StreetWise's Top 10

by Suzanne Hanney

#10 Chicago in Flames: 150 Years after Great Chicago Fire of 1871 October 4-10

A fire that broke out in Patrick and Catherine O’Leary’s barn on October 8, 1871, destroyed nearly every building between what is now Roosevelt and Halsted on the south and Fullerton, the northern city limits at the time. Before rain extinguished it two days later, 1 in 3 (100,000) Chicagoans were homeless and 300 were dead. A police and fire board inquiry was inconclusive in deciding whether the cause was human error or a spark from a chimney. Nevertheless, the tale that Mrs. O’Leary had been milking a cow that kicked over a lantern and started the fire was “fake news” that played on ethnic stereotypes of the period and nativist fears about the city’s growing immigrant population. Recovery from the Fire exposed inequities between Old Settlers who had come from the East in the 1830s and 40s and newcomers like Irish, Germans and Swedish. Business bounced back because enough infrastructure remained: the Stockyards, most of the wharves and lumberyards on the Chicago River, 2 out of 3 grain elevators, railroad tracks that linked the city with both coasts, and, most of all, Chicago’s position as a trading and financial center. Downtown was rebuilt according to new fireproof codes that required brick and stone instead of wood. Immigrants couldn’t afford these more expensive materials, and protested that the codes hurt revival of their ethnic enclaves. They were ultimately forced to move to outlying areas. Because much of the land east of the Chicago River and north of Chicago Avenue was empty, relief cottages were built there. The land became a slum, occupied initially by Irish, Swedes, Germans, Dutch, Poles and Italians. It was later known as Little Sicily – and then Cabrini-Green.

#9 Madam C.J. Walker March 22-28

Madam C.J. Walker developed a Black hair product early in the 20th century, but her legacy is that she developed businesswomen who sold her products within her framework for philanthropy and political activism. In an era when most Black women could only work as farmhands or domestics, she took out newspaper ads with testimonials from women who took her course and sold her product that said, “You have made it possible for a Black woman to make more in a day than she could in a month working in somebody’s kitchen,” said her great-great-granddaughter, A’Lelia Bundles.

Walker’s story is so inspiring that the YWCA Metropolitan Chicago is collaborating on a women of color business accelerator with the DePaul University Women in Entrepreneurship Institute (WEI).

DePaul University’s WEI has a goal of advancing women business owners, who like Walker initially, typically have little access to investor funding or big contracts, said WEI Director Abigail Ingram. Since its inception in 2018, 50 to 60 percent of WEI participants have been women of color. The partnership with the YWCA will allow WEI to serve more of this population. “Our whole soul is in this,” said Robert Johnson, YWCA chief economic inclusion officer and general counsel. “We want to create a community where folks can live, work, pray and play: have all the assets in the community.” People would like $1 billion worth of restaurants and retail in Bronzeville, for example, but they do not exist. Creating spaces for Black-owned businesses would create jobs for local people, Johnson said.

#8 Let's get Vaccinated October 18-24

Artist Katie Chung used the Al Green song, “Let’s Stay Together,” as inspiration for her McKinley Park billboard urging people to get vaccinated. A QR code on the mural allowed people to access information about COVID-19 vaccines at will. Chung’s artwork is part of a multi-city partnership between the nonprofit design lab Amplifier, which builds art and media experiments to “amplify” the most important movements of their time; and Facebook Open Arts, which will spread the message through digital social media. Another two murals in Englewood were to be done by Brandon Breaux, the artist behind all three of Chance the Rapper’s iconic album covers.

The Amplfier-Facebook Open Arts partnership campaign used public art this summer and fall in communities with lower vaccination rates to inspire people to get inoculated. StreetWise covered the story as part of a partnership with the International Network of Street Papers, because there are street papers in many of the 12 cities in the public art campaign: Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Jacksonville, San Antonio, Seattle, San Bernardino, Washington, D.C.; Mesa, AZ; Edmonton, Ottawa and Montreal, Canada.

#7 A New Vision for Chicago's Rivers August 30- September 6

Chicago has 20 miles of lakefront, but better use of its 150 miles of riverfront – its “second coast” – could improve the quality of life for many neighborhood residents.

“Our Great Rivers” is a shared vision for not only the Chicago River, but also the Des Plaines and Calumet Rivers to the north and south, released by government and independent non-profits. Its three overarching goals are that the rivers should be “inviting” for the public, with continuous walking or biking trails and access for boats; “productive,” supporting the economy through tourism at iconic destinations and water transportation; and “living,” with improved water quality and shoreline natural areas. Even before the pandemic, the Chicago Community Trust (CCT) noted that rivers can facilitate affordable and relevant amenities that promote healthy, physical recreation, social connection and psychological restoration. CCT has allocated $2.4 million toward projects such as murals at Ping Tom Park, the riverfront entrance to Chinatown; a 10-year plan to connect residents of Chicago Housing Authority’s Altgeld Gardens with nearby Beaubien Woods Forest Preserve; a framework for South Branch parks near Pilsen, Brighton Park and McKinley Park; an African American Heritage Trail that includes a site on the Underground Railroad; and more.

#6 INSP Street Papers for Climate Change December 6-12

Global warming dates to the Industrial Revolution, when modernizing nations began to burn more coal and other fossil fuels that released carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The United States bears the highest cumulative responsibility since 1750, followed by China and Brazil, while small island nations like Tuvalu face the greatest danger from rising oceans associated with global warming. In other words, climate change is a social justice issue.

The recent United Nations COP26 climate change conference in Glasgow made some progress on slowing the trend, notably with an agreement to end deforestation. Staff from the Glasgow-based International Network of Street Papers, of which StreetWise is a member, covered the street protests.

Prior to COP26, the non-profit Chicago Scots hosted a climate change forum on YouTube with Scottish experts and with Jerry Adelmann, president and CEO of Chicago's Openlands, who discussed efforts to increase Chicago's tree canopy. Trees mitigate heat islands and flooding, so ignoring cities amounts to "environmental racism," Adelmann said.

#5 Still Searching: Art and Film Project Brings Attention to Missing Black Women November 15-21

Artist Damon Lamar Reed chased conspiracy theories and truth for his “Still Searching Project,” 16 portraits of Black women missing for up to 40 years, on display at the 345 Gallery in East Garfield Park. A Kartemquin documentary collaboration is also in the works. There are some women for whom he could only find names, weight, height and date missing, which means they may have little family left or they may have been on the streets.

“I am thinking somebody is going to see my paintings and call the police; someone will get found and we are going to change the world,” he said. “I am very optimistic."

“Still Searching” aims to “flip the narrative” on missing Black women, so that they attain the same degree of local, national and global attention as Natalee Holloway, Elizabeth Smart and Gabby Petito. A graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Reed said he is less interested in selling the artwork than creating a traveling display to museums and colleges to raise awareness. StreetWise vendor Paula Green wrote an accompanying essay about her own vulnerability during her homelessness that could have led to her going missing, too.

#4 $16.7 Billion Budget Passed by City Council November 8-14

The $16.7 billion budget passed by a 35-15 Chicago City Council vote October 27 is “the most progressive ever in the City of Chicago,” says Mayor Lori Lightfoot. After the loss of 6,000 Chicagoans to COVID-19 and the racial reckoning that followed the death of George Floyd, “now, more than ever, we must do more for our marginalized, especially in our Black and Brown communities,” said Progressive Caucus Chair Ald. Sophia King (4th ward).

A blend of Lightfoot’s and Progressive Caucus's ideas, the budget that goes into effect Jan. 1, 2022 will include:

• $202 billion to reduce homelessness;

• $52 million for mental health initiatives, including a $15 million pilot for alternatives to police response in mental health emergencies;

• $150 million for youth programs;

• $85 million for violence prevention;

• $30 million for a one-year basic income pilot, which will give 5,000 people $500 a month for one year.

Lightfoot also used roughly 2 out of 3 federal COVID relief dollars to replace revenue lost in the pandemic, but managed to save $537.4 million for 2022 and ’23, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

#3 Lifting Children out of Poverty May 17-23

As part of the COVID-19 relief package, the federal government has expanded the child tax credit: $3,000 per child age 6 to 17 and $3,500 for younger children. The Internal Revenue Service delivered half of this money as monthly payments of $250 or $300 during the second half of 2021. The rest will come when people file their 2021 taxes.

“The expansion of the federal Child Tax Credit …shows that when we have the will, we can combat child poverty,” said Voices for Illinois Children Executive Director Tasha Green Cruzat, who added that Congress should make the credits permanent.

Researchers have found that increased income was associated with students scoring higher on standardized tests, becoming more likely to graduate from high school and go to college, to have a job in early adulthood and to earn higher wages.

The pandemic showed that wealth disparities “were a real issue boiling underneath the surface,” said Tamera Fair, executive director of Child Care Advocates United, during a press conference by U.S. Rep. Danny K. Davis (D-Chicago) to celebrate the first payments in July. (StreetWise August 30-September 6). “The tax credit is a critical resource to how we address the needs of working families on a shoestring budget,” Fair added.

Eligible individuals are single filers with income up to $75,000 or joint filers with $150,000. Recipients do not need a permanent address; they can even live in a shelter. The money is not counted against other federal programs like Medicaid, food stamps, public housing or unpaid state or federal taxes.

#2 Mental Health in Illinois November 8-14

Mental illness affected nearly 1 in 5 Americans (19.86% or 50 million people) in 2019, yet 27 million of them – over half -- went untreated, according to the annual report by the non-profit Mental Health America (MHA). In addition, 4.58% of U.S. adults had serious thoughts of suicide and 10.6% of U.S. youth (over 2.5 million) had severe depression. Based on these findings, MHA has two priorities for the coming year:

• More mental health education and supports in schools, especially for students of color;

• Implementation of 988 as a new national three-digit suicide prevention and mental health crisis hotline in place of the cumbersome 10-digit number.

Legislation for the hotline was signed by President Biden in October 2020. This July, the Illinois Department of Human Services/Division of Mental Health was scheduled to work with six Lifeline call centers that will operate like air traffic controllers. Instead of law enforcement, the call centers will dispatch mobile crisis outreach teams 24/7, to take people to short-term crisis centers for assessment, rather than hospital emergency rooms.

Vendor A. Allen also wrote about emerging from homelessness and addiction after voluntarily going to a state-run mental health center.

StreetWise had earlier opened Suicide Prevention Month (September 6-12), with an op-ed by Gabriel’s Light founder and president Carol Hufford Deely, whose son Gabe was lost to suicide Nov. 14, 2018. She stressed communication with one’s children, the importance of kindness, computer apps that alert family members and schools to risky behavior and medications that can put mental health at risk.

#1 Chicago's Growing Homeless Encampments February15-21

Just ahead of January snowstorms, StreetWise visited four encampments, which according to their leaders, had grown during the pandemic:

• Dan Ryan-Roosevelt Road, 50 people in 42 tents alongside an on-ramp

• Belmont-Kedzie under the Kennedy Expressway, a fixture for 15 years

• Uptown, under the Lawrence and Wilson bridges over Lake Shore Drive

• 51st and Wentworth Avenue, which grew from 12 to 50 people in 17 tents

Dan Ryan encampment residents protested when construction on the Ryan’s Jane Byrne interchange threatened the camp’s existence. Illinois Department of Transportation officials told StreetWise that given the onset of winter, the pandemic, and shelter capacity, IDOT would coordinate with the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless (CCH) and the City of Chicago before any work began.

There had been two fires at Belmont-Kedzie: one from a propane tank that exploded and one investigated for arson, according to Chicago Police. People from across the city have also supported residents with food and tents, which also happens at 51st and Wentworth. The Uptown encampment had 33 tents and had been receiving new people nearly every day, people who had lost their jobs and who figured they would get housing through being in the encampment, said unofficial mayor Tom Gordon. Since the pandemic, the encampment had port-a-potties, handwashing stations, twice weekly garbage pickup.

The Night Ministry also made visits to Uptown every Thursday with its Street Medicine outreach team (covered separately April 26-May 2). The Night Ministry uses a van to literally meet people where they are at encampments and stops all over the city. A social worker deals with paperwork needed to obtain housing; a nurse helps with wound care, blood pressure, checks for HIV, syphilis and COVID-19 and inoculations against CO- VID. They also give food, clothing and survival supplies. Long term, the goal is to connect people to primary care. A new addition is treatment for opioid dependency with the drug Suboxone. CTA outreach Monday and Wednesday nights helps an average of 120 people at the Forest Park terminal on the Blue Line and 80 to 100 people at the 95th Street terminal on the Red Line.

StreetWise's Annual Editions

Since StreetWise is sold by vendors as an alternative to panhandling, entrepreneurship – creating better lives for low-income people – is a theme that runs through all our regular special editions.

Our annual Rummage Sale guide is an answer to the “wealth gap” in that it helps people shop charity sales and save money while fitting into an increasingly affluent world. Simultaneously, the guide promotes sustainable living, much like our Recycling Guide, which this year showed how “alley pickers” of aluminum cans and ferrous metals preserve resources that must otherwise be imported to the U.S.

Small, Chicago-based makers and non-profits that promote fair trade employment were keystones of our Holiday Gift Guide. We promote emerging artists in our quarterly Concert Guides and neighborhood events in our festival guide – a reason to visit new areas of the city.

The Farmers Market guide focuses on small food artisans and also ways to make good food more accessible to low-income communities. This year’s 11th annual Non- Profit Resource guide provided information on our partners that make Chicago better, while the Giveashirt guides showcase designs donated by artists for handscreened T-shirts, all proceeds to benefit StreetWise.