Conversations With The Citizen

Monica Gordon was recently appointed Director of Government and Community Relations at Chicago State University.

Tonika Lewis Johnson is the creator of the Folded Map Project, a visual investigation of the inequity and disparity of the North and South Sides. In that project, Johnson has the residents, who lived on the same streets with similar addresses on different sides of the city, meet each other and talk about race, the city and segregation. Essence McDowell is the associate director of the Social Justice Initiative at the University of Illinois Chicago. The Social Justice Initiative is a small arm of the University of Illinois Chicago and its aim is to bring the campus community with city-wide communities together to build a bridge between scholarship and activism. “Belonging” is the inaugural exhibit of the Social Justice Initiative’s Chicago Justice Gallery.

Ariel DeNey Rainey, CEO and founder of Hustle Mommies. Hustle Mommies is a nonprofit organization that helps urban and inner-city moms become leaders in their homes, as well as in their communities. With Rainey at the helm, the Hustle Mommies organization has received proclamations from elected officials in New York City, Compton, Calif., and has been featured by the Obama Foundation.

Ashley Munson is the Legislative Affairs Manager for the Illinois Network of Charter Schools. Ashley is a community activist and a voice that speaks for the improvement of public education for primarily Black and brown students throughout Illinois. Ashley Munson hosted the March for US 2020 - Million Man March in Chicago on Juneteenth. The march brought out 5,000 people to celebrate Black culture and to demand the City of Chicago and the State of Illinois for real change. From this, Munson is creating a non-profit that uplifts Black communities, assists in creating legislation to curb gun violence, end police brutality, and provides equity in education, healthcare, and resources.

During 2020 Covid-19 Season, Illinois State Representative Marcus Evans (33rd District), sits down with Conversations With The Citizen Host Tia Carol Jones to discuss how and when he became interested in becoming a politician.

Chakena is the new chairwoman of the Cook County Young Democrats and president of the Chicago Votes Action Fund Board of Directors. Chakena Sims has a vision for expanding access to voting rights in Chicago and engaging a new generation of political activists across Cook County. With a strong handshake and 26-years of life under her belt, Sims is ready to be an advocate and a leader as the 2020 election approaches.

Jamila Trimuel is the founder and CEO of Ladies of Virtue, a nonprofit mentoring organization that targets young women from the south and west sides of Chicago to provide them with mentors, career-readiness training, character-building exercises, and opportunities for civic engagement. Over the last eight years, Ladies of Virtue has been able to serve over 1,000 girls from Chicago and the nearby suburbs.

BLACK-OWNED SECURITY COMPANY CELEBRATES GRAND OPENING OF NEW SOUTH SIDE HEADQUARTERS AGB Investigative Services recently celebrated the grand opening of its new headquarters located on 7545 S. Western Ave. in Chicago’s Auburn-Gresham neighborhood. Owners John and Dr. Denitra Griffin sat down with the Citizen to discuss the Grand Opening and what it means jobs in the near future

During October, National Domestic Violence Awareness Month is recognized across the country including in Chicago at the Metropolitan Family Services Calumet Center, 235 East 103rd Street, in Roseland. The Calumet Center offers Domestic Violence Clinical Services all year long for south side residents along with a variety of overlapping services at no cost to the client.

In 2016, AJ Patton left his job to create 548 Capital, LLC and to focus on creating solar-powered affordable housing on the south and west sides of Chicago. Since then, Patton has built a network of local partners who are working to bring his vision to life. Through 548 Capital, LLC, Patton recently created the Solar Chicago Fund and began construction on their first sustainable housing site in Auburn Gresham.