Community Focus
Entrepreneur creates COVID-19 Vending Machine
Lolita Brown is an entrepreneur with a successful beauty business, Mental Beauty Supply. She is also an author and life coach. She found a way to offer products using a beauty supply vending machine that she repurposed.
Clean Up Continues After Looting Spree Crippled Chicago Communities
Community leaders and residents have banned together to help clean up their communities after a looting spree devastated many neighborhoods especially on the South and West Sides.
Artists create images of hope and unity to replace boarded up store fronts
“Paint the City” is our way of helping our city heal,” said Keithley, a self-taught artists who grew up on Chicago’s South Side. “We want to help restore our community, and transforming boarded up buildings into an art gallery of sorts is one way to do that.”
FOUNDER WANTS TO INSPIRE NEXT GENERATION WITH BOOK
Kelly Fair, executive director and founder of Polished Pebbles Girls Mentoring Program, began her program in 2009 with the aim to impact the lives of girls by helping them to become great communicators. After 11 years, Fair and the organization have helped more than 3,000 girls.
GRANT TO HELP SMALL BUSINESSES IN SOUTH SHORE
The South Shore Chamber of Commerce wanted to provide grants to small business owners located within Special Service Area #42 during COVID-19, so they created the Transparent Interim Direct Economic Solutions, or TIDES grant.
Entrepreneurs Create Unique Face Masks For Small Businesses During COVID-19 Pandemic
Derryl Caldwell and Delvin McCray, both have offices in the Bridgeport Art Center, 1200 W. 35th St., both are members of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc., and both have a unique skillset that now allows them to expand their services to include facemasks production for black-owned businesses.
Barber offers tips to keep safe and healthy during COVID-19
Larry Robert, Jr., is the owner of Larry’s Barber College. He has been cutting hair for 33 years and owns six locations of barber colleges in Illinois and in Dallas, Texas. While Robert’s students can’t service clients or come into the building, they are doing distance learning.
MOTHER AND DAUGHTER CO-WRITE BOOK WITH AIM TO INSPIRE
Dominique Jordan Turner thought it was important to instill confidence in her daughter early on. Growing up, she struggled with confidence and wanted something different for Kennedy.
FOOD PANTRY PIVOTS DURING COVID-19
Local food pantries have seen an increase in the number of people who need their resources during the COVID-19 outbreak and food pantries are having to change the way food is distributed.
HELPFUL TIPS TO STAY SAFE ON THE INTERNET
Many workers have been given the option of working from home during COVID-19. While working from home and using the internet can be convenient, there are some safety measures to keep in mind. Always Giving Back (AGB) Innovative Security Solutions is a black-owned security firm based in Chicago. John Griffin is the CEO and co-founder of the company, along with his wife, Dr. Denitra Griffin. Arba Houlden is the COO of AGB. Both Griffin and Houlden provided some useful tips to keep those working from home safe while using the internet.
Pullman Community Center provides athletics and academics
The Pullman Community Center has become an important fixture in the year and a half since it opened. It began with a vision from 9th Ward Alderman Anthony Beale to build an indoor baseball facility, but the vision later mushroomed into the center it is today.
VILLAGE OF ROBBINS HOSTS TOWN HALL TO ADDRESS CORONAVIRUS
Tyrone Ward, mayor of Robbins, hosted a town hall meeting to provide information about the novel coronavirus as a way to answer residents’ questions and concerns. The meeting also included a presentation from Cook County Public Health Chief Operating Officer Dr. Terry Mason.
BOURBON DRINK CREATED TO HONOR CHATHAM RESIDENT AND POLITICAL WHIZ BRIAN SLEET
A Park Manor business owner teamed up with Ald. Roderick Sawyer (6th) two weeks ago to start selling “1792: Bottled in Bond” in honor of their good friend and Chatham resident the late Brian Sleet.
WOODLAWN ALDERMEN DIVIDED OVER AFFORDABLE HOUSING ORDINANCE
A proposed Woodlawn Housing Preservation Ordinance crafted by Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration has two aldermen representing the South Side community at odds over it.
