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Metro IAF Statement on Police Killing of George Floyd
The last minutes of George Floyd’s life evoke the 22nd Psalm:
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
And are so far from my cry
And from the words of my distress?
O my God, I cry in the daytime but you do not answer;
By night as well, but I find no rest.
So, too, do our thoughts go to our own memories of Eric Garner, and Tamir Rice, and Freddie Gray--sons of our cities: New York, Cleveland, and Baltimore--black men murdered by police brutally, callously. Our anger and rage rise again.
DuPage United receives grant from DuPage Foundation for Mental Health Initiative
The staff and board of DuPage United and DuPage Sponsors are honored to receive a $10,000 Community Needs grant from DuPage Foundation for our continuing work to reduce the number of people with mental illness in jail and prison in DuPage County. We commend DuPage Foundation for recognizing that systems change takes time and commitment, and for supporting our long-term strategy.
1212 Larkin Now Preleasing
1212 Larkin is now accepting applications. Those in need of housing or know people who need housing are encouraged to apply soon. Click here for rental criteria.
How Not to Do Activism The calculus of power isn’t defined by hits or clicks or tweets. It is measured in relationships and meaningful reactions over time.
Why do we experience such difficulty even imagining a different sort of society? Why is it beyond us to conceive a different set of arrangements to our common advantage? . . . . Our disability is discursive: we simply do not know how to talk about these things any more.
—Tony Judt, Ill Fares The Land (2010)
United Power for Action and Justice Assembly - Hundreds of Chicago residents meet with Mayor Lori Lightfoot to air concerns about violence, housing inequality
Three topics were on the agenda: mental health and addiction services, gun safety and housing development on the city's South and West Sides.
United Power for Action and Justice is the coalition behind Sunday's meeting. The group emphasizes offering pragmatic solutions rather than "pie in the sky" ideals.
While the coalition said they appreciated Lightfoot's words Sunday, the group said it's time to translate those remarks into results.
Where Walmart leads on guns, will others follow?
Grassroots public pressure can have an impact, and not just in Washington.
Last summer, shareholders in a major American gun company, Sturm Ruger & Co., ordered the CEO to issue an annual report on the company’s efforts to reduce the harm associated with its guns. Why? Simply to put and keep the issue on the agenda.
The shareholders’ resolution was drafted by a group of religious leaders — the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility — and a grassroots advocacy group — the Metro Industrial Areas Foundation.
1212 Larkin Groundbreaking Celebration
1212 Larkin is a proposed integrated permanent supportive housing project in Elgin, Illinois. The proposed development will consist of 48 units in 12 new-construction, multifamily apartment buildings, and the preservation and historic reuse of the former Larkin Center. It is targeted to serve populations with special needs, and working families, reaching a broad range of Elgin renters in need of affordable housing.
Signs of hope for wrongfully held people with mental illness
As of July 1, our region is within reach of a pragmatic solution to a major social problem -- the overuse of emergency rooms as the default destination of those with mental illness who are apprehended by police but should not be incarcerated.
Law enforcement officials find it frustrating to sit for hours in emergency rooms until the overworked medical staff finds the time to treat a person. Those struggling with mental illness often worsen while waiting -- trauma on a street followed by trauma in a loud and crowded ER waiting room. And the families of those with mental illness are often left to wonder what is happening to their loved one.
Housing Victory!
The State of Illinois has passed its first capital budget in ten years this past weekend.
DuPage United and the Fox River Valley Initiative with the rest of the Illinois Metro IAF affiliates (Lake County United and United Power for Action and Justice) fought hard for inclusion of substantial money for affordable housing and for specific allocation of funds for what we call “Reclaiming Communities” in two Chicago neighborhoods: Southwest Chicago and Lawndale. We won on each front.