Productive Men of the CHA

by  

Robert is the newly elected Local Advisory Council vice president in Lathrop Homes. Robert has been involved in the community for the past 5 years and has been a member of the tenant patrol in the 26th Ward. He also serves as the area president where he lives and is involved with the 19th District Community Alternative Policing Strategy (CAPS) as well as the summer food program.

Presently, he is assisting residents who have to move. He feels very strongly about the work he does in the community and hopes to be of service to relocating residents with his own moving business. Davidson feels he is part of the team to make things better in his development and says his cause is to fight to make things better and help to make this relocation go smoothly.
Davidson said he wishes more residents would become more involved with resident-owned businesses.

“There are two things that we have in this country,” he said. “And that is a service and a product and we need to take advantage of this.”

Davidson has a lot of things he would like to do in the development this summer. So let’s give him the support he needs and come out and give him a hand to help to build a stronger community.

Murray Kelly
Murray Kelly is one of the many seniors that lives in public housing who I could never say enough about. He is always willing to give a helping hand if it is just to take people to the corner grocery store or the doctor’s office. I’ve known Kelly since before he came to senior housing and he’s always wearing a smile, even on his not so good days.

At church, he always volunteers when there is no one else around to open up the doors or if there is someone who needs a ride home.

Our seniors especially need to know how much they are appreciated while we can tell them.

Kelly still is a part of the tenant patrol and also has served on the Local Advisory Council and many other the things in the senior housing building where he lives in on the West Side.

Thank you, Kelly. Keep up the good work. Seniors like you make us want to be a part of the solution.

Gregory Collins
Gregory Collins is a young resident of Altgeld Gardens who has been there for the last 7 years. He has been very active in the development. He works with youths, providing services which are really what is needed right now, not just in CHA but everywhere.

Collins goes into his own pocket to pay for a lot of the things he does, especially now that a lot of the youth programs have been cut from CHA.

Collins has spoken with some of the politicians in his area. But so far, he has received no support to create a basketball program and a couple of other things he would like to do for the young people in the development.

This is what we see a lot: we have a young man who could be doing anything else and wants to do something good but can’t get a little help. Then, when the men don’t do anything, they are called lazy bums and so on.

Here are just a few of the things in which this young man is involved: He is on the boards of People for Community Recovery, a park district advisory council, and the Ford Motor Good Neighbor Agreement. He also served as precinct captain.

Collins said there once was a GED program in the development but now there isn’t. A lot of the young people that he works with would like to get their GED. If they could have a place to go in the development, he would like to help make that happen. A lot of young people – as well as older folks – just don’t have money for transportation to a GED program or another training program.

Keep up the good work, Greg.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Categories: Uncategorized