Riverdale Feels the Economic Pain Like Many Other Towns

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by Lesley R. Chinn

In Riverdale, a partnership with OAI, Inc. is helping to put a dent in the village's unemployment rate at a time when the jobless rate for Black males is 14.3 percent and for females13.6 percent.

Designed to recruit minority applicants for the Pathways to Apprenticeships in the Construction Trades (PACT) program, the partnership between OAI and PACT is free and helps minority men and women pass entrance exams in preparation for building and trade apprenticeship programs.

Of 143 South Suburban and Far South side participants in the Chicago region, a recent study from OAI revealed that 25.2 percent of Riverdale applicants completed the PACT training program.

The data also showed that 28.6 percent of current apprenticeships were assisted through PACT while 48.3 percent were accepted into building trade apprenticeships. Moreover, 29.4 percent were placed in employment or post-secondary education programs and about 48.3 percent were accepted into building trade apprenticeships.

Overall, 41.3 percent of the participants successfully found jobs. If participants don't pass the exams, they can come back to PACT/OAI to get additional training.

"These are the types of jobs that people can raise their families on once they get into the union," said Riverdale Mayor Zenovia Evans. "Based on President Obama's economic plan, construction jobs should be one of the main priorities. So there's a possibly to get a lot of people back to work," she added.

Making his pitch to the American public on Monday night to pass the economic stimulus bill, the president went into to detail on how the plan would directly benefit towns like Elkhart, Indiana through unemployment benefits, easier access to health insurance for the jobless, and infrastructure projects in surrounding areas.

Mayor Evans would like to see some of the money trickle down to villages like hers.

Besides unemployment, the cost to repair the sewer system for instance, will be $10 million on the north end of town located from Indiana to Illinois and from 138th to 140th streets. The section is one of the oldest areas in the village. Every time it rains, that area of town floods," she stated.

In addition to sewers, the town needs help with expanding projects like those at the resource center located on 137th and Wabash. Completion of projects like that, would speed up industrial redevelopment.

Last June, Comax a scrap-metal conversion company from Northwest Indiana came to town. A truck-repair company, Export Transport is in the process of coming to Riverdale soon, but according to Evans, the zoning department is reviewing those plans. "Creating jobs and bringing in businesses will ultimately affect the schools, help bring in a broader tax base, and then you have people who can afford to pay their taxes in order to live...," Evans said.

And jobs are tied to homeownership. With the economic situation in bad shape, Riverdale residents, along with so many others, are finding it more difficult to hold on to their homes. Last Thursday during televised reports, President Obama said in talking about the stimulus plan, ""It starts with this economic recovery plan. And soon, we will take on big issues like addressing the foreclosure problem, passing a budget, tackling our fiscal problems, fixing our financial regulation and securing our country."

According to a Realty Trac report, there were a reported 168 foreclosed properties listed as of February 4 in Riverdale. But as of February 9, the site showed more than 203 foreclosed properties dating back to June 2007. Foreclosure prevention and financial workshops have been hosted throughout the year to help at-risk homeowners.

"The foreclosures are tied to the loss of jobs. A lot of people are in foreclosure now but they'll end up refinancing hopefully in order to keep their homes. Some of them will ultimately end up losing their homes and that's something that we don't want to end up seeing, but you see it every place you go," Evans explained.

A poor economic state could take its toll on the crime rate too. Although there was a drop from 689 crimes reported in 2006 in Riverdale, there were still more than 663 crimes reported in the village in 2007 alone, according to a 2007 Illinois State Police report. The majority of these crimes involved robberies, burglaries, and motor vehicle thefts, the data showed. A recent drug bust that nabbed 15 offenders in Riverdale came to a halt after a five-month long investigation, which took the work of the sheriff's office and the local police department.

Three of the 15 suspects were firsttime offenders who participated in a mentoring program at a local church to help turn their lives around, Evans said.

On February 5, Obama expanded on former President Bush's faithbased initiatives and created a new office named "the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships" with the issuance of an executive order. Obama made a concerted effort to assure his secular followers on the left that his faith-based program is different from Bush's, a program that has received much criticism.

Opposing Obama's plan on the left was Caroline Fredrickson, director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office who complained, in a New American online report, "What we are seeing today is significant a president giving his favored clergy a governmental stamp of approval. There is no historical precedent for presidential meddling in religion or religious leaders meddling in federal policy through a formal government advisory committee made up mostly of the president's chosen religious leaders," she said.

When asked whether she supported Obama's faith-based initiatives, Evans said she applauds them and projects there will be more to come under his leadership. These initiatives, like the mentoring program in Riverdale at a local church where first-time offenders can get a fresh start, help make a difference in people's lives, she said.

"Any holistic approach to combating the affects of drugs and crime would have to involve the faith of all denominations and many religions to be involved in counteracting any criminal activity," she said.

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