News from HPKCC's Co-laborers in the Community

Descriptions, News and Announcements from our co-laborers in the Community

A service of Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference and our website www.hydepark.org. Don't forget to join the Conference and support our programs too! Feed us material to strengthen this page.

Visit our comprehensive directories: Community Resources and Non Profit Organizations of Hyde Park-Kenwood (includes a section, Nonprofit- and Community-building Resources), Helpers for Nonprofits. Nonprofits and media. Find more directories and resources in Calendars and Directories home. See also Good Neighbors and volunteer-generosity opportunities and our Help Line page.

Nonprofits: Is your entry outdated or have mistakes? Tell us at hpkcc@aol.com.
Navigator to the partner programs here.

For more on Little Black Pearl Art and Design Center, Hyde Park Art Center see our Arts News page.
Friends of Blackstone Library, Harper Court Arts Council, Hyde Park Alliance for Arts and Culture, Hyde Park Neighborhood Club programs and Southside Preservation Action Fund have their own pages.
Hyde Park Alliance for Arts and Culture, Hyde Park Jazz Society see also their websites and comments in our Arts News and Arts Directory.
Coalition for Equitable Community Development: See its website. Our track and additional info are in a separate page.

Meetings and fundraisers
Navigator to partner programs.

HPKCC helps program at Neighborhood Club, which is launching updates and fund drive

 

Meetings and fundraisers

Music teachers aid food programs- Herald, June 2, 2010

A local food program that continue to report a record surge in need is being lent a hand by some local artists this week. The Hyde Park and Kenwood Interfaith Food Programs are reporting a doubling of users of it food panty and an increase in visitors to its soup kitchen's four meals per week. More than 800 people visit its Saturday food pantry at Hyde Park Union Church, 5600 S. Woodlawn Ave., each month, according to Rev. Susan Johnson, head of th church. More than 200 people are visiting the soup kitchen, she said. '

"This is obviously very important right now," said Elaine Smith, a music instructor who is the founder and a past president of the Music Teachers of Hyde Park, a group that will raise money for the programs through a "Performathon" this weekend. Current music teachers President Andrea Holliday agreed. "We sense the pressure on the hunger project mounting since the recession began," Holiday said. "Things have gone from bad to way worse for a lot of folks."

The timing couldn't be better, Johnson said. "The summer is always harder for us, Johnson said, explaining that the children of lower income families who are fed by chicago Public Schools food programs during the school year ar often left out in the summer, meaning they have to find a nourishing meal wherever they can. "We'll have more children on our docket all summer," Johnson said. "during the year, we hardly see children in the soup kitchen.

The Performathon is a two-day-long performance by students of the Music Teachers of Hyde Park, where residents can sponsor a student who wil perform works of their own choosing during a recital at Montgomery Place, 5550 S. Shore Drive, and a Saturday recital at the Blackstone Public Library, 4904 S. Lake Park Ave. Holliday noted the proximity of Montgomery Place to the annual 57th Street Art Fair, happening at the same time. "Our principal venue at Montgomery Place is a pretty short stol away from the art fair," she said.

beyond the weekend event, Johnson said the program is accepting monetary donations, durable goods and toiletries. Also clothing, especially professional clothing is needed. The Hyde Park Hunger Programs accept monetary donations and are always on the lookout fort the following items: tooth paste, tooth brushes, dental floss, canned goods, fruit juice and sources of protein. The program does not have the space currently to store fresh food donations. Any large organizations considering a donation should call the church first to determine need. 773 363-6063, susan@hpuc.org. The recession has driven many middle- and working-class Hyde Parkers into underemployment and unemployment, according to Johnson, and these families largely make up the spike in need. Johnson urges all Hyde Parkers to make donations, no matter how modest. "Even when we're in a recession, I continue to feel the best way is for everyone to give a modest donation so that if anyone has a problem, the need can be met," Johnson said, adding that support of the program is in keeping with Hyde Park's character. "That's the reputation Hyde Park has," she said.

[How to help through the Performathon:] Visit the Music teachers of Hyde Park web site -- mthp.org -- and click on "Performathon" on the right hand side of the front page. from there, you can see the Performathon schedule and schedule a pledge form. Send an e-mail to info@mthp.org and you will be connected to a teacher whose students you can pledge support to. Write a check and send it to MTHP, 1456 E. Park Place, chicago, IL 60637. Write "hunger" in the memo space.

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OWL monthly with special topic presentations- 1st Saturdays 1 pm at First Unitarian

Who's Here? Not all are, but this list will send the named who are not to their pages or websites. For the main listings of contacts and missions visit Community Nonprofit Organizations. HPKCC is concerned that they all be able to weather the economic storm and state financial crisis and can find more ways to work together.


Blackstone Branch Library for the library's fabled story, including 2009 restoration of the murals. Programs (CPL website).

Friends of Blackstone Library is HPKCC's newest committee, having been welcomed in August 2008. FOB meets first Wednesdays, 6 pm in the library--the city's first branch--4904 S. Lake Park. Contact Brenda Sawyer, call the library at 312 747-0511. A growing array of children's and youth programs, book clubs, and Friend's series of programs with local authors/
See the monthly schedule in Friends of Blackstone Page.

 

Chicago Child Care Society- more under The Next Step. 5467 S. University Avenue. 773 643-0452.
Exec. Dir. Nancy Johnstone. http://www.cccsociety.org. Development Erin C. Walton, 773 256-2459, ewalton@cccsociety.org. Child Welfare Programming- Curt Holderfield.
Since 1849, when established as an orphanage after the great cholera epidemic, CCCS is Chicago's and Hyde Park's oldest child welfare agency. Mission is to safeguard vulnerable children and reinforce their families first is their aim. Recently received a major grant from the University of Chicago. Funding at the center has been stable, being mostly federal or private, including for early childhood, but state and other cuts and delays threaten girl-oriented foster care, tutoring and mentoring children, and people taking in children of relatives.
Right at Home Parent-Baby Drop In, Thursdays 10:30-noon at the Townhouse, 5459 S. University.
Child and Family Development Center serves 2-5s in Community Day Care for working parents.
There is also Homeless Day Care and Protective Day Care. Takes both community and DCFS kids including pick up to and from shelters. "
Clinical family services such as foster care and adoptions. Licensed therapists.
Next Step program prepares teenage mothers and dads for college.
From CCCS: Our mission statement: CCCS exists to protect vulnerable children and
strengthen their families. We strive to be among the premier providers
of high quality and effective child welfare services. We serve both
children and families in the following programs:

* Child and Family Development Center (CFDC): day care program with children between ages of 2 to 5 years old.

* Counseling program: family oriented counseling for the agency's foster care programs and the CFDC program.

* Education Support Program: provides services to children who are experiencing academic, behavioral and attendance difficulties and are at risk of expulsion or dropping out of school.

* The Extended Family Support Program provides short term support to individuals caring for related children.

* The Teen Alliance Program: provides DCFS wards with a unique foster care experience.

* The Safe Life Program: is an HIV/AIDS prevention and education program aimed at providing information to adolescents about sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS.

* The Teen Parenting Initiative Program serves pregnant and parenting teens that are enrolled in the Chicago Public Schools.

* The Next Step Program is a college readiness program with mentoring support for high school mothers with one child.

 

(Our) Common Threads will hold classes in gardening and cooking with much more this summer in conjunction with St. Paul and the Redeemer and Kenwood Park. This org. is the foundation of Oprah's chef Art Smith. 312 876-1289. More info in Good Neighbor page.

Hyde Park Art Center 5520 S. Cornell. 773 324-5520.

Hyde Park Art Center responds to economic slowdown, encounters criticism, is defended

February 4 2009 Hyde Park Herald, Will hold town meeting Feb. 9. By Kate Hawley

The flagging economy has prompted the Hyde Park Art Center's board of director to eliminate four staff positions as part of an effort to cut expenditures by about 15 percent. ...The four positions represent about a quarter of the center's staff. "We would love to keep those positions, but there's been a decline in revenues, both contributed and earned," said Executive Director Chuck Thurow. "It was strictly because of financials." "It's tough times for all the arts organizations," he added. "In this kind of dramatic downtown, the arts organizations seem like a luxury of some kind." Strong questions were asked,a nd a public meting was held, which answered most people's concerns.

Hyde Park Chamber of Commerce now located at 5501 S. Everett, 60637. 773 288-0124. Executive Director Lenora Austin, President Greg Teague. Works collaboratively with many organizations. contact@hydeparkchamberchicago.org.

Hyde Park Disabilities Task Force. A coalition of several organizations including HPKCC, HP Chamber of Commerce, Older Women's League, and the 5th Ward, it seeks recognition of rights, respect and fair treatment, and to ameliorate less accessible or misused facilities public (like sidewalks and intersections) and private for those with disabilities. Visit Disabilities and Business Packet pages. Contact hpdisabilities@aol.com (please use instead hpkcc@aol.com or contact@hydeparkchamberchicago.com).

Hyde Park Historical Society: Visit our page, At and About the Society. President Ruth Knack.
5529 S. Lake Park Avenue, 773 493-1893.

Late February Hyde Park Historical Society Annual Dinner- and a full suite of year long programs and exhibits. Important archives maintained at Regenstein Library Special Collections; library in the headquarters.

HPKCC collaborates with the Society for accurate collective memory and its dissemination and on preservation issues, which are a major component of neighborhood quality of life and "community", an in support for ad hoc advocacy groups such as that for the Point. We jointly promote the Hyde Park Preservation Working Group.

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Hyde Park Jazz Society and Jazz Festival. See details in Cultural and Arts Directory and the Jazz Festival page (latest is facts-demographics-opportunities provided by). http://www.hydeparkjazzfestival.org. http://www.hydeparkjazzsociety.org. The wildly successful Hyde Park Festival (last Saturday in September) is a project of Hyde Park Alliance for Arts and Culture (http://www.hypachicago.org), Hyde Park Jazz Society, and University of Chicago.

Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference. www.hpkcc.org, hpkcc@aol.com. About. More information.

Hyde Park and Kenwood Hunger Programs.
Barbara Currie appeals for help for local hunger programs. Nexus for this area is the Hyde Park and Kenwood Hunger Program, centered at Hyde Park Union Church, 5600 S. Woodlawn and satellites at churches to the north. There is also a monthly Saturday breakfast at United Church. See in Helpline for more. Watch for announcements of benefit concerts in November and December.

Donations can be made online at http://www.hpuc.org/Other/Hunger_Programs.html, or checks can be made out to the Hyde Park and Kenwood Hunger Programs , c/o Hyde Park Union Church, 5600 S. Woodlawn Ave., Chicago, Il 60637. For further information on the program, please call Rev. Susan Johnson at 773 363-6063.

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Hyde Park Kiwanis

President Marianne Bagnoli
Contact Rosemary and Dick Snow (treasurer) or John Will at 1507 E. 53rd St. Box 120, Chicago, IL 60615. 773 324-8645. Jon Will: 1507 E. 53rd St., PMB 120, 60615, 773-643-8089, Fax 773 643-8091, jnwassoc@sbcglobal.net. Call 773 955-5035.
For more information about Kiwanis projects or to participate contact Jon Will at jnwassoc@sbcglobal.net. Local- in the district website, http://www.iikiwanis.org. Nationally, Kiwanis.org.
Meets 1st and 3rd Tuesdays, 12 pm, Ramada Inn, 4900 S. Lake Shore Drive. Call 324-8645.

Since 1921. We're a group of men and women, business and professional leaders of Hyde Park who are members of a world-wide service organization founded in 1916. It is non-sectarian, apolitical an non-discriminatory. Our cause: to serve kids!
Holds a spring benefit, supported by Ald. Preckwinkle and the Herald. More updated is in the Community Nonprofits Directory.

Purpose: To raise money for charitable purposes locally and nationally, including Christmas gifts for local indigent children, supporting the Neighborhood Club, supporting a camp for disabled children, research in medicine related to children, and the 57th Street Children's Book Fair in September. And it fosters sociality and the business community. Watch for the peanut vendors several times a year-next September 24, 2004. Looking for young additions! Children can enter through the Builders and Key clubs.
"We're a group of men and women in Hyde Park who are members of a world-wide service organization founded in 1916. The Hyde Park Club dates from 1921 and is composed of business and professional leaders; it is non-sectarian, apolitical and non-discriminatory. Our cause: to serve kids!"
Activities:
-Support Hyde Park Neighborhood Club
-Cosponsor 4th on 53rd July community parade
-Support the Blue Gargoyle Youth Center's Tutorial Program
-Underwrite the board and room costs of a physically handicapped child at Kiwanis Twin Lakes summer camp
-Cosponsor the 57th Street Children's Book Fair
-Prepare food and gift baskets for needy families during the holiday
-Mentor a family from St. Martin De Porres battered women's center going off welfare
-Sponsor and actively support the Kenwood Academy and King High School Key Clubs

A recent activity was taking kids from St. Martin De Porres center to Universoul Circus. Another is to sponsor a morale-builder gift to four families with mentoring and support added.

Peanut Days last Friday in September, annual fundraiser for charities and projects in March at Seven Ten Pin.

 

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Hyde Park Neighborhood Club: 5480 S. Kenwood, 773 643-4062. Celebrating 100 years.
New programs! (773) 743-4062. Visit their refurbished website! linked above.
See also more on the club and its offerings, needs in the Neighborhood Club Programs page.
Interim Director Jennifer Bosch, jennifer_bosch@hpnclub.org. (given elsewhere as jennifer.bosch@hpnclub.org.)
Board president Bethany Pickens. Advancement/development/outreach Beth Parker. Youth and other programs Abigail Hymen.

"Where Generations Grow Together" "As we celebrated the beginning of our second century of service to Hyde Park and surrounding neighborhoods, we've adopted a new graphic look for the Club, a place where generations grow together. The new programs we launched this spring (2010) support stronger families, increase empathy and understanding across generation, gender, and economic boundaries, and address community-wide concerns about literacy, health and wellness, and teen safety. Become a fan on Facebook."

Hyde Park Neighborhood Club seeks seniors to volunteer and read with children aged 6-9 about a half hour at its Children's House program, esp. about 2:30. Or on literacy with 9-12 year old Mondays and or Wednesdays after school. Contact Emily Schuttenberg, Emily.schuttenberg@gmail.com, or 773 255-3505.
And Golden Troubadours is recruiting spring singers (many in this program are having memory or functional problems-- it would help to have the less-impaired of us participating or helping). Tuesdays at 1- can eat lunch with them at 11:30. 773 643-49062. http://www.hpnclub.org.

In 2010, the Hyde Park Neighborhood Club proudly celebrates the beginning of its second century of vital service to Hyde Park and the south side of Chicago. HPNC strengthens our community and fosters individual development by complementing and enriching classroom learning for children and youth and by promoting social interaction and wellbeing among seniors. Each day, more than 300 people participate in HPNC programs. This is truly a place “where generations grow together.” Space in the HPNC headquarters, which includes a community garden, is available for rental. HPNC is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization.

Can the Club find the resources and discipline to provide low-cost classes and serve our neediest ages as a true community center? And will the whole community embrace it? We think the answer is "yes." -


July 21 2010 letter to the Herald from President Bethany Pickens Neighborhood Club appreciates support

The Neighborhood Club extends its thanks to both the Hyde Park Herald and our community for continued support you show us. Editorial coverage helps people learn about our new programs. And with donations from our community, we provide local children and youth with the quality care and education they need.

The coming months will bring some exciting changes here. Soon we will announce a community forum in which we will present our strategy for a second century of service. We have listened to your compliments, criticisms, ideas and suggestions, and we believe our plans offer what you want and need.

Our capital upgrade grant is going to help us kick off those plans, and we will make certain every dollar is spent supporting growth, maintenance and stability. We want to point out that this grant, which comes through the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, would not have been possible without the staunch support of state Sen. Kwame Raoul (D-13). Knowing that the educational cuts at teh city and state levels would impact our local families, he fought hard to make certain the Neighborhood Cub's funding was a priority. Raoul knows how hard we are working to address the educational gaps our families face, and he is helping us improve our foundation so that we may build a new future.

State Rep. Barbara Flynn Curie (D-25) also sponsored the Neighborhood Club for additional capital improvement funds, though that request did not make it to the final bill. We are grateful to them both for their support and their willingness to fight on our behalf in these difficult times. Their actions speak volumes about the importance both Raoul and Currie place on our youth and their future.

 

Club launches capital campaign, facilities upgrades with grant, new programs- June 23 Herald. (See more above)

A state grant that found it way out of the morass in Springfield is the foundation of an ambitious facelift at the Hyde Park Neighborhood Club, according to the club's head. "This is a fantastic opportunity for us," said club board President Bethany Pickens. The $150,000 grant will be dedicated to improvements tot he club that will expand the capacity of the more-than-100-year-old community organization. The improvements will be coupled with a dramatic expansion of the club's focus on health and wellness.

This increased emphasis is, in part a reflection of changing priorities in the philanthropic world. "A lot of grant monies right now are available for health and wellness initiatives, focusing on systemic change. If you can educated people at a young age about taking care of themselves, if you can impact a family, then that change is broader based," said Neighborhood Club Executive Director Jennifer Bosch.

The announcement also suggests that the club, which in recent years weathered some financial difficulty, is experiencing a comeback -- though Bosch is quick to qualify that possibility. "We're certainly not in a position where we're free from worry," Bosch said. "We have been really, really focused on very, very conservative fiscal management, which has helped us control our expenses, and we've spent a lot of time working on the quality of our programs over the past two years, and so our revenues and enrollment numbers have gone up for our youth programs significantly. So that keeps us going and keeps things in the black, so the speak."

Bosch said the increased emphasis on health and wellness makes sense given the club's existing programming which includes sports and exercise for young people as well as nutrition. "Moving into healthy lifestyles education for the whole family is a natural next step for us." Bosch said.

New adn improved services will include an expansion of he number of children between the ages of five and 12 served by the club and workshops where staff will develop strategies with families about how to introduce healthier foods in the face of such barriers as the greater expense of higher quality food.

While the grant, awarded by the Illinois Department of Commerce nd economic Opportunity, is a boon to the club, service expansion anticipates a commitment by the community to help develop resource to support the growth of the club. "We would be able to hopefuly7 apply for more grants because we have the facilities to support [health and wellness through the capital improvements], but .... all of that stuff takes time, and that's why our local commitment is so important -- because that gets us through the toughest times in those cycles. As we build and we want to improve upon our programs, those base funds help us get there. That's why we need our community to support us," Bosch said.

In return, he added, the club has a responsibility to the community. "That's why we also have to be direct with our community and be very wise with the money they give us and really focus our services," Bosch said.

Herald applauds the new Neighborhood Club in June 23 editorial

The resilient staff and board members at the Hyde Park Neighborhood Club have fought too hard to restore the club's conditions to breathe a sigh of relief at the news of a new $150,000 capital grant for needed improvements and repairs to the building- so we'll do it for them. Whew.

These people deserve an enormous amount of credit -- above al club Executive Director Jennifer Bosch and club board President Bethany Pickens -- for swimming upstream against obstacles that have proven insurmountable to many other not-for-profit organizations. Underenrolled programs are now to capacity, with waiting lists demonstrating an additional need. The vision of the club has gone from a vague sense of some place where children and seniors hang out to a razor-sharp mission to not only ensure services delivered of the highest quality but also an increased emphasis on health and wellness going forward. Finally, this capital grant runs counter to pretty much all the news we've been haring from Springfield these days. Money going from Springfield to a not-for profit seems like a minor miracle. [Thanks to Rep. Currie and Sen. Raoul.]

We must emphasize that this credit should include all of the staff of the Neighborhood Club. Everybody there is working hard to ensure that the organization's offerings are high quality and everybody should be praised for that.

This is a brand new day for the Neighborhood Club, and we urge the community to give them a second look. Stop by and see what's going on there. Check our calendar for the many offerings there. More than that, during the period when the club began drifting in terms of quality and communication to the neighborhood, many people reduced or stopped altogether their giving to the club. That is a rational response to a place that is of uncertain relevance...

The Hyde Park Neighborhood Club as it is currently operated is not only a worthwhile but also an essential feature of our neighborhood. We predict their value will only increase over the next decade, as services to young people are stripped out of our public schools and other not-for-profits fail to weather the current economic storm. For these reasons, we suggest that Hyde Parkers get to know the new Neighborhood Club and its stellar staff and consider whether high-quality, local services for young people and the elderly -- and, in coming months, health and wellness education for entire families -- is something worth supporting. We think it is.

 

Reaching out, raising cash. Hyde Park Herald, November 4, 2009. By Daschell M. Phillips

Having raised enough money to avoid the fate of many defunct non-profits in the city, the Hyde Park Neighborhood Club, or HPNC, plans to keep the momentum going with the hiring of Beth Parker. Parker is the club's director of institutional advancement. With this position, she will handle development, fundraising and outreach to the community... "I was attracted to the mission of the club," Parker said. "Children and seniors mean a lot to me."

She is currently seeking volunteers for an intergenerational program called Generations Together that she launched this fall. "All the volunteers have to do is come in and read to the children in our program," Parker said. "This lets children know that someone cares for them." She said that when visiting her mother and mother-in-law, who live in nursing homes, she notices how seniors light up when children come in the room, so the relationship would also be beneficial to the volunteers.

The Club's focus is now on children and seniors: NEW MISSION STATEMENT:

The Hyde Park Neighborhood Club strengthens our community and fosters individual development by complementing and enriching classroom learning for children and youth and promoting social interaction and wellbeing among seniors.

Release, February 2010: Golden troubadours recruiting for spring
Singing seniors at the Hyde Park Neighborhood Club

Chicago, IL (February 16, 2010). . . Love to sing the great old songs of yesteryear? The Golden Troubadours invite new members to “sing their hearts out” on Tuesdays at 1:00 PM at the Hyde Park Neighborhood Club. It’s a free sing-along fest of favorite songs from Broadway, Tin Pan Alley, and the great American songbook. Even better, there’s no performance pressure—just a chance to get together with friends and sing. You might even call it dinner theater: the Troubadours usually eat lunch together with the Golden Diners from 11:30 to 12:30 and stay on for the singing. For information call the Club at 773-643-4062. The Hyde Park Neighborhood Club is located at the intersection of 55th Street and S. Kenwood Avenue.

Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference is pleased to announce a grant of $2,400 in June 2010 to Hyde Park Neighborhood Club for the CTA passes for the component of its Summer Teen Program that makes teens learn their city and find interesting places and report on them and in the process get used to using public transportation.

HPKCC helps Club’s teens learn city via transit. As in July 7 Herald plus a couple of suggestions from the Club in italics..

For a second year, Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference is pleased to underwrite transit cards for teens in Hyde Park Neighborhood Club’s Summer Teen camp. The Club’s 20-25 teens develop self-reliance in using public transportation and learn their city through do-it-yourself finding, mapping, and research trips. All of the Club’s approx. 85 summer campers learn to use public transportation for field trips and service. Last year’s projects included mapping food deserts.

We are pleased to help the Neighborhood Club continue to grow its overall strength and relevance to the neighborhood, in this case by increasing out-of-school enrichment and learning options for youth.

This is a major focus also of the Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference Schools Committee. We believe organizations and centers such as the Neighborhood Club can bring flexibility and seek funds the schools often cannot. We point out that a large number of the teens in Neighborhood Club programs come from Canter Middle School and Kenwood Academy, the younger participants come from a variety of local public and private schools, and nearly all the youth live within a two-mile radius. Teens in the Club's programs are passing their classes and 93 percent leave each day with their homework done. Some programs are free or have case-by-case access to assistance.

The child and youth programs are high quality, varied, and include strong intergenerational experience. We believe that even in troubled times our community’s suite of such special places and programs can and should flourish and can provide synergy to schools’ programs. Of course we also believe that programs in the schools can and must be re-grown, expanded and enriched.

Our Transit and Access Task Force, whose chairman, James Withrow worked with Neighborhood Club Director Jennifer Bosch to initiate HPKCC’s collaboration, is pleased to see young people learning to use their transportation options and getting around the city—a trend that has been noted citywide and nationally—and that this program can perhaps inspire the rest of us to do likewise.

HPKCC is therefore pleased to join many others who are supporting Hyde Park Neighborhood Club as it continues to renew and grow its services as a center for all ages and as it renews its plant at the start of its second 100 years.

Jay Ammerman, president, and the board of directors, Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference

More: Helping teens explore the city by transit:
HPKCC supports Hyde Park Neighborhood Club’s Summer Camp

For a second year, Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference was pleased to underwrite purchase of transit cards for participants in Hyde Park Neighborhood Club’s Summer Teen Program. The program for 63 youth teaches self reliance in using transportation and getting around town while turning do-it-yourself field trips into “where in the city” research and discovery projects. The participants plan and make the trips as research destinations, which they will write up to be archived on paper or videotape. Mapping is as major part of the work. Last year’s program, for example, included mapping food deserts.

The 10-week summer programs (7 weeks for younger children), designed to avoid the back-slide in school readiness so many youth experience, partly due to cut back of summer school, range from gardening to computer skills. The programs cover subjects that the kids are really interested in. The Club hopes to add archery and photography this summer. Program details and costs can be learned from their Facebook page (accessible from http://www.hpnclub.org) or by phone at 773 643-4062.

The Neighborhood Club’s first-line priority now is to step up to the plate in support of youth during severe school budget and program cutbacks. The Club and other such agencies can seek funds and other support that schools can’t and can change focus quickly, according to Club Executive Director Jennifer Bosch, in a discussion with the HPKCC board of directors in June 2010.

The Summer Teen program fits well the goals of two HPKCC committees along with general goal sof the Conference to promote collaboration and synergy among local nonprofits and neighborhoods and grow civic knowledge generally. The HPKCC Schools Committee is working to build both in and out of school full-day programs that will help students attain the developmental and civic assets they need to become successful adults—programs that feed into the main curriculum as well as providing learning by doing.

The HPKCC Transit Task Force, whose chairman James Withrow initiated discussion of funding the learning trips program with Ms. Bosch, wishes to see youth as well as adults be familiar with and take full advantage of transit and other active and sustainable alternatives to the automobile.

Teens in the programs come largely from Canter Middle School and Kenwood Academy High School, target schools for our Schools Committee. Many of students of these schools attending the Club programs live outside the community but within a two-mile radius. During the summer additional teens come from private schools. Teens coming from summer school (or during the school year) form walking groups or take public transportation and many are picked up by their parents after school. Ms. Bosch notes that all of the teens are passing their classes and 93 percent leave each day with their homework done. Some of the programs are free and those that charge have provision for case-by-case assistance through Illinois Action for Children. Numbers are limited by space and license specifications.

The Club in turn has received help in achieving sustainability from individuals and such organizations as the University of Chicago Service League, Harper Court Arts Council (for literacy and intergenerational oral history), and Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference. The University of Chicago furnishes student tutors. The city helps with the summer gardening program. Especially important to the Club is funding that goes into revenue producing activities. The Club holds a highly successful Pancake Breakfast in April and is currently planning a benefit gala. HPKCC is pleased to help strengthen the Hyde Park Neighborhood Club, celebrating 100 years as the Conference celebrates 60.

 

The key programs:

Children and Youth:
Tot Lot
After School grades K-6
Teen Programs grades 7-10
Money Talks Teen Financial Empowerment Program grades 7-10
Summer Camp grades K-10

Seniors
Golden Diners
Knitting
Bridge
Mah Jongg
French
Computer
Exercise....

Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference is pleased to announce the start of new collaboration with the Neighborhood Club, beginning with funding of a key component of a summer youth program that introduces the teens to public transportation and gets them around the city and its happenings. Please view description of this program in a special page.

Sarah Diwan of Baby PhD Childcare Network praised HPNC for speed in getting Tot Lot + child programming going fast.

Seniors perspectives, need for a neighborhood center converge in collaborative meeting, effort summer 2008

Hyde Park Older Women's League, which is focusing on how to make Hyde Park a more seniors-friendly community, met in forum with board members, the interim director, and friends of Hyde Park Neighborhood Club at the Club May 3 to brainstorm on ways to improve senior-friendliness in general, and how the Club can serve seniors' needs. The energy was strong, and the conversation, and it's hoped action, will continue. The Club is under financial strain but determined to be truly "a place for everyone."

__________________


Hyde Park Transitional Housing Project: (Visit also the website of Coalition for Equitable Community Development.)

Meets 3rd Monday 7 pm at Augustana Church.
affiliation with 5655 S. University Avenue, Chicago, IL 6o637. 312 458-9392. President Rev. Celeste A. Frazier.
A. Anne Holcomb, Case Manager, Joe Marlin (KAM) Secretary, Mark Granfors (Augustana) Publicity and Resources, Allan Lindrup Treasurer
http://iocillinois.org. hpthp@att.net
Currently houses a family, which it is training for self -sufficiency; expects to have a second in 2005. For more information visit the hydepark.org Ending Homelessness page. A quarterly brochure is available from the org.

 

Hyde Park and Kenwood Interfaith Council performs a host of services to the community and its ongoing conversation. Services include food pantries. See in Faith Communities, Helpline, Nonprofits or Resources.

 

Little Black Pearl and Design Center
1060 E. 47th St. 773 285-1211.

Black Pearl ramps up to meet needs in and out of schools, partner with a special charter
Hyde Park Herald, July 28, 2010. By Daschell Phillips
After a yearlong review, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) held a public hearing last Monday for the Joshua Johnston Charter School, which was proposed by Little Black Pearl Art Center and Prologue Alternative School. CPS officials said the school's unique student target and CPS's budget are what kept the proposal in pending status for so long. Joshua Johnston, which would be named after the first African American slave to become an artist, would be an open enrollment program that serves youth between the ages of 16 and 21 who are at risk of dropping out of school. The school would focus on fine arts and design, academics and entrepreneurial education.

At Monday's hearing, which was attended solely Prologue staff, parents and students and Little Black Pearl staff, testimony was given about how Prologue has helped students of dropping out make it to college. Shertina Boykin, who graduated from Prologue this year, said "I've been to four different schools, and Prologue was the last stop for me. Schools like [Joshua Johnston] are needed to help stop the dropout rate," she said.

Regina Jones, whose son Patrick White is a graduate of Prologue, said the school's programs are an important part of what makes the school successful with at-risk youth. "Parents don't rely on students needing extra services, but when my son was given services outside of school I found they were very much needed," Jones said. The art and entrepreneurial, classes at Little Black Pearl are a part of those supplemental services offered to the students at Prologue.

Since 1999, Little Black Pearl has been providing art programs to schools with high numbers of at-risk students and in 2008 Little Black Pearl partnered with the CPS Department of Dropout Prevention and Recovery Arts Program. So when Prologue teamed up with arts center to create an official charter school to target this group of students they knew it would be beneficial to the school system. Although CPS was acquainted with Little Black Pearls' work, the Joshua Johnston Charter SChool did not make Ron Huberman's list of new charter school recommendations in November 2009 because officials wanted to make sure that CPS had the proper tools to evaluate the proposed school model, said Rachel Ksenyak, interim director of recruitment and selection in the CPS Office of New Schools. Ksenyak said once the idea was further evaluated by CPS third-party provider School Works and experts from other charters across the country that use a similar model, the Joshua Johnston proposal was left pending a little longer because CPS's budget wasn't finalized.

The school, which is expected to open in the fall, will start out with 150 students and bed housed in the Little Black Pearl studio at 1060 E. 47th St. while the search for a larger space int Kenwood area takes place, said Monica Haslip, executive director of the Little Black Pearl. Now that the hearing has taken place, Huberman's recommendations will be discussed at the next CPS board meeting on July 28.

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Older Women's League (OWL) Illinois and Hyde Park

Chicago Tel. no: 312 347-0011 (watch for revision)
http://www.owlillinois.org. http://www.owlillinois.org/ch_hydepark.html.
Allison Hartman (Illinois Chair) Lorie Rosenblum. E-mail Alice Brown, alice.brown@ameritech.net. Co-Presidents Ken Schug and Judy Roothaan, judy.roothaan@gmail.com. Ellie Hall. Older Women's League of Hyde Park and Illinois (OWL)
http://www.owlillinois.org/ch_hydepark.html, http://www.owlillinois.org
Hyde Park Chapter: Judy Roothan, Ken Schug. E-mail Alice Brown, alice.brown@ameritech.net. Judy Roothaan.

Open to anyone of all ages. Presents programs and advocates on issues of interest to midlife and older women, and advocates for policy changes on the state and national level. Areas of interest: personal & financial security, health and prescription drugs, image of midlife and older women, access to housing and housing alternatives, ending discrimination against women and the elderly including in the workplace, caregiving. Works on accessible and convenient transportation, traffic interface, sidewalks and crosswalks, snow removal et al.
The Hyde Park Chapter meets alternate (even) 1st Saturdays, 2 pm (earlier social) at First Unitarian Church (Chris Moore Parlor), 5650 S. Woodlawn.

Open to anyone of all ages. Presents programs and advocates on issues of interest to midlife and older women, and advocates for policy changes on the state and national level. Areas of interest: affordability. transportation and accessibility, personal & financial security, health and prescription drugs, image of midlife and older women, access to housing and housing alternatives, ending discrimination against women and the elderly including in the workplace, caregiving. Senior friendly and accessible community.
For OWL monthly newsletters visit http://www.owlillinois.org/ch_hydepark.html.

Seminary Co-op Bookstores, other bookstores:
Our bookstores are key resources, especially in that they give so much to and for kids, schools, Blue Gargoyle, Neighborhood Club etc. and bring authors into the neighborhood.
Seminary Co-op was founded in 1961 to reduce book costs for University students and staff and grew, buying the old Staver Bookstore in 1983--a mind-boggling phenomenon of room after room, and took over the Newberry Library bookstore in River North in 1995. It offers significant discounts to members and access to larger buying groups. Seminary's goal is to provide the community with bookstores that customers can be pleased to be members of and support with their patronage. Seminary Co-op achieves this through selection and display of feature books, customer-owner service that goes beyond the trade standard, supporting local institutions, and 150 authors brought to the community yearly. The Co-op has actively worked on the local and national scene for literacy and free speech.

Among our for profit bookstores, which have also been generous collaborers in the community, Powell's Bookstore and its manager Brad Jonas deserve special mention.


South East Chicago Commission

1511 E. 53rd Street, Chicago, IL 60615
(773) 324-6926. Fax 773 324-6685
Executive Director: Wendy Walker Williams, as of March 1 2010. Board President Shirley Newsome.
Website http://www.hydeparkchicago.org
Purpose: to monitor and improve public safety, housing, code enforcement and community development and planning. Funded and in part community arm of the University of Chicago. Founded in 1952/3. Undergoing major structural and mission change. It will concentrate on economic and community development in a larger area.

Founded by the University and community members in 1952, it had a major role in determining and managing Urban Renewal, then housing, zoning (much later taken over by aldermen), development, and crime/public safety monitoring and analysis. A major civic organization, It is now undergoing changes under a new University of Chicago regime. Here is what the Herald could report August 19, 2009: (By Daschell M. Phillips)

She said the commission's new focus is currently being revised. The commission is also reducing the number of its board members from 77 to 21. Newsome said the large number of board members was difficult to manage. "We could never get a quorum and the only time th whole board came together was during our annual meeting and our annual awards dinner," said Newsome. "We found tha a lot of board members no longer lived in the city or had expired."

 

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Park Advisory Councils:
Programmatic committee affiliate: NPAC/Nichols
HPKCC-hosted website, back office services: JPAC/Jackson

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