22 minute read
the dispersal of black chicago
A new report explores how and why Chicago, and the South Side, is losing its Black population
BY JACQUELINE SERRATO A t one point, Chicago was the land of opportunity for millions of Black Americans who were leaving the Jim Crow South. The industrial city expanded rapidly through the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, as waves of Black Southerners sought economic opportunity in Chicago and permanently settled in the city. However, a combination of factors, including the collapse of the manufacturing sector and discriminatory policies, according to a recent report on changing Black Chicago demographics from the Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Since then, Black communities in Chicago have lost about 350,000 residents.
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The breakdown of population by race demonstrates an inverse relationship between white and Black population changes, not just recently, but historically. According to the report, between 1990 and 2016, neighborhoods that experienced an increase in white residents saw a decrease in Black residents, and neighborhoods that experienced an increase in Black residents saw a decrease in white residents. Similarly, from the fifties through the seventies— when the Black population was at its peak—local, state, and federal governments developed pristine suburbs and incentivized white residents to move their families to greener pastures, and the white population in Chicago fell by nearly 900,000.
When so many white Chicagoans left, private interests and every level of government decreased their investment in the city.
“Inequity is built into the fabric of Chicago during and after the Great Migration. [The] segregation of Black residents to the Black Belt, and the subsequent economic disinvestment from these communities, had enduring effects that would surface more prominently in the 1980s and beyond,” said report co-author Amanda Lewis, a UIC sociology professor and director of the institute, at an event held on UIC’s campus last month.
Population loss coincided with the loss of manufacturing jobs. Black residents relied on employment in Chicago’s factories on the South and West Sides during the midtwentieth century, and were hit particularly hard when manufacturing companies that previously employed tens of thousands of people shut their doors. According to UIC’s Great Cities Institute, in 1947, at the peak of manufacturing employment in Chicago, there were 667,407 manufacturing jobs; by 2014, the number had dropped to 110,445. “In these same neighborhoods where the manufacturing jobs left, where there’s concentrations of segregated populations, primarily Black populations, the numbers of joblessness is extraordinarily high… and we’re still feeling the impacts of the decline in manufacturing,” said Teresa Córdova, director of the Great Cities Institute, at the same event in January. “So the real question then becomes: as the economy continues to change, how are we going to build an inclusive economy?”
In particular, the report claims the destruction of the city’s public housing during the 1990s and early 2000s is “undoubtedly a factor” contributing to the displacement of Black residents in several communities: the Robert Taylor Homes, Cabrini-Green, Stateway Gardens, Ida B.
THE INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH ON RACE AND PUBLIC POLICY AT UIC
Wells Homes, Jane Addams Homes, Harold Ickes Homes, Grace Abbott Homes, Henry Horner Homes, Randolph Towers, and Loomis Courts.
Dispersing these concentrations of Black residents was the first step in the Chicago Housing Authority’s $1.6 billion Plan for Transformation. “At the core was an ambitious experiment of social engineering called mixed-income housing,” said Lisa Yun Lee, director of the National Public Housing Museum, of the CHA’s sweeping plan to reshape the city’s public housing. “It is clear that by creating mixed-income developments and a voucher system for long-term rent subsidy contracts in privately owned developments, the city intentionally shifted much responsibility for housing and management to the private sector.”
While previous studies have found that Black neighborhoods in Chicago do not typically gentrify, at least not in the same way as Latinx communities, the report found that the rising cost of living is making it difficult for Black residents to remain in the city, and the report projects it will only to worsen with massive developments like the Obama Presidential Center. “It is notable that the neighborhoods with the largest increase in whites and the largest decrease in Blacks are all located near downtown (Near North Side, Near South Side, Near West Side) or with direct access to downtown through public transportation via L trains (West Town, Logan Square, Lake View, Uptown),” the report reads.
The researchers cited work by the Chicago Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights, which concluded that, despite Chicago’s Fair Housing Ordinance and the
federal Fair Housing Act, “historic practices of housing discrimination by race and source of income have not become extinct, but rather persist and continue to serve as barriers to housing opportunity to African Americans and low-income households across Chicago.”
The report showed that Austin, for example, lost over 16,000 residents since 1990 and had one of the highest foreclosure rates during the recession.
“Chicago has led the way and embraced these low-road development practices and categorically adopted market-based investment in the public sphere, meaning privatizing our roads, privatizing our parking spaces, privatizing [traffic] tickets, privatizing public housing, so many of the mechanisms that were part of the public sphere that allowed people to remain in place, that either weren’t punitive or they were actually supportive, have been eroded,” said Stacey Sutton, an assistant professor of urban planning and policy at UIC. “Not only are they Black, they’re low-income. They’re working-class Black folks that are leaving because they can’t afford to stay.”
Other structural conditions continue to burden Chicago’s Black community. For example, Illinois’s prison population has increased 450 percent since 1980, with the majority of this growth occurring through the incarceration of Black residents, according to the report. Public school closures in Black communities have also disproportionately affected this demographic: according to a WBEZ report cited in the study, 44,700 Black students have experienced a school closing since 2002.
“I’m not necessarily convinced that this is a shared sentiment, that Black people leaving the city is necessarily a bad thing,” said Elizabeth Todd-Breland, an associate professor of African American history at UIC who also serves on the Chicago Board of Education. “Black communities continue to be defined as places of pathology, as unredeemable, as places of deficit. Implicit in this is that the city may be better off with less Black people. Black people are problem people, with our problem schools, and our problem families, in our problem neighborhoods.”
According to the data, the Englewood and West Englewood community areas had the largest Black population loss in the city, followed by Austin. On average, an increase of ten additional white residents in a neighborhood between 1990 and 2016 was associated with a loss of three Black residents. The report argues that residential racial segregation is not only getting worse in Chicago, “but the factors associated with population growth for one group relate to population decline for the other.”
The breakdown of Black net population loss by neighborhood since 1990 is as follows:
West Englewood (-23,501) Englewood (-23,183), Austin (-18,838), Auburn Gresham (-14,905), Roseland (-14,863), Grand Boulevard (-14,520), North Lawndale (-14,259), Douglas (-13,497), Humboldt Park (-12,165), South Shore (-11,799), West Pullman (-11,460), Washington Park (-8,069), West Garfield Park (-7,129), Grand Crossing (-6,913), Woodlawn (-6,742), Greater Chatham (-6,503), East Garfield Park (-5,519), Washington Heights (-5,640), Edgewater (-4,051), Uptown (-4,164), South Chicago (-3,846), Riverdale (-3,601), Calumet Heights (-3,417), Hyde Park (-3,093).
But despite such losses, 829,781 Black people still live in Chicago, and Chicago remains the second largest U.S. city for Black people. And those who move don’t usually move very far, often relocating to surrounding suburbs in Illinois, or just across the state line in Indiana.
“There has been like an assault on Black people and Black communities in this city, and the migration numbers to me suggest exactly that,” said Alden Loury, senior editor of WBEZ’s race, class, and communities desk. “I hope this report is a call to action, that this is finally a statement that is made that says, ‘Chicago, wake up!’ Something is happening, we as a city, as a collective community, are doing something to these communities that are literally driving people away… But I do think Chicago needs to be slapped in the face, it needs to be made apparent, we still have a tremendous issue with race… In the city of activism, let’s get active, let’s make something happen.” ¬
Jacqueline Serrato is the editor-in-chief of the South Side Weekly.
BULLETIN
Chicago Abolitionist Book Club Meet Up
Chicago Freedom School, 719 S. State St. Wednesday, February 19, 6pm–7:30pm. Free. bit.ly/AbolitionistBookClub
Looking to join a new book club? Believe that the carceral state should be dismantled? Free this Wednesday evening? Then check out this new group, which is reading Beyond Survival: Strategies and Stories from the Transformative Justice Movement by Ejeris Dixon and Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha as its first offering. Mocktails and cookies will be served. (Sam Stecklow)
Chicago and Afrofuturism: Dr. Eve Ewing
Harold Washington Library Center, 400 S. State St. Thursday, February 20, 6pm–7:30pm. Free. chipublib.org
Author, sociologist, and Weekly alum Eve Ewing will discuss Chicago’s role in the Afrofuturism literary movement with Stacie Williams, who directs the Center for Digital Scholarship at the University of Chicago Libraries. (Sam Stecklow) Fifty years ago, kids who lived in the Near South Side’s Harold Ickes Homes were photographed for inclusion in a “Black ABCs” project that was used as a teaching aid in classrooms across Chicago. Photographer and University of Chicago neurobiologist Okunola Jeyifous captured these same children as adults for this exhibit, overlaying and collaging his photos to expand on the traditional idea of portraiture as well as to question the impacts of science on Black personhood. (Emeline Posner)
In Praise of Hands
National Museum of Mexican Art, 1852 W. 19th St. Saturday, February 22, 2pm–3:30pm. Free. (312) 738-1503. nationalmuseumofmexicanart.org
As part of current NMMA exhibition “Woven: Connections and Meanings,” on view through April 19, Georgina Valverde is moderating a panel of three Chicagoan activists—Ken Dunn, Gina Gamboa, and Carolina Macias—who will speak about their crafts and labor, and the significance of these practices for community-building. (Emeline Posner)
ZINE NOT DEAD – a new comics reading
Chicago Tool Library at the Harold Washington Library
Harold Washington Library Center, 400 S. State St. Wednesday, February 26, 6:30pm–7:30pm. Free. chipublib.org
Learn about the Bridgeport-based Chicago Tool Library—which, as its name suggests, lends tools to those in need— how it was started, how you can get involved, and how you can get your hands on some tools! (Sam Stecklow)
VISUAL ARTS S is for Soul Sister
Arts and Public Life, 301 E. Garfield Blvd. February 19 through March 20. Open Wednesday through Friday, noon–6pm. Free. (773) 702-9724. arts.uchicago.edu/apl Archer Ballroom (ask a punk). Saturday, February 29, 8pm–11:30pm. $10. facebook. com/events/465219084358457/
The fourth anniversary of this quarterly comics and performance art series brings together some of your favorite Chicagoan illustrators, ritualists, improvisers, and art makers of other stripes, including Lyra Hill, Marnie Galloway, and Jules Darling, for readings and performances. DM for address. (Emeline Posner)
Second Wednesday Lecture: Sebastián Hidalgo
Garfield Park Conservatory, 300 N. Central Park Ave. Wednesday, March 11, 6pm–7:30pm. Free. (773) 638-1766. garfieldconservatory.org
Conservatory will welcome photojournalist (and Weekly contributor) Sebastián Hidalgo to talk about his work, which explores issues that affect communities of color, including gentrification and displacement in Pilsen, wrongful convictions, and rising property taxes in the suburbs. (Emeline Posner)
Jay Simon: Fathers Lead Photography Exhibition Closing Reception
Homan Square Community Center, 906 S. Homan Ave. Friday, March 13, 4pm–6pm. (773) 638-2712. saic.edu/homan-square
Self-taught, Chicago-based photographer Jay Simon honors fatherhood across generations in this exhibit, which promotes narratives of loving, present fathers through photos, videos, and podcasted conversations. The exhibit remains open and free to the public on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays until its closing. (Emeline Posner)
MUSIC The Pop Up Get Down #3
The Pop Up Get Down, 1400 W. 46th St. Thursday, February 20, 6pm--9pm. $10 at the door, includes one drink. facebook.com/ whinerbeer Learn about the history of footwork over the course of an evening. The dance show will be performed by IN THE WURKZ, a touring dance project. The performance is based on the lives of dancers from west and south Chicago, and showcases the evolution of footwork-dancing, from its origins mimicking church spirit possession motions, to modern Black teenage dance culture. The dancers will use mixed media, with drums and synthesizers combined with poetry reading and original tunes from Chicago musicians. ( Jade Yan)
Dem Beats: Friday Night Dance Party with Fehinty
Green Line Performing Arts Center, 329 E. Garfield Blvd. Friday, February 21, 8pm. $20 online or $25 at the door, cash and card accepted. bit.ly/vanakula2020
This Friday night dance party, DEM BEATS, gives guests the weekly chance to listen to music from the African diaspora. The party is held by Fehinty African Theatre Ensemble, and is part of the organisation’s Diaspora Monologues, which is a movement to showcase works from Africa. Guests can also visit the Fehinty Marketplace, on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays at specific times until March 8, to support local art, food, and clothing. ( Jade Yan)
Madd Crates: Bring Your Own Vinyl
Come to the Pop Up Get Down, a monthly Funk Soul dance party held by Backyard Fresh Farms. This dance party is run in collaboration with Whiner Beer Company and the Plant, which means that there will also be a night market of food producers for guests to explore. For people who want to know more about the Plant, there will be the chance to buy tickets for a tour of the old meat-packing facility turned food business incubator, with all profits going to a food distribution charity. ( Jade Yan)
IN THE WURKZ by The Era Footwork Crew
Stony Island Arts Bank, 6760 S. Stony Island Ave. Friday, February 21, 7pm–9:30pm, doors at 6pm. Free. (312) 857-5561. rebuildfoundation.org Stony Island Arts Bank, 6760 S. Stony Island Ave. Sunday, February 23, 3pm--7pm. Free. (312) 857-5561. rebuild-foundation.org
Enjoy some eclectic music at the Stony Island Arts Bank’s monthly Bring Your Own Vinyl Sunday. While the event will have its own resident DJs, the idea is that all guests are the DJ. Anyone can bring one record or a crateful of records, and take these vinyl CDs for a spin on the Art Bank’s sound system. Guests can also buy cocktails, beer, wine, and nonalcoholic drinks on-site. ( Jade Yan)
Kahil El'Zabar's Ethnic Heritage Ensemble
The Promontory, 5311 S. Lake Park Ave. Friday, February 28, 7pm–9:30pm. $15--$40. Ages 17+. (312) 801–2100. promontorychicago.com
Jazz musicians of international recognition will be bringing their songs to the Promontory, in the form of a performance by The Ethnic Heritage Ensemble. The group has been going for forty-five years, and focuses on exploring Black music. The ensemble includes musicians such as Kahil El’Zabar, who has worked with names like Nina Simone and Stevie Wonder. ( Jade Yan)
Sound Voyage in Englewood feat. The New Black Renaissance Band
Kennedy-King College Theater, Building U, 740 W. 63rd St. Friday, February 28, 7pm8:30pm, doors at 7pm. $15. svinenglewood. eventbrite.com
Englewood’s music scene is being revitalised by a new concerts series, Sound Voyage in Englewood. This series will be kicked off by the New Black Renaissance Band. The band will be performing in Kennedy-King’s almost 300-person theatre, providing Englewood’s music lovers with plenty of space to hear some R&B and soul tunes with lead vocals by singer Genesis. ( Jade Yan)
STAGE & SCREEN Ella Baker and Angela Davis: Two Films
DuSable Museum of African American History, 740 E. 56th Pl. Wednesday, February 19, 7pm–10pm. Free. bit.ly/ EllaBakerAngelaDavisFilms
South Side Projections and the DuSable Museum of African American History continue their examination of African Americans in the United States political system with a screening centered around two prominent Black women activists who helped to shape the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements. The first film discusses the activism of Ella Baker, a friend and advisor to Martin Luther King Jr. The second shows Angela Davis’s 1972 conversation with journalism pioneer and activist Lutrelle “Lu” Palmer at Malcolm X College. (Ashvini Kartik-Narayan)
We Tell Film Series: Wages of Work
Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts, 915 E. 60th St. Thursday, February 20, 7pm–10pm. Free. bit.ly/WeTellFilmWagesofWork
This screening is a part of “We Tell: 50 Years of Participatory Community Media,” a six-screening national traveling exhibition of community-made documentaries by grassroots activists in the United States. Wages of Work spotlights how communities approach issues surrounding job opportunities, wages, unemployment, and underemployment. The program will include films and shorts about Black workers, the United Mine Workers of America, Latinx workers, and Chicago’s fast-food employees. (Ashvini KartikNarayan)
Truth, Lies, & Headlines: Part 3
Filmfront, 1740 W. 18th St. Saturday, February 22, 6pm–9pm. Free. bit.ly/ TruthLiesAndHeadlines
Truth, Lies, & Headlines is a six-part monthly film series dedicated to exploring the impact of American media, its appetite for sensation, and its influence on public opinion. Part 3: Lurid Headlines will show the film Ace in the Hole by Billy Wilder. The screening will be followed by a group discussion. There is limited seating, and attendees are encouraged to come early to save a seat. (Ashvini Kartik-Narayan)
The Harold Washington Community Movie Production
Harold Washington Library Center, 400 S. State St. Tuesday, February 25, 5–8pm. Free. bit.ly/HaroldWashingtonCommunityMovie
This special showing of the documentary The Greatest Good is open to the community, and is intended to celebrate the legacy of Harold Washington in Chicago. Joseph Michael Chopin, the film’s director, writer, and producer, will be present at the event, and food will be provided. The documentary explores Harold Washington’s journey in promoting leadership by example. (Ashvini Kartik-Narayan)
We Tell Film Series: Collaborative Knowledges
Green Line Performing Arts Center, 329 E. Garfield Blvd. Thursday, February 27, 7pm–10pm. Free. bit.ly/ WeTellFilmCollaborativeKnowledges the United States. The screening will be followed by a discussion with Heather Miller, a member of the Wyandotte Nation from Oklahoma, who is the current Executive Director of the American Indian Center in Chicago. (Ashvini KartikNarayan)
Also part of the screening series “We Tell: 50 Years of Participatory Community Media,” the Collaborative Knowledges collection focuses on intergenerational dialogues as a way to reclaim history and knowledge. The screening will be hosted by U of C professor and film scholar Jacqueline Stewart, with Carmel Curtis of XFR Collective and Margaret Caples of the Community Film Workshop of Chicago. (Ashvini Kartik-Narayan)
Rebels of the Neon Screen: A Tsai Ming-Liang Retrospective
Max Palevsky Cinema, 1212 E. 59th St. Fridays 7pm and Sundays 1:30pm, until March 15. $7 per screening, $40 for a Doc Films season pass. bit.ly/ RebelsoftheNeonScreen
This retrospective of the films of leading contemporary Chinese-language filmmaker Tsai Ming-Liang. Is the first complete presentation of Tsai’s feature films to ever take place in the Chicago area. The Doc Films series, which was programmed by the Weekly’s very own interim layout editor J. Michael Eugenio, features several rare 35mm prints and some of Tsai’s short films that are otherwise inaccessible. It’s a rare opportunity to see the complete works of one of Taiwan’s most influential filmmakers. (Ashvini Kartik-Narayan)
Cinema 53: Dawnland with Heather Miller and Eve Ewing
Harper Theater, 5238 S. Harper Ave. Thursday, March 5, 7pm–10pm. Free. bit.ly/ Cinema53Dawnland
This screening is a part of the Race and American Schools series curated by Eve Ewing at Harper Theater. Dawnland explores how, as recently as the 1970s, one in four Native American children lived in non-Native foster care, adoptive homes, or boarding school. The film shows the untold narrative of Indigenous child removal in
LITERATURE Sayed Kashua - Track Changes
Seminary Co-op, 5751 S. Woodlawn Ave. Wednesday, February 19, 2020, 6:00pm–7pm. Free. (773) 752-4381. semcoop.com
Sayed Kashua discusses his book Track Changes, which follows an Arab-Israeli memoirist as he reckons with the weight of his past, his memories, and his cultural identity. Kashua joins University of Chicago professors Na'ama Rokem and Anastasia Giannakidou in conversation about the book with a Q&A and book signing will follow the conversation. (Davon Clark)
Artist Talk: W.D. Floyd
Semicolon Bookstore, 515 N Halsted St. Thursday, February 20, 6pm-8pm. BYOB. (312) 877-5170. semicolonchi.com.
Semicolon’s artist-in-residence, Chicago photographer W.D. Floyd, discusses his exhibition The Joy: The Visibility of Black Boy Childhood with Jane Addams Hull-House Museum’s curatorial manager Ross Stanton Jordan. (Davon Clark)
Music Lab: Crafting Your Memoir with Roy Kinsey
Apple Michigan Ave, 401 North Michigan Avenue. Tuesday, February 25, 6:30pm-8pm. Free. apple.com/today
Explore fresh ways to record your personal journey with Chicago rapper and librarian Roy Kinsey. He’ll discuss the art of the memoir and share his tips for creating a structure. You’ll get hands-on with iPad and learn how to use the Notes app and Voice Memos to write and record ideas in the moment. (Davon Clark)
Music Lab: Narratives with D-Composed and Raych Jackson
Apple Michigan Ave, 401 North Michigan Avenue. Wednesday, February 26, 6:30pm8pm. Free. apple.com/today
Explore your personal narrative with musicians from the Chicago-based chamber music experience D-Composed and South Side poet Raych Jackson. They’ll talk about their collaborative efforts to redefine the classical music experience. Then, guided by Jackson, you’ll get handson with iPad and Apple Pencil to write your own poems in the Notes app while D-Composed improvises music to elevate your words. (Davon Clark)
LTAB 2020 Preliminary Bouts
Young Chicago Authors @ Columbia College Chicago, Various Locations. February 26–March 4. $2. Part of YCA’s Louder Than a Bomb Youth Poetry Festival. youngchicagoauthors.org
Stretching over two weeks, this first round of the slam-style poetry competition features performances by hundreds of youth poets from schools and community organizations from all sides of the city & beyond. Preliminary Bouts will be held at various times on Wednesdays to Saturdays from 11am to 8am. (Davon Clark)
Pilsen Community Books: February Book Club
Pilsen Community Books, 1102 West 18th Street. Thursday, February 27, 2020, 7:30pm-9pm. Free. Additional information. pilsencommunitybooks.org
The monthly book club discusses domestic fiction novel The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls, the debut novel by Anissa Gray. To join the book club, you just read the book and show up. (Davon Clark)
Big Kid Slam
Que4 Radio, 2643 W Chicago Ave. February 28, doors open 7pm, show starts 7:30pm. $5 suggested donation. 18+. instagram.com/ bigkidslam
SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY ¬ FEBRUARY 19, 2020 Chicago poetry show for Big Kids, every last Friday of the month at Que4 Gallery. February’s featured performer will be Naira, Chicago’s representative for the Women of the World Poetry Slam. This will be her going away show and trunk party to send her off to Dallas. (Davon Clark)
NATURE
Going Green in Chicago
Little Village Branch Library, 2311 S. Kedzie Ave. Thursday, February 20, 6pm–7:15pm. chipublib.org
“Going green” seems to be all the rage, but what does that actually mean for Chicago? This talk, presented by urbanologist and author Max Grinnell, will look at how both the public and private sectors are undergoing a sustainable transformation, through initiatives like community gardens, green roofs, improvements to the city’s public transportation system, and more. (Sam Joyce)
Chicago Food Policy Summit
South Shore Cultural Center, 7059 S. South Shore Dr. Friday, February 21, 9am–5pm. Free. chicagofoodpolicy.com
The fifteenth annual Chicago Food Policy Summit will focus on the theme of collective power, celebrating the past fifteen years of movement-building to create better food policy in Chicago. This year’s summit includes workshops and lectures, as well as other opportunities to connect with food workers, farmers, vendors and more to discuss issues facing urban agriculture and food procurement. The summit will also include a food business clinic and a marketplace of resources and vendors. (Sam Joyce)
Garfield Park Conservatory Tree Walk
Garfield Park Conservatory, 300 N. Central Park Ave. Friday, February 21, 10am–12pm. Free. openlands.org
Join Openlands’s professional arborists for a walk around the grounds of the Garfield Park Conservatory. Learn how to identify trees during the winter, as well as how trees
are still growing and changing even during the winter months. The tour will meet in the front lobby of the conservatory. (Sam Joyce)
Artecito: Conexiones entre Animales
True Value Boys & Girls Club, 2950 W. 25th St. Friday, February 21, 4pm–6pm. Free. bit. ly/artecitoconexiones
This afternoon of art gives kids an opportunity to learn about the natural world by painting and creating. Co-hosted by the Lincoln Park Zoo and OPEN Center for the Arts, this event will teach children about ecological interactions while also offering a chance to make art. (Sam Joyce)
Before the Skyscrapers: Chicago’s Natural History
Woodson Regional Library, 9525 S. Halsted St. Saturday, February 22, 11am–12:15pm.
chipublib.org This talk, presented by urbanologist and author Max Grinnell, will explore how the landscape that underlies Chicago has changed over the past centuries. Or, more succinctly: what happens when you reverse a river, raise the Loop, and dig a Deep Tunnel? And how does all that history matter to us today? (Sam Joyce) Policy for the Public
Near West American Job Center, 1700 W. 18th St. Tuesday, February 25, 2pm–3pm. Free. jobstomoveamerica.org
Last year, the CTA made a commitment to adopting a good jobs policy, ensuring that the CTA purchases trains and buses from companies that hire Chicagoans and pay them a living wage. This forum is part of a series of meetings with CTA riders and other Chicago residents, especially those who have been unemployed or underemployed, to discuss what a CTA policy that uplifts disinvested communities should look like. Light refreshments will be served. (Sam Joyce)
Polar Adventure Day Northerly Island Park, 1521 S. Linn White Dr. Saturday, February 29, 12pm–4pm. Free, parking $3. chicagoparkdistrict.com
Enjoy winter in Chicago with the Park District’s Polar Adventure Day, which features hot cocoa, explorations of Northerly Island by snowshoe, natureinspired winter crafts, and a variety of live animals, including Siberian huskies, wolves, and birds of prey. (Sam Joyce) Southwest Environmental Alliance Meeting
St. Paul’s Catholic Church, 2127 W. 22nd Pl. Monday, March 2, 6:30pm–8pm. facebook. com/SouthwestEnvironmentalAlliance
The Southwest Environmental Alliance is currently organizing to oppose the renewal of an environmental permit granted to Wheatland Tube Company, a major polluter in Back of the Yards. The Illinois EPA is collecting comments through February 28, so this meeting will likely focus on the next steps in this campaign. The meeting is in the rectory at St. Paul’s. (Sam Joyce)
Clean Energy Lobby Day
Aldridge School, 630 E. 131st St; Sixth Grace Presbyterian Church, 600 E. 35th St; and Trinity United Church of Christ, 400 W. 95th St. Wednesday, March 4, 10am–2pm. ilenviro. org
Travel to Springfield with the Illinois Environmental Council, Faith in Place, Sierra Club Illinois, and more for the 2020 Clean Energy Lobby Day. This is a unique opportunity for Illinois residents from across the state to to speak directly to their elected representatives about tackling climate change by moving toward clean energy. This event is free and open to the public, and bus transportation is provided from the above locations on the South Side. (Sam Joyce)
