AustinTalks (http://austintalks.org/author/zach-cunning/)
A group of about a dozen youth created their own quality-of-life plan for Austin this summer, modeled after a similar plan being implemented by Austin Coming Together. The youth’s plan focuses on public safety, mental health and youth empowerment, and will be unveiled later this fall by the group Territory.
The city shut down the Columbus Park testing site in July. Residents can be tested at four other Austin locations, including Loretto Hospital and PCC Community Wellness Center.
As city continues to invest in Austin as part of its INVEST South/West program, city developers and non-profit partners are focusing their attention on several blocks of Chicago Avenue, from Cicero Avenue to Austin Boulevard.
A couple dozen people gathered Sunday to remember teenager Elijah Sims, who was killed four years ago, and to call for better witness protection. His case remains unsolved.
About 50 people gathered at La Follette Park Friday before marching to Chicago Board of Education member Dwayne Truss’ residence. They were protesting the contract between Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Police Department, and calling on Truss to vote against the contract at CPS’ Aug. 26th meeting.
BUILD Chicago has bee n hosting a summer camp in Austin, providing 60 young people with a much needed outlet this summer. Their activities have included peace circles, basketball, volleyball and a small farm with some very friendly chickens.
High school juniors and seniors at Austin College and Career Academy – as well as the district’s dozens of other high schools – will be learning exclusively at home. The school is still deciding whether to keep its two school resource officers. Two other Austin high schools – Michele Clark Academic Prep Magnet High School and Frederick Douglass Academy High School – have already voted unanimously to keep their officers.
The Austin Peoples Action Center hosted a rally Friday that featured George Floyd’s brother Po Floyd and former NBA player Stephen Jackson, who called for Blacks to come together and stop the violence. Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle announced $5 million in anti-violence funding at the event.
ROYAL, a group of youths from Oak Park, led a march through Austin, Garfield Park and Oak Park last weekend. They were protesting police brutality and commemorating the death of Elijah McClain, a Black man who died while walking home from work last year in Colorado and after police put him in a choke hold.
Dozens of West Side residents gathered to commemorate Nelson Mandela and call for economic empowerment in Austin.