Can you even imagine what it’s like to have a gun held to your head as a fourth grader?
That’s the scary reality that some of the teens at Chicago’s South’s Side Harper High School (which boasts a strikingly high drop-out rate) have faced. Being a student there tests the wills of young men, so Tim Jackson, a counselor for the Becoming a Man program, is trying to get these boys to break out of the cycle that is so ingrained in them and to help them succeed in life.
According to the New York Times, the program “requires providing these teenagers with an objective in life — a visionary goal — worth saving themselves for.” Providing the boys with goals gives them a chance to move up the ladder of opportunity, which otherwise, thanks to the income gap, may seem entirely impossible to achieve.
The bigger the income gap of a state, the harder economic mobility is for future generations, according to the phenomenon “The Great Gatsby Curve,” dubbed so by economist Alan B. Krueger. More research by economics professors Melissa S. Kearny and Phillip B. Levine has shown that inequality continues generation to generation, and the bigger the income gap, the more likely young men are to drop out of high school.
There are many other possible reasons for these results, but all are challenged in their report and none can explain away the effect of inequality. Their discoveries are similar to an earlier study of the likelihood of teenage girls becoming single mothers where the income gap is large.
“Economic despair” is the term given when children believe the middle class is unattainable — and thus, have no desire to invest in their own future to get there. This falls in line with research, like a study of juvenile offenders from Philadelphia and Arizona that found those who didn’t think they had a long future ahead committed more crime than people expecting to live long lives.
The model of economic despair helps researchers to realize just how tough it is for young people to feel they can succeed. On top of that, Laurence Stainberg, a professor of psychology at Temple University in Philadelphia explains, “the decisions you make in your teens are going to determine in some sense how the rest of your life is going to be.”
With new programs like the one Mr. Jackson is running, there is a hope that perceptions can be altered.
Ms. Kearney explained, “the kinds of interventions we need are those that shape the opportunity sets and the perception of opportunity of these kids.” Becoming a Man aims to do just that by helping young boys develop dreams for the future — thus, planting the seeds of success.
Tag: Chicago
Watch How a Group of Noncustodial Fathers Are Helping Each Other Become Better Dads
On the second floor of the Dawson Technical Institute on Chicago’s South Side, a dozen African-American men sit around a conference table discussing the trials of fatherhood. “I see some of me in a few of my sons. Mostly the bad stuff, but I’m trying to change that,” says Eugene Bradford, a father of 18 kids with 13 different mothers. Others around the table nod in agreement. The meeting is a weekly group-counseling session, the centerpiece of the Fathers, Families and Healthy Communities (FFHC) program, a nonprofit in Chicago that helps African-American noncustodial fathers play more significant roles in their children’s lives. Sequane Lawrence, who holds a master’s degree in community economic development, founded the program over a decade ago to help African American men with a variety of social services. In 2011, he decided to focus specifically on reconnecting noncustodial fathers to their children, which he believes is a key strategy to combat the cycle of poverty in African-American communities, where nearly 70 percent of children are born into single-parent families. “When a father’s engaged, they are better off. They graduate from high school, girls are less likely to get pregnant,” Lawrence says. “To put it in a more positive way, they become really productive members of their community.”
Bradford sought help from the group a few months ago after he missed child-support payments and, following Illinois state law, had his driver’s license revoked. FFHC has been working on refinancing Bradford’s child support and helping him get his license back, but Bradford says he has received more from the program than expected. He says the group sessions in particular have taught him to connect in new ways with a number of his children. “It’s been enlightening since the first day,” he says. (Bradford’s case — 18 kids with 13 mothers — is an extreme example of an FFHC father, according to Lawrence. The typical man who arrives on FFHC’s doorstep is in his 30s with two or three children from different mothers.) Since FFHC started three years ago, Lawrence says he has helped around 150 fathers manage child-support payments, find work and improve relations with their children.
From Seed to Harvest, These Green Thumbs Nourish Chicago School Gardens
Gardens are a good thing. Period. But in an inner-city school, they’re wonderful. They provide hands-on lessons on how plants grow and encourage kids to eat nutritiously. Plus, the green space beautifies the school.
But starting a school garden and maintaining it turns out to be more complicated than some might think. That’s because everyone is excited to plant one initially, but if teachers are solely responsible for their upkeep, they can become too busy with classroom duties and might not be around over the summer when the plants need tending.
Fortunately, that’s where the nonprofit Gardeneers comes in. It offers a program to plant gardens at Chicago schools and maintain them while also providing lesson plans and a weekly visiting teacher.
Teach for America alumni May Tsupros and Adam Zmick, who founded the Gardeneers, explain on a crowd fundraising website that their model for becoming rotating garden specialists is based on the idea of a visiting speech pathologist, who rotates to a different school each day of the week. The Gardeneers rotate among schools, teaching lessons during school related to the curriculum in such subjects as chemistry, biology, and nutrition, and then enlist the kids’ help to tend the plants in the after school garden clubs.
During the summer, the nonprofit organizes neighborhood volunteers to help keep the plants thriving. The Gardeneers make sure the garden’s produce reaches the children’s lunch plates, coordinating with cafeteria staff to ensure everybody gets to taste the bounty.
According to Cortney Ahem of Food Tank, the Gardeneers offer their services throughout the growing season to schools for a maximum of $10,000, compared to the $35,000 some companies charge for garden installations alone.
Three Chicago schools have jumped at the chance to work with the Gardeneers this growing season, and Zmick and Tsupros hope to expand that to 50 schools during the next five years. They plan to focus on schools where 90 percent or more of the students qualify for free or reduced lunch.
Zmick told Ahem, “School gardens are incredibly important from an educational perspective. There’s so much data about how these gardens can improve academic outcomes, reduce discipline problems, develop job skills, and strengthen the local community.”
Tsupros thinks gardens can be the key to national renewal. “I believe with all my heart that food, nutrition, and community are the foundations on which we need to build and focus our attention regarding education in Chicago and all the United States. One small seed can grow a bountiful harvest, and I hope that Gardeneers can be that seed.”
MORE: Read About The Nonprofit That Grows Not Just Food, But A Community Too
One Artist Turns a Pothole Problem Into a Public Art Project
After enduring a punishing winter with below zero temperatures and heaps of snow, Chicagoans are finally enjoying some better weather. But along with those warmer days come one of the city’s biggest nuisances: Potholes.
Every year when the ice thaws and the streets crack into mangled turf, residents grouse about the countless road dimples, but invariably, the city cannot fill them up fast enough. This year, Chicago saw one of the worst pothole seasons on record, with 47,500 pothole complaints between December and March alone. The Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) assumes there’s at least five unreported potholes for every complaint — meaning that officials estimate there’s a minimum of least 60,000 holes that remain unfilled, according to the Chicago Tribune.
With only 30 pothole crews, that’s a problem.
But instead of getting mad, 49-year-old Jim Bachor is getting creative. During February of last year, Bachor shared the plight of navigating through his northwest side’s pock-marked streets. With the help of his 87-year-old neighbor’s watchful eye, one night Bachor snuck out onto the street and filled a pothole with a 16-by-24-inch mosaic he designed to look like the Chicago flag, emblazoned with the label, “Pothole.”
Bachor, an artist and former advertising executive, has since made five more mosaics and has at least two more in the pipeline, according to Fast Company.
MORE: What New York’s Bryant Park Can Teach Other Cities About Caring for Public Spaces
“What really drew me to the mosaics originally was the permanence of the artwork. When I first went to work in the late ‘90s and came across the ancient mosaics still intact 2,000 years later it blew me away,” Bachor said. “Potholes can never be solved. They come back every year. They keep people employed, but it’s always a temporary solution.”
Each mosaic costs the professional artist and stay-at-home-dad about $50 for marble and materials and takes at least 10 hours to dry, which is why you won’t see these pot-art pieces proliferating around town.
“When I’m doing this kind of stuff, it’s amazing the percentage of people who pay no attention. And then there are people who stop by and say, ‘Thanks for beautifying our neighborhood,’” Bachor said. “One guy stopped to thank me and gave me a coffee and a Danish.”
While it’s not a practical solution, Bachor’s work is brightening up communities and turning an annual headache into a neighborhood beautification tactic. As for the CDOT, while they’re not advocating Bachor or others take on the task of filling in potholes, they’re certainly not discouraging the pleasant addition.
“Mr. Bachor and his art are proof that even the coldest, harshest winter can not darken the spirits of Chicagoans,” an official city statement said.
Cooking Up Change at an Illinois Prison
Teach a man to fish, and he’ll never go hungry, the old saying goes. And while it’s hard to fish while incarcerated, organizers of a new program at the Cook County Jail, hope the same general philosophy holds true for teaching a man to cook.
A 90-day pilot program, which requires three hours each day, aims to teach inmates employable kitchen skills, DNAinfo Chicago reports. The added bonus? Work ethic and food lessons that can be used throughout the participants’ lives.
This jailhouse prison kitchen remains a far cry from a chef’s prep station, however. Knives are tied down; there’s not a soufflé in sight. But inmates find the lessons revelatory. (For some of the men, the first class marked their first whiff ever of fresh basil!) Some say the basement cookery stands as their first practical job skill education. They’re not only learning nutrition facts (think: olive oil instead of a fast-food fry-up), but how to employ all of their senses as they see, touch, smell, and taste.
“In three months, I can’t do miracles,” chef and teacher Bruno Abate told DNAinfo Chicago. “My mission is to transfer to them the love of food.”
Lieutenant. D. Delitz, who oversees the program, chose 24 participants out of a pool of 70 applicants.
Cook County hosts a broad range of programs for inmates, including seminars on parenting for men who had few, if any, male role models in their lives, reports WTTW. Organizers of the so-called Alpha Parenting Course (which is getting quite a bit of attention), say they believe theirs is the first such prison-based parenting counseling sessions in the nation (a similar one was discovered on the other side of the world, in New Zealand).
“These guys are definitely street smart but something like being a father has never been passed down,” Ebenezer Amalraj, a volunteer, told WTTW. “We want them to take our lessons, pass it on and have an influence on their legacy. We want them to make a difference and break the cycle.”
No word on whether inmates overlap between cooking and parenting. But now there’s hope that as they emerge from their sentences, maybe they’ll be able to make a better life for themselves — and their families.
Watch: How One Chicago Restaurant Went Totally Trash-Free
According to the Green Restaurant Association, the average restaurant in the U.S. produces 150,000 pounds of garbage each year. Café owner Justin Vrany thinks this number cannot only be reduced, but eliminated entirely. His Chicago-based eatery has produced an astonishing 8 gallons of garbage (pictured above) in the last two years. According to Vrany, that bag of trash was recently picked up by a local artist, who will transform it into a sculpture — now making Sandwich Me In a zero-waste restaurant.
Watch and see how this restaurant operates with clean dumpsters, and learn the story behind its remarkable owner.
In a Bold Move, Chicago Gives DREAMers a Shot at Summer Jobs
Who knows how long congress will continue to drag its feet on immigration reform, but luckily for immigrants across the country, local and state governments have decided they can’t wait.
From coast to coast, Americans are implementing their own reforms, including offering in-state tuition to immigrants, making it easier for them to get a bank account, or even passing their own (non-enforceable) immigration laws. The latest effort in this grassroots immigration reform effort comes from Chicago, where Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced on April 11 that 23,000 city positions will be open to immigrants who were brought here as children.
These immigrants, known as DREAMers for the long-delayed Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act that would provide them with a path to citizenship and access to higher education if it ever passes, can now apply for 30 mayor’s office fellowships, 500 city internships, and 22,000 jobs in the city’s summer jobs program: One Summer Chicago. To qualify, applicants must have been brought to the United States as children, have lived here for five years, and kept out of trouble with the law. The city will publicize the opportunities in neighborhoods with high percentages of immigrants.
“Chicago is a city that was built by immigrants, and I am committed to ensuring that DREAMers have the same opportunities offered by the city to all of Chicago’s youth,” Emanuel said, according to Greg Hinz of Crain’s Chicago Business. “We will open doors to support talented young people.”
MORE: Tired of Waiting for Immigration Reform, One Man is Giving Undocumented Students a Shot at the American Dream
How Do You Redevelop an Infamous Housing Project? Chicago Has an Idea
When the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) broke ground on the Cabrini-Green public housing project in 1942, the country was undergoing a rash of urban renewal initiatives. City officials were clearing out slums and placing residents into affordable housing. At its peak, the Frances Cabrini Row-houses and William Green Homes housed 15,000 people. The tide turned on these residences, however. By the time the last of the network of high-rises and row houses was demolished in 2011, the project was infamous for gang violence and squalid living conditions.
With only scattered low-rise units and dozens of acres of vacant land remaining, CHA has a new idea for urban renewal. The “Plan Forward: Communities That Work” proposal, introduced last year, aims to redevelop Cabrini-Green and the Near North Side, in addition to replacing or rehabbing 25,000 subsidized housing units in the city by 2015 (a goal originally set for 2010), reports Atlantic Cities.
A PDF of the plan envisions the area to include new buildings, retail, green space, and a new L-train station. An area once known for its housing units will become home to a mix of residential property types: CHA says half the new residential units to be market rate, another 30 percent public housing, and the remaining 20 percent affordable housing.
The proposal also breathes new life into what remains of Cabrini-Green. Though all of the William Green Homes have been razed, the Francis Cabrini row homes still stand. The remaining 583 72-year-old structures are eligible for the National Park Service’s register for historic properties. About 150 of those units were renovated in 2008, while the the others remain vacant. CHA’s new plan recommends preserving 30 percent of those and demolishing the remaining units to extend the nearby street grid.
In the Near North Side, where Cabrini-Green once fully stood, gentrification has taken root, alarming critics that worry about how the plan will serve the residents that used to live there. With a Target and high-end condos already in the neighborhood, is time already up for them? Lawrence Vale wrote for Design Observer in 2012, that “in the coming years the former site of Cabrini-Green will fill up with new housing; and there is equally little doubt that not much of this housing will serve the residents who once lived in the vanished projects.”
Things like 2000’s Consent Decree for the residences of Cabrini-Green seems to address these concerns. The decree includes a mandate for 700 public housing units in the Near North Area and the creation of the “Near North Working Group.” As of now, 434 units have been built. The NNWG, represented by a collection of government and housing officials, now provides “overall direction” for future development.
According to Atlantic Cities, a request for proposals from developers is expected sometime this month; after that, new designs will go through a public approval process and financing still has to be secured. But with a year to go until 25,000 units are replaced or rehabbed, there is still hope for the land that once was Cabrini-Green.
Meet the Cabbie Who Goes the Extra Mile When Others Drive Right On By
Just think of the frustration you feel when taxi after taxi drives right past you, despite your outstretched hand. Now imagine how much worse it feels when cabs are zipping by because you’re in a wheelchair.
Traveling with a disability can be difficult enough — but cab drivers like Tarig Kamill make hailing a taxi less difficult.
That’s because, as the Chicago Tribune reports, Kamill gave 1,821 rides to passengers in wheelchairs last year alone. His service has earned him 60 nominations from his customers for the Windy City’s annual Taxicab Driver Excellence Award.
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The 52-year-old Chicago cab driver, who rents his wheelchair accessible van from a dispatch company, said he’s seen drivers who ignore potential passengers because they don’t want the hassle of loading a wheelchair into the cab.
“I see these drivers, and I think they are lazy,” the cabbie (who’s been driving a taxi for 11 years) told the publication. “They can make more money picking up passengers along the street, so they don’t want to bother. They don’t see that they have a responsibility to help other people.”
William Hayes, a passenger who nominated Kamill, praised the cab driver for helping these individuals from door to door. “[He will] try to help you in any way he can,” Hayes said. “He guides his clients on and off the vehicle with the utmost consideration for the client’s well-being and safety. He will assist you up to your front door and inside the building.”
ALSO: A Cute Little Car That Takes Wheelchair Users Everywhere
Mayor Rahm Emanuel recently presented Kamill with the award along with a free taxi medallion worth $350,000 at Olive-Harvey College.
Kamill, a former Sudanese computer engineer, said he wants to use the money to buy his own taxi. “I won’t see the savings this year because I have to purchase my own taxi,” he told the Tribune. “But once it’s paid for, it’s going to make a big, big difference for my family. I cannot even begin to explain the difference.”
“It makes me proud to read all these things,” he added about his nominations. “I want to do more. I want to provide more rides and help more people. That’s what this award has done for me.”
Will Chicago Be the Next City to Outlaw Plastic Bags?
Is Chicago the next San Francisco? Alderman Joe “Proco” Moreno, sponsor of a proposal that would prohibit retailers from handing out plastic bags, thinks so.
He says that the city council has the 26 required votes to rid the Windy City of this common pollutant. “I’m very confident we have the votes,” Moreno told the Chicago Sun-Times. “We’ve been kicking this around for years. I’m not a very patient guy, but I’ve been patient on this. It’s time to move.”
Last year, Mayor Rahm Emanuel derailed a previous version of the bill, which would have forbidden retailers with more than 5,000 square feet of floor space from supplying customers with plastic bags. The new bill, co-sponsored by Ald. Chairman George Cardenas, is even stricter — it includes the small vendors who were originally excluded from the ordinance. “We were letting smaller stores off the hook,” Moreno said. “But some aldermen were concerned. They said, ‘All I have is small stores in my ward. If you don’t cover them, my ward is still gonna look like crap with bags all over the place.’”
MORE: Now Banned in Hawaii: Plastic Bags
To support these smaller businesses during the transition of turning Chicago into a plastic-bag free zone, Cardenas says that the council is considering up to a three-year exemption period to allow them to get acclimated. As for the Mayor’s office, while Emanuel himself has yet to respond, his office has released a statement saying, “We have not yet reviewed this proposed ordinance, but share Ald. Moreno’s commitment to ensuring a cleaner Chicago. We look forward to seeing a final ordinance after the alderman works with his colleagues, community leaders and the business community.”
Meanwhile, the Illinois Retail Merchants Association claimed that the plastic bag ban would effectively levy a “tax on retailers,” since paper bags cost three times as much. The group’s vice president, Tanya Triche, says that in order for the ban to work, the city council would have to allow a 10-cent tax on paper bags, as well, which would persuade shoppers to bring their own bags. Without it, they would risk losing jobs in the industry. But for Cardenas, a 10-cent charge isn’t an option. “That’s a tax. I don’t want to tax anything right now,” he said.
MORE: These Women Are Doing Something Amazing With Simple Plastic Bags
Moreno estimates that 3.7 million plastic bags are used citywide daily — 3 to 5 percent of which become litter. These bags not only are present on streets and in trees and parks, but also get stuck in drains, causing flooding, clog landfills, jam recycling plants, and harm animals. Los Angeles and San Francisco have both banned plastic bags, and the state of California is currently pushing for a statewide ban. In December, Hawaii became the first U.S. state to ban the bag, but judging by how much the idea is growing in popularity — and considering that nearly 100 billion plastic bags are used in the U.S. every year — we’re guessing it won’t be the last.
ALSO: What Would a City With No Plastic Bags Look Like?