Editor’s Note: The following article was written by a youth reporter who is a graduate of the Urban Youth International Journalism Program.

Longtime community activist, organizer and veteran journalist Beauty Turner passed away on December 18, 2008. Referred to by many as voice of Chicago Housing Authority residents, she was known as a writer and fighter.

Turner died of complications due to a stroke. It was tragic that Beauty Turner had to leave this world at the early age of 51, but she will be remembered by her outstanding voice and that she fought for what’s right.
Read more »

Editor’s Note: The following article was written by a youth reporter who is a graduate of the Urban Youth International Journalism Program.

I moved from the Ida B. Wells homes to Wentworth Gardens in 2007. There’s a corner store and a gas station near Wentworth but no restaurants or large grocery stores. So the location is not ideal for a huge, more substantial grocery-shopping trip, which is needed from time to time. What the corner store and gas station do have is lots of unhealthy junk food, some loaves of bread and milk. They both do not have a lot of healthy choices to choose from.

I have to go a farther distance to shop for the necessary healthy foods that I have to eat. So, I am usually limited to unhealthy choices.
Read more »

Editor’s Note: The following article was written by a youth reporter who is a graduate of the Urban Youth International Journalism Program.

The things that come to a teenager’s mind…

I have realized how it feels to think less of myself. There are times when I just wanted to give up. Family, friends and school stress me out very much. In a way, I have to take care of my family.
Read more »

Editor’s Note: The following article was written by a youth reporter who is a graduate of the Urban Youth International Journalism Program.

A typical day at Chicago Military Academy in Bronzeville begins by waking up at 6 am, or 5 am if you have to take the train. When you get to school, you can rack up demerits, which are penalties, for not wearing black hats, scarves or gloves—and this is not a good thing.

If you can, eat breakfast in the morning, go to your locker and put away all your things. Afterwards, go down to formation where all the students meet up.
Read more »

Editor’s Note: The following article was written by a youth reporter who is a graduate of the Urban Youth International Journalism Program.

While I was standing in the lay-up line during pre-game warm ups at a recent away game at Dyett High School’s gymnasium, something was very different than previous games. My high school basketball team, Wendell Phillips, was playing a game at 3:30 p.m.— an early start time we were not familiar with.

I looked up and around the stands and saw Dyett fans screaming, “Go Eagles,” but not many fans screaming for our team. As I looked further around, I saw a big, empty space that looked as if it could hold a hundred people. In previous games, that space would have been filled with Phillips’ fans. The gym was empty because of a new fan restriction that prohibited fans of the opposing teams from attending games, unless they were pre-approved and screened by the host school.
Read more »

Editor’s Note: The following article was written by a youth reporter who is a graduate of the Urban Youth International Journalism Program.

My life has been hectic from the start. I grew up on the East Side of Chicago and have seen things I shouldn’t have seen and gone through things I shouldn’t have had to face.

I am a 14-year-old female and I know life is hard, so dying should be easy.
Read more »

Janice Patton gave up on the Plan for Transformation a long time ago. Patton moved out of Robert Taylor Homes in 2000, the same year Mayor Richard M. Daley announced the Plan. The mayor promised that residents who moved out temporarily could return shortly, after the high-rises were demolished and replaced with new, ‘mixed-income’ communities. Patton didn’t go too far from Robert Taylor, settling in the neighborhood just south of where the development stood. Like most of those who moved out, she used a Section 8 certificate – now known as Housing Choice Voucher – to subsidize her rent in a relatively well-managed, new construction development. Unlike many of her former neighbors, Patton never expected to come back.

“I left it and kept on going,” she explained. “I thought, ‘Let me get into a good building so I don’t have to move from place to place.’”
Read more »

This reporter was recently forwarded a press release which focused on the problem of homeless veterans recently discharged from active duty. The Jan. 5, 2009, press release was issued by the Illinois chapter of Volunteers of America indicated that “Nationally, over 200,000 are homeless on any given night in this country and more than 500,000 are homeless at some point during the year.” Erica Foreman, a community relations coordinator for Volunteers of America, said: “The lack of affordable housing – that is a big problem in Chicago and nationally, leaving many veterans in America homeless.

“A lot of people don’t realize how many homeless veterans there are. It is obscene. “There has never been affordable housing or sufficient job opportunities for these veterans. Volunteers of America has come up with its own affordable housing program that should be launched in 2010 on Madison and St. Louis on Chicago’s West Side. I think our communities should really get involved and contact local aldermen and governmental officials.”
Read more »

The new administration of President Barack Obama is apparently not very interested in sharing its plans for low-income people. Little has been announced publicly about what the administration will do for the poor in these hard economic times, and Residents’ Journal’s calls to the White House over a three-week period failed to get a comment by press time.

A lot of information is available on the White House web site, however. Here is a partial list: To tackle concentrated poverty, the Obama administration promises to create and establish 20 “Promise Neighborhoods in areas that have high levels of poverty and crime and low levels of student academic achievement in cities across the nation.” The program will be modeled after the Harlem Children’s Zone, which provides an entire neighborhood with services for young people at every age, including early childhood education, youth violence prevention efforts and after-school activities, according to the White House.
Read more »

The Harold Ickes public housing development is one of the last to go through change under the Chicago Housing Authority’s Plan for Transformation, now in its 10th year. All around the city, renovation and rehabilitation has brightened up the city’s neighborhoods. New architecture both outside and inside has replaced decades-old buildings with outdated floor plans and replacement housing for residents of CHA who are eligible for the Right to Return. As a long-time resident of Ickes, the most often question I am asked is, “What are ‘they’ going to do with Ickes?” And further, “Are ‘they’ going to tear down, rehabilitate or redevelop?” My answer is, “I don’t know.” I have inquired of persons in high places, and so far, the latest answer has been, “Nothing has been determined yet.” That was from Matthew Aguilar, CHA spokesperson. Aguilar did promise to inquire further and get back to me. I wait patiently.

I tried to check with the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). HUD published that “Harold Ickes was not subject to demolition.” But I was unable to speak directly to anyone. Even after many referrals from one individual to another, I still couldn’t get an answer. I wait patiently. As I continued to wait, I was drawn to CHA document FY2009, Moving to Work Annual Plan for Transformation Year 10. In it, on page 55, I found that Harold Ickes comes under the “Properties to be Redeveloped or Rehabilitated” section:
Read more »