Community Renewal Society

How deep does misconduct run in the Chicago Police Department? Is race a factor? Do officers themselves ever feel they've been targeted by abusive cops?

I wasn’t expecting straight answers when I cold-called Officer Richard Wooten on his cell phone. Getting a police officer to talk about misconduct among his peers seemed like a long shot. Read more »

The fight to save the Woodlawn Mental Health Clinic appears to have its first victory. According to Mark Cassello, a Huffington Post contributor, the Emanuel administration has offered to keep the Woodlawn Adult Health Center open. The center would be staffed with two therapists and no psychologists. The announcement comes after ongoing demonstrations at the Woodlawn facility saw a second round of arrests on Monday night, with ten people being removed from the vacant lot across the street where protesters have camped out to protest the planned cuts. Read more »

Since plans for the NATO summit in Chicago were announced, advocates working on issues of poverty in Chicago have found increasingly common cause with anti-war protesters.

The endorsement of the May 20 march against NATO earlier this month by Rev. Jesse Jackson, along with support from Rev. Phil Blackwell, National Nurses United and members of the Service Employees International Union, represents the latest stage in this collaboration. Read more »

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan announced Wednesday that $20 million will make its way to statewide programs aimed at keeping folks in their homes and providing mortgage relief.

That's thanks to Madigan's involvement in a national lawsuit against some of the country's biggest lenders, which ended in a $26 billion settlement earlier this year--the second largest ever by joint action of attorneys general around the country.  Read more »

The Chicago Reporter has won the national 2011 Sigma Delta Chi Awards for excellence in journalism for its coverage of the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) “one-strike” eviction policy in the September/October 2011 issue. Read more »

Two voter ID laws making their way through the state Legislature could end up keeping some of Illinois' poorest residents from exercising one of their basic democratic rights–voting. Come Election Day, voters would have to present a government-issued photo identification card at the polling place, if Senate Bill 2496, which was introduced last week, is ulimately approved by lawmakers. A similar measure--House Bill 3903 --was introduced in the lower chamber in December. Read more »

Congratulations to The Chicago Reporter Maria Zamudio who has been awarded a 2012 Institute for Justice & Journalism fellowship: “Immigration in the Heartland.” Read more »

A recent study of segregation in Chicago by the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, based on census data, found that while Chicago still has the dubious honor of being the most segregated major city in America, it also experienced one of the sharpest declines in spacial segregation. Read more »

Vacant homes are trouble. There's no doubt about it. From attracting squatters, falling into disrepair or lowering home values, there's not a neighborhood in this city that doesn't have empty homes creating problems. More are piling onto the market every day, with little hope of a quick recovery. Read more »

In Chicago, neighborhoods are a way to categorize a person. If you live in a bad neighborhood, you are automatically considered to be a bad person; if you live in a good neighborhood, you must be a good person.

But here's one problem: I reside in Pilsen, and I’m not a bad person. Read more »