CHICAGO — Laila McKinney was dreading senior year at Chicago’s King College Prep. Not just because of COVID-19. Not just because last year was disrupted by remote learning.

But because the 18-year-old’s long-term dance teacher, someone she considers a cherished mentor, and her journalism teacher wouldn’t be there. The two were among the 562 educators — 272 teachers and 290 non-teacher employees — laid off by Chicago Public Schools at the end of last school year. 

The number of layoffs this past spring was the lowest in several years. Still, a Chalkbeat analysis found the layoffs hit small schools in high-poverty areas disproportionately hard. Most schools with clusters of three or more teacher layoffs were shrinking campuses, with at least seven of the 22 schools considered “underutilized” by the district, meaning their enrollment falls significantly short of the building capacity. 

At least two schools, King and Christian Fenger Academy, laid off 15 percent of their staff, though Fenger was among the few schools on the list that has gained enrollment over the past two years and planned to add staff this year, according to budget documents. Representatives from King and Fenger did not respond to requests for comment before publication time. 

Every spring brings a cycle of layoffs in Chicago in response to factors such as budget, enrollment, and programmatic changes. The district rehires the vast majority of laid-off staff each fall, usually at different campuses. When asked to provide the number of teachers rehired this fall, the district could not provide an updated tally by publication time, and instructed Chalkbeat to file a public records request. 

Chicago’s teacher layoff numbers are under particular scrutiny this fall for two reasons. Advocates and the Chicago Teachers Union say the district should have used federal pandemic relief money to prevent the layoffs. They asserted the layoffs take a toll on school programming, resources, and communities, making it difficult to recruit new students when enrollment starts to fall. 

The other reason is enrollment, and how continued enrollment declines could put pressure on some schools to retain staff. Last fall, after the pandemic’s onset, Chicago Public Schools reported its sharpest enrollment drop in two decades. If the decline continues, some schools likely will lose more students than others, potentially putting them in the position of losing funding to hire teachers and facing more layoffs.

Asked about this year’s numbers, a district spokesman, James Gherardi, said 59 teachers who were laid off had one-year positions related to the pandemic and that this fall, the district planned to hire for 2,000 open teaching and staffing positions. Gherardi said he expected many laid-off teachers to be rehired for other positions in the district. Last school year, the district laid off nearly 290 teachers and rehired 72 percent in full-time positions.

However, advocates say the cycle of layoffs and rehires causes uncertainty and upheaval for the schools that chart the highest layoff numbers. A 2013 study found New York City students in grade levels with higher teacher turnover scored lower in English and math, and that these effects were amplified in schools with more low-performing and Black students. 

For students such as Laila, the layoffs strike a personal chord. 

“I remember crying,” Laila said, recalling when she heard her dance teacher was laid off. “It broke my heart. You develop relationships with these teachers. Ms. Kahphira isn’t just my dance teacher. She helped me a lot through the pandemic, as well.” 

Returning to an unfamiliar place

District officials argue that layoffs are a regular part of the business operations for a big district and that despite the pandemic’s impact, teacher staffing has been relatively stable (the district has, however, struggled to fill bus driver and substitute positions) Chicago touted a start to the school year with 97 percent of its teaching positions filled, and data obtained by Chalkbeat showed that resignations in the spring declined, following a trend of steady decreases. 

Still, the pattern of layoffs troubles students and teachers at the schools most affected. They say the process is demoralizing and amplifies disruption in an already tumultuous year. 

Christian Fenger Academy laid off five of its 29 teachers in spring. Among those laid off was Xochitl Infante, who taught social studies and other subjects at the school for more than a decade. 

With clusters of layoffs, Infante said, “You’re fracturing what little community has been built.”

Infante started teaching in 2009, the year Fenger student Derrion Albert was killed on his way to a bus stop. Fights broke out in the school often in the months and years that followed; parents protested for days outside Fenger, and enrollment continued to drop.  

“Every year that they see you come back, those kids gain a little bit more trust. You’ve got to earn those kids’ trust,” Infante said. “Those kids were responding to the city taking their community from them. That’s why we have so many discipline issues.”

It took years for the school to build back its community. Recently, Infante recalls going all-out to compete against Fenger’s music teacher in door-decorating contests, and battling students and teachers in the “Cupcake Wars” led by Fenger’s culinary teacher. Both of those teachers lost their jobs at Fenger this June, too. 

Infante was not rehired for another full-time teaching job before the fall started but will stay with the district this year and is currently categorized as a reassigned teacher. 

At Fenger, she was the school’s only Embarc teacher. Embarc is a district-wide three-year program that connects high schoolers from low-income families to community-based opportunities and provides college and career readiness training. Until school reopened in August, this year’s cohort had only experienced the program remotely. 

After Infante left Fenger, a new teacher took her place to close out the sequence. But the program is not supposed to be implemented that way, Infante said, noting that long-term teacher-student relationships are Embarc’s foundation.

The cut has happened before: Her first Embarc group saw the school discontinue the program for their junior year. (It was later reinstated amid popular student demand.)

Senior Taqueria Halsey credits the program — specifically, Infante’s teaching — for strengthening her personal relationships and for teaching her how to assert herself. She used those skills this summer to connect with students at her dream college and navigate the application process.

“With her not being here, my senior year is going to be hard,” Taqueria said. “She was almost the only one that followed us. It’s going to be hard going back to new teachers … [and to] brand new classes that I’ve never seen before.” 

Declining enrollment spurs tough decisions

Chicago Public Schools operates according to a student-based budgeting system, meaning funding ties largely to enrollment, and schools with declining enrollment can feel budget pressures. Since 2019, the district has given equity grants to schools with consistently declining enrollment to try to bolster program offerings for students.

But enrollment can fluctuate, and those equity funds are not a guarantee. When schools receiving equity grants see student count rebound, however, they can lose some or all of those additional funds. That could explain layoffs at some schools that have gained enrollment and even positions.

Little Village’s Multicultural Arts School and West Town’s Mancel Talcott School were also among schools with the highest layoff rates, with about 12 percent and 10 percent of teachers laid off, respectively. 

These schools are small to mid-size: Multicultural Arts had an enrollment of 225 last fall, while Talcott served 425 students. 

Politically, the district has faced considerable pressure to keep smaller schools open, and moving forward, a new law makes any sort of consolidation or closure in the next few years unlikely. The law that establishes school board elections for Chicago for the first time also contains a provision that, from 2022 on, blocks CPS officials from closing or consolidating schools until elected board members take their seats in 2025.  

As federal pandemic relief dollars hit the district this fall, some education finance researchers say they’re wary that school districts could spread resources too thin across schools that are losing students. Marguerite Roza, who runs Edunomics Lab, a school finance think tank at Georgetown University, says declining enrollment trends are first triggered by demographic changes or competing school choices, not by cuts to staff. 

“A case could be made that there’s a lot going on right now and losing staff in the middle of this jumble — especially if we think enrollment will return — may not be the greatest idea,” Roza said. “At the same time, if you’re going to use one-time federal money for staffing and the kids aren’t going to return, you just push out that pain.”  

‘It’s not going to be there‘

At King, six teachers were laid off in June — about 15 percent of the school’s teaching roster at the time. Students there said returning to a new slate of educators shook their sense of stability and made them feel less connected to their classrooms. 

Laila, the King senior, has taken classes with former King dance teacher Kahphira Palmer for three years. She calls dancing with Palmer “a lunch break, but not a lunch break.” It was a space where she could express herself and process life: Palmer led Laila and her classmates to choreograph pieces that affirmed their identities and reckoned with ongoing injustices, such as police brutality.

“I wanted to go out big this year — like, with a bang,” Laila said. “I wanted Ms. Kahphira to teach me all she knew this year, and choreograph my senior piece.”

Over the course of the pandemic, Laila also found herself going to Palmer for support in other courses. 

Laila started her junior year with D’s and F’s and ended it with A’s, B’s, and C’s. She said she owes much of her success to Palmer’s mentorship. Palmer sharpened her own math skills to help Laila pass algebra, and connected the student with resources online so she could pass the class.  

“One thing people need to understand about students and their dance teachers is that it’s like having another parent,” Palmer, who was hired this summer to teach at Carver Military Academy this year, said. “When you’re a dance teacher, you’re molding your students into something.” 

In the last week of summer, Laila didn’t even know what would happen in her classes this fall. Less than a week before the start of school, her schedule still hadn’t been posted. 

“I signed up for Dance 4. It’s not going to be there. I signed up for Journalism 2. It’s not going to be there,” Laila said before the year started. “I didn’t even go to registration. I didn’t know how things were going to go down.” 

Soon, it will be time for Laila to start sending in college applications. But with both her dance teacher and her journalism teacher gone, Laila is no longer sure where to turn for teacher letters of recommendation. 

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.

]]> Mon, 27 Sep 2021 14:53:44 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/DaBPq-jBJRYT0kmzan5HI0Gb1Jh49AJn https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/DaBPq-jBJRYT0kmzan5HI-Gkz6RCC25z

CHATHAM — A cannabis business that grows and infuses marijuana into specialty products is eyeing a long-vacant building in Chatham.

Ayman Haswah and Ahmad “Eddie” Shaban, owners of two South Side beverage and liquor stores, are proposing to open the business at 7401 S. State St., next to an Aldi grocery store.

Under the name Guaranteed Investments, they would grow about 6,000 pounds of cannabis every three months, representatives said at a community meeting last week hosted by Ald. Roderick Sawyer (6th).

Once the business secures partnerships with retailers, workers also would create cannabis-infused products like hard candies, inhalers, cooking oils and drinks. The business would not sell directly to customers, but to other dispensaries around town, representatives said.

Renovating the building could cost up to $10 million, a company representative said. If approved, the cannabis cultivation site would be the first of its kind in the neighborhood.

Caryn Shaw, an attorney representing Guaranteed Investments, said the cannabis cultivator will make “an unproductive piece of land productive again.”

“I know that there are a lot of studies out there [that say] to improve the health of the community, it’s important to have greenery, plants and things like that,” Shaw said. “There’s going to be shrubbery, trees and attractive concrete work.”

Neighbor Gaylord Thomas said at the meeting he thinks the business will benefit the community and bring the vacant structure back “to life.” Learning the facility isn’t a dispensary that sells directly to the public secured his vote, he said.

“I was concerned because we live across the alley from where [the business] will be,” Thomas said. “But it’s not a dispensary, so there won’t be traffic or noise. We need to generate tax revenue for our community, and this will do that.”

In addition to beautifying the space, Shaw said the business will create at least 20 full-time jobs staffed from the community, and they will have benefits, including disability insurance, professional education and paid time off.

Sawyer said he thinks the business is the best way to use the vacant building.

“This is a building with no windows on the expressway that has a loading dock, so it’s kind of perfect for this type of operation,” Sawyer said. “It’ll generate tax revenue to the area, and it won’t interfere with anybody’s quality of life.”

If Sawyer backs it, the project could be reviewed by City Council committees later this year, Shaw said.

Hopefully, this will be the first of many businesses to come, Sawyer said.

“I’m hoping that we have more opportunities for business in our business corridors and more engagement from the community,” Sawyer said. “We’re not going to get anywhere if people don’t show up and express something.”

Subscribe to Block Club Chicago, an independent, 501(c)(3), journalist-run newsroom. Every dime we make funds reporting from Chicago’s neighborhoods.

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]]> Mon, 27 Sep 2021 14:33:00 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/DaBPq-jBJRYT0kmzan5HI-Gkz6RCC25z https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/DaBPq-jBJRYn4jlaYAbdPUGT5aWO9DEx

LAKEVIEW — Designer Tania Mackey wants to revive the “dying art” of sewing by teaching classes out of her Lakeview store.

Mackey opened Niczka Studio, 3140 N. Lincoln Ave., in June after spending the past several months operating out of a pop-up storefront in West Town.

Niczka offers handmade clothing, custom pieces, alterations and thrift flips, but Mackey said she hopes to expand the practice to start teaching sewing classes.

“I want this to become a creative space where people can come in, learn about sewing and leave with a finished piece depending on what level of classes they take,” Mackey said. “Sewing is a dying art, and it can’t be.”

Credit: Jake Wittich/Block Club Chicago

The store will offer classes for kids and adults of different skill levels, Mackey said.

“The classes are always going to be a tutorial so people get to bring something home,” Mackey said. “The beginner class for kids would be on how to make a seasonal pillowcase or something simple so I can show them how to start and finish stitches.”

In the more advanced classes, kids could learn how to make things like pencil cases, shorts, skirts or mini messenger bags, Mackey said.

For adults, Mackey said she envisions “sip and sew” classes where people could have drinks with friends while learning how to sew, whether that’s a beginner’s class or more targeted classes on hemming, taking in jackets or pants and creating other items.

“I think these classes would be great to launch for the winter because it gives you something to do inside with your friends or kids,” Mackey said.

But before she can start teaching, Niczka Studio needs more sewing machines to accommodate the classes. Mackey said she’s been collecting donations through the boutique’s Facebook page and has already received four sewing machines. People can contact Mackey through Niczka’s Facebook page if they’d like to donate a machine.

“If you have a working sewing machine that you don’t use and it’s collecting dust, it would definitely get used here for a good cause,” Mackey said.

Credit: Jake Wittich/Block Club Chicago

Before finding its more permanent home in Lakeview, Niczka was run out of a 550-square-foot pop-up storefront occupied by the West Town Chamber of Commerce.

Mackey, who opened the pop-up in December, said she had worked on her clothing boutique “on the side” for the past five years while working other jobs. Opening the store was a dream of hers since learning to sew from her mother in junior high, Mackey said.

Mackey said it was a “weird time” to open the store in the middle of the pandemic, but the timing felt right to her.

“If I can get through a month like this, then I can make it anywhere after this,” she said. “It wasn’t super planned. … It was me being sick of not pursuing my dream.”

Niczka Studio is open 11:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m. Wednesday-Friday, 11:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Saturdays and 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sundays. The shop is closed Mondays and Tuesdays.

Follow the store on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest for more information.

Jake Wittich is a Report for America corps member covering Lakeview, Lincoln Park and LGBTQ communities across the city for Block Club Chicago.

Subscribe to Block Club Chicago, an independent, 501(c)(3), journalist-run newsroom. Every dime we make funds reporting from Chicago’s neighborhoods.

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]]> Mon, 27 Sep 2021 14:30:00 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/DaBPq-jBJRYn4jlaYAbdPUGT5aWO9DEx https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/DaBPq-jBJRYn4jlaYAbdPS1Ly282xAAw

EDISON PARK — After more than six months of bouncing among Northwest Side co-working and rental spaces, popular dance and workout studio Fly Girl Dance & Fitness has a permanent home.

The business will open in October at 6325 N. Avondale Ave., though a few classes will begin Monday as the space gets a makeover, said owner Kymberlee Kaye Raya.

“I am looking forward to my team having a home again,” Kaye Raya said. “They busted their tails for me. These women are unbelievable … . There are so many times I wanted to throw in the towel.”

Credit: Provided

The business, which has a second location in Wisconsin that opened this year, was in Gladstone Park for five years but left that storefront in January.

The owner said the process of securing a new home has been a tough one — so much so that she could write a whole book about it, she joked. Multiple deals on storefronts fell through, but Kaye Raya said she was relieved after signing the Edison Park lease this week and getting the keys.

“We’ve been doing great in Wisconsin, but we had no home here, so I didn’t feel whole and wanted to cry,” she said.

The large new space will also fill a void for the studio’s members, who mostly live in Norwood Park, Edison Park and the suburbs.

She said the old space used to host about 2,200 people monthly for the more than 40 classes offered by the business. She hopes the new space, which will be decked out in the business’ signature pink, will attract a large crowd for any women wanting to get fit and feel empowered.

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A post shared by Fly Girl Dance+Fitness (@flygirldanceandfitness)

Fly Girl Dance & Fitness offers classes in yoga, zumba, kickboxing, HIIT and boot camp with a fun environment tailored to boost women’s confidence, the owner said.

Kaye Raya, a mother of two who has more than 30 years of experience in the dance and fitness world, also donates her time to nonprofits that assist youth like KEEN Chicago, Casa Central and local public schools.

In March, state Rep. Lindsey LaPointe honored Fly Girl & Fitness with a Small Business Award, which Kaye Raya said gave a rewarding feeling of recognition for her team.

She said she is grateful to her members and instructors from the Northwest Side community for not giving up on her dream and coming back to teach and work out.

“I can’t thank people enough for supporting us,” she said.

Subscribe to Block Club Chicago, an independent, 501(c)(3), journalist-run newsroom. Every dime we make funds reporting from Chicago’s neighborhoods.

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]]> Mon, 27 Sep 2021 14:25:00 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/DaBPq-jBJRYn4jlaYAbdPS1Ly282xAAw https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/DaBPq-jBJRYn4jlaYAbdPVyOSYGFl6uu

CHICAGO — The Chicago Architecture Center’s popular festival is bringing back in-person events after a pandemic hiatus. 

The month-long festival will run throughout October, kicking off with a mix of member-only and public program previews Tuesday and Wednesday.

Starting Oct. 1, festival attendees can download the Open House Chicago mobile app, which will have self-guided tours that span the city, information about in-person sites, audio and video additions and suggestions for shopping and dining. 

In-person, indoor events will be featured Oct. 16-17, when more than 100 venues in more than 30 neighborhoods and suburbs will be open to the public for “rare behind-the-scenes access,” according to a news release. There will be several new sites open, including the Penthouse in Hyde Park, the Sable Hotel at Navy Pier and the Pullman National Monument Visitor Information Center. 

This year’s program also will include a visit to the Obamas’ residence in Hyde Park and a follow-along trail of the Great Chicago Fire in honor of the disaster’s 150th anniversary. 

All of the Open House Chicago events, sites and tours are free and open to the public, unless otherwise designated as members-only.

For the most updated information on self-guided tours and Open House sites, check out Open House Chicago’s website.

Subscribe to Block Club Chicago, an independent, 501(c)(3), journalist-run newsroom. Every dime we make funds reporting from Chicago’s neighborhoods.

Already subscribe? Click here to support Block Club with a tax-deductible donation. 

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]]> Mon, 27 Sep 2021 14:20:00 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/DaBPq-jBJRYn4jlaYAbdPVyOSYGFl6uu https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/DaBPq-jBJRaG58LRpzQuu5ONpYks2fGs

CHICAGO — Some alderpeople want to avoid a property tax increase in next year’s city budget, saying too many Chicagoans can’t afford any more strain on their finances in the ongoing pandemic.

The City Council launched its 11-day, marathon budget hearings Friday to dissect Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s budget proposal for 2022. The mayor’s $16.7 billion spending plan is aimed at powering the city’s economic recovery from the coronavirus crisis.

Lightfoot’s plan is propped up by $1.9 billion in federal relief dollars that allows the city to scrap a costly long-term borrowing plan approved last year, avoid a sharp increase in property taxes and spreads hundreds of millions dollars worth of aid to struggling Chicagoans — all while plugging a $733 million deficit and boosting the Chicago Police Department budget by almost $200 million.

But aldermen wondered if even a modest property tax was necessary given the strains of the pandemic, and if the investments in new social programs were a one-off or could be sustained. Some also wanted strict rules imposed on themselves over how to spend a new $100,000 fund Lightfoot has proposed giving alderpeople to dole out “microgrants” in their wards.

Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago

In 2021, City Council approved a $94 million property tax increase that included a provision annually raising taxes at a rate tied to the Consumer Price Index. This year’s hike would be 1.4 percent, determined by the increase from December 2019 to December 2020.

In the proposed budget, property taxes will go up $76.5 million in 2022. That includes the $22.9 million increase for inflation, $25 million to pay the first installment of a capital infrastructure bond, and $28.6 million collected from new developments. 

Although City Council won’t be asked to vote on new property taxes above what’s been previously agreed to, alderpeople wanted to know if they could scrap the taxes tied to inflation altogether.

“What a lot of us are hearing is that our residents can’t afford new property taxes, period,” said Ald. Daniel La Spata (1st). 

Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago

Ald. Harry Osterman (48th) said the salaries of property owners might not have risen to keep up with inflation.

Last year’s budget ordinance “allows for us to do that, but the question is, given the financial conditions of where we are as a city, the question is should we do that,” Osterman said. “Regardless of where they’re at financially, it’s a tricky thing. People get priced out of their homes and they have to move.”

Ald. Matt O’Shea (19th) said the city should balk at the annual increase tied to CPI.

“We should be exploring other ways to get this increase out of this budget because obviously people are struggling right now,” O’Shea said. 

Jennie Huang Bennett, the city’s chief financial officer, told aldermen the annual CPI rise “is not something that the City Council has to increase” but it would be prudent to keep it in place.

“The issue is that for many years the taxes don’t increase, which creates structural imbalances and difficulties within the budget, and then a very large catch up,” Huang Bennett said. “So from a taxpayer perspective, what we heard is that predictability and stability” helps property owners.

Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago

What happens when the federal dollars run out?

Chicago will receive $1.9 billion from the American Recovery Plan, a federal stimulus fund to pump money into the nation’s pandemic recovery. 

Lightfoot’s plan sets aside about $1.3 billion to offset revenue loss in 2020, 2021 and 2022, and avoid embarking on a costly long-term borrowing plan approved in the 2021 budget. The rest will be pumped into social programs to help struggling residents, expand violence prevention efforts, increase arts funding and promote small businesses and the city’s tourism industry.

The plan to spend liberally on social programs received little push back Friday, but aldermen were concerned that once the city opens up the spigot of the spending, it would be hard to rein in and the city wouldn’t have the federal money to fall back on.

“I think there’s a lot of great things in this budget that grassroots movements have been organizing for,” Ald. Andre Vasquez (40th) said. “I fear that in years to come we’re going to be looking back figuring out what to cut and that puts us all in a bad position.”

“What are we going to do in 18 months, in 24 months when those federal dollars aren’t there? How do we make sure…that they will be able to sustain themselves down the road,” O’Shea said. 

Huang Bennett said much of the social program funds is one-time spending. The city is looking for other funding to sustain some of the programs long-term, officials said, including finding “external” dollars, likely from non-profit organizations or corporate grants.

Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago

$100,000 ‘slush fund’ is ‘ripe for abuse’

City officials had no firm answers for how aldermen should spend the $100,000 Lightfoot wants to give each alderperson to provide “microgrants” in their wards. 

“It’s ripe for abuse,” Vasquez said. “If we’re getting that kind of fund in each ward, I could see people interpreting that as some sort of slush fund, which could lead to potential problems.”

Osterman said there should be a “very clear set of guidelines that we can follow to a “t,” so that alderpeople can award the money in a way that is “ethical and appropriate.”

Budget Director Susie Park said the guidelines for the spending will be worked out throughout the budget process, but the funds should be aimed at community organizations in each ward and award amounts will be up to aldermen.

Even if there’s a set of strict guidelines, Ald. Walter Burnett (27th) was skeptical the grant-making power would be beneficial to alderpeople, who will be at risk of upsetting certain groups if they are left out of the awards.

“We like being Santa Claus, but my thing is, I never give anything unless I can give it to everybody,” he said. 

Subscribe to Block Club Chicago, an independent, 501(c)(3), journalist-run newsroom. Every dime we make funds reporting from Chicago’s neighborhoods.

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]]> Sat, 25 Sep 2021 19:45:00 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/DaBPq-jBJRaG58LRpzQuu5ONpYks2fGs https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/DaBPq-jBJRaXBSvfrKnSEMqq6eZJzUh9

CHICAGO — President Joe Biden is urging people eligible for coronavirus booster shoots from Pfizer to get them as soon as they can.

That includes people 65 and older, people with underlying medical conditions and certain frontline workers. A third shot is currently only available to people who got Pfizer doses and who have had at least six months pass since their second shot.

Booster shots for people who got Moderna and Johnson & Johnson doses have not yet been approved, though Moderna’s boosters are expected to be approved for eligible groups in coming weeks.

“My message today is this: If you’ve got the Pfizer vaccine, you got the Pfizer vaccine in January, February, March of this year, and you’re over 65 years of age, go get the booster,” Biden said, according to The New York Times. “Or, if you’re in a have a medical condition like diabetes, or you’re a frontline worker like a health care worker or a teacher, you can get a free booster.”

Dr. Allison Arwady, head of the Chicago Department of Public Health, said on Tuesday more people could become eligible for booster shots as more data becomes available. Breakthrough cases remain rare, she’s said, and the city’s biggest priority is still vaccinated unvaccinated folks to drop the risk of COVID-19 spread for everyone.

Biden said people who aren’t currently eligible should “wait your turn.”

The United States’ rush to administer booster shots has proven divisive. Some experts have said boosters should be saved for people most at risk — like people whose immune systems are severely compromised — while the bulk of doses go to countries where far fewer people are vaccinated.

The World Health Organization has said booster programs in wealthier countries could keep doses out of the hands of lower-income countries, which are struggling to get doses to vaccinate people. That could, in turn, fuel the emerge of more dangerous variants of COVID-19, experts have said.

Others have said officials’ main priority should be on getting initial shots into the arms of unvaccinated people.

Earlier this week, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she’d get a booster shot once she is eligible for one.

Vaccinations:

• In Illinois, about 6.97 million people — or 54.84 percent of the state’s 12.7 million people — have gotten all their COVID-19 vaccine shots, according to state data.

• Across the state, 19,371 vaccine doses are being administered per day, based on a seven-day rolling average.

• Illinois and Chicago have administered at least 14,419,886 vaccine doses of the 17,181,675 provided to them.

• City data shows more than 1.54 million Chicagoans — or 57.4 percent of all residents — are fully vaccinated, and 62.6 percent of all Chicagoans have gotten at least one shot.

Everyone 12 and older is eligible to get vaccinated in Chicago.

COVID-19 vaccinations are free and do not require insurance. Anyone can call the city’s coronavirus hotline at 312-746-4835 to get more information on how and where to get vaccinated in their community.

The numbers:

• Forty Illinoisans were reported dead from COVID-19 since Thursday.

• At least 24,783 people have died from COVID-19 in Illinois, and another 2,657 deaths are probably related to the virus, according to the state.

• The state reported 3,304 cases since Thursday. That brings the total number of confirmed cases in Illinois up to 1,612,129.

• Since Thursday, 150,245 tests were reported statewide. In all, 31,192,769 tests have been reported in Illinois.

• Illinois’ seven-day positivity rate was at 2.7 percent. The figure represents the percentage of people testing positive among recent tests. It was at 3 percent Thursday.

• Illinois’ seven-day test positivity rate, which measures the percentage of tests that were positive, was at 3.7 percent. It was at 3.8 percent Thursday.

• As of Thursday night, 474 people with COVID-19 were in the ICU and 252 people with COVID-19 were using ventilators in Illinois.

• In Chicago, nine deaths were reported since Thursday. There have been at least 5,750 deaths from COVID-19 in Chicago. The city is seeing an average of four deaths per day, down 3 percent from a week ago.

• Chicago has 459 had confirmed cases reported since Thursday. It’s had a total of 315,314 confirmed cases. An average of 422 confirmed cases are being reported per day, a 4 percent decrease from the week prior.

• Testing in Chicago has increased 29 percent since a week ago.

• Chicago’s positivity rate was at 2.9 percent, down from 3.3 percent the week prior.

Block Club Chicago’s coronavirus coverage is free for all readers. Block Club is an independent, 501(c)(3), journalist-run newsroom.

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]]> Fri, 24 Sep 2021 19:47:21 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/DaBPq-jBJRaXBSvfrKnSEMqq6eZJzUh9 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/DaBPq-jBJRZBDusgzhARnwVLTsI7B9NX

LITTLE VILLAGE — An employee-led work stoppage at the El Milagro tortilla factory turned into a lockout Thursday night.

The employees at El Milagro tortilla factory partnered with Arise Chicago to stage a two-hour walkout at 2140 S. Western Ave. as they call for safer working conditions and higher wages. But they were locked out with their belongings inside, and they were only allowed to collect their personal items after hours of negotiations with the factory’s leaders.

Workers were allowed back in Friday morning to work, but an armed security guard was present.

The walkout had been planned beforehand. Workers informed management they would leave the factory at 5 p.m. Thursday and return after two hours. They released a letter prior to the march, asking for management to meet with employees to talk about working conditions and wages by Wednesday.

The workers marched down 26th Street, ending at the Little Village Discount Mall. Organizers estimated 40-50 El Milagro employees and supporters attended.

But when the workers tried to return to their shifts, they were locked out of the factory — with many personal items, including cary keys, wallets and medicine, locked inside.

A notice taped to the door instructed workers to report to Human Resources on Friday.

Leaders from Arise Chicago, which is helping the workers organize, were present. They told workers what was happening was illegal and began contacting the factory’s management.

Credit: Francesca Mathewes/Block Club Chicago

“We’re going to report this to the National Labor Relations Board,” Jorge Mújica, the strategic campaigns organizer for Arise, said while gathering workers at the entrance of the factory.

It appeared there was one supervisor inside, but he refused to speak with organizers. 

Laura Garza, Arise’s worker center director, contacted Phil Crookman, plant manager of the 21st Place and Western location, multiple times. But Garza said Crookman refused to come to the factory and allow workers inside.

Crookman declined to comment to Block Club Chicago. 

Irma Gonzales, who has worked for El Milagro for more than five years, is pregnant and had medication she needed inside the factory.

“I’m really bothered. I’m really upset,” Gonzales said in Spanish. “We submitted a letter saying exactly what we’re doing, which we have a right to do. We said we’d be taking a two-hour stoppage.

“We said we would be returning to work and we got back in time, but they’ve locked the door on us. I’m really upset.” 

Garza called the Police Department to the factory to report the lockout. Two officers arrived and tried to negotiate with a supervisor inside, eventually calling in three more officers. 

After negotiations between organizers, police and management, the supervisor allowed officers to escort employees one by one to get their personal items. 

Employees and organizers waited outside the factory parking lot for the 10 p.m. cleaning shift to arrive to inform them of the lockout. Those workers then joined the walkout, organizers said. 

“We need a change in general in our working conditions,” Pedro Manzanares, who workers at another El Milagro factory, said in Spanish. Manzanares joined the 21st Place workers outside that factory in support. 

Manzanares said that during the summer, temperatures in the factories were dangerously high.

“One of the principle issues is the heat: We work in excess heat in the production area,” he said. 

Pay raises are one of the other major issues that workers and organizers are raising with the tortilla company. 

Mújica said El Milagro started advertising wages of $16 per hour for new hires earlier this summer, while workers who have been with the company for years are still making $15.40. Workers at the 36th Street location signed a letter demanding a pay raise for more senior employees, which was met by management.

But when workers at the 21st and 26th Street locations asked for the same, they were denied, Mújica said.

“Management then hired a consultant; we call them union busters,” Mújica said. “He told workers that there would be ‘consequences’” for organizing and people who walk out will be replaced.

Arise Chicago started working with employees at El Milagro during the pandemic, when the company closed its location at 2919 S. Western Ave. in April 2020 after a worker died of COVID-19. By September 2020, more than 80 workers had tested positive for COVID-19. 

Mújica said that the group’s partnership with the workers at El Milagro is now in the “middle stages” of organizing, and they will have more information after Wednesday’s management meeting deadline passes. 

“We know a lot of people were scared to come out and still did, and we know this is going to keep growing,” Manzanares said.

Manzanares said that if management does not meet the Wednesday deadline, workers will take further action. 

#ElMilagro worker Martin “I was able to go I to work today. 1st shift workers wanted to walk out to support the locked out 2nd shift. We were greeted by a security officer with a gun intimidating us” #ElMilagroElMaltraro pic.twitter.com/ZyXh7JmEWU

— Arise Chicago (@AriseChicago) September 24, 2021

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]]> Fri, 24 Sep 2021 18:14:51 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/DaBPq-jBJRZBDusgzhARnwVLTsI7B9NX https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/DaBPq-jBJRZ5qWsdSsdX-gO5yOwvVe_2

LINCOLN PARK — Newly released body-camera footage shows the night a police officer grabbed a Black woman as she walked her dog last month along the lakefront.

The incident happened Aug. 28 as Nikkita Brown walked in a park near North Avenue Beach. Video of the struggle was released Thursday by Brown’s lawyers; while prior videos showed the confrontation from afar, the police footage shows how the officer told Brown to leave and threatened to arrest her as she walked and asked him to keep distant.

Brown was walking her dog when an officer walked up to her and told her the beach was closed, said Keenan Saulter, her attorney.

The new video starts with Brown asking the unmasked officer to “please respect my space” as he comes near her.

“Respect your space? I’m about to put handcuffs on you,” the officer tells Brown.

“You do not have a mask on,” Brown says.

“I don’t need a mask. I’m outside,” the officer tells her. A moment later, he tells her, “The exit is that way. You need to exit.”

“Please, back up,” Brown says. “Back up.”

“Get out of the park! What do you not understand about that?” the officer yells at Brown as he follows her. “The park is closed. You are trespassing on city property, and you will go to jail if you don’t take your dog and leave.”

Brown continues to ask the officer to stay away from her due to her COVID-19 concerns and tells the officer he is spitting on her, which he denies. The officer tells her to keep walking.

“You need to move away from me,” Brown says as she walks. “I feel threatened.”

“Good!” the officer says. “I’m about to put handcuffs on you if you don’t keep walking.”

Watch the video:

Brown, still asking the officer to back away, stops for a few moments and uses her phone. The officer then grabs her.

“Let go! Let go!” Brown screams as she and the officer struggle. “Let go! I’m leaving. Get off of me.”

“You don’t understand your situation, do you?” the officer says.

The officer can then be heard telling Brown if he handcuffs her she’ll go to jail and lose her dog.

“You’re under arrest,” the officer says.

Brown then says she was leaving and was facing the exit of the park when the officer grabbed her. She tells the officer she was trying to leave and tells him to let her go.

The officer then released Brown.

The cop’s body camera appears to fall off of him during the scuffle, and the video ends with Brown asking for the officer’s name and badge number.

Brown’s video of the confrontation:

Brown reported the incident to the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, which opened an investigation. The officer, who Block Club is not identifying because he hasn’t been criminally charged, was put on administrative leave last month, according to a police spokesperson.

After the confrontation, Brown called 911 to report the incident to a police sergeant. Audio of that call was released last week by Saulter’s office and depicts a distraught Brown telling the dispatcher she was “harassed” by an officer.

“I was profiled. I was threatened,” Brown tells the dispatcher, who asks if the cop drew any weapons.

Brown says he didn’t, but says, “He tried to drop me on several occasions.”

“I asked for my space. He did not have on a mask,” Brown tells the dispatcher.

The call ends with Brown in tears as the dispatcher tells her she can report the incident to the COPA and that a sergeant is on the way.

Listen to the call:

Saulter, who is also representing Anjanette Young, the woman whose home police wrongfully raided, has said the incident was “an obvious case of racial profiling.”

There were other people walking in the park when the officer chose to stop Brown, including a group of four white people she saw behind her, according to Saulter’s office. Witnesses who were in the area recorded video of the confrontation.

“Ms. Brown is suffering from the emotional trauma as a result of this brutal, unprovoked and unlawful attack by this Chicago Police Department officer,” Saulter previously said.

More video:

Block Club’s Justin Laurence contributed.

Jake Wittich is a Report for America corps member covering Lakeview, Lincoln Park and LGBTQ communities across the city for Block Club Chicago.

Subscribe to Block Club Chicago, an independent, 501(c)(3), journalist-run newsroom. Every dime we make funds reporting from Chicago’s neighborhoods.

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