Advertisements ad

September 28, 2008

When justice begins with a park Catholic Campaign for Human Development aids Little Village group

By Clemente Nicado

CONTRIBUTOR

The Near West Side Chicago neighborhood of Little Village is starving for green space for its children to play and be safe. Right now there is only one community park in an area that is home to 95,000 people.

But that soon may change with the help of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development. CCHD is an annual nationwide collection organized by the U.S. bishops that, for 37 years, has “funded low-income controlled empowerment projects around the country and has educated Catholics “about the root causes of poverty within the context of Catholic social teaching,” according to the USCCB Web site.

For the past three years, CCHD has awarded more than $130,000 to the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization, which works to improve the environment and the quality of life of its community.

The fight to get another park in Little Village has much at stake — namely the lives of young people.

“Here live 95,000 people, more than half are under 25 years old. Imagine all these people in one park,” said Samuel Villaseñor, a LVEJO community organizer.

For years the organization, currently housed at 2856 S. Millard Ave., has tried to raise community awareness on environmental issues, warning people and authorities about the industrial plants in the area that are poisoning the air, and planting trees or creating community gardens, as well as educating people on how to eat healthily and care for the environment.

“We do not fight for people. We fight with the people, along with them. Then we call politicians to tell them what people think. We are not a political organization, we are an agency that wants the welfare of neighbors,” Villaseñor said.

For Villaseñor, who is a graduate of Loyola University, the battle for a new park goes beyond the ecological frontiers to become a symbol of LVEJO’s struggle to detoxify the community of the many ills affecting it.

The lack of more places for healthy entertainment makes the string of social problems suffered by Little Village seem more difficult to tackle. To make matters worse, gangs tend to recruit young people who are “doing nothing.” So a park is, for many residents, a gateway to better mental and physical health, less violence, a decrease of school dropouts, more peace of mind for parents and teachers, and a better life for everyone.

Organizations, churches and residents of Little Village are asking the City of Chicago for permission to build a park on empty land at 28th and Sacramento, but first the contaminated land must be cleaned.

LVEJO has joined neighbors, community leaders, churches and organizations to ask the city to do everything possible to build a park. Aware that the marches and demonstrations are not enough, the agency took a number of initiatives to change the skyline of the neighborhood.

To protest is not enough

There is one plant that generates electricity from coal. Another one burns plastics and a third plant manufactures asphalt roofing products.

Residents at the Little Village neighborhood have been breathing all that toxic air for a long time; this has put children’s health on the brink of a crisis “and now young people and elderly residents are suffering also from asthma,” said Villaseñor.

“On any given day, you can breathe all those chemicals in the air. We've protested, but it is not enough to protest. We must have an alternative plan,” said the young man.

The foundation of this plan is to educate the community, making them aware of the environmental problem they face and the best ways to fight it.

One example of this is LVEJO’s “environmental tour,” which they offer to residents to call their attention to the risks they face when exposed to polluted air, and teach them how to generate electricity without the use of coal.

They promote the installation of solar panels and give workshops on ways to save electricity.

“We tell them to bring their electricity bill and then we explain to them how to save. We then send to their homes a saving agent trained by us to teach them the things they can do to get more electricity savings,” said Villaseñor.

But for this young man, who came to Chicago when he was 2 years old from Iguala City, in the Mexican state of Guerrero, having these factories in the neighborhood remains a serious problem for its residents.

“These plants still exist in neighborhoods of African Americans or Latinos. We call this environmental racism,” he said.

Community gardens

Urban Agriculture, another LVEJO campaign, promotes the construction of community gardens to expand the green areas and to promote healthy eating habits.

Currently the agency serves more than 35 community gardens and has identified another two vacant lots to plant vegetables.

The resources are barely enough to meet all the needs, but LVEJO appreciates the assistance offered by the Archdiocese of Chicago through the Catholic Campaign for Human Development.

According to Elena Segura, local director of the effort, it is important for human development to have green areas.

“The environment is also a priority for the Catholic Church, to raise awareness about the responsibility we have in taking care of nature created by God. We have to be good stewards to earth,” said Segura.

Mounted on skates

There are many ways to protest. In August, LVEJO organized a skating competition, to rally support for a new park.

Tony Medrano, 17, is among the youngsters who embraced the initiative with enthusiasm.

“It’s good to have another park. I like to play basketball and now I have to go to Harrison Park, which for me is a bit too far,” he said.

Edgar Avelar, 17, was among the first to register for the Saturday festival organized by LVEJO, which included music and art.

“I go to other [Little Village] schools and often find them full of people skating,” he said. “The key is to be united. If we don’t fight this injustice (of not having a park), who is going to do it?” said Alex Martinez, another Little Village youngster.

Cardinal George distributes more CCHD grants

On Sept. 11, Cardinal George distributed grants totaling more than $500,000 to 21 community organizations working to change the structures that perpetuate poverty in the Archdiocese of Chicago. The grants came both from the local and national offices of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ anti-poverty agency. The campaign, which is primarily funded through a second collection the weekend before Thanksgiving, reserves 25 percent of what is collected in each diocese for local projects created by community organizations; the rest is distributed nationally. The Archdiocese of Chicago’s parishioners have traditionally been the largest donors to the campaign. Projects can be funded at the local level and at the national level for a maximum of three years.

The following projects received local funding:

  • School Reform Campaign, Brighton Park Neighborhood Council, $20,000, second year

    Brighton Park will experience a 123 percent increase in youth population between 1990-2010, adding stress to already overcrowded schools. The School Reform Campaign works with local schools to increase their resources to provide educational opportunities for students and their families. Youth leaders studied the factors that contribute to the dropout rate and the barriers to post-secondary education.

  • Cooperative Academy Project “Un Niño Feliz” Piñata Co-op, Centro Comunitario Juan Diego, $25,000, first year

    The Cooperative Academy Project is an economic development initiative where low-income Latina women form income-generating cooperatives. Started in 2007, “Un Niño Feliz Piñata Co-Op” grew in just over one year through the impetus of the women who set up organizational procedures, a pricing matrix, and a production workshop. This year, five women in the co-op sold 500 piñatas at 12 locations and set up workshops for 50 Latina women to develop leadership skills to create new co-ops to support their families.

  • Senior Action Network, Community Renewal Society, $15,000, second year

    More than 70,000 children in Illinois have a grandparent or other relative as the sole caregiver. Relatives The network organized over 1,500 seniors to be their own advocates by addressing issues around grandparents raising grandchildren, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

  • Latinos Organized for Justice , Illinois Hunger Coalition, $10,000, third year

    Latinos Organized for Justice organized a forum on the sub-prime-lending crisis to educate immigrant communities about how the economy is impacting hard-working, immigrant families. LOJ, in collaboration with other organizations, worked to increase the minimum food stamp benefit for low-wage workers when the Food Stamp Program was reauthorized for the next five years.

  • Project Restore , Inner-City Muslim Action Network, $20,000 (first year)

    Project Restore addresses recidivism and public safety to help reduce mass incarceration and provide alternative sentencing for nonviolent drug offenders. In 2007, the network collaborated with other organizations to author and pass the Drug School Act, a criminal justice reform legislation that diverts low-level, non-violent drug offenders into treatment alternatives rather than prison.

  • Workplace Justice Campaign, Korean American Resource and Cultural Center, $15,000 (first year)

    In 2008, the center launched the Workplace Justice Campaign, the first Asian-American organization in greater Chicago to initiate a campaign to implement economic justice in the workplace. WJC also strives to build relationships between the Korean and Latino communities to promote collaboration across immigrant communities.

  • Affordable Housing Taskforce , Lakeview Action Coalition, $15,000 (first year)

    The Affordable Housing Taskforce is drafting an ordinance to preserve Single Resident Occupancy buildings and it is working to preserve 99 units from being sold to a housing developer. LAC strives to move families back into their community by creating new moderately priced units and preserving the existing affordable housing particularly for seniors. In 2007, LAC worked with the Balanced Development Coalition to pass an ordinance requiring developers to set aside 10% of their units for affordable housing.

  • Day Laborer Project, Latino Union of Chicago, $20,000 (third year)

    In the past three years, the Albany Park Worker’s Center has raised the median wage from $7/hour on the street corner to $13/hour. A written contract at the center has eliminated wage theft for hired day laborers.

  • Affordable Housing Organizing Project, Progress Center for Independent Living, $20,000 (third year)

    The project increased the amount of affordable housing accessible to people with disabilities. Through its Community Reintegration Program, this year the center will move its 200th person from a nursing home to the community. As a result of the project, the township of Cicero approved a funding source for disabled residents to make home modifications.

  • Day Labor Accountability, San Lucas Workers Center, $15,000 (first year)

    San Lucas unites day laborers, who often are pitted against one another. The Day Labor Accountability project focuses on stopping employment discrimination at agencies and companies. Through the DLA project, 100 day laborers at two Chicago companies have won pay raises, holiday pay, seniority rights and temporary-to-permanent advancement.

  • Latino and Immigrant Recruitment, South Suburban Action Conference, $10,000 (first year)

    The Latino and Immigrant Recruitment Project develops leadership skills of the fastest growing constituency in the South Suburbs—immigrants. The project plans to work in collaboration with the African American community to jointly address issues affecting the community. In the past, working with Cook County, SSAC leveraged over $5,000,000 from federal grants to fight drug- and gang-related crime in the South Suburbs.

The following projects received national CCHD funding:

  • Chicago Workers’ Collaborative, $50,000 (third year)

    In 2007, the collaborative won passage of legislation in the Illinois General Assembly, reprimanding companies that take adverse actions against immigrant workers. In the last 2 years, it has intervened to assist nearly 900 permanent workers from being fired and recovered lost wages on behalf of more than 1,200 low-wage workers, putting more than $10 million back into the workers’ pockets.

  • Community Organizing and Family Issues, $35,000 (second year)

    In 2003, COFI created Parents Organized to Win, Educate, and Renew—Policy Action Council (POWER-PAC) to build a citywide organization of nearly 400 parent leaders from 40 schools who work to impact public policies. Through the Recess for All Campaign, parents are working to pass a bill mandating a minimum of 10 minutes of recess in all Chicago public elementary schools, benefiting 400,000 children. POWER-PAC leaders also won a rewrite of the school discipline code and a commitment to fund pilot programs built on restorative justice principles.

  • Interfaith Leadership Project, $30,000 (third year)

    Need: Over the past 15 years, Cicero and Berwyn have changed from a predominantly older white population to a young Latino population. Cicero is 80 percent Latino and Berwyn is close to 50 percent. The immigrant community is afraid of interactions with police and fire officials. To respond to this fear, the project and Latino Union helped draft a safe-space resolution in the Town of Cicero that states that police, fire and town officials will not share information about residents’ legal status with immigration officials. Through the monthly New Americas Initiative workshops at the project , 3,000 people became citizens.

  • Lake County United, $40,000 (first year)

    This year, Lake County United began the Waukegan Education Improvement Plan for new public and private high school education options for low-income minority students. Last year, it won approval by the Lake County Board to build a new $31 million skilled care facility for low-income seniors.

  • Little Village Environmental Justice Organization, $35,000 (second year)

    In 2007, the organization won approval for the cleanup of contaminated soil in 175 homes and won the approval of a new park in Little Village with space designated for an urban farm. In the last two years, LVEJO has mobilized more than 200 families to build community and backyard gardens and host the first annual Urban Agriculture Fair in Little Village highlighting locally grown produce.

  • Logan Square Neighborhood Association, $40,000 (third year)

    Association leaders secured funding to purchase and develop land for a School-to-School Housing initiative that will provide affordable housing to 70 families and keep their children in local schools. Challenges still remain as the Chicago Housing Authority plans to develop 400 luxury units in nearby Lathrop Homes, a public housing development. Lathrop residents are advocating for a mix of public housing, affordable rental and affordable homeownership.

  • Northwest Neighborhood Federation, $35,000 (second year)

    The federation has seven community block clubs that involve Spanish, Polish and English speaking residents from approximately 5,700 households. With cooperation from the 16 th and 25th police districts, residents are working together to improve safety in the neighborhoods and address crime hotspots.

  • Southwest Organizing Project, $35,000 (first year)

    SWOP employs a street level anti-violence intervention initiative where ex-offenders and former gang members build relationships with troubled youth susceptible to the violence of the streets. Between 2002 and 2007, with outreach workers on the streets, shootings in the area declined by 67 percent . Despite funding cuts to the CeaseFire program a year ago, SWOP was still able to slightly reduce shootings in 2007.

  • TARGET Area Development Corporation, $30,000 (third year)

    Within a four-block radius of TARGET’s office there were 4 shootings and 2 homicides within a two- week period in March 2008. TARGET responded with an Emergency Community Meeting with 250 residents, who launched the “Occupy the Land Campaign” to engage churches, business owners, and residents in positive activities on the corners. There have been zero killings and only two shootings since June 8 the targeted area. TARGET facilitated getting 120 summer jobs in street-level intervention outreach for youth ages 13-21. TARGET assisted in job search and education for 55 high-risk community members; 25 were employed and 15 enrolled into the GED program.

  • Technical Assistance grant Centro de Trabajadores Unidos, $5,000

  • Centro de Trabajadores Unidos received $5,000 to develop a worker’s center for Latino immigrant workers on the southeast side of Chicago.