Members Join Stop The Violence Rally And March

Action Now members at the beginning of the rally at St. James Cathedral

On April 2nd, Action Now members joined hundreds of people from other organizations and congregations for a march against violence. Since 2008, more than 630 young people have been killed in Chicago. This issue is very important to Action Now members because, like most Chicago citizens, many have to deal with neighborhood crime on a daily basis.

 

As Action Now Leader Annie Harris said, “Every night I’m hearing gunshots, and then the next morning I hear that somebody’s been killed.”

Click here to watch NBC Channel 5 News coverage of the march showing Action Now members with a clip of Annie Harris speaking.

Action Now Day In Springfield!

Action Now President Michelle Young with Representative Esther Golar

On March 22nd, around 75 Action Now members traveled to Springfield for “Action Now Day” at the Capitol. We went to Springfield to speak to legislators about vital bills that impact working families in Illinois. There was also a rally held in the Capitol Rotunda where Action Now leaders spoke about legislation that was important to them and why our organization supported it. Senator Kimberly Lightford, Representative Esther Golar and Senator William Delgado also spoke at the rally.

Action Now members at the rally in the Capitol Rotunda!

Here is a short synopsis of the bills we support in the Illinois General Assembly:

• Minimum Wage: Senate Bill 1565 would increase the minimum wage each year until it reaches its historic level of $10.65 by 2014 and after that the minimum wage would simply be adjusted each year to keep up with the cost of living. Raising the minimum wage would pull working families out of poverty and help the Illinois economy by creating 20,000 new jobs and over $1 billion in consumer spending.

• 

  Senator Kimberly Lightford and Action Now Board Member Charles Brown

  Vacant Properties: Senate Bill 16 would authorize local governments to enact ordinances that hold financial institutions responsible for maintaining and securing vacant properties. Vacant buildings blight our neighborhoods and drain municipal budgets. This legislation would make it clear that local governments can hold lenders and servicers responsible for maintaining and securing such properties.

• Grow Your Own Teachers:  House Bill 4049 and Senate Bill 2872 would fully fund the Grow Your Own Teacher Program at $2.5 million for fiscal year 2013 in order to make gains and graduate more highly effective teachers of color. GYO has over 100 graduates with an average GPA of 3.3 that are highly qualified to teach in hard to staff positions in schools where the majority of students are low-income African-American and Latino children.

• Expungement: Senate Bill 3488 would make it a civil rights violation to refuse to sell, rent or deny housing to an individual simply because they have an arrest (rather than a conviction) record, or a legally expunged or sealed record.

• Education: HB 4487 and SB 3239 would provide for a moratorium on schools closings, consolidations and phase-outs in the 2012-2013 school year. They would require the district to establish policies that address and remedy the academic performance of schools, as well as clear criteria for decisions like closings, consolidations and phase-outs. SB 3362 would create maximums for school class sizes in Chicago public schools.

If you support some or all of these bills, let your voice be heard! Please call your State Senator and/or Representative and tell them how you feel.

You can find your legislators by clicking here and entering your address.

Action Now Rally At Scrap Metal Yard!

Action Now at JB Metals in Englewood

Action Now members from the Englewood community held a press conference on March 15th, 2012 to demand the closure of scrap metal yards that buy and sell stolen metal that has been stripped from vacant buildings, residents’ homes and churches.

Many Action Now members have reported at neighborhood meetings that vacant buildings on their block have been stripped of pipes, aluminum siding and any valuable metal that can be sold. Stripping vacant properties of metal and selling it at scrap yards has become so profitable that vandals now steal metal from any property, whether it is occupied or not.

Alderman Toni Foulkes speaking about the stolen property she has seen bought and sold at JB Metals

Members have had fences, gutters, air conditioning units and other valuables stolen and then sold to scrap metal yards, like JB Metals, for profit. These scrap metal yards serve as a fence for the buying and selling of stolen property and Action Now members want them shut down.

Action Now members after the rally

The theft of metal from vacant buildings has been a well-known problem for years that severely decreases the value of surrounding homes. Action Now members that live in Englewood are trying to revitalize their community and build it back up, but it is very difficult when improvements that they make to their homes are being stolen and sold to scrap metal yards. Many times, these businesses are being run by people that don’t even live in the community. They are subsidizing the theft of metal from residents’ homes and in turn, are furthering the destruction of Englewood.

Action Now members spoke at the rally as well as Alderman Toni Foulkes. We also had a shopping cart full of metal as a symbol of the metal theft problem in the community.

Press coverage:

Gapers Block, “Action Now Protests Scrap Yard Accepting Stolen Property”

Video of Alderman Toni Foulkes speaking at the rally:

Fair Tax Rally At Chase Plaza And Board Of Trade

Action Now's Kim Harden calling on Chase Bank and Glenn Tilton to pay their fair share in taxes!

Action Now joined members of Stand Up Chicago, SEIU and the Grassroots Collaborative to call on the rich in Illinois to pay their fair share of taxes. Illinois legislators keep saying our state is in a budget crisis and they use that as an excuse to make huge cuts to services for working families. Yet these same politicians just gave over $100 MILLION in tax breaks for big corporations like Sears and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange! If Illinois has no money, then why are our legislators handing out millions of dollars to the rich while working families are suffering?

Marching to the Board of Trade!

The bottom line is that the rich don’t pay their fair share of taxes, and as a result, people are losing their jobs, homes and public services. The Fair Tax rally began at Chase Plaza where Action Now leader Kim Harden spoke about Chase Bank’s Midwest Chairman Glenn Tilton, who made $3.4 million in 2010 (according to BusinessWeek). Chase Bank has profited from kicking families out of their homes, which has left thousands of vacant buildings behind that destroy our communities! Glenn Tilton and Chase Bank owe Illinois citizens. We invest in their companies, but they don’t invest in the people of Illinois by paying fair taxes!

Rallying at the Board of Trade

Corporations and rich CEOs use loopholes and tax breaks as a way to avoid paying the state of Illinois what they owe. It is unjust that the working and middle class make less money, but pay more in taxes. Ordinary Illinoisans should not be blamed for the struggling economy, because it’s the rich that are bleeding our state dry! It’s time for the people of Illinois to stand up and say, “Pay your fair share, no more corporate welfare!”

Action Now Joins Grassroots Collaborative To Demand That G8 Funds Be Given To Neighborhoods!

President Barack Obama recently decided to move this year’s G8 Summit from Chicago to Camp David. Action Now joined other organizations in the Grassroots Collaborative for a press conference to call on World Business Chicago to donate the $65 million it raised for the summit to fund neighborhood jobs programs.

Grassroots Collaborative's mock check for $100 million from World Business Chicago to Working Families of Chicago for Neighborhood Stabilization and Growth!

“Chicago cannot become the global city it aspires to be without first ensuring safety for all its residents. Too many Chicagoans, especially in the Black and Latino communities, live daily with violence, foreclosed abandoned houses, and high unemployment,” said Charles Jenkins from the Chicago Coalition of the Homeless.

“If [Mayor Rahm Emanuel] can ask World Business Chicago to fund $65 million for this NATO summit, surely he can ask them to fund a neighborhood jobs trust with $100 million as a part of his job plan,” said Leary Ann Crawford of SEIU Healthcare.

Action Now members Jerry McDowell and Doretha Grafton at the press conference and rally

The Grassroots Collaborative found that $100 million would help create 41,666 summer jobs for youth, 10,810 parent patrols for one school year, or 4,358 full-time watchmen for vacant foreclosed properties for one year.

After the press conference, community members requested a meeting with WBC but were denied entrance to their offices.

Video:

Press coverage:

Progress Illinois, “Community Leaders Want G8 Money To Fund Jobs Programs”

The Gate, “Community Residents Request G8 Funds to Go Toward Job Creation, Safety”

Let Your Voice Be Heard!

There are two current items of legislation that we, as working families, need to take action on. One of the most effective ways of making our voices heard is by sending letters, signing petitions and calling our legislators to let them know what voters support.

Unsecured vacant building across the street from O'Toole Elementary

The first piece of legislation that we need to show support on is the Safe Passages Ordinance. This ordinance would require that watchmen be stationed at all unsecured vacant buildings within 1,000 yards of a school. Please sign our petition to Chicago Aldermen by clicking here!

There is also Senate Bill 3239 in Springfield that would put a moratorium on school closings and turnarounds. Please send a letter to your State Senator by clicking here!

Thank you for taking action and speaking up for working families!

Action Now Holds Vigil For Young Girl Raped While Walking To School

Action Now's vigil with Alderman Toni Foulkes, religious leaders and community members

Action Now members held a candlelight vigil on February 28th with other Englewood residents, religious leaders and Alderman Toni Foulkes for the 13 year old girl that was raped while walking to school in West Englewood.

On February 21^st, 2012 at 8:45 a.m. a 13-year-old girl was held at gunpoint and raped in an alley on the 5900 block of South Wood St. The young girl was pulled into the alley and then was assaulted in the gangway between two vacant buildings. This rape occurred two blocks away from the girl’s school, Earle Elementary, at 61^st and Hermitage Ave.

Vacant properties on the 5900 block of South Wood Street in West Englewood

This crime highlights two major issues plaguing the West Englewood community: the lack of safety for children who walk to and from school, and the large number of unsecured vacant buildings near schools. The Safe Passages Ordinance, currently in the Buildings Committee, addresses both of these problems by requiring that there be watchmen stationed at vacant buildings within 1,000 yards of a school. If the Safe Passages Ordinance had been passed and enforced, there would have been watchmen at the vacant buildings where the rape occurred, and this crime would not have happened.

Action Now member Pastor Joseph Kyle praying at the site of the crime

Action Now has been advocating for the Safe Passages Watchman Ordinance, but it has yet to be voted on by the City Council. Action Now members had hoped that it would be passed to prevent assault against children, but the delay has led to yet another horrible crime against a child that should have been protected.

Sign our petition to pass the Safe Passages Watchman Ordinance!

Also, call your Alderman and tell them you support the ordinance and they should too!

Press coverage:

CBS News, “Activists Rally To Support 13-Year-Old Rape Victim In Englewood” (video of vigil)

Univision, “Realizan vigilia tras violación de menor”

ABC News, “Vigil held for sex assault victim in West Englewood”

The Chicago Reporter, “Vacant properties around schools threaten the safety of students”

Action Now In The Chicago Tribune!

Herzl School Principal Refuses To Let Reporter Into Building To See Damage

Herzl Elementary (photo credit: WBEZ)

Chip Mitchell, a reporter at WBEZ (91.5 FM) was trying to investigate claims made by Herzl Elementary School parents that CPS has let the school building fall apart and refused to give it adequate resources. Parents say CPS is finally investing in the school, but it is only because they have decided to make it into an AUSL “turnaround” school.

When Mitchell tried to enter the school to see what parents were talking about, the principal refused to let him enter. Why was Mitchell not allowed in? Is it because the state of resources and funding for public schools in low-income minority neighborhoods is so deplorable that it is embarrassing to CPS? Is it because the conditions of the learning environment for Herzl school children exposes the REAL problem of racial and economic disparities in the way CPS funds and supports Chicago schools?

See for yourself. Click here to read/listen to Chip Mitchell’s story and interview with Herzl parent Lajuan Criswell.

Action Now Member Marsha Godard Receives Hardest Hit Funds

My name is Marsha Godard and I am a Board Member of Action Now. In 2009, I lost my job and had trouble making payments on monthly bills including my mortgage. During the next two years, I spent time looking for work and taking jobs that paid a lot less than I was used to, but I was doing anything I could to make ends meet. In March of 2011 I could no longer keep up with my bills and fell behind on my mortgage payment. I did not know where to turn. I had applied for a loan modification from Citimortgage when I lost my job, but had received no answer and was asked to send in the same paperwork over and over again. I was getting nowhere. When I started working with Action Now, I fought to help other homeowners navigate the complicated loan modification and foreclosure court system, yet my case was going nowhere.

 

In July 2011, I learned about the Illinois Hardest Hit Funds program. I was skeptical because I had tried many programs in the past and received no results. I applied in July and to my surprise, I was approved by October 2011! I almost thought that it couldn’t be true…but it was.

 

Now, I am working again and have received a lower monthly payment and help paying my arrears through the Hardest Hit Program. I now have a chance to get back on my feet.

 

I thank everyone from Action Now for the help I was able to receive. I fully support more funding and more resources for this program.

 

Thank you,

Marsha Godard
North Lawndale Neighborhood, Chicago, IL