of America; you are a part of America.......

Read complete article here

LSNA Welcomes New Round of Parent Mentors

Thu, 13 Jun 2019 12:00:00 -0600

Hundreds of new parents graduated on Thursday, June 6th from the Logan Square Neighborhood Association Parent Teacher Mentor Program at Carl Schurz High School. “After demonstrating the dedication and love that the parent mentors put into helping each student, the Parent Mentor Program will receive a budget in FY20 of $3.5 million to continue extending the program to more schools and help more students,” says Logan Square Neighborhood Association (LSNA) parent mentor coordinator Teresa Labastida. “This wonderful program really works. It not only helps raise the grades of the students but also helps make them feel welcome in the schools and have confidence in themselves. It transforms the lives of parents and students in every school.” On Thursday, 936 parent mentor graduates from 117 Illinois public schools will walk the stage at Schurz High School. This graduating class successfully finished a year of leadership and instructional practice training centered on two hours/day of volunteering in classrooms (at least 100 hours), but that’s not all. They also organized to bring this opportunity to more parents and more schools next year and won a state budget increase for the program. Recognizing the graduates as Commencement Speaker was incoming president of the Chicago Board of Education Miguel del Valle. Del Valle was instrumental in establishing the Parent Mentor and Community School models over 20 years ago as a state senator.

Parent mentors celebrate graduation, program expansion: ‘Each day I know I accomplish something’

Fri, 07 Jun 2019 12:00:00 -0600

Chicago School Board President Miguel Del Valle greets parent mentor graduates on Thursday, June 6, 2019.

Adeshina Emmanuel/Chalkbeat

When Hermosa resident Laquita Simmons got hired as a parent mentor at McAuliffe Elementary School last year, she relished the opportunity to keep an eye on her fourth-grade daughter while also earning a stipend and lending a hand to students at Chicago Public Schools. But Simmons, who had been unemployed at the time and bouncing between retail gigs, also found her calling.

“I always wanted to do something that just made me proud, I wanted to leave at the end of the day knowing that I accomplished something,” said Simmons, 31, who was promoted to parent mentor coordinator at McAuliffe. “Each day being a parent mentor I know I’m accomplishing something, because I see it in the smiles of my students and my co-workers.”

Simmons was among the 937 parents listening at Schurz High School Thursday when new school board President Miguel del Valle delivered the commencement speech at their graduation from the Parent Mentor Program. Organizers with the program say he was critical in helping establish it more than 20 years ago as Illinois’ first Latinx state senator.

PHOTO: Adeshina Emmanuel/Chalkbeat

Hermosa resident Laquita Simmons, parent mentor coordinator at McAuliffe Elementary School.

Del Valle’s appearance came near the close of a school year where many parents complained of a widening gulf blocking them from volunteering at their children’s schools due to stringent background check policies spurred by the district’s student sexual abuse scandal.

Parents have also complained about a lack of access to and engagement with school board members. But Thursday, Del Valle spoke with warmth and familiarity to the crowd, which included many community groups and organizers from brown and black neighborhoods, and a strong immigrant presence.

“I do have a long history working with the parent mentor program, and of supporting the community schools model…that ensures that parents have a leadership role within their schools,” he said to cheers. “I refer to that leadership role and the involvement of parents as an essential component of our educational system — and it’s a component that needs to grow.”

The parents typically volunteer two hours per day and receive a stipend once they reach 100 hours of service. With next year’s state budget for the program increasing 40% to $3.5 million, the program is slated to expand to more schools and serve more students. Families and educators in Chicago have called for more support staff at schools, an issue that the Chicago Teachers Union has pressed as it negotiates a new contract with the district.

Nightingale Elementary School parent mentor Erika Mendoza, a Gage Park resident who graduated from the parent mentor program Thursday, was introduced to the program through a friend’s referral and connected with it via the Southwest Organizing Project. She works with kindergartners on reading, math and writing. She’s noticed their grades and confidence improve throughout the year. But the mother of seven has also noticed an impact on her household from the program.

“It has helped [my children] with their self confidence, with their leadership, and has helped them to show more respect and acknowledge strength in themselves,” she said.

PHOTO: Adeshina Emmanuel/Chalkbeat

Nightingale Elementary School parent mentor Erika Mendoza, a Gage Park resident who graduated from the program Thursday.

Stevenson Elementary School Principal Paul O’Toole spoke at the graduation, giving the parent mentor program rave reviews after its inaugural year at Stevenson. The school, located in the Ashburn community on the Southwest Side, partnered with social service agency Metropolitan Family Services and Southwest Organizing Project for the program and paid for it with help from a Sustainable Community Schoolsgrant from the school district, which the Chicago Teachers Union won in its last round of contract talks.

O’Toole said the program offers parents a firsthand view into the classroom that helps them understand how they can help their own children do better academically.

“It also gives them newfound confidence and skills they can use beyond the classroom,” O’Toole said.

PHOTO: Adeshina Emmanuel/Chalkbeat

Englewood resident Rebecca Moore, a parent mentor at Bass Elementary School.

He could be talking about Rebecca Moore, a parent mentor at Bass Elementary School for third-graders, whom she helps with vocabulary, math, reading and science.

Three weeks ago, the Englewood resident graduated with an associate degree in education from Kennedy King College.

“I’m excited for myself,” said Moore, who was connected to the mentor program via community group Teamwork Englewood.

“This is offering me the opportunity to strengthen myself in a field that I would like to go into, which will eventually be counseling — dealing with our youth — mainly in our community. My goal is to give back.”

57 Years at LSNA

Wed, 29 May 2019 12:00:00 -0600

57 Years of LSNA, Annual Congress Recap

From powerful poetry about our past and future to ratifying our board to listening to the young Operamatic musicians to celebrating the multitude of accomplishments from this year, we celebrated with our members and constituents on Tuesday, May 21, 2019.

2019 Annual Congress Book

Hundreds Of Logan Square Residents Show Up To Fight For 100% Affordable Housing Complex As Opponents Try To Slow Down Process

Thu, 25 Apr 2019 12:00:00 -0600

LOGAN SQUARE — Roughly 500 residents packed into the Avondale-Logandale Elementary School auditorium Wednesday evening to discuss a controversial plan to build an 100-percent affordable housing complex next to the Logan Square Blue Line station.

The proposal, which calls for 100 units of affordable housing on the underutilized city-owned parking lot at 2602-2638 N. Emmett St., drew a largely favorable response at the emotionally charged meeting....

Read more about this article here

Prior to Tonight’s Logan TOD Hearing, Supporters Make Their Final Case

Wed, 24 Apr 2019 12:00:00 -0600

Reverend Paula Cripps-Vallejo of the Logan Square Ecumenical Alliance speaks at this morning's press conference.

Lynda Lopez

On the morning before tonight’s community input meeting for the proposed 100-unit, 100-percent affordable transit-oriented development for the Emmett Street parking lot next to the Logan Square Blue Line station, advocates held a press conference to call attention to the over 100 organizations supporting the project. The hearing takes place this evening at 6:30 p.m. at Logandale Middle School, 3212 West George Street.

Niketa Brar, executive director of Chicago United for Equity, talked about being invited by the the Logan Square Neighborhood Association and LUCHA to work with community members to develop a racial equity impact assessment of the city’s plans to redesign the nearby Logan traffic circle in 2018.

CUE’s racial equity assessment fellows interviewed community members, reviewed data, and brought people together to explore possibilities for the project. The fellows found that there is a potential for the initiative, which will make the circle more walkable and add more open space, to raise property values and housing costs, and therefore accelerate the ongoing displacement of longtime residents. The Emmett Street development would help mitigate those impacts, while improving transit access for low-income and working class residents and allowing them to stay in the neighborhood to benefit from the circle redesign.

“Chicago United for Equity is proud to support the outcome of this community-based process and to endorse Emmett Street’s affordable housing development,” Brar said. “I want to also highlight and point out that this is the first time in Chicago’s history that a racial equity impact assessment has been used to evaluate an infrastructure project.”

Congressman Jesus “Chuy” Garcia also lauded the Emmett Street project as an example for others to follow. “This is what equitable development can be about,” Garcia said. “You are showing neighborhoods from Logan Square to Little Village and Brighton Park and throughout the South and the West sides of Chicago that our communities should be able to live in Chicago, that they should be able to [travel] to work, to school, to visit cultural institutions, to visit relatives on public, affordable transportation. “

Jim Merrell, advocacy director of the Active Transportation Alliance, said that building affordable housing near transit aligns with his group’s core values. “If people are forced to own a car in order to navigate their lives, our mission is not being served,” he said. Merrell added that housing and transportation make up the largest portion of most household budgets and that owning a car costs on average $8,000 a year.

“When affordable housing is placed together with public transit, it gives working families more opportunities than transit or housing alone can provide,” Merrell said. “This is how projects like Emmett Street create more equitable communities.” He noted that the Blue Line connects to job centers like the Loop and the Illinois Medical District. “These benefits should not be the sole possession of the affluent, but rather be prioritized for those who need it most.”

Daniel De Los Reyes, principal of Darwin Elementary, noted that enrollment in the neighborhood schools is declining as more families are priced out of the area. “When you are having to fight for students who are bound to great high schools, who [make the] honor roll and have great attendance, and you are fighting for them to remain in their schools because they cannot afford to live in the community in which they grew up, then we are having a housing crisis.”

“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to correct history,” Reyes said. “[With] proposals like the Emmett Street proposal, we can begin to revitalize our neighborhood schools like Monroe, like Logandale, like Darwin.”

Reverend Paula Cripps-Vallejo of the Logan Square Ecumenical Alliance praised the development and encouraged neighbors not to fall into patterns of demonizing affordable housing. “There are neighbors that have been… using fear and racism to stir the community up but we are going to stand here and continue to say we need 100-percent affordable housing at Emmett Street, that we need these 100 units, that this has to happen because that is what our community needs.”

State Representative Will Guzzardi stressed the importance of using public assets for the public good and said Emmett Street can serve as an example of this. “I think it hasn’t been said enough today that the units that are going to be built here, the 100 affordable units, aren’t studio apartments, these are two- and three-bedroom units for families.”

Guzzardi added that the community has a unique opportunity to reimagine what it can do with the public land they have. “I think that’s the opportunity that we have with the public land here today, not to turn it over to a developer to build luxury high-rise apartments, but to build a project that will bring everyone in our community here and will create a home for the people in our community who are struggling to find it. “

As Logan Housing Costs Skyrocket, New 100 Percent Affordable Housing Complex ‘Extremely Important’ Step In Right Direction, Ald. Says

Wed, 03 Apr 2019 12:00:00 -0600

Another view of the proposed project at 2602 – 2638 N. Emmett St.

Nina Bloom

The project would bring 100 units of affordable housing and 4,500 square feet of ground-floor commercial space to a city-owned parking lot.

LOGAN SQUARE — A long-discussed plan to build an 100 percent affordable housing complex on the city-owned parking lot directly north of the Logan Square Blue Line station is moving forward.

Nonprofit housing developer Bickerdike Redevelopment Corporation has crafted a development proposal for the site at 2602-2638 N. Emmett St. that is expected to face its first regulatory hurdle in the coming months.

Read more about it at Block Club Chicago

LSNA's Aldermanic Questionnaire- Run-Off Edition

Wed, 20 Mar 2019 12:00:00 -0600

On Tuesday, March 19, 2019, LSNA hosted a conversation between runoff candidates for the 30th, 31st, 33rd ward, and community members.

We'd like to thank the candidates including Deb Mell, Felix Cardona Jr., Rossana Rodriguez, and Jessica Gutierrez for attending.

See recordings of their responses here: Video Recap

Candidates Responses- February 8th, 2019

When we invited candidates to attend our first aldermanic forum in February, we also sent them a questionnaire asking for their stance on many different issues including education, immigration, economic development, housing, and health and wellness. Follow the links below to see the run-off candidates' responses from your ward.

30th Ward Responses

Jessica Gutierrez
No other responses have been received
at this time.

31st Ward Responses

Felix Cardona Jr.
Milly Santiago

33rd Ward Responses

No responses have been received at this time.

Chicago’s Lincoln Yards Puts Affordable Housing Groups In A Bind

Tue, 19 Mar 2019 12:00:00 -0600

Artist rendering of the Lincoln Yards project.

Courtesy of Sterling Bay

Joy Aruguete, longtime director of Bickerdike Redevelopment Corporation, got a call the other day from a miffed community member.

He wanted to know one thing: Was Bickerdike really supporting Lincoln Yards?

Bickerdike is one of the city’s largest and oldest affordable housing groups.

And Lincoln Yards is a planned $6 billion megaproject — featuring skyscrapers, corporate headquarters, and thousands of units of upscale housing — to be sandwiched between Lincoln Park and Bucktown.

“Well, why would you think that?” Aruguete said she asked the caller. “They proceeded to tell me that they had gotten a hold of this briefing that had evidently been given out to all the aldermen.”

The briefing — a 10-page PDF — included a list of “Lincoln Yards Supporters (to date).”

“And there, clear as day, was our name,” said Aruguete.

Chicago Department of Planning and Development

A list of Lincoln Yards supporters compiled by the Chicago Department of Planning and Development and circulated to aldermen included — incorrectly — at least two respected nonprofits that did not pledge their support to the megaproject: Bickerdike Redevelopment Corporation and the Metropolitan Planning Council.

The designation was wrong; Bickerdike did not take a position on the Lincoln Yards megaproject, though city officials had sought their support.

“We were approached,” said Aruguete.

The city said it removed Bickerdike — and the name of another group listed in error, the Metropolitan Planning Council — “as soon as the error was identified.”

Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the city have been pushing for the project and its 20,000 projected jobs and future tax money. And they’ve been lining up community groups like Bickerdike to support Lincoln Yards. That offers political cover to aldermen, who have to vote on various aspects of the controversial project.

Normally, getting community groups to support a massive upscale development — especially one that could include a $900 million taxpayer subsidy — would be a tough sell.

But the sheer scale of the Lincoln Yards development combined with Chicago’s affordable housing requirements means Lincoln Yards could potentially create some 1,200 units of affordable housing on-site, nearby and citywide.

Paradoxically, that means the massive luxury housing development is also one of the biggest single affordable housing efforts in the city.

And that has meant affordable housing groups are facing a dilemma. Should they support a giant upscale development if it means more affordable housing units?

Housing groups are weighing costs and benefits of Lincoln Yards and making very different calculations about whether or not to support it.

Officially neutral, but seeing housing costs rise

Aruguete helped create the requirement that forces developers in Chicago to include affordable housing in their projects — or pay a fee if they don’t. “The market is not producing a stock of affordable housing that is needed for Chicago,” she said.

From her vantage point working in Humboldt Park and nearby communities, Chicago is facing a crisis.

“People are really housing cost burdened,” she said, adding that the market is creating new housing for people at high incomes, priced at high rates.

“They’re priced at a very high level — higher than the rest of the community,” said Aruguete. “I think the net effect is that it continues to drive housing costs up, rental rates and sales prices.”

That hurts what Aruguete’s group fundamentally stands for: housing affordability.

And Lincoln Yards could bring ripple effects at a whole new scale, she said. “Six thousand apartments? That’s… wow.”

But while Bickerdike doesn’t support Lincoln Yards, the group also doesn’t officially oppose the project.

That could be because of the bind in which groups like Bickerdike find themselves. Chicago is a political town, and Bickerdike and other housing developers have projects in the works for which they need permits and city funding too.]

In support, because of additional affordable housing

Another North Side group made a very different calculation when they were asked by the city to support Lincoln Yards.

“I’m testifying here today to express our support for the updated affordable housing commitments at Lincoln Yards,” Diane Limas told aldermen earlier this month at a zoning committee hearing to convert Lincoln Yards from its former industrial and manufacturing designation.

“This project will be one of the largest affordable housing projects in the country,” said Limas, the president of Communities United. That group has won honors for turning foreclosed apartments into affordable housing in Albany Park.

“If we scrap this development, how many units of affordable housing are we going to get?” Limas said. “If we get nothing, how are we winning?”

Limas and Maria Elena Sifuentes, vice president of Communities United, said it’s been devastating to watch longtime residents pushed from their neighborhood due to rising rents.

“I’ve seen it with family, with friends, they’re just leaving to the suburbs,” said Sifuentes, who said she had to find a new place after her rent doubled. “Any little thing we can get is something where we can offer it to some of our people to stay.”

Kevin Bargnes, a spokesman with Chicago’s Department of Planning and Development, said the city received 11 letters of support from affordable housing advocates and developers. He called the final deal “a plan both policymakers and housing advocates can be proud of.”