Who helps homeless “L” passengers?
By Harry Huggins Nicholas Saldana met Sarah Levine-Miles on the “L.” He might not have met her at all if it wasn’t so cold that morning last year. And without the chance meeting, Saldana might still be homeless. Saldana survived the cold by sleeping on the CTA Blue Line, riding it all the way from […]
Chicago’s Dress Shop Economy
By Harry Huggins Hilda Sanchez sits at her desk with a street view of one of Chicago’s biggest retail corridors. Nearby are three rows of dresses in a rainbow of vibrant colors with skirts that billow out at least two feet from the mannequins that wear them. Sanchez’s dress shop is one of many lining […]
Chicago architects design tiny solution to youth homelessness
By Harry Huggins Three Chicago-based architects won a competition to design a minuscule solution to a large problem, youth homelessness. The Chicago chapter of the American Institute of Architects announced Thursday that Terry Howell, Marty Sandberg and Lon Stousland won the first ever Tiny Homes Competition. A prototype of their design will take center stage […]
Outside Trump rally, protesters shout down hate
By Harry Huggins Video by Nikita Mandhani and Bian Elkhatib Thousands of protesters gathered outside GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump’s rally at the University of Illinois at Chicago Pavilion Friday afternoon and evening. As fellow protesters inside disrupted the event and eventually contributed to its postponement, the outside protesters chanted insults about Trump and his […]
Chicago’s homeless discouraged from voting in primaries
By Harry Huggins While Chicagoans line up next Tuesday to vote in the presidential primaries, those who suffer from policy and market failures will be on the streets and in shelters. In 2013, former Governor Pat Quinn signed the Illinois Bill of Rights for the Homeless, which includes the right to vote, register to vote […]
Activists support Logan Square resident against predatory developer
By Harry Huggins Rosalinda Hernandez has lived in the Logan Square area for more than 20 years. But the tide of development–and one particularly predatory developer–threatens to push her out of the community she loves.
Chicago legal center pilots job training, housing program
By Harry Huggins Fredrick Dennis, Darrin Brown and Cecil Palmer are three young men renovating their own apartment on Chicago’s West Side. They’re part of the MAC House, a new program from the Lawndale Christian Legal Center that combines transitional housing with job training. The guys in the program have one thing in common: they’ve […]
Logan Square Protesters Fear Gentrification
By Harry Huggins On a freezing cold Thursday morning, a dozen protesters gathered outside a Blue Line station in Logan Square. They handed out flyers to the commuters sidling by them, and they chanted. “We are many! We are tough! Ten percent is not enough!”
Volunteers Count Chicago’s Homeless
By Harry Huggins Hundreds of volunteers canvased Chicago late Jan. 26 to count every person sleeping in the city’s parks and underpasses. I drove around Chicago’s Near West Side with Dorothy Yancy, Phoebe DePree and Carolyn Hankins-Page for five hours that night as part of the annual point in time count. The survey takes place […]
Little Village residents welcome diversity, fear rising rents
By Harry Huggins Residents of Chicago’s largely Hispanic Little Village neighborhood are excited to greet their increasingly diverse neighbors, but the area’s popularity comes at the expense of long-time tenants who grew up in a community with more affordable housing. Jesus Zamudio was born and raised in Little Village, which is just west of Pilsen […]
