VIDEO
Rauner budget cuts threaten many with homelessness
Published by: Medill Reports
May 19, 2015
Governor Bruce Rauner’s proposed budget cuts for supportive housing and other homelessness prevention services will impact more than 12,500 of Illinois’s most vulnerable households, according to Chicago Coalition for the Homeless and Housing Action Illinois.
Supportive services, like those offered by Mercy Housing in Chicago, provide safety nets like mental and substance abuse counseling and access to computer labs, job training and financial literacy classes that help get people back into the work force. Mercy Housing staff say while stable housing is immediately important, it’s the case management services that keep residents off the streets in the long term.
Obama to Designate Pullman as first national monument in chicago
Published by: Medill Reports
Feb 19, 2015
President Obama will arrive this Thursday in the Pullman Historic District to officially designate the neighborhood as the first national monument in Chicago. Pullman will join the ranks of the Statue of Liberty in telling the nation’s story.
George Pullman is a controversial 19th century railroad industrialist who created an experimental town to house his workforce. Most of the original buildings are still standing today. Pullman’s company town played an important role in labor history and early African American civil rights history.
Many neighborhood residents are elated about the designation but others remain skeptical.
New park ranger, pullman residents look to future of historic pullman
Published by: Medill Reports
April 2, 2015
The Pullman neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side has always been a place where worlds and ideas collide. Some of America’s most important disputes between factory owners and factory workers, African Americans and white Americans, and preservationists and city planners have taken place here. Following Pullman’s designation as a national monument by President Obama, the National Park Service has set up shop in the neighborhood. Community members discuss their ideas for the future of Pullman while the new park ranger shares next steps for the new Park Service property.