Chatham
CBA Meeting Highlights Contracting Opportunities
Posted on 22. Feb, 2012 by citizen in Chatham, Local News
Chatham Business Associaton's vice chairman Joseph Caldwell addresses the membership body Feb. 14 . (L to R) CBA Vice Joseph Caldwell, board members John Griffin and Montel Gayle along with Alderman Michelle Harris (8th). (Photo by Thelma Sardin)
Access to contracting opportunities for business owners was at the top of the agenda at the Chatham Business Association’s monthly meeting last Tuesday morning.
Members were provided information on how to place bids to secure construction contracts for the build-out of two new charter schools in Chicago.
UNO Charter School Network (UNO) used the CBA meeting as a platform to invite minority business owners to apply for contracting opportunities. The organization manages nine charter schools in Chicago and is the largest direct-service charter school management firm in Illinois.
“Our approach to our project is to try to be as inclusive as we can,” said Andrew Alt, vice president of real estate and facilities for UNO. He added that the organization prides itself on ensuring there is a high level of participation among M/WBE enterprises and smaller corporations.
Representatives from architecture firms currently working with UNO on the project gave brief presentations of the schools’ floor plans and features. One of the new schools will be located on the city’s Northwest side while the other will be built on the Southwest side.
CBA President Marino Orlandi thanked UNO for sharing their business opportunities with its members.
“This is a very important first step in a partnership and we appreciate you coming out,” said Orlandi.
Ald. Michelle Harris, who gave opening remarks at the meeting, told the Chicago Citizen that business owners should also engage in building relationships with the surrounding residential community.
“When the residential community is in love with us and knows us on a personal basis, you’re more likely to get greater support,” said Harris. “It’s really important that as a business community, in CBA we start to embrace the residential component so they get to know who we are as businesses, what services and products we can deliver, [and] how that can start to support us and make us a more productive business community.”
CBA Vice Chairman Joseph Caldwell shared a special message for area business owners. “Those of you who are contractors, if you were called here this morning and asked to come in…it’s because we want you to take advantage of the opportunities.”
The vice chairman also emphasized the importance of jobs at the meeting’s closing.
“We talk about jobs in our community and how important they are and of course you’re here this morning because we want to create jobs,” said Caldwell. “We need jobs in our community, we need jobs in the City of Chicago, we need jobs in the United States of America.”
By Thelma Sardin
Twitter:@thelmasardin
AT&T Salutes African American Executives
Posted on 21. Feb, 2012 by citizen in Chatham, Local News
During Black History Month, AT&T is recognizing the accomplishments of its African American executives. Derrick F. Hamilton is Vice-President, U-Verse Field Operations. (Photo: AT &T)
In honor of Black History Month, AT&T is proudly honoring high-ranking African Americans within the company.
Derrick F. Hamilton is Vice-President, U-Verse Field Operations and manages the installation and restoration of AT&T U-Verse product in several Midwestern states including Illinois, Indiana and Michigan.
Hamilton assumed his current position in April 2008. Prior to his move to U-Verse Field Operations, he supervised Switched Telephone Service, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) Internet, and U-Verse in Illinois and Lake County, Indiana. He also oversaw Network Dispatch Centers, POTS Provisioning Centers, and the Six Sigma Business Unit Program Management for the Midwest Region.
Hamilton came to AT&T in 1991 and has held numerous positions in network operations, network services staff, project reengineering and systems implementation.
The astute professional earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering from California State University, Los Angeles and a MBA from the Anderson Graduate School of Management at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Before coming to AT&T, Hamilton worked as an engineer at Hughes Aircraft Company.
Hamilton a quintessential executive, and his wife Joni, who is a pediatrician, reside in Chicago and have two children.
Cunningham Making Run For State’s High Court
Posted on 16. Feb, 2012 by citizen in Chatham, Local News
Ill. First District Appellate Court Judge Joy Cunningham (shown) told a group of Black Press reporters at a recent media roundtable discussion, that her bid to be elected to the Supreme Court of Illinois is winnable but only with support from the Black community. The meeting was held at Josephine's Hardtimes Restaurant at 436 E. 79th St. in Chicago. Photo by John Alexander
Illinois First District Appellate Court Judge Joy Cunningham is seeking a higher calling.
In the March 20 election, she is looking to be elected to the Supreme Court of Illinois. If she succeeds, Cunningham would be only the second African American in the history of the state to be voted into the high court and the first African American woman.
Cunningham told a group of Black Press reporters at a recent media roundtable discussion that her bid is winnable, but only with support from the Black community and electorate in Cook County. The meeting was held at Josephine’s Hardtimes Restaurant at 436 E. 79th St., where about a half dozen Black media outlets attended.
“If we galvanize the Black community I can win this election,” she told the Chicago Citizen in a one-on-one interview. “I am very confident that if African Americans understood what’s at stake, that I could win this race. And what’s at stake is basically our future.”
Chances to be on the state’s highest court are few and far between so Cunningham said she is working to seize the current opportunity. There are seven justices on the Illinois Supreme Court, with Justice Charles E. Freeman being the first and only African American. She is hoping voters understand the historic opportunity at hand.
“This is really important. It’s more important than who sits on the board of the Water Reclamation District, who is the county assessor, who is your alderman,” she said. “This may be our last chance to elect an African American justice to the Ill. Supreme Court. The opportunity … may not come up again in our lifetime. It sounds dramatic but it’s true.”
The vacancy on the state’s high court is due to former Chief Justice Thomas Fitzgerald’s 2010 retirement. Mary Jane Theis was appointed to his seat, but now she has to be elected to it. Theis, Cunningham and Aurelia Pucinski are vying for the spot. As Illinois election rules go, the Supreme Court candidates only need to win in Cook County to get the seat.
Cunningham is putting part of her aspirations in the hands of a group of voters she knows traditionally don’t always turn out to the polls. Further, the dizzying list of judges on election ballots often leaves judicial races to unpredictable chance when voters don’t know anything about the candidates.
“A lot of people simply just vote party,” said Ronald Stamps, a 52-year-old South Side voter who usually casts absentee ballots. He told the Chicago Citizen he has been “guilty” of doing that.
Cook County Board of Election results show that some voting numbers in the last two elections were starkly different. In Thornton Township, for example, which includes the south suburban towns of Harvey, Riverdale and Dolton, voters cast 45,495 ballots in the 2008 primary; in the 2004 primary, only 30,275 votes were cast. That scenario repeated in most of Chicago’s Black wards where Chicago Board of Elections data indicates that in places like the 20th Ward 21,904 votes were cast in the 2008 primary, more than double the amount in the 2004 election where only 8,137 votes were counted.
Cunningham said she needs more money in her campaign coffers to help pull off a victory. State campaign finance reports show that at the end of 2011 her campaign had over $139,000. But her incumbent competitor had five times that amount. Records indicate that Theis had over $609,000 at the end of last year.
Another $300,000 “would really put us in good standing,” Cunningham told reporters.
But Cunningham said her greatest assets are her judicial diversity and her ability to relate to “ordinary people.”
She hails from Harlem, New York where she worked in a low-wage position at a local hospital and got a nursing degree. Then she worked nights as a nurse to pay for her law degree from Chicago’s John Marshall Law School. She practiced law in the health care industry before moving to the public sector where she served as an assistant attorney general and circuit court judge.
“I come from a common background with ordinary people,” she said. “I would submit that someone who grew up in Glenview or Northbrook has a different perspective than someone who grew up in Englewood, or in my case, Harlem.”
Those are the kinds of distinctions that Ronald Stamps said should be chief deciding factors.
“Judges are very import because one of our biggest problems … is sentencing and how people are getting sentenced for certain crimes,” he said. “ I think that a lot of time because of the lack of Black judges, the charging and sentencing don’t level out. It’s not equal. It’s not fair in many cases.”
He added that judicial elections should not be taken lightly or be solely based on race.
“You can’t have an affirmative action program for court judges,” he said. “I would rather have a judge who’s qualified and who doesn’t have blinders on in that position (instead of) one just because she’s Black.”
Ultimately, Stamps he said he would support Cunningham, if he feels she’s qualified.
By Rhonda Gillespie
Postage Stamp ‘ Forever’ Honors Ebony, Jet founder John H. Johnson
Posted on 09. Feb, 2012 by citizen in Chatham, Local News
Dignitaries gather around the USPS commemorative stamp featuring the late John Johnson. (L to R) Mayor Rahm Emanuel; former Mayor Richard M. Daley; Desiree Rogers, CEO, Johnson Publishing Company; Linda Johnson Rice, JPC Chairman; Anthony Vaughn, USPS Chicago Senior Plant Manager; Congressmen Danny Davis, 7th Dist.; Bobby Rush, 1st Dist.; and Jesse Jackson, Jr., 2nd Dist. (Photo by Jerome Photography)
John H. Johnson, who died on August 8, 2005 at the age of 87, will forever be remembered for positively changing the way the media portrays African Americans. Now the late publishing mogul will “forever” be honored on a U.S. Postal Service stamp as part of its Black Heritage series.
A crowd of Johnson Publishing Company employees, Johnson family members, elected officials, U.S.P.S. officials and others filled to capacity the lobby at JPC headquarters on Jan. 31 as the new stamp was unveiled.
Johnson, who founded and published “Ebony” and “Jet” magazines, became the 35th African American to be placed on a stamp as part of the Black Heritage series which began in 1978. He joined such historic names as Harriet Tubman, Bessie Coleman and Thurgood Marshall who were also immortalized on postage. Further, he is on a Forever Series stamp which means its value increases when first-class letter postal rates increase.
Johnson’s daughter and JPC Chairman Linda Johnson-Rice told the Chicago Citizen that the issuance of the stamp coinciding with the kickoff of Black History Month was no coincidence – or small feat. She also stated that she wanted the dedication to motivate youth.
“I would hope that the stamp would inspire young people to look up and see who John Johnson was and what he accomplished in the field of journalism, in the field of communications, in the field of media and maybe inspire them,” she told the Chicago Citizen.
Those speaking at the unveiling recalled Johnson’s historical impact.
John Johnson’s daughter and JPC Chairman Linda Johnson-Rice told the Chicago Citizen that the issuance of the stamp coinciding with the kickoff of Black History Month was no coincidence – or small feat. She also stated that she wanted the dedication to motivate youth. (Photo by Jerome Photography)
“We had very few Blacks on TV, in books at the library,” U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush, D-1st, said at the unveiling ceremony. “But Mr. Johnson broke through all that. He introduced us as portraits of Black success…that helped us to see what Black people could be in this nation.”
Rush recently announced that he introduced a bill in Congress recommending Johnson for the Congressional Gold Medal, the legislative body’s highest honor to a civilian.
Rush was joined in attendance at the event by Congressmen Danny Davis, D-7th, and Jesse Jackson Jr., D-2nd. Also at the event were Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Ald. Walter Burnett (27th), Ald. Bob Fioretti (2nd) and former Mayor Richard M. Daley. His father, late Mayor Richard J. Daley, was a Johnson friend.
“He never knew a barrier, he never knew ‘no, you can’t do it,’” Richard M. Daley said of Johnson. “His legacy has to be looked at, it has to be read, it has to be followed. He was willing to tell the truth about his community.”
A charter school opened in John H. Johnson’s name in 2010 and students from the school, located in the Englewood community, were in the audience as the postal service unveiled the stamp and people talked about his legacy.
In 1996, President Bill Clinton gave Johnson the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
The new stamp brings great pride to Johnson-Rice, her daughter Alexa Christina, and the entire JPC family.
“My father would love this, because now his image and his likeness and all the things that go along with that – all of his accomplishments – can now be all over the world,” she said.
By Rhonda Gillespie
Chatham Walmart Supercenter opens – 350 Jobs Created
Posted on 31. Jan, 2012 by citizen in Chatham, Local News
(L to R ) Ald. Carrie M. Austin (34th), Ald. Latasha Thomas (17th), Ald. Howard Brookins (21st), Larry Huggins, president/CEO Riteway Construction Services and Walmart store manager Keith Richards officially open the Chatham Walmart Supercenter with a ribbon cutting Jan 25. (Photo by Thelma Sardin)
Last Wednesday’s grand opening of Chicago’s second Walmart Supercenter was the successful culmination of a long political battle and journey for 21st Ward Alderman Howard Brookins.
Brookins worked tirelessly for eight years to bring the world’s largest retailer to West Chatham and now Chicago’s newest Walmart Supercenter is located at 8331 S. Stewart Ave. on the new Chatham Market development site. The city’s first Walmart opened in 2006 in the Austin neighborhood.
“This is a great day,” said Alderman Brookins. “It was worth the fight. Chicagoans who live on the South Side deserve to have the same economic opportunities Chicagoans on the North Side take for granted. I believe that the Walmart Supercenter will enable the Chatham Market development to expand and grow, providing even more opportunities for the residents of my community to work and shop close to home.”
Fresh produce stands ready for customers at the new Chatham Walmart Supercenter Jan. 25. (Photo by Thelma Sardin)
The 157,000 sq. ft. store brings a bounty of fresh food, fruits and vegetables to the area which means residents like Denise Stewart no longer has to face long commutes to other communities for a comprehensive or “all inclusive” shopping experience.
“I absolutely love it,” said Stewart. “I usually have to go all the way out to Orland Park and I live in over in Chatham, so it’s a great thing.”
Keith Richards, the Walmart Chatham store manager, is a prime example of why Brookins fought hard to bring super store to his ward. Richards begin his career as an hourly associate with Walmart 11 years ago and two years prior to Alderman Brookin’s first bid for the retailer.
“[It’s] absolutely amazing to be here on the South Side of Chicago, saving people money so they can live better; it’s not just a slogan it’s what we do every day,” Richards told the Chicago Citizen.
Brookins explained that Richards’ story was particularly special. “Now he [Richards] makes more than Chicago aldermen as the general manager for this store…it’s a lot of good stories today and I’m just glad I could see this day happen,” he said.
Richards most recently managed the Country Club Hills store.
The new Walmart store brings 350 jobs to West Chatham and more than three-quarters of the store associates are South Side residents.
The construction of the Walmart Supercenter was contracted to two minority-owned companies—Powers & Sons and UJAMAA Construction. According to Jimmy Akintonde, president, UJAMAA Construction, an estimated 300 construction jobs were created.
“Walmart continues to create opportunity for minorities within the construction industry,” said Akintonde. “Through a close working relationship with Walmart, Alderman Brookins and the community, we awarded 39 percent of all subcontracts on this project to M/WBE companies, many of whom were local contractors like ourselves with offices in close proximity to the site.”
Several elected officials also joined Brookins for the store opening.
“This is a great day,” said State Sen. Donne Trotter (D-17). “It’s a great day when you can wake up with a roof over your head and you can put food on the table [and] when you can feed your children. This provides an opportunity for people to do that—help stabilize the community and become self-sufficient. I am very proud of this moment. It’s a long time coming.”
Alderman Carrie Austin (34th) is thrilled about the store opening, not only for Chatham but her community as well. She said her constituents not only have the Jewel –Osco located in Marshfield Plaza but now also Walmart.
“I think I am just as excited as Alderman Brookins,” said Austin. “This has been a long hard fight. I’m glad that I was one of those that stuck with him all the way and to give him encouragement…This is just a win-win for our community.”
State Representative Monique Davis (D-27) also attended the grand opening and after the festivities grabbed a cart to do a little of shopping.
“I am really grateful to God that this store has finally come to fruition,” Rep. Davis told the Chicago Citizen. “Three hundred and fifty jobs for people in this community, a manager who started as just a clerk in the store and the food looks so wonderful and fresh. I will be shopping here at Walmart and I thank God that Alderman Brookins and all of those who helped including Governor Quinn continue do to do this hard fight. We know there were people that didn’t want it in this community for whatever reason, but we need food and we need jobs like everybody else.”
By Thelma Sardin
Twitter: @thelmasardin
CVCA students chefs serve winning dish, headed to nationals
Posted on 26. Jan, 2012 by admin in Chatham, Local News
The team of student chefs from Chicago Vocational Career Academy high school (from left: Ciara Lawton, Sheanice Dishmon and Kaliah Hunter. Second row, from left: Chef David Blackmon, Diamonte Baugh, Tytionna Rice and Jerome Sims) served their winning healthy meal Thursday to friends, family and other supporters during a special luncheon honoring the team. Over 50,000 students at other schools were served the meal as well. Team CVCA won this school year's local Healthy Schools Campaign's Cooking up Change competition and is headed to Washington, D.C. in May to compete nationally.
The competition in the Cooking up Change contest was fierce, but the culinary team at Chicago Vocational Career Academy high school served up a local win and is now looking forward to shaking and baking their way to a national victory.
A crowd of family, community supporters and others, along with thousands of high school students around the city got a chance Thursday to taste why last fall, the cooking team of student chefs Diamonte Baugh, Sheanice Dishmon, Ciara Lawton, Kaliah Hunter, Tytionna Rice and Jerome Sims won the Healthy Schools Campaign’s Cooking up Change contest.
As their winning meal of sweet potato salad, oven-fried chicken and “cousins” collard greens and cabbage was served in the CVCA restaurant during a special ceremony honoring the team, students were enjoying the meal in cafeterias at other schools.
In this school year’s contest, 12 teams of high school student chefs were charged with the task of coming up with a meal that was health-conscious, cost-effective and delish. On the healthy side of things, the dish could only have so much saturated fat and salt; and the use of green and orange veggies was a must.
After four tweaks of their recipes, CVCA had the meal down pat, won the competition and will compete in Washington D.C. at the U.S. Department of Education in May. The student chefs seemed to have surpassed the taste-good requirement too, as evidenced by happy diners, who left only meat-less bones and soiled napkins on their trays.
“You guys just knocked it out of the park,” said the team’s mentor and owner of OON Chicago restaurant, Chef Matt Eversman.
In their individual remarks Thursday, the students talked about the impact that the contest and the culinary program had on them, and most of it didn’t have a lot to do with food.
“One thing I learned was team work,” said Sims, a 16-year-old CVCA junior. “Now I want to take my new skill to nationals and we can win there.”
Hunter, 17, who will graduate in May, said being on the team “takes a lot of hard work and dedication.” She got involved in the culinary arts program on a fluke but hardly regrets the decision.
“I was hungry when I picked my major. But in the end I love it,” she told the Chicago Citizen after the lunch event. “This program keeps you on the right track. It keeps me very limited, staying out of trouble.”
The head of Chicago Public Schools’ culinary arts program also paid compliments to the students, boasted about the program and its benefits to the students and urged support.
“The partnership with the Healthy Schools Campaign gives students the opportunity to exercise what they learn in the kitchen,” said Chef Dave Blackmon, CPS culinary arts program coordinator. He added that students in the program are certified in food services and have collectively obtained some $750,000 in scholarships to go on to culinary school.
“A total of 19 public schools offer the culinary arts program where they work in a hands-on environment, in real life-like industrial style kitchens and with tools of the trade,” Blackmon explained.
By Rhonda Gillespie
Brizard Meets with Neighborhood press
Posted on 26. Jan, 2012 by admin in Chatham, Local News, News
CPS CEO Jean-Claude Brizard met with reporters from local community newspapers to answer questions and discuss programs being implemented at the Chicago Public Schools. (Photo by Thelma Sardin)
CPS CEO Jean Claude Brizard met with reporters from community newspapers at school district headquarters Thursday, a move to keep neighborhood press in the loop about CPS issues.
The forum came nearly two weeks after Brizard and Mayor Rahm Emanuel visited Benjamin Mays Academy on Chicago’s South Side, on the first day of the longer school day schedule.
Mays is a “pioneer school”, a term used for schools that adopted the longer school day before the required system wide implementation goes into effect next school year.
The Chicago Citizen asked Brizard how Mays is responding to the longer school day.
“Every single pioneer school that I have visited, the process has been flawless,” Brizard said. “You expect hiccups when people are changing schedules… One, I found the kids to be extremely happy with what is going on. Second, the teachers were very happy and the principal was ecstatic.”
CPS is moving to a 7.5 hour day and 180 day year. According to CPS, students will go from having the shortest school day and year among the nation’s largest cities to leveling with the national average for instructional time in elementary and high school as well as length of the school year.
The school system also reports that its elementary students currently receive 22 percent less instructional time than the national average, while high school students receive 15 percent less.
CPS recently released parameters for elementary and high schools regarding the longer school day and its implementation for the 2012-2013 school year.
Elementary school students can expect 6.5 hours of instruction, 45 minutes for recess and lunch and 15 minutes for passing. High school students will receive 6 hours and 8 minutes of instruction, an increase of 46 minutes, a 46 minute lunch period and 36 minutes to get from one class to the other and building entry. Mandatory homeroom or “division” for high school students will be terminated.
“We are moving to a full school day to give children the time they need to focus on core subjects and ultimately provide students with the education they deserve,” said Mayor Emanuel. “Lengthening the school day gives our kids the time they need to excel in school and succeed in a global economy.”
According to CPS, the longer school day will enhance student achievement as students across the system are struggling. The district reports that more than 123,000 students-one third of all children- are in failing schools. In 2011, only 7.9 percent of all 11th graders tested college ready while the high school graduation rates stands at 57.5 percent and achievement gaps for Black and Latino students remain in the double digits, according to a CPS press release.
Brizard has drawn a conclusion from his time in Chicago.
“Every city has one metric by which it measures success,” the schools leader said. My assumption thus far in Chicago is that people care most about the neighborhood schools. It’s not about graduation rates, it’s not about reading and writing rates, although people care about that, but what they care most about is the ability to access a good school in their neighborhood.”
By Thelma Sardin
Mayor Emanuel holds Roundtable Discussion at the QBG Foundation in Chatham
Posted on 24. Jan, 2012 by admin in Chatham, Local News
Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Jamie Rhee, Chief Procurement Officer, City of Chicago engage in conversation with Chatham business owners during a roundtable discussion at the QBG Foundation on Jan. 19 (Photo Credit: Brooke Collins, City of Chicago).
Chatham business owners convened Thursday for a roundtable discussion with Mayor Rahm Emanuel at the QBG Foundation (QBG), 806 E. 78th St.
The mayor visited the Chatham community several times while on the campaign trail including a stop at Izola’s Restaurant during a neighborhood listening tour to learn what Chicagoans wanted in a mayor. He explained that his visit last week carries the same momentum.
“I came to Chatham during the campaign, and I’m here again, because I want Chatham, and places like Chatham, to have the same type of growth, investment, and opportunity as we see downtown,” said Emanuel.
Larissa M. Tyler, QBG’s executive director said of the meeting, that the Mayor’s outreach to Chatham was inspiring and hopefully a boost for the entire South side.
“It’s was certainly an honor for the QBG Foundation to host the Mayor’s visit especially since his goal was to listen to and help resolve the common issues of small business owners in Chatham,” Tyler said. “My hope is that whatever positive results come out of his visit to Chatham will benefit other Southside communities as well.”
During the roundtable, entrepreneurs, many of them members of the Chatham Business Association (CBA) voiced their concerns on several issues that their establishments are facing including healthcare and security.
John Griffin, Jr. CBA board member and president/CEO of AGB Investigative Services Inc., discussed with the Mayor, his company’s issues with healthcare.
Griffin told the Chicago Citizen that the roundtable was “absolutely” beneficial and he’s inspired to see the great things that will come as a result from the meeting.
Joseph Caldwell, Sr., CBA vice chairman and president/CEO of Tailorite Cleaners said he was pleased to hear that Emanuel is working to see insure growth throughout the entire city.
“I was certainly glad to hear him say that while they’re putting emphasis on downtown they are also putting emphasis on the community,” Caldwell told the Chicago Citizen. “That’s important to all of us.”
“Small business is an engine that creates jobs throughout America, “ Caldwell added and said he appreciates the mayor is interested in addressing concerns of small business owners.
Emanuel also announced a new program aimed at helping minority and women-owned businesses successfully transition from the city’s Minority and Women Business Enterprise (MWBE) program into self-sustaining enterprises.
“Our goal is to help minority- and women-owned businesses grow to the point they can compete in the marketplace,” said Emanuel. “Today’s announcement is a great step forward in this goal and will help us ensure that these companies have a smooth transition from the program into the open market. It’s a win-win for everyone involved and will create important jobs and opportunities in our neighborhood.”
After the MWBE businesses exceed certain size standards, they graduate from program with the objective of continued growth and success, whether it is in government contracting or the private sector marketplace, according to a release from the Mayor’s press office.
“One of our top goals is making sure that minority- and women-owned businesses can grow and find a consistent, stable place in the market. This announcement will allow us to ensure that our companies are able to smoothly transition out of the program and into the marketplace, where they can continue their growth and expansion,” said Jamie Rhee, the city’s Chief Procurement Officer who was present at the roundtable.
Rhee also thanked Melinda Kelly, CBA’s executive director for being a community liaison. “Melinda is always there when we are coming up with new innovative ideas which the mayor is constantly challenging us to do. To create more jobs, to assist in businesses growing and Chatham is right there with us to say, ‘This is how it impacts folks’ and really that’s what we need to hear from the business leaders [and] how are programs will impact what they do every day,” she said.
Rhee continued that the city’s procurement department sees business owners as its customers and want to ensure they have resources and tools needed to supply services to the City of Chicago.
The new MWBE initiative will be introduced to the city council next month.
By Thelma Sardin
Obama Campaigns In Chicago
Posted on 18. Jan, 2012 by citizen in Chatham, National News
“I’m here not because I need your help, but because the country needs your help,” President Barack Obama said in Chicago Jan. 11. “The change we believed in, we knew it wouldn’t come easy and we knew it wouldn’t come quickly.” (Photo by Rhonda Gillespie)
President Barack Obama’s speech before a crowd of supporters Jan.11 at a University of Illinois-Chicago Forum fundraiser included some familiar material.
Before he walked on the stage to go over his own check list of accomplishments since taking office, at least three other people before him did the same.
Actor and author Hill Harper led an audience participation exercise that touted the Obama administration’s establishment of health care for millions of uninsured and underinsured American’s. His battle with cancer made that particular piece of legislation personal for him.
The night’s entertainer, singer Janelle Monae, praised her favorite Obama legislation as did members of the Obama campaign.
Then when he took to the stage, the president almost immediately picked up where Hill and Monae left off.
“I’m here not because I need your help, but because the country needs your help,” Obama said. “The change we believed in, we knew it wouldn’t come easy and we knew it wouldn’t come quickly.”
In his speech, the first campaign one in Chicago in the new year, Obama claimed to have pushed through at least some Republican roadblocks to give the country change he promised in 2008.
The bank and auto industry bailouts, passing health care legislation, repeal of “don’t ask don’t tell,” ending wars, taking down terrorists, making education reforms…and his check list went on.
“These changes weren’t easy. Some were risky. Almost all of them came in the face of fierce opposition,” he said. “Not all of the steps we took were politically popular at the time. But you know what kept me going is you.”
African Americans flocked to the polls in 2008 in record numbers. In communities like Chatham, over 80 percent of registered voters cast a ballot in the election and more than 90 percent of the time the vote was for Obama.
But as many Blacks doled out hundreds –even thousands—of dollars to support Obama Wednesday, some back on the block say enthusiasm for the nation’s first Black president has cooled.
Dan-yea Johnson, 33, a technical education major at Chicago State University could hardly wait to go to the polls in 2008.
“I felt like he could make a change in the United States. I felt that it would be nice to see an African American in office,” the unemployed mother of three told the Chicago Citizen. She thought then, “If we give an African American a chance maybe he could make a difference and help African Americans because we’ve been suppressed for so long.”
But four years later, Johnson gives a noticeable pause when she considers re-electing Obama. She plans to do it, but…
“It’s not the excitement like four years ago,” she said. He deserves re-election “but I don’t think that he will get as many votes.”
Obama has repeatedly asked his supporters to be patient and believe in his ideals for change. Johnson, who commutes to the South Side university from suburban Markham, supports that.
“I believe he’s really working hard for African Americans to go to school,” she said, explaining that the president’s work with keeping Pell grant levels in tact was personally important for her. “He’s helping out a lot and trying to make sure that everyone is accommodated and no one is really left behind.”
Rev. Booker Vance knows that the foreclosure crisis took a toll on a lot of his congregants. The community activist and faith leader said the Obama administration should have pushed more for banks to work with homeowners, as part of the bailout.
“That’s been one of the great atrocities,” said the pastor of St. Stephens Lutheran Evangelical Church.
Still, he believes African Americans should continue to support Obama for president.
“Not because he’s necessarily been so successful, I just think that people underestimated how complicated” the presidency is,” he said. “For us to believe that in four years, or three-and-a-half years that this (nation’s economy) would turn completely around was just pipe dreams and naïve.”
By Rhonda Gillespie
Pianist Reflects on King’s Influence
Posted on 13. Jan, 2012 by citizen in Chatham
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington, DC, on Oct. 8, 2011. (USDA Photo by Lance Cheung)
Since he’s been a classical pianist, traveling around the world and playing at prestigious music venues, 47-year-old Alvin Waddles has never faced being shut out of a venue or been made to enter through a back door because of his skin color.
Each time he has played for the multi-cultural, multi-ethnic audience that turns out to enjoy the Too Hot to Handel: The Jazz-Gospel Messiah production, Waddles has been well received — cheered and given a hearty ovation.
But he knows that it was the work of men like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who helped bring and end to the overt segregation that gave rise to the Civil Rights Movement in this country.
“Too Hot to Handel: The Jazz-Gospel Messiah,” coming to the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University for its seventh year Saturday and Sunday in honor of Dr. King, is a vibrant celebration that blends several genres of music, including jazz, gospel and classical, offering the audience an experience of unity in music. The full production includes an orchestra, soloists Rodrick Dixon (tenor), his wife, Alfreda Burke (soprano) and Karen Marie Richardson (tenor), along with the crowd-pleasing Too Hot Choir. Suzanne Acton conducts.
The spotlight turns to Waddles toward the end of the performance where he does a piano solo leading up to the finale where the choir sings Handel’s “Messiah.”
King’s legacy of unity and harmony plays front and center throughout the production, including during Waddles’ solo that inspires the crowd.
The Detroit-native said the production is “intrinsic to what Dr. King stood for.”
“The idea of taking a classical form, a very traditional piece and such a well known piece (Handel’s “Messiah”) and taking through gospel and jazz and R&B and just so many types of genres, I found it appealing,” said Waddles, who has been playing the piano since he was 8 years old.
“Messiah” pays homage to Christ and is heralded as a masterpiece, usually performed during Christmas time. This production, however, is performed to celebrate the birth of a civil rights leader who became a martyr for humanity. King was born Jan. 15, 1929 in Atlanta. The King Holiday is observed nationally on the second Monday in January.
“I didn’t understand it at first,” Waddles said of performing Handel’s piece for the King holiday. “But because we use so many different styles in it, it speaks to such a broad cross-section of people and ultimately brings them together over a common type of celebration.”
Waddles said the blending of music styles in the “Too Hot” production is very King-like.
“I just think the whole idea of bringing people together from all different cultures … that was his whole thing. You don’t have to necessarily believe exactly the same thing, you just have to respect one another and come together out of a common love for humanity and celebrate,” he said.
Music often has a universal appeal that can sometimes transcend many issues, Waddles said. But racism and discrimination has reared its head in that art form, as it has in other ways in society.
“I’m very much aware of the fact that not too long ago I probably wouldn’t even have been able to buy a ticket to see something at the Auditorium Theatre and here I am on stage performing, sharing this experience with so many people. It’s a great honor. It’s a great tribute to what the work of Dr. King has allowed us to become – as a people, as a nation,” Waddles said.
But if he could have a conversation with King, Waddles said he would express his gratitude.
“First of all I would say thank you. He was such a gifted man and an anointed person. He could have done so many things with his gifts, but he basically Christ-like laid down his life for what he believed in,” he said. “I would assure him that we still hear him. We’re still listening and on some level, we’re still trying. We haven’t forgotten.”
By Rhonda Gillespie
