AustinTalks (http://austintalks.org/category/news/)
De’Andre Wilborn, Austin resident and George Westinghouse College Prep senior, was one of eight Chicago high school students to receive the $20,000 scholarship award as part of the Cubs Charities Cubs Scholars Program. He was honored at a Cubs home game last month.
Veterans were honored Monday at the 29th Ward’s Veterans’ Peace Garden, 5413 W. Madison St. The event – held in the midst of falling snow and bitter winds – was sponsored by the recently formed Austin Veterans Community Organization (AVCO). The group will be meeting the third Wednesday of every month at noon at the 29th Ward Veterans’ Peace Garden when it’s warm enough to meet outside and at MacArthur’s restaurant during the winter.
One of the experts featured in “FIRSTHAND: Gun Violence” is Jermaine Harris, a community policing sergeant in the Chicago Department’s 15th District, who talks about using social justice as a means of supporting the Austin community. The series launches Nov. 12 on WTTW.
West Side residents who attended the meeting were asked two questions: What are the key problems that you would like police to address, and how would you like the police to engage more with the community? Another community conversation to discuss the strategic plan the Chicago Police Department is developing will be held Nov. 12 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Zoe Life Ministries, 3 S. Laramie Ave.
Voting will be available to any resident of the 29th Ward who is 14 or older. Ballots will be available online on Ald. Chris Taliaferro’s website and in person at his office, 6272 W. North Ave.; at the Austin Chicago Public Library, 5615 W. Race Ave.; and at the North Austin Chicago Public Library, 5724 W. North Ave. Voting ends Nov. 20.
Austin families uttered a sign of relief Thursday with the news that the Chicago Teachers Union had suspended its 11 day-strike and that classes for about 300,000 Chicago Public Schools students will resume Friday. Earlier this week, union delegates voted 364 to 242 to approve the 41-page, five-year agreement.
The donadtion – the largest corporate gift in United Way of Metro Chicago’s history – will be used to help implement Austin’s quality of life plan and to support social service infrastructure and development in the city’s most-populated community area. The investment was announced last week at an event hosted by Mayor Lori Lightfoot and attended by several local elected officials.
Spots are still available for the one-week trip, which targets young people ages 16 to 24, their family members and anyone from the community. It will take place from April 4 to 11, 2020. The registration deadline is Oct. 31.
Three Democrats and one Independent are challenging 12-term congressman Danny K. Davis for his seat in the U.S. House. All but one candidate filed third-quarter campaign finance reports last week documenting how much they have raised and how much campaign cash they have on hand for the March 17th primary.
The nine sites that are open to the public are Assumption Greek Orthodox Church (901 S. Central Ave.); Austin Community Family Center (501 N. Central Ave.); Austin Town Hall Cultural Center (5610 W. Lake St.); Catholic Charities Father Augustus Tolton Peace Center (5645 W. Corcoran Place); Columbus Park Refectory (5701 W. Jackson Blvd.); Fraternite Notre Dame (502 N. Central Ave.); Kehrein Center for the Arts (5618 W. Washington Blvd.); St. Martin’s Episcopal Church (5700 W. Midway Park); and Third Unitarian Church (301 N. Mayfield Ave.).
Ald. Chris Taliaferro will be hosting a discussion on participatory budgeting in the 29th Ward. Residents will have a chance sometime in November to vote on the projects they think should be funded out of the alderman’s “menu money.”
