AustinTalks (http://austintalks.org/author/connor-carynski/page/3/)
Health experts joined Cook County Commissioner Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, Ald. Pat Dowell, state Rep. Camille Lilly and others to speak out against President Donald Trump’s child-separation policy and urge that children be immediately reunited with their families.
Alleging that three businesses along the same strip of Madison Street in Austin neighborhood allow an environment of loitering, drug dealing, gambling and public indecency, community members met last week with city officials and the business owners to create a plan to resolve the issues.
Forty volunteers – half of them students and the rest from UnitedHealthcare – arrived last week to make improvements around the building. CBS EcoMedia Inc. and the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation also helped fund last week’s work at the West Side high school.
“This is a great example of what can happen when you have a community, elected officials and companies coming together for the benefit of veterans and for the benefit of communities,” Cook County Commissioner Richard Boykin said at the May 24th ground breaking.
Choosing from about 40 eligible applicants, the church’s scholarship committee selected 20 students to each receive a $1,000 scholarship. The Austin church has awarded hundreds of scholarships to West Side students since 1974.
The initiative, funded by six sponsor families, will employ individuals to improve city areas with work like litter abatement, landscaping, graffiti removal and more over the next three years.