February 6 - 12, 2023

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Arts & Entertainment

Event highlights of the week!

SportsWise

Chatting about new Bears president Kevin Warren.

Cover Story: Wabash YMCA

The Wabash YMCA was the epicenter of the early Black Metropolis, now known as Bronzeville. It was both a gathering place for the community and in the segregated Jim Crow era, a place to stay. That's how Carter G. Woodson, visiting Chicago for an emancipation commemoration, met with its executive director and two others to found the organization that started Black History Week, later Black History Month. The Wabash Y was the first philanthropy outside Judaism for Julius Rosenwald, president of Sears, Roebuck & Co., who later started 5,500 schools in the South for Afrcian Americans as well as the Museum of Sciience and Industry in Chicago.

The Playground

ON THE COVER: Section of the mural by William Edouard Scott that adorns the ballroom at the Wabash YMCA (Suzanne Hanney photo). THIS PAGE: Women swimming at the Wabash YMCA pool (photo courtesy of The Renaissance Collaborative).

DISCLAIMER: The views, opinions, positions or strategies expressed by the authors and those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or positions of StreetWise.

Dave Hamilton, Creative Director/Publisher dhamilton@streetwise.org

Suzanne Hanney, Editor-In-Chief suzannestreetwise@yahoo.com

Amanda Jones, Director of programs ajones@streetwise.org

Julie Youngquist, Executive director jyoungquist@streetwise.org

IL, 60616

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT RECOMMENDATIONS

Ballet is Such a Drag!

Les Ballets Trockadero De Monte Carlo

Les Ballets Trockadero De Monte Carlo, known by their fans as “The Trocks,” gives a one-night only performance Saturday, February 11 at 7:30 p.m. at The Auditorium Theatre, 50 E. Ida B. Wells Drive. The world’s leading all-male ballet company perfectly merges classical ballet, spot-on comedic timing, and the fabulous art of drag. Excerpts featured in the performance are "Le Lac Des Cygnes" (the second act of "Swan Lake"), "Go for Barocco," and "Paquita." Every member of The Trocks preforms under both a male and a female persona, each with its own name and backstory. Company dancers perform every role authentically whether their character demands a tutu or extra tendus and proves that men can also dance en pointe (on tiptoes). Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo was founded in 1974 by a group of ballet enthusiasts for the purpose of presenting a playful, entertaining view of traditional, classical ballet in parody form and en travesti – in drag. Tickets are $30-$76 at auditoriumtheatre.org

Joffrey Revives A Classic!

‘Anna Karenina’

The Joffrey Ballet remounts Yuri Possokhov’s blockbuster “Anna Karenina” for the first time since its crowd-pleasing world premiere in 2019. The ballet based on the novel by Leo Tolstoy is a story of romance, family, and faith against a backdrop of fraught political and social transformation set in the late 19th century. It follows Anna as she finds herself caught in a life-changing affair with the dashing Count Vronsky. “Anna Karenina” will be performed by the Joffrey Ballet from February 15-26 at 7:30 or 2 p.m. at the Lyric Opera House, 20 N. Upper Wacker Drive. Tickets $36+ and more information at joffrey.org

Living My Life Like It's Golden!

Pemon Rami: ‘When Blackness Was Golden!’

Harold Washington Library hosts Pemon Rami, author of his memoir “W hen Blackness Was Golden!” as part of the “Voices for Justice” series. Rami will converse with radio, TV, and Special Event Producer Sylvia Ewing about growing up in Chicago. Pemon Rami is a member of the Board of the Illinois Arts Council, a film producer and director who acted in the films “The Blues Brothers,” “Mahogany” starring Diana Ross and Billy Dee Williams, and “Cooley High.” He is the former director of education at the DuSable Museum of African American History and was Chicago’s first African American film casting director. This free event will be at 6 p.m. February 15 in the Cindy Pritzker Auditorium of the Harold Washington Library at 400 S. State St. More info at https://chipublib.bibliocommons.com/v2/events

Follow the Map!

Author Reading: Joan DeJean ‘Mutinous Women’

Join Joan DeJean and Jack McCord at the Newberry Library as they use maps from the Newberry collection to recreate the European settlement in North America that the French named Louisiana, and to tell the story of one remarkable woman, Marie Baron. Joan DeJean’s book “Mutinous Women” tells the story of Baron and how her life impacts the United States even after 300 years. Baron and most of the 95 other female inmates deported with her from France to an island off the Gulf Coast were falsely charged with public prostitution, but she survived and married the mapmaker Jean Francois Dumont, who recorded events that she witnessed. The virtual event “Mutinous Women: How French Convicts Became Founding Mothers of the Gulf Coast” will be at 6 p.m. February 9. Admission is free, but advanced registration is required at newberry.org

Compiled by Emma Murphy

‘Right

Vroom, Vroom!

Chicago Auto Show

This year marks the 115th anniversary of the Chicago Auto Show, the largest in North America. The show features multiple world and North American introductions and the complete range of domestic and imported passenger cars, trucks, sport-utility vehicles, minivans, and experimental and concept cars. The wide range of vehicles and other exhibits are on display from February 11-19 from 10 a.m. - 10 p.m. and February 20 from 10 a.m. - 8 p.m. at McCormick Place, 2301 S. King Drive. Tickets are $15 at chicagoautoshow.com

What Happens to a Dream Deferred?

‘A Raisin in the Sun’

Set on Chicago’s South Side, “A Raisin in the Sun'' explores the divergent dreams and conflicts within three generations of the Younger family. After receiving the insurance check for her deceased husband, Mama Lena wants to use the money to move to a better neighborhood, but racial inequality and discrimination create obstacles. The show will run February 9-19 at 7:30 or 2 p.m. at the Beverly Arts Center located at 2407 W. 111th St. Tickets are $40+ and available with additional information at thebeverlyartscenter.com

Lights, Camera, Action!

Porchlight Revisits - ‘I am a Camera’

Porchlight Revisits celebrates the rarely seen old gems of Broadway, off-Broadway and beyond, including the behind-the-scenes backstory. “I am a Camera” premiered in 1951 and served as inspiration for the musical “Cabaret.” There will be only two performances, at 7:30 p.m. February 8 and at 1:30 p.m. February 9 at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 N. Dearborn St. Tickets are $52 at porchlightmusictheatre.org/i-am-a-camera

Going Rogue!

‘Edith: The Rogue Rockefeller McCormick’

The Book Stall at Chestnut Court hosts author Andrea Friederici Ross, who will discuss her book, “Edith: The Rogue Rockefeller McCormick.” Edith was an heiress to both the Rockefeller and McCormick fortunes, and used to the privileges of wealth. Ross is a native of the Chicago area and a graduate of Northwestern University who works in an elementary school library. Her book delves into Edith’s extravagant life, accomplishments, and philanthropy, as well as her pursuit of independence in Chicago. This free event will take place at 6:30 p.m. February 9 at 811 Elm Street, Winnetka. More information at thebookstall.com

Don't Forget!

To Be Forgotten’

The 90-minute play “Right To Be Forgotten” is a story about human forgiveness in the age of the internet and one man’s fight for privacy. Derril Lark goes to extraordinary lengths to move past a decade-old mistake he made when he was 17, but the internet never forgets. The Raven Theatre tells stories of today and the past that connect viewers to the cultural landscape. Playing at Raven Theatre at 6157 N. Clark St., with shows at 3 p.m. on Sundays and 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, from February 9 through March 26. Tickets are $40 or less at raventheatre.com

Musical Exploration!

Breabach: World Music Wednesdays

Breabach will be featured at 8 p.m. February 8 at the Old Town School of Folk Music's World Music Wednesday, a weekly showcase of global music and dance. Breabach is a skilled and imaginative contemporary Scottish folk group who unite their deep roots in the Highland and Island tradition with the innovative musical ferment of their Glasgow base. Breabach will perform at the Gary and Laura Maurer Concert Hall, 4544 N Lincoln Ave. Admission is free with a suggested $10 donation. Reservations recommended at www.oldtownschool.org/concerts

Patrick: So, we have a new president with our Chicago Bears. In 2015, Kevin Warren became the first AfricanAmerican chief operating officer of an NFL team. Now, he’s the first Black president in the history of the Chicago Bears. I’m excited for the progress and, even more importantly in regard to the Bears—the sports team—that he seems to be on it. Seems very intelligent.

Donald: Well, it’s nice we have a new president in charge of football operations. While his race is pretty interesting and a definite sign of progress—especially so close to Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday—I just can’t wait to see what he does with these new responsibilities. Holding down the Bears isn’t nothing nice: the media and the fans are ready to get at him.

Russ: You’re right, man. I’m excited to see how everything shakes out with our new guy. My hope is that Mr. Warren keeps us here at Soldier Field.

Patrick: Hmh…

Russ: Yeah, I say we make them honor that deal—or they’ll be hit with a lawsuit. Then again, I’m not sure how that works,

so if that’s not really an option, then Arlington Heights it is. That said, having the #1 pick should help the situation. Also, it’s a nice time for Mr. Warren to come into the fold seeing as he can help shape the future of the Bears for a very long time. With Justin Fields pretty much set in stone as our quarterback of the future, who or what we use our draft pick for will determine the Bears’ success.

John: Agreed, Russell. To top it off, we have plenty of options with this #1 pick. Second, Kevin Warren coming in the same year as this new pick— assuming we keep the pick— could be a positive for both. I can’t imagine our new president coming in and drafting a QB, so current quarterback Justin Fields appears solid in his position, which means the Bears could look to trade down with a team who needs to draft a quarterback. Say, for instance, the New York Jets. During an end-of-the-season 6-game los-

ing streak, mind you, the Jets' last win ironically came against the Bears—

Donald: Hilarious.

Russ: Right!

John: But, yeah, the Jets scored only 4 offensive touchdowns during this 6-game losing streak, including none in the last 12 quarters of the season.

Patrick: What do you think makes this a deal that both teams could see it as a positive?

John: The Jets get a top-rated quarterback they can groom and grow with; the Bears, with the right maneuvering, this could be the beginning of the development of the offensive line and, perhaps they can snag a few defensive players to help shore up that side—one that can stop the run. If I were the new president, this is what I’d do.

Patrick: Right on.

Russ: John, I can see that working. For example, the Carolina Panthers, Jets, Las Vegas Raiders, Washington Commanders, Atlanta Falcons, New Orleans Saints, and the Indianapolis Colts may be willing to trade with us. General Manager Poles has ties to Indianapolis, so maybe they could work something out.

Donald: Russ, if forced to choose, would you still keep the pick?

Russ: I would keep it. Use it to get some defense and an offensive line to protect Fields. Basically, we’re in there with this pick. Whether we actually keep it, or trade it, we’re doing okay. The Chicago Bears could be back on a Super Bowl shuffle within a few years.

Any comments or suggestions? Email pedwards@streetwise.org

Rashanah Baldwin

Vendors Russell Adams, John Hagan and Donald Morris chat about the world of sports with Executive Assistant Patrick Edwards.

The Wabash YMCA the birthplace of black history month

by Suzanne Hanney

The YMCA at 3763 S. Wabash Ave. was the focal point of Chicago’s Black Metropolis for half a century – and the birthplace of Black History Month.

In 1915, Carter G. Woodson, a University of Chicago graduate and a Harvard Ph.D, exhibited at a conference marking 50 years since the end of slavery that was held at the Chicago Coliseum, 1466 S. Wabash Ave. (now the site of a dog park). Woodson then returned to his accommodations at the newly built Wabash Y, one of the few places an African American could stay in the Jim Crow era. Inspired by the emancipation conference, Woodson and Wabash Y executive director Alexander L. Jackson, who attended Harvard with him, along with two others, co-founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, now the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH).

As Woodson told a group of Hampton Institute students, “We are going back to that beautiful history and it is going to inspire us to greater achievements,” according to asalh.org. By 1926, he was back at the Wabash Y to declare Negro History Week. The period he picked would always coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln (February 12) and Frederick Douglass (February 14).

After the first wave of the Great Migration – the World War I exodus of African Americans up from the South to the urban and industrial North – Blacks in the 1920s were starting to form a middle class that was ready for Woodson’s message. With the U.S Bicentennial in 1976, Negro History Week was officially extended to Black History Month.

“It started as a grassroots movement. Teachers got involved, churches got involved,” said Dr. Lionel Kimble Jr., an ASALH member and associate professor of history at Chicago State University, in a YouTube video for The Renaissance Collaborative (TRC), which now owns the Wabash Y building.

The Wabash Y was built right before World War I and the first wave of the Great Migration, so “it was a clearing house,” Kimble said. “People would come here to try to find a job, to try to reconnect with families who came before them, to try to find housing. It was the town square.”

Kimble’s grandparents came to Chicago before World War I and settled around 39th and Dearborn streets. He recalls historic landmarks within a mile-and-a-half of the Y: the Chicago Bee newspaper building, now a Chicago Public Library branch

at 3647 S. State St.; the Overton Hygienic building at 3619 -27 S. State St., headquarters for an African American cosmetics company; the South Side Community Arts Center at 3831 S. Michigan Ave., and the original Chicago Defender newspaper building at 3435 S. Indiana Ave.

“But this was the epicenter of Black Chicago,” he said of the Wabash Y.

Part of understanding the early 20th century Black Belt, now known as Bronzeville, Kimble said, is that “the neighborhood developed as a city within a city, with a considerable amount of agency. Black people actively fought to create their own institutions like the Y with the help of Julius Rosenwald to create their social, cultural and community spaces for entrepreneurship and family life in spite of racism. We’ve always made our way since 1619. You make demands for better treatment and you see who listens.”

Chicago had few Black people in 1910, but Julius Rosenwald, the president of Sears, Roebuck & Co., was moved to provide his first philanthropy outside his own Jewish community after reading Booker T. Washington’s book “Up from Slavery” that year, said his grandson, Peter Ascoli, in a TRC video. Washington had been born enslaved, gained an education, and founded Tuskegee Institute.

JR, as Ascoli calls his grandfather, “started out with the same prejudice as everyone else in his day, but as soon as he began to meet African Americans, he began to change his mind. It was radical thinking for his day, but he believed they were equal, and should be treated as equals.” But instead of having everything done for them, Rosenwald thought that Blacks should contribute to their own causes.

Immediately pre-World War I, there were few Black YMCAs in the United States for young men who were leaving the rural South and who needed not only recreation, but Single Room Occupancy housing until they could put down roots. The general secretary of the Chicago branch of the YMCA, accompanied by a Black minister, visited Rosenwald in the hope he would spark the campaign.

To their astonishment, Rosenwald not only agreed to a $25,000 grant contingent on the Chicago community raising $75,000, he offered the same grant to any other Y in the United States that could match that effort. (Later, he would found 5,500 schools for Blacks in the South, build the Rosenwald

StreetWise Vendors Kianna and A. Allen meet outside the Wabash YMCA to take a tour (Suzanne Hanney photo).

The Wabash YMCA pool as it looks today (Suzanne Hanney photo).

The YMCA pool (photo provided by The Renaissance Collaborative).

YMCA at Wabash and 38th Street, with St. Thomas Episcopal Church across the street to the south. (University of Minnesota Libraries, Kautz Family YMCA Archives).

StreetWise Vendor Kianna visits the Wabash YMCA

by Kianna Drummond

It was so amazing for me to visit the former YMCA on 38th Street and Wabash Avenue, where a lot of African American history happened in the early 1900s. When it first opened in 1913, lots of Blacks from around the U.S. were able to sleep, eat, swim and reach out to one another.

It was so mind-blowing for me to see where a group of African Americans could get together – high end and low-end people – and work together. It was like a meetup place for us. Now, there are 101 affordable units there through The Renaissance Collaborative.

There was no other place in those days that would take Blacks, so Carter Woodson stayed there when he visited Chicago in 1915 for an emancipation conference. He had gone to Harvard with A.L. Jackson, the Y’s executive director. For background, Woodson was one of the first scholars to study the history of the African diaspora. Together, they and two others founded the organization that started Negro History Week, later Black History Month.

Some people stayed for longer periods at the Wabash Y; some just visited: 140,000 used the facility in 1919. Now, that’s a lot of African Americans in one building, and everybody cooperated to have a space to stay. I say we need a place like this today, because there are so many of us going through the same or similar things right here

in Chicago and we have no place to go to talk about it or people to talk about it with. We hold it inside and think we’re alone, when here it is that many people: rich, poor, famous, unknown, were able to come together from all over the world and get along.

It's sad to say, but speaking for myself, we were together then. Not like when everybody was out there looting; every Black person was for each other then. It makes no kind of sense. If we can do it for justice, we can do it for our youth coming up. We need more centers like this Y of the 1900s. More outreach places for our kids, job training programs, Big Brother and Big Sister programs, where kids who have no siblings or no one to talk to can go, because a lot of violence can be avoided by just having someone to reach out and talk to. The world is so different today, and yet so much the same. So many African Americans fought the fight to change the future for us, and how do we repay them? By going against each other.

A lot more of us need to take the tour at 38th and Wabash. There is a $20 donation requested, but you can give what best suits you. It will be better to experience it hands-on and see what you get out of it. Not just word of mouth. Go visit, yourself. It’ll give you something to think about, I promise. And it will help you understand where we came from and where we are today.

Badminton players at the Wabash YMCA (Special Collections and University Archives, University of Illinois at Chicago).

Above:

Left: African

Court Apartments, 4648 S. Michigan Ave., and founded the Museum of Science and Industry here.)

Rosenwald formally announced his challenge grant on New Year’s Day, 1911, before a select group of 500 African American Chicago men. He described how Russian Jews were also persecuted and killed in their homeland and that there were certain clubs that would neither admit him as a member nor allow him to visit, because of his religion.

Ascoli wrote with amazement in his book, "Julius Rosenwald: The Man who Built Sears, Roebuck and Advanced the Cause of Black Education in the American South," (Indiana University Press, 2006) that JR was more than politely applauded. James Tilghman jumped up and handed over $1,000 in cash – his entire life savings: the largest contribution ever made by a Black man to a Black YMCA. Tilghman had been born enslaved, had come to Chicago in the 1880s, and had worked a variety of odd jobs before ending up as a janitor for the telephone company. Rosenwald was so impressed that he wrote a letter of praise to the president of Illinois Bell.

Chicago Blacks beat the challenge of raising $50,000 in 10-days, with $66,932. Norman Harris, president of Chicago’s Harris Trust & Savings Bank, and Cyrus McCormick, head of the grain harvesting machinery firm, both matched Rosenwald's $25,000.

When the five-story, solid brick Wabash Y opened in 1913, it had 114 rooms; in 1919, 140,000 people used the facility in some way. In 1944, the Y provided space for 106 non-member community groups, said Tara Balcerzak, a former TRC fundraiser who leads Saturday tours of the building. The residents took their meals in the first floor dining room, which was also used by people from the community, such as those who attended Sunday church next door at St. Thomas Episcopal.

The first floor also featured a pool where many in the community learned to swim. On the second floor was a reading room, a billiard room and a gymnasium used by as many as five public schools that lacked their own facilities, Balcerzak said. During the race riots of 1919, the Y became a Red Cross Relief Center, for emergency food and for paychecks from companies that employed Blacks, such as meat-packing plants. There were also dental fairs and health fairs in its large rooms. In the summer, up to 600 kids went away to camp in Michigan, with the Y helping to pay for those who couldn’t afford it.

And as late as the 1950s and 60s, women were feted at cotillions in the second-floor ballroom.

After a little more than 50 years, however, the loosening of restrictive covenants meant that Blacks could move beyond Bronzeville. In 1969, the Wabash Y closed and fell into disre-

Far left: Philanthropist and civic leader Julius Rosenwald (left) and Booker T. Washington (right), educator and political leader at Tuskegee Institute, 22 February 1915 (University of Chicago Library, Special Collections photo).

The 1913 grand opening of the Wabash YMCA drew thousands of people (photo provided by The Renaissance Collaborative).

American men working on a car with a sign reading "Wabash Ave Dep't Y.M.C.A. Auto School," in front of the YMCA building during the winter as part of an educational program offered by the Y (University of Minnesota Libraries, Kautz Family YMCA Archives photo).

StreetWise Vendor A. Allen Takes a tour

by A.Allen

When we arrived at 3763 S. Wabash Ave., we encountered a few young Black men out in front and Tara Balcerzak, who would be our tour guide through this living landmark.

Known as the “Colored YMCA” for half a century after 1913, this Wabash Avenue building is a historical monument of the Great Migration in the Black Belt, now known as Bronzeville. It was the place where Negro History Week, later Black History Month, was founded.

Black History Month is not only a time to reflect on accomplishments. Similar to Black Lives Matter, it is more than an aftermath movement related to tragedies such as the unlawful deaths of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown,

Eric Garner and George Floyd. Black lives do matter, as do all human lives. That is why prevention is a better approach.

The programs of the Wabash YMCA were positive and profound in taking care of people coming up from the South, needing a place to live and meeting other people to gain support in the segregated city of the early 1900s.

In 1920, for example, a group of 1,137 boys from the YMCA were involved in a neighborhood cleanup campaign and they put 100 community gardens into operation. Also that year, 1,154 people attended Bible classes; 3,604 men and 14,096 boys used the swimming pool; 17,106 boys attended gymnasium classes and 44,742 people came to watch.

Tara Balcerzak, wearing a sweatshirt she created for the "Living Landmark" Wabash YMCA, provides its history for A. Allen, left, and Kianna Drummond (Suzanne Hanney photo).

After Tara Balcerzak gave us a wonderful tour of the first floor and second floor ballroom, we ended up in the gymnasium, where we discussed the Wabash Outlaws basketball team, and the Harlem Globetrotters, who used to practice there. The world champion Black cyclist, Major Taylor, was allowed to live there free until his death. Veterans also received discounts.

But before that, we were in the ballroom, with the mural by W.E. Scott. His interpretation of the Spirit of the YMCA, conceived by George Arthur, director of the YMCA, was truly the grand apex.

The picture says it all about opportunities a Black person might have, whether in sports, law, medicine, the armed forces, the clergy, or government. I love the quote from the Chicago Defender: “Chicago: with the freedom to all men and favors to none, has been able to bring out the best in all its citizens,” which was part of the information packet Balcerzak gave as part of the tour.

This platform reminds me of StreetWise, in that it allowed Blacks to do something for themselves: to be able to come together, to think and operate as a unit, to uplift and really demonstrate positively Black community.

I am grateful for the white business leaders Julius Rosenwald and Cyrus McCormick, who gave generously to the building funds, and to Mr. James H. Tilghman, the first Black donor to the campaign. He gave his entire life savings of $1,000. There were also many Blacks who met Rosenwald’s challenge to raise $50,000 in ten days. Personally, I appreciated the Black Masons, the Knights of Pythias, the Odd Fellows, who participated in the parade that followed the laying of the cornerstone in 1912, which created more attention.

And it was one of my heroes, the great orator Booker T. Washington, who wrote the book that inspired Rosenwald to make his challenge grant offer.

Balcerzak, to my surprise, was Caucasian, but very knowledgeable about Black history and this restored YMCA that catered to Blacks in the early 1900s. As for the young Black men outside the building, they were part of the positive, Heartland Alliance/Centers for New Horizons READI program that was geared toward helping young people in the Englewood area deal with gun issues.

This all was a demonstration that Black Lives do Matter. Not a protest or a demonstration to be seen of men and news media, but accomplished with real unity, support, dedication, commitment. We’ve come a long way in declaring Black Lives Matter, but we still need more programs like the Wabash YMCA of a century ago – not graffiti – looting and violence.

pair. In 1982, the YMCA sold the building to neighboring St. Thomas Episcopal Church for $1. A decade later, St. Thomas was joined by Apostolic Faith Church, Quinn Chapel AME and St. Elizabeth Catholic Church in forming The Renaissance Corporation to save the Wabash Y from demolition. However, the building sat empty until 2000.

TRC and founding Executive Director Patricia Abrams raised $11 million to renovate the building; in 2000, the Renaissance Apartments and Fitness for Life Center opened: 101 apartments with their own bathrooms and kitchenettes, and wraparound services for formerly homeless adults.

Ascoli helped with restoration of William Edouard Scott’s 30-foot-long by 8-foot high ballroom mural that depicted the “Spirit of the YMCA” as conceived by branch director George R. Arthur. Unveiled in 1936, its central figure is a youth who has just come to the big city; life at the Y affords him his choice of careers.

“It’s sort of history repeating itself,” Ascoli said. “The community built it and is now working to restore it. I am very proud. I was brought up to understand something about philanthropy and I practice it a bit.”

Since then, TRC has also developed Bronzeville Green Organic Landscaping to provide jobs in lawn care; and Senior Village 1: 71 affordable units at 346 E. 53rd St.

Next on TRC’s agenda is Senior Village 2, an intergenerational facility for seniors raising grandchildren; a workforce center down the street that will promote environmental sustainability and use netzero energy – and remodeling the Renaissance Apartments after 20 years, preserving their affordability.

Tours of the former Wabash YMCA will be offered during Black History Month at 10:30 a.m. February 11, 18 and 25; after that, tours will be at 10:30 a.m. on second Saturdays. Pre-registration is not required and there is no charge, but a $20 donation is requested from those who can afford it. More information is available at livinglandmark.org and Eventbrite.

The "Healthiest Baby Campaign" (Special Collections and University Archives, University of Illinois at Chicago photo).

To solve the Sudoku puzzle, each row, column and box must contain the

Last week's Puzzle Answers

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