Remember when summertime was a part of the year that all youngsters were looking forward to? That time of the year where Little League baseball, summer basketball and trips to the amusement park were commonplace throughout Chicagoland. But the last few years have seen long hot summers, especially in the Chicago Housing Authority. With residents living in developments that are being torn down and wondering what the future holds, gang crime and drug dealing getting completely out of hand, the youth of CHA are at a loss.

But it seems as though CHA, with the help of other corporations throughout Chicago, is trying to bring summer back to the people of public housing with a program called Safe Summer 97. The program was created to entertain and educate the people in public housing, according to Darlene Cocco, manager of Safe Summer 97, and Ron Carter, CHA’s director of Economic Development. Incorporating CHA’s usual array of summer programs with a number of new efforts, Safe Summer will help all residents ages 1 to 100. Nobody will be left out. Read more »