GROWING ENCAMPMENTS - 51ST AND WENTWORTH

By Suzanne Hanney / photography by Kathleen Hinkel

51ST & WENTWORTH

Since the COVID pandemic began, the tent city at 51st Street and Wentworth Avenue has grown from fewer than 12 people to 50 people in an estimated 17 tents, says Johnny Bryant.

Encampment residents talk among themselves about how to run the space east of the Dan Ryan Expressway and the 2nd District Chicago Police Department headquarters. “We the people of the encampment are stepping forward, doing what we have to do,” Bryant said.

Passersby drop off tents they may have had in their basements, and the residents keep them on hand. If they put the word out, people will bring food – “a little of this, a little of that” -- anywhere from a few pieces of store-bought chicken, to pizza, as well as clothes, shoes, handwarmers, hats, coats and gloves, and enough blankets to give away.

The 51st and Wentworth encampment.

Kathleen Hinkel

“We ain’t be thinking about ourselves. We think about the community. People sleep in doorways, in abandoned buildings. If they walk by and we are set up, we say ‘tell your friends and family. Don’t go looking.’”

The encampment is primarily couples and singles, but no families, ranging in age from the 33-year-old Bryant, to a 75-yearold former veteran who does not receive benefits and isn’t sure

why. Bryant, who is also secretary of the new Chicago Union of the Homeless, promised he would look into the vet’s benefits. Meanwhile, another volunteer from the homeless union helped Bryant get assessed for the housing waiting list at the Chicago Department of Family and Support Services Community Services Center at 10 S. Kedzie Ave.

The Encampments at 51st and Wentworth

Kathleen Hinkel

Bryant spends his afternoons at the Harold Washington Library at 400 S. State St., using the 3rd floor computers to search for warehouse or cashier jobs or to research empty buildings where the encampment might move. In particular, he wonders about the vacant former Crispus Attucks School at 3813 S. Dearborn St., which was closed by the Chicago Public Schools in 2008. In addition, the Francis Parkman elementary school at 245 W. 51st St., across the Dan Ryan bridge from the encampment, was one of nearly 50 schools closed by CPS in 2014.

Bryant went to Wendell Phillips High School and since then has been an all-around go-to person. He volunteered in a food pantry and has helped his family, senior citizens, and various other people with tasks ranging from cleaning to moving. Sometimes he gets paid.

He’s ready for a change. “Instead of talking, I want to give back to the community.”

Henry Langston Long sits at the encampment under the Metra tracks at 51st and Wentworth.

Kathleen Hinkel