Associate Board hosts successful Halloween fundraiser

Why didn’t the skeleton go to the party?

Because he had no body to go with!

Image by Christopher Sanders
Image by Christopher Sanders

Thanks to your support, the Associate Board of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless hosted another great Halloween night fundraiser at aliveOne, 2683 N. Halsted.

Tax-deductible tips to our nine bartenders support CCH’s work, including virtual tip jars found HERE.

Special thanks to our event sponsor – Domu.com, the apartment-listing website – for generous support of this and our Trivia Night on Dec. 3.

With more than 200 donors, sponsorship by Domu.com, and a $500 gift from aliveOne, the Associate Board earned $8,901. Thank you all!

 

Aja coped with being homeless while succeeding in school

Aja Lowrey is devoted to a mom who made her the priority, especially when things got tough – homeless tough.

The second time they were homeless was emotionally difficult for Aja, then a junior at Chicago’s Walter Payton College Prep. At her mom’s insistence, Aja stayed with family friends with a spare bed to offer. Her mom stayed in shelters.

Worried about her mother’s well-being, Aja says she cried every night. But they had no choice, Aja recalls, as her mom said “she wanted me to be safe” and Aja needed to maintain good grades at her top-ranked school.  Continue reading Aja coped with being homeless while succeeding in school

Fighting a Chicago proposal to exclude SRO residents from tenant rights protections

By Eithne McMenamin, Associate Policy Director

Chicago Ald. George Cardenas (12th Ward) has introduced an ordinance to amend the city’s Residential Landlord Tenant Ordinance (RLTO). The Cardenas amendment would weaken protections for tenants by targeting low-income tenants of Single-Room Occupancy (SRO) hotels.

CCH LogoCCH is strongly opposed to the Cardenas amendment. Joining us to advocate against its adoption are the Lawyers Committee for Better Housing, Metropolitan Tenants Organization, ONE Northside, and Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law.

Under current city law, tenants of SROs are treated the same as tenants of any other rental property. They are protected by the RLTO from the time their tenancy begins.

Under the Cardenas amendment, SRO tenants would not be covered by the RLTO until they have been a tenant for 32 days or more, and they must be a tenant who pays a monthly rent.  Continue reading Fighting a Chicago proposal to exclude SRO residents from tenant rights protections

Reentry Project pilot offers Juanita a second chance

Juanita Patton moved out of shelters and into a home through a new program for ex-offenders. The pilot program was designed and advocated by community leaders and advocates with the Reentry Project at the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless.

On Nov. 2, federal housing officials and President Obama praised as “best practice” programs that give ex-offenders a “second chance,” with access to jobs, training and housing.

“I still can’t believe I’m in this apartment,” said Juanita, interviewed in her south suburban Ford Heights home. “The only time I believe it is when I’m taking my key out of my pocket to open the front door!

“Everybody deserves a second chance to make a living, to take care of themselves.”  Continue reading Reentry Project pilot offers Juanita a second chance

CCH to train organizing fellows from Bulgaria and Slovakia

Chicago Coalition for the Homeless (CCH) is hosting two young professionals from Bulgaria and Slovakia, part of a six-week community organizing exchange between Central Europe and the U.S.

This week CCH welcomed attorney Antoaneta Bozhikova from Bulgaria, and Zuzana Balazova, a Ph.D student and school social worker from Slovakia.

Antoaneta and Zuzana
Antoaneta Bozhikova and Zuzana Balazova

The Great Lakes Consortium (GLC) for International Training and Development manages the organizers’ exchange, a program sponsored by the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. CCH has hosted 10 Central European organizers through the program since 2012.  Continue reading CCH to train organizing fellows from Bulgaria and Slovakia

Interns: Learning about homelessness while helping CCH

By Allegra Codamon, Summer Media Intern

Most are back at school or on to new jobs, but the 13 interns who worked at CCH this summer say they learned much while assisting the public policy, organizing, legal and development staffs.

Ryan Martin
Ryan Martin

They included Ryan Martin, a  junior majoring in theater and history at Northwestern University, and Nat Schwartz, a University of Wisconsin history graduate. Both interned with the Speakers Bureau. One of their assignments was to administer surveys to families with children enrolled in Chicago Public Schools (CPS), gathering data for a soon-to-launch campaign to secure more housing and better school services for homeless families.  Continue reading Interns: Learning about homelessness while helping CCH

CCH rally tells state leaders: Resume funding homeless youth programs

State Budget Crisis is Endangering Safety of Homeless Youth

Advocates call for the governor to choose revenue instead of endangering youthYouth No Budget graphic

In a protest organized by the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, about 130 homeless youths, service providers, and advocates rallied outside the Thompson Center Wednesday morning.

We called on Gov. Bruce Rauner to work with the General Assembly to end the budget stalemate and resume funding vital human services, including shelters for homeless youth across Illinois.

It has been more than 80 days since services for homeless youth received any state funding. CCH helped conduct a new survey that shows 77% of homeless youth providers in Illinois have already reduced or eliminated services, or will be forced to make those cutbacks, if the budget impasse continues.  Continue reading CCH rally tells state leaders: Resume funding homeless youth programs

Reentry advocates will resume push to enact a school jobs access bill

Reentry leaders celebrated a key House vote this spring with HB494's sponsor, State Rep. Kelly Cassidy
Reentry leaders celebrated a key House vote this spring with HB494’s sponsor, State Rep. Kelly Cassidy

By Jonathan Holmes, Policy Specialist

Following Gov. Bruce Rauner’s amendatory veto of House Bill 494, another version of the jobs access bill will be introduced this fall. Like the original bill, the measure would remove lifetime bans to employment within Illinois schools for people with a non-violent record.

Rauner expressed full support for the substance of HB 494, but his August 14 veto claimed a technical concern with its language. Though rarely used before this year, state law allows the governor to place an amendatory veto by suggesting technical or substantive changes as a prerequisite for signing a bill into law.  Continue reading Reentry advocates will resume push to enact a school jobs access bill

West Side residents demand jobs via a Community Benefits Agreement with $300M redevelopment

Sept. 15 – Westside Community Benefits Coalition hosted a press conference and march today calling for a Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) with the developer of a $300 million project that will bring hotels, retail and upscale housing to undeveloped land within the Illinois Medical District.

CCH leaders Angela McClellan and John Hilton lead the march (Photo by Rachel Ramirez)
CCH leaders Angela McClellan and John Hilton lead the march

Used in other cities, CBAs are contracts with developers, who in exchange for various public subsidies, promise to provide tangible benefits to the neighboring community, such as a specific number of permanent jobs and affordable housing units.

CCH is a partner in the Westside CBA Coalition, working with the Community Renewal Society and Action Now. We are pressing West Side aldermen and the developers — Gateway Development Partners — to commit to a CBA that would benefit West Side residents. This includes a commitment of jobs for West Siders who are unemployed or face reentry barriers.  Continue reading West Side residents demand jobs via a Community Benefits Agreement with $300M redevelopment

Join us at Rock Bottom Brewery

Join the CCH Associate Board for a night out at Rock Bottom on Thursday, Sept. 24!

All Rocktoberfest beer sales —  from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m.  — will benefit CCH, as well as a percentage of sales throughout the evening.

?

There is no cover charge. Just tell the staff at the host stand that you are there for the CCH event and they will direct you to the party in the back room.

Rock Bottom Brewery is located at 1 W. Grand Avenue in Chicago.

– Michael Nameche, Director of Development