Spotlighting the many West Side community news and happenings

‘Eager to work’
On a sunny and windy Monday evening, some 10 asylum-seekers, mostly from Venezuela, stood outside Chicago’s 15th district police station, 5701 W. Madison St. The Austin-based police station looked entirely different than it did a month ago, before hundreds of asylum-seekers arrived in Chicago on buses from Texas, joining about 8,000 people who have arrived…

Growing Green 2023
Becoming Illinois’ first ‘green dining hub’ A snapshot of environmental burdens in Austin, West Side From soap bottles to plastic benches, Austin artists grow jobs How Manolo Avalos’ trip to Egypt brought climate change home Talking trash: Composting in Proviso In tackling climate change, investors also have a voice

In tackling climate change, investors also have a voice
With the urgent need to tackle climate change, more attention is paid to the impacts of companies on the environment and the communities they operate. A 2023 report published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change — the United Nations scientific arm on climate change — notes that greenhouse gas emissions need to be cut…

Talking trash: composting in Proviso
Looking to create a more sustainable and climate conscious community, three Proviso communities, Bellwood, Maywood, and the Lindop school district, are working alongside Seven Generations Ahead, to make composting a part of daily life. Seven Generations Ahead SGA, dedicated to building healthy and sustainable communities, co-developed The Cross Community Climate Collaborative C4 with the Urban…

How Manolo Avalos’ trip to Egypt brought climate change home
While getting to travel halfway across the world to attend one of the largest conferences on climate change, a local student says it is the changes that we make on a local level that can make a difference. Manolo Avalos, 17, attended the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference COP27 held in November 2022 in…

From soap bottles to plastic benches, Austin artists grow jobs
It all started with a chance meeting. The Happy Returns art studio and Alt_Chicago (pronounced “Alt Space Chicago), a nonprofit that seeks to improve communities like Austin through art, both operate out of the basement of an Austin loft studio building at 5339 W. Lake St. One day, around two years ago, Happy Returns co-directors…

A snapshot of environmental burdens in Austin, West Side
In the city of Chicago, historic redlining, disinvestment and the effects of past and current zoning laws, have disproportionately exposed South and West Side residents to pollution. On the West Side, Austin residents live close to sources of pollution that may increase their risk of chronic disease. In 2020, the city’s department of public health…

Becoming Illinois’ first ‘green dining hub’
Local restaurants across the Greater West Side – city and near west suburbs — have risen to the voluntary challenge of becoming Illinois’ first “green dining hub.” The program is supposed to roll out in earnest this summer, but so far, 12 restaurants and counting have committed to altering operations to become part of an…

West Side police oversight commissioners reflect on work, future
The Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability is currently in the spotlight as it looks for candidates to be the next Chicago police superintendent – but it has been doing plenty of other work since it was appointed last August. Under the package of police reforms approved in July 2021, the three-member councils just…

West Side police district councils schedule first-ever meetings
The police district councils representing three out of four police districts serving the West Side have scheduled their first-ever community meetings for late May and early June. The council for the 11th District, which includes most of Garfield Park and the section of North Lawndale north of Roosevelt Road, will meet on May 24 at…
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