ComEd’s green energy innovation is partnering with historic Bronzeville

By Jillian Melero Medill Reports Bronzeville, the South Side home of Chicago’s Black Renaissance and the birthplace of Black History Month, hopes to launch its next Golden Age with support from a smart microgrid being installed by utility ComEd. The microgrid will tap green energy to help power the community. Once completed in 2019, the […]

Partnership between ComEd and Bronzeville creates new opportunities on the South Side

by Jillian Melero Medill Reports Paula Robinson has been president of Bronzeville’s Community Development Partnership, a neighborhood advisory group, for 29 years. She co-founded the Urban Innovation Center, a business incubator focused on tourism, technology, and transportation, with Bruce Montgomery in 2006. Between her roles in community development and technology innovation, Robinson has been a […]

Musical celebrating Chicago’s black cultural history to debut at the Chicago Theater

"Bronzeville The Musical" at the Chicago Theater

By Marisa Endicott For one night this Saturday, Bronzeville is taking over the Chicago Theater. “Bronzeville The Musical” tells the story of the Great Migration, the exodus of African-Americans from southern states to northern cities during the greater part of the 20th century. The musical, an original production by the Chicago-based Mahdi Theatre Company, celebrates the arrival […]

First Chicago Black Restaurant Week celebrates community and brings in new business

By Marisa Endicott The first annual Chicago Black Restaurant Week concluded Saturday. Seventeen restaurants from the city and suburbs participated in the event launched by social media specialist Lauran Smith. Smith chose the second week in February to correspond with Negro History Week, the precursor to Black History Month founded by Carter G. Woodson. “It […]

Urban League panel works out community trust issues

By Thomas Vogel Video by Hannah Gebresilassie Police tactics, mental-health awareness and youth engagement were top concerns for a panel of community leaders, government officials and media personalities assembled Tuesday for a community forum at the South Side headquarters of the Urban League of Chicago. [vimeo 155727836 w=474] Representatives from Chicago Police Department, community leaders […]