Podcasts about chicago coalition

Holly O'Hern returns to Changing Minds & Changing Lives for a candid and compassionate conversation with host Julie Sowash about grief in the workplace. Together, they explore the many forms grief can take—from losing a loved one to the quiet mourning of fading DEI commitments. Holly offers thoughtful guidance on how to show up for colleagues who are grieving and why creating space for grief at work is essential for truly inclusive cultures. This episode is a must-listen for leaders, coworkers, and anyone seeking to incorporate empathy into their daily work.Notes: Holly O'Hern brings 20+ years of experience in leadership development, DEIB (diversity, equity, inclusion, & belonging), learning and development, team building, and inclusive events and workshops. Specializing in both virtual and in-person training formats, her career has spanned the restaurant industry, the aviation industry, non-profit volunteer leadership, tech, and startups — and her work is informed by her completion of immersive programs on racial equity, trauma-informed workplaces, intentional gathering, collegiate-level DEI certification, and Dr. Brené Brown's Certified Dare to Lead™ Facilitator program.Holly believes in supporting and amplifying the voices of people from historically excluded communities and in the importance of all types of people taking responsibility for societal healing. She has been deeply involved in ERG/BRGs, including a talent role that was focused on intersectionality, sponsorship, and corporate oversight and management. She serves in an exec-level role on the Board of Directors for the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, an organization from which she's learned about racial equity and the systemic impact of advocacy - and was formerly the President of its Associate Board.Changing Minds and Changing Lives is produced by Disability Solutions, a non-profit consulting firm and leader for global brands in talent acquisition and inclusion for people with disabilities.

The ACLU and a Chicago-based group have blasted the city of Peoria days after it enacted a ban on camping in public spaces. In an email, the Chicago Coalition to End Homelessness, the Peoria Chapter of the ACLU of Illinois, and the ACLU of Illinois ripped on the Peoria City Council, which voted 6-5 to implement the ban to regulate and curb homeless encampments.

Julie talks with Holly O'Hern of Regime Change (a corporate learning and development company) about courageous leadership, creating safe spaces, trauma-informed workplaces, recent DEI backlash, and more.Notes:Holly O'Hern brings 20+ years of experience in leadership development, DEI (diversity equity inclusion), learning and development, team building, and inclusive events and workshops. Specializing in both virtual and in-person training formats, her career has spanned the restaurant industry, the aviation industry, non-profit volunteer leadership, tech, and startups — and her work is informed by her completion of immersive programs on racial equity, trauma-informed workplaces, intentional gathering, collegiate-level DEI certification, and Dr. Brené Brown's Certified Dare to Lead™ Facilitator program.Holly believes in supporting and amplifying the voices of people from historically excluded communities and in the importance of all types of people taking responsibility for societal healing. She has been deeply involved in ERG/BRGs, including a talent role that was focused on intersectionality, sponsorship, and corporate oversight and management. She serves in an exec-level role on the Board of Directors for the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, an organization from which she's learned about racial equity and the systemic impact of advocacy - and was formerly the President of its Associate Board.Changing Minds and Changing Lives is produced by Disability Solutions, a non-profit consulting firm and leader for global brands in talent acquisition and inclusion for people with disabilities.

Rick Wilson (Co-founder, The Lincoln Project; @TheRickWilson) Behnam Ben Taleblu (Senior fellow, Foundation for Defense of Democracies; @FDD) Andy Levin (Former U.S. representative from Michigan; @RepAndyLevin) Ali Simmons (Senior case and street outreach worker, Chicago Coalition to End Homelessness; @ChiHomeless) Patricia Nix-Hodes (Director of the law project, Chicago Coalition to End Homelessness; @pnixhodes) Grace Hauck (Investigative reporter, Illinois Answers Project; @grace_hauck)

‘Doubling-up,' or when a person temporarily lives with others, is one of the most common forms of #homelessness in #Chicago experienced by predominantly communities of color.  In 2023, over 68,000 people experienced homelessness in the city and nearly 45,000 of them lived doubled-up, according to a report by the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless. Electa Bey is one of them. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lnn1/support

Today's guests: - Camilla Krause, Staff Attorney at Chicago Coalition for the Homeless. - Professor Marjorie Hershey, Professor of Political Science at Indiana University Bloomington.

You know those times when you sit and have a conversation with someone you just met and you talk about what you have in common? And hear a story or two around Chicagos counter culture. Also a fun story about helpingout a friend, who is also an Exotic Dancer and all the assumptions that go with it. Enjoy! Mentions: I had to say it Podcast: https://ihadtosayitpodcast.com/ Live Rishi, use the code "TABLE50" and get 50% off your entire order: https://liverishi.com/ HighSpeed Daddy: https://www.highspeeddaddy.com/?rfsn=7178368.317ce6 Unfiltered Discussions: https://www.instagram.com/unfiltereddis/ Me: https://berawpodcast.com/ 'til next time! Chicago's counter culture has been a dynamic force, shaping the city's identity and challenging societal norms for decades. From the early 20th century to the present day, Chicago has been a hotbed of artistic innovation, political activism, and social rebellion. One of the most notable periods of counter culture in Chicago's history occurred during the 1960s and 1970s. The city was a hub for the civil rights movement, with activists like Fred Hampton and the Black Panther Party organizing protests and advocating for racial equality. Chicago also played a crucial role in the anti-war movement, with massive demonstrations against the Vietnam War taking place in the city's streets. The 1960s and 1970s also saw the rise of the Chicago Imagists, a group of artists who rejected the dominant trends of abstract expressionism and instead embraced figuration and narrative storytelling in their work. Artists like Roger Brown, Jim Nutt, and Ed Paschke gained international recognition for their bold and provocative paintings, which often depicted surreal and fantastical scenes inspired by popular culture and everyday life in Chicago. Music has also been a central part of Chicago's counter culture, with the city's vibrant jazz and blues scenes influencing generations of musicians and inspiring new genres like house music and hip-hop. Legendary blues clubs like Chess Records and the Checkerboard Lounge were incubators for talent, while iconic venues like The Aragon Ballroom and Metro provided stages for emerging punk and alternative bands. In addition to its artistic and musical contributions, Chicago's counter culture has also been defined by its grassroots activism and community organizing. Neighborhoods like Pilsen and Logan Square became centers of resistance against gentrification and displacement, with residents fighting to preserve their cultural heritage and maintain affordable housing. Grassroots organizations like the Jane Collective, which provided safe and affordable abortions before Roe v. Wade, demonstrated the power of collective action and solidarity in the face of oppressive laws and social stigma. Today, Chicago's counter culture continues to evolve and thrive in response to new challenges and opportunities. The city's LGBTQ+ community, for example, has made significant strides in recent years, with the annual Pride Parade drawing thousands of participants and allies from across the Midwest. Organizations like the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless and the Inner-City Muslim Action Network are working to address systemic issues like poverty and homelessness, while grassroots movements like #NoCopAcademy are challenging the city's investment in policing and incarceration. Despite its rich history of resistance and rebellion, Chicago's counter culture faces many obstacles, including systemic racism, economic inequality, and political corruption. However, the city's tradition of grassroots activism and community organizing provides hope for a more just and equitable future. As long as there are people willing to challenge the status quo and fight for social change, Chicago's counter culture will continue to push the boundaries of what is possible and inspire generations to come.

BrownTown chops it up with Dixon Romeo, Executive Director of NotMeWe and organizer with the Bring Chicago Home campaign. On March 19th, 2024, Chicago voters have the opportunity in the state primary elections to restructure the already existing, one-time Real Estate Transfer Tax (RETT) "on properties when they are sold to create a substantial and legally dedicated revenue stream to provide permanent affordable housing for people experiencing homelessness" (BringChicagoHome.org). The gang breaks down the years of organizing it took to get here and the ballot measure itself which increases the existing flat tax from .75% for the total price of all homes to 2% on the home price over $1 million and 3% for on the home price over $1.5 million, yet decreases for all homes under $1 million (~93% of new home buyers). BrownTown and Dixon also push back on real estate lobby-backed lies and places this moment in broader social and political context regarding the mere existence of homelessness in the richest, most powerful country in the world. Get in loser, we're Bringing Chicago Home! Originally recorded March 1, 2024. GUESTSDixon Romeo is a lifelong South Shore resident and executive director of Not Me We, a grassroots community group building power for poor and working-class folks in the neighborhood. Dixon is also an organizer with the Obama Community Benefits Agreement Coalition, which includes organizations across Chicago and residents at risk of being displaced by the Obama Center and the University of Chicago. Follow Dixon on Instagram and Twitter; and NowMeWe on Facebook and Instagram!Support Bring Chicago Home on their website and follow them on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter! Vote now until March 19, 2024. SoapBox Micro-doc PSA coming soon! Mentioned in episode and more information:Lightfoot's Promises to Use Federal COVID-19 Relief Funds to Transform Chicago Falling Short (WTTW)Bring Chicago Home referendum info (WGN, Video)Chicago Coalition for the HomelessFebruary 23rd lawsuit and March 6th appeal win for BCHOpinions on this episode only reflect David, Caullen, and Dixon.CREDITS: Intro soundbite from ABC Chicago. Outro music from Journey by Tobe Nwigwe. Episode photo from Chicago Coalition for the Homeless' website. Audio engineered by Kiera Battles.--Bourbon 'n BrownTownFacebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | PatreonSoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | Support

Today's guest include Doug Schenkelberg, Chicago Coalition for the Homeless Rex Huppke usa today Tony Fitzpatrick Eric Zorn

On this edition of Score Values, Alex Kuhn is joined by Michael Nameche, who's the executive director of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless. Later, Janae Rhodes, the nurse supervisor for the University of Chicago Medicine's Family Connects program, joins the show.

Glenn reacts to the massive pro-Palestinian rallies happening across the globe, including London; a college professor in America not condemning Hamas; and horrifying footage from Russia of a mob chasing after Israelis at an airport. Glenn and Stu discuss the oddity of people proudly defending atrocious viewpoints as the Left and mainstream media continue to support anti-Semitism. Glenn reads his letter to Israel requesting dual citizenship. Glenn and Stu react to threats made against Jewish students at Cornell University. Glenn speaks on the importance of the Second Amendment as chaos surrounds us. Glenn reads a story from Blaze News recounting an incident between pro-Palestinian protesters and Black Hebrew Israelites that broke out during a Chicago Coalition for Justice in Palestine event. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

@TheHeartlandPOD on Twitter and ThreadsCo-HostsAdam Sommer @Adam_Sommer85  (Twitter) @adam_sommer85 (Post)Rachel Parker @msraitchetp   (Post) Sean Diller @SeanDillerCO   (Twitter and Post)https://heartlandpod.com/JOIN PATREON FOR MORE - AND JOIN OUR SOCIAL NETWORK!“Change The Conversation”CAPITOL NEWS ILLINOIS:Illinoi Governor JB Pritzker signs bill aimed at ending homelessnessWednesday, July 26, 2023Task force brings multiple agencies together to focus resourcesBy PETER HANCOCKCapitol News Illinoisphancock@capitolnewsillinois.comSPRINGFIELD – Gov. JB Pritzker signed legislation Wednesday that seeks to effectively end homelessness in Illinois by marshaling the resources of multiple agencies into one effort.House Bill 2831 codifies an executive order Pritzker signed in 2021 that established the Illinois Interagency Task Force on Homelessness and the Community Advisory Council on Homelessness. It centralizes programs across 17 state departments and agencies to develop and implement a comprehensive plan to combat homelessness. At a bill-signing ceremony at Featherfist, a homeless services organization in Chicago, Pritzker said the goal of the initiative is to bring homelessness in Illinois to “functional zero.”Pritzker said “For those who don't know and who may be listening, it's a measurable metric of success that reduces homelessness to something that's brief and rare and nonrecurring.”The Chicago Coalition for the Homeless estimates that more than 100,000 people in Illinois experienced homelessness for all or part of 2020. Christine Haley, the state's current chief homelessness officer and chair of the interagency task force, said Black people and other people of color are disproportionately affected by homelessness.She said “We stand here in one of the few Black-led homeless services organizations in our state. And as we stand here, we know that this housing crisis before us is rooted in housing injustice, is rooted in segregation, is rooted in racism. We know this because in our city of Chicago, where now less than a third of its residents are Black, 73 percent of individuals and 90 percent of children and their parents who are experiencing homelessness are Black.”State Rep. Lindsey LaPointe, D-Chicago, who was the lead sponsor of the bill in the House, said that on any given night, an estimated 4,500 people in Illinois are without shelter and the average wait time for someone to receive housing services is 802 days. She also noted that in Fiscal Year 2022, 9,800 people were turned away from emergency shelters.She said “Ending homelessness and ensuring every neighbor has access to shelter and supportive services has long been possible in Illinois and across the nation, but we haven't had the collective political, economic – and I say this with love – the bureaucratic will to make it happen until now.”In his State of the State address in February, Pritzker highlighted the state's “Home Illinois” plan, which calls for increased spending for homelessness prevention, crisis response, housing units, and staffing.On Wednesday, he noted that the budget lawmakers passed this year includes more than $350 million for homeless services, an increase of $85.3 million over last year.That includes $50 million in rapid rehousing services for 2,000 households; $40 million to develop more than 90 Permanent Supportive Housing units that provide long-term rental assistance and case management; and $37 million in Emergency Shelter capital funds to create more than 460 non-congregate shelter units.Governor Pritzker said “No stone will be left unturned in this endeavor,”  Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government. It is distributed to hundreds of newspapers, radio and TV stations statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, along with major contributions from the Illinois Broadcasters Foundation and Southern Illinois Editorial Association.TENNESSEE LOOKOUT:Evolution of the Christian right in TennesseeMiddle Tennessee, and Williamson County, in particular, as the buckle of Christian nationalismBY: DEVON HEINEN - 6:00 AM     Part of the far right in the U.S. is the Christian far right. According to Philip Gorski, chair of Yale University's sociology department — political sociology and social movements, as well as religion, are areas of interest for him — the Christian far right in the U.S. has evolved over hundreds of years. Its basic principles, though, date back to the country's birth, as do its two main groups: “God and country” and “God over country.”“'God and country' people believe that America was founded as a Christian nation and that the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence are inspired by the Christian Bible,” Gorski explains. “They believe that America is especially blessed by God, and America has a special mission in history. And they worry that all these blessings and all that power will be taken away if it doesn't remain a Christian nation. And, for most of these people, the term ‘Christian' also kind of implies ‘white.'”“Even further to their right is what I would call the ‘God over country' people,” Gorski adds. “And these are people who don't believe that America is a Christian nation or that it ever was, but they're determined to make sure that it becomes one, and that usually involves destroying the American government and replacing it with some form of Christian government and Christian law.”Gorski says the U.S. Christian far right has grown over the last 15 or 20 years. One reason, he says, is that there's been an erosion of authority from older Christian leaders.“I think there are a lot of conservative white Christians out there who've learned a lot more of their ‘theology' quote-unquote from Rush Limbaugh” — a former Republican media personality who Trump awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom before dying in 2021 at 70 years old — “and Tucker Carlson, than from Jerry Falwell or Billy Graham.”The U.S. Christian far right has grown a lot since the start of Obama's presidency, Gorski says, both in terms of numbers and power, but especially in power. When it comes to sheer size, a conservative guess by Gorski puts the percentage of current U.S. Republican voters who are either “God and country” or “God over country” Christian far right at 25 or 30 percent. In terms of power, he says the U.S. Christian far right has grown so much that it's among the loudest voices in the GOP.Why has the Christian far right grown in the country? Gorski credits social media for being, probably, the biggest reason: social media has let once-small fringe groups interact with each other as well as work on influencing mainstream opinion.The U.S. Christian far right is also becoming authoritarian. He says it wasn't like that 10 or 20 years ago.When it comes to Middle Tennessee, Rev. Kevin Riggs runs down a list of examples showing the region's power in Christianity. It's home to several denominational headquarters. Williamson County houses the majority of the Christian music industry. There are a number of Christian publishing houses in the Middle Tennessee area. And a lot of the executives who work in Christian publishing live in Williamson County.Riggs is 57 years old. For the past 33, he has been a pastor at Franklin Community Church. He's currently a senior pastor there. When RIggs talks, you hear a Southern drawl. Originally from Nashville, the fourth-generation ordained minister has lived in Franklin for more than three decades.“Almost anything that gets put out in the quote ‘Christian world' and ‘Christian culture' is going to come through Middle Tennessee before it goes out to the world, and a lot of that is going to come through Williamson County,” Riggs says.There's more on his list. Middle Tennessee has so-called Christian celebrities. And it has organizations that have large preaching circuits. Plus, it has Christian institutions of higher education.And Middle Tennessee's power doesn't end there. The Hartford Institute for Religion Research tracks the number of megachurches in the U.S. - megachurches being those with average weekly attendance of at least 2,000 people. With 67 megachurches, Tennessee is 5th in the U.S. But on a per-capita basis, Tennessee had the most.One thing Riggs wants to make clear: Not every Christian is far-right. But he says the Christian far right is definitely present.He said “You hear the South oftentimes referred to as the ‘buckle of the Bible Belt' — sometimes that's Tennessee, sometimes that's Arkansas — but I'm convinced that Middle Tennessee, and Williamson County, in particular, is the buckle of Christian nationalism.” Riggs doesn't know if the non-violent end of the far-right spectrum makes up the majority or the minority in Williamson County's Christian community. It's too close to tell.Extremism hits close to home for Riggs. He used to have Christian far-right views.He said “I know what I'm talking about. I know how Evangelicals think. I know how that far right thinks,” Riggs says. He lets out a chuckle. “You know, I don't need to read it in a survey. I mean, I know.”If Trump wins the presidency in 2024, Riggs thinks the situation in Williamson County will get worse. There will be more divisiveness. The Christian far right will be even bolder.Elizabeth Madeira decided to run for local office in the 2020 election cycle. Before eventually losing her bid for the Tennessee House of Representatives' 63rd district, Madeira encountered the far right numerous times. The most memorable experience came about six to eight weeks prior to election day. That's when she got a phone call. The caller had a question: Was Madeira running as a Democrat? Yes, she answered.Then the caller “went on a long ramble about how Democrats support killing babies, pedophilia, support killing police officers — it was a long, very angry tirade, in which she disparaged the college that I attended- ” which is a Christian college. “And then she said that her daughter attends that college, and, now, she thinks she might have to take that daughter out of college because she was gonna turn into a Democrat like me.”A little later in the conversation about that phone call, Madeira adds: “It was basically a litany of QAnon conspiracy theories for at least five minutes, and then she hung up on me.”There were 733 far-right hate groups in the U.S. in 2021, according to the human-rights non-profit Southern Poverty Law Center. In Tennessee, the SPLC tracked 28 hate groups.These consisted of two anti-LGBTQ groups, three white-nationalist, four neo-Nazi, nine general hate groups, one antisemitic, four Ku Klux Klan, two anti-Muslim, one Christian identity, one neo-Confederate and one racist skinhead group. Eleven of Tennessee's 28 far-right hate groups in 2021 were statewide organizations. Of the remaining 17, six were in Middle Tennessee.MISSOURI INDEPENDENT:Over one million Missourians on Medicaid will have their eligibility checked between now and next May. Many have never undergone the process beforeBY: CLARA BATES - AUGUST 3, 2023 5:55 AMIn June, 72% of Medicaid dis-enrollments in Missouri were due to "procedural" reasons, meaning the state could not determine eligibility — generally because of paperwork issues (Annelise Hanshaw/Missouri Independent).Missouri has begun checking the eligibility of everyone on its Medicaid rolls — a review process that was paused for three years because of pandemic-era federal protections. Advocates hope that continuing to get the word out about how to navigate what is, for many, an unfamiliar process, will help those who are eligible retain coverage.About one-quarter of the state's population was enrolled in Medicaid - called MO HealthNet in Missouri - in June of this year.The state has 1.5 million Medicaid enrollees on the books, up from around 900,000 in March 2020 — in part because Missouri implemented voter-approved Medicaid expansion for low-income adults in late 2021 and in part because of the federal rules providing continuous coverage. Now, hundreds of thousands of Missourians are projected to lose coverage. Nationally, more than 3.7 million enrollees already have been disenrolled from Medicaid coverage.Brandi Linder, community health coordinator at Missouri Ozarks Community Health, a federally-qualified health center that assists with Medicaid renewals said “A lot of people got Medicaid during the public health emergency during COVID that had never had it before, so they've never had to go through the annual renewal process,”Linder said the focus has been ensuring that those who are new to the renewal process understand the stakes: “That if they don't do it, they could possibly lose their coverage.”Here are some of the things advocates and state officials want participants to know.1. Renewal month is typically the anniversary month of your first enrollment.Missouri's process of evaluating the eligibility of each person on its caseload will unfold over the next year— the state began in June and will end with those due in May 2024. Participants can view their renewal date on the Department of Social Services' new online portal, but need a smartphone and an active email address to sign up for the required multi-factor authentication.2. Participants should update their contact information with the state, especially mailing addresses.The social services department “strongly encourages” all participants to keep their address up to date — notifying the state if they've moved in the last three years;check the mail regularly;and/or verify your renewal date in the Family Support Division Benefit Portal.Participants can update their contact info online, in-person, or by phone.3. The participant will likely need to return paperwork to the state.If the state doesn't have sufficient data to renew a participant's coverage, the participant will need to provide additional information.That paperwork will be sent to the participant by mail and will be a yellow form.The participant should receive the form 55 days before their annual renewal is due.The state sends forms already partially completed with information it has about the participant. The participant should, in addition to filling out any blanks in the form, be sure to Review the pre-populated information the state filled out;Cross out anything that is not accurate and correct it;And be sure to sign the document before submitting it.5. If there are paperwork issues, eligible participants could lose coverage.The state can end coverage for two reasons. If the participant is found to be ineligible — because their income exceeds the allowed maximum, for instance, they will be deemed ineligible and lose coverage.A participant can also lose coverage for what are called “procedural” reasons, meaning the state couldn't determine the participant's eligibility, generally due to paperwork issues. For instance, a participant could be procedurally disenrolled if they did not return the required paperwork, or did not receive the paperwork — perhaps because of a change in address or lack of a stable address. In June, the first month of reviews, more than 32,000 Missourians – half of them children – lost Medicaid coverage with 72% of terminations were due to procedural reasons. That means around 23,000 Missourians disenrolled were not directly found ineligible but their eligibility couldn't be determined. Enrollees have 90 days after the termination to submit required paperwork for reconsideration  — rather than filling out an entirely new application for Medicaid. If they're found eligible, they can get coverage reinstated.So if you're in this situation, it's “very important to turn that paperwork in as soon as possible,” Oliver said. “It's not too late.” 8. Those who lose coverage may be eligible for plans through the Affordable Care Act.There is a special enrollment period for those who lose Medicaid from now until July 31, 2024. If you're a Missourian interested in speaking to a reporter about your experience with the Medicaid renewal process, please contact cbates@missouriindependent.com.And finally, the bad joke nobody asked for: Did I ever tell you about my grandfather? He has the heart of a lion. And, a lifetime ban from the zoo.Welp, that's it for me. From Denver I'm Sean Diller, original reporting for the stories in todays show comes from the Missouri Independent, Capitol News Illinois, and the Tennessee Lookout. Thanks for listening, see you next time.

@TheHeartlandPOD on Twitter and ThreadsCo-HostsAdam Sommer @Adam_Sommer85  (Twitter) @adam_sommer85 (Post)Rachel Parker @msraitchetp   (Post) Sean Diller @SeanDillerCO   (Twitter and Post)https://heartlandpod.com/JOIN PATREON FOR MORE - AND JOIN OUR SOCIAL NETWORK!“Change The Conversation”CAPITOL NEWS ILLINOIS:Illinoi Governor JB Pritzker signs bill aimed at ending homelessnessWednesday, July 26, 2023Task force brings multiple agencies together to focus resourcesBy PETER HANCOCKCapitol News Illinoisphancock@capitolnewsillinois.comSPRINGFIELD – Gov. JB Pritzker signed legislation Wednesday that seeks to effectively end homelessness in Illinois by marshaling the resources of multiple agencies into one effort.House Bill 2831 codifies an executive order Pritzker signed in 2021 that established the Illinois Interagency Task Force on Homelessness and the Community Advisory Council on Homelessness. It centralizes programs across 17 state departments and agencies to develop and implement a comprehensive plan to combat homelessness. At a bill-signing ceremony at Featherfist, a homeless services organization in Chicago, Pritzker said the goal of the initiative is to bring homelessness in Illinois to “functional zero.”Pritzker said “For those who don't know and who may be listening, it's a measurable metric of success that reduces homelessness to something that's brief and rare and nonrecurring.”The Chicago Coalition for the Homeless estimates that more than 100,000 people in Illinois experienced homelessness for all or part of 2020. Christine Haley, the state's current chief homelessness officer and chair of the interagency task force, said Black people and other people of color are disproportionately affected by homelessness.She said “We stand here in one of the few Black-led homeless services organizations in our state. And as we stand here, we know that this housing crisis before us is rooted in housing injustice, is rooted in segregation, is rooted in racism. We know this because in our city of Chicago, where now less than a third of its residents are Black, 73 percent of individuals and 90 percent of children and their parents who are experiencing homelessness are Black.”State Rep. Lindsey LaPointe, D-Chicago, who was the lead sponsor of the bill in the House, said that on any given night, an estimated 4,500 people in Illinois are without shelter and the average wait time for someone to receive housing services is 802 days. She also noted that in Fiscal Year 2022, 9,800 people were turned away from emergency shelters.She said “Ending homelessness and ensuring every neighbor has access to shelter and supportive services has long been possible in Illinois and across the nation, but we haven't had the collective political, economic – and I say this with love – the bureaucratic will to make it happen until now.”In his State of the State address in February, Pritzker highlighted the state's “Home Illinois” plan, which calls for increased spending for homelessness prevention, crisis response, housing units, and staffing.On Wednesday, he noted that the budget lawmakers passed this year includes more than $350 million for homeless services, an increase of $85.3 million over last year.That includes $50 million in rapid rehousing services for 2,000 households; $40 million to develop more than 90 Permanent Supportive Housing units that provide long-term rental assistance and case management; and $37 million in Emergency Shelter capital funds to create more than 460 non-congregate shelter units.Governor Pritzker said “No stone will be left unturned in this endeavor,”  Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government. It is distributed to hundreds of newspapers, radio and TV stations statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, along with major contributions from the Illinois Broadcasters Foundation and Southern Illinois Editorial Association.TENNESSEE LOOKOUT:Evolution of the Christian right in TennesseeMiddle Tennessee, and Williamson County, in particular, as the buckle of Christian nationalismBY: DEVON HEINEN - 6:00 AM     Part of the far right in the U.S. is the Christian far right. According to Philip Gorski, chair of Yale University's sociology department — political sociology and social movements, as well as religion, are areas of interest for him — the Christian far right in the U.S. has evolved over hundreds of years. Its basic principles, though, date back to the country's birth, as do its two main groups: “God and country” and “God over country.”“'God and country' people believe that America was founded as a Christian nation and that the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence are inspired by the Christian Bible,” Gorski explains. “They believe that America is especially blessed by God, and America has a special mission in history. And they worry that all these blessings and all that power will be taken away if it doesn't remain a Christian nation. And, for most of these people, the term ‘Christian' also kind of implies ‘white.'”“Even further to their right is what I would call the ‘God over country' people,” Gorski adds. “And these are people who don't believe that America is a Christian nation or that it ever was, but they're determined to make sure that it becomes one, and that usually involves destroying the American government and replacing it with some form of Christian government and Christian law.”Gorski says the U.S. Christian far right has grown over the last 15 or 20 years. One reason, he says, is that there's been an erosion of authority from older Christian leaders.“I think there are a lot of conservative white Christians out there who've learned a lot more of their ‘theology' quote-unquote from Rush Limbaugh” — a former Republican media personality who Trump awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom before dying in 2021 at 70 years old — “and Tucker Carlson, than from Jerry Falwell or Billy Graham.”The U.S. Christian far right has grown a lot since the start of Obama's presidency, Gorski says, both in terms of numbers and power, but especially in power. When it comes to sheer size, a conservative guess by Gorski puts the percentage of current U.S. Republican voters who are either “God and country” or “God over country” Christian far right at 25 or 30 percent. In terms of power, he says the U.S. Christian far right has grown so much that it's among the loudest voices in the GOP.Why has the Christian far right grown in the country? Gorski credits social media for being, probably, the biggest reason: social media has let once-small fringe groups interact with each other as well as work on influencing mainstream opinion.The U.S. Christian far right is also becoming authoritarian. He says it wasn't like that 10 or 20 years ago.When it comes to Middle Tennessee, Rev. Kevin Riggs runs down a list of examples showing the region's power in Christianity. It's home to several denominational headquarters. Williamson County houses the majority of the Christian music industry. There are a number of Christian publishing houses in the Middle Tennessee area. And a lot of the executives who work in Christian publishing live in Williamson County.Riggs is 57 years old. For the past 33, he has been a pastor at Franklin Community Church. He's currently a senior pastor there. When RIggs talks, you hear a Southern drawl. Originally from Nashville, the fourth-generation ordained minister has lived in Franklin for more than three decades.“Almost anything that gets put out in the quote ‘Christian world' and ‘Christian culture' is going to come through Middle Tennessee before it goes out to the world, and a lot of that is going to come through Williamson County,” Riggs says.There's more on his list. Middle Tennessee has so-called Christian celebrities. And it has organizations that have large preaching circuits. Plus, it has Christian institutions of higher education.And Middle Tennessee's power doesn't end there. The Hartford Institute for Religion Research tracks the number of megachurches in the U.S. - megachurches being those with average weekly attendance of at least 2,000 people. With 67 megachurches, Tennessee is 5th in the U.S. But on a per-capita basis, Tennessee had the most.One thing Riggs wants to make clear: Not every Christian is far-right. But he says the Christian far right is definitely present.He said “You hear the South oftentimes referred to as the ‘buckle of the Bible Belt' — sometimes that's Tennessee, sometimes that's Arkansas — but I'm convinced that Middle Tennessee, and Williamson County, in particular, is the buckle of Christian nationalism.” Riggs doesn't know if the non-violent end of the far-right spectrum makes up the majority or the minority in Williamson County's Christian community. It's too close to tell.Extremism hits close to home for Riggs. He used to have Christian far-right views.He said “I know what I'm talking about. I know how Evangelicals think. I know how that far right thinks,” Riggs says. He lets out a chuckle. “You know, I don't need to read it in a survey. I mean, I know.”If Trump wins the presidency in 2024, Riggs thinks the situation in Williamson County will get worse. There will be more divisiveness. The Christian far right will be even bolder.Elizabeth Madeira decided to run for local office in the 2020 election cycle. Before eventually losing her bid for the Tennessee House of Representatives' 63rd district, Madeira encountered the far right numerous times. The most memorable experience came about six to eight weeks prior to election day. That's when she got a phone call. The caller had a question: Was Madeira running as a Democrat? Yes, she answered.Then the caller “went on a long ramble about how Democrats support killing babies, pedophilia, support killing police officers — it was a long, very angry tirade, in which she disparaged the college that I attended- ” which is a Christian college. “And then she said that her daughter attends that college, and, now, she thinks she might have to take that daughter out of college because she was gonna turn into a Democrat like me.”A little later in the conversation about that phone call, Madeira adds: “It was basically a litany of QAnon conspiracy theories for at least five minutes, and then she hung up on me.”There were 733 far-right hate groups in the U.S. in 2021, according to the human-rights non-profit Southern Poverty Law Center. In Tennessee, the SPLC tracked 28 hate groups.These consisted of two anti-LGBTQ groups, three white-nationalist, four neo-Nazi, nine general hate groups, one antisemitic, four Ku Klux Klan, two anti-Muslim, one Christian identity, one neo-Confederate and one racist skinhead group. Eleven of Tennessee's 28 far-right hate groups in 2021 were statewide organizations. Of the remaining 17, six were in Middle Tennessee.MISSOURI INDEPENDENT:Over one million Missourians on Medicaid will have their eligibility checked between now and next May. Many have never undergone the process beforeBY: CLARA BATES - AUGUST 3, 2023 5:55 AMIn June, 72% of Medicaid dis-enrollments in Missouri were due to "procedural" reasons, meaning the state could not determine eligibility — generally because of paperwork issues (Annelise Hanshaw/Missouri Independent).Missouri has begun checking the eligibility of everyone on its Medicaid rolls — a review process that was paused for three years because of pandemic-era federal protections. Advocates hope that continuing to get the word out about how to navigate what is, for many, an unfamiliar process, will help those who are eligible retain coverage.About one-quarter of the state's population was enrolled in Medicaid - called MO HealthNet in Missouri - in June of this year.The state has 1.5 million Medicaid enrollees on the books, up from around 900,000 in March 2020 — in part because Missouri implemented voter-approved Medicaid expansion for low-income adults in late 2021 and in part because of the federal rules providing continuous coverage. Now, hundreds of thousands of Missourians are projected to lose coverage. Nationally, more than 3.7 million enrollees already have been disenrolled from Medicaid coverage.Brandi Linder, community health coordinator at Missouri Ozarks Community Health, a federally-qualified health center that assists with Medicaid renewals said “A lot of people got Medicaid during the public health emergency during COVID that had never had it before, so they've never had to go through the annual renewal process,”Linder said the focus has been ensuring that those who are new to the renewal process understand the stakes: “That if they don't do it, they could possibly lose their coverage.”Here are some of the things advocates and state officials want participants to know.1. Renewal month is typically the anniversary month of your first enrollment.Missouri's process of evaluating the eligibility of each person on its caseload will unfold over the next year— the state began in June and will end with those due in May 2024. Participants can view their renewal date on the Department of Social Services' new online portal, but need a smartphone and an active email address to sign up for the required multi-factor authentication.2. Participants should update their contact information with the state, especially mailing addresses.The social services department “strongly encourages” all participants to keep their address up to date — notifying the state if they've moved in the last three years;check the mail regularly;and/or verify your renewal date in the Family Support Division Benefit Portal.Participants can update their contact info online, in-person, or by phone.3. The participant will likely need to return paperwork to the state.If the state doesn't have sufficient data to renew a participant's coverage, the participant will need to provide additional information.That paperwork will be sent to the participant by mail and will be a yellow form.The participant should receive the form 55 days before their annual renewal is due.The state sends forms already partially completed with information it has about the participant. The participant should, in addition to filling out any blanks in the form, be sure to Review the pre-populated information the state filled out;Cross out anything that is not accurate and correct it;And be sure to sign the document before submitting it.5. If there are paperwork issues, eligible participants could lose coverage.The state can end coverage for two reasons. If the participant is found to be ineligible — because their income exceeds the allowed maximum, for instance, they will be deemed ineligible and lose coverage.A participant can also lose coverage for what are called “procedural” reasons, meaning the state couldn't determine the participant's eligibility, generally due to paperwork issues. For instance, a participant could be procedurally disenrolled if they did not return the required paperwork, or did not receive the paperwork — perhaps because of a change in address or lack of a stable address. In June, the first month of reviews, more than 32,000 Missourians – half of them children – lost Medicaid coverage with 72% of terminations were due to procedural reasons. That means around 23,000 Missourians disenrolled were not directly found ineligible but their eligibility couldn't be determined. Enrollees have 90 days after the termination to submit required paperwork for reconsideration  — rather than filling out an entirely new application for Medicaid. If they're found eligible, they can get coverage reinstated.So if you're in this situation, it's “very important to turn that paperwork in as soon as possible,” Oliver said. “It's not too late.” 8. Those who lose coverage may be eligible for plans through the Affordable Care Act.There is a special enrollment period for those who lose Medicaid from now until July 31, 2024. If you're a Missourian interested in speaking to a reporter about your experience with the Medicaid renewal process, please contact cbates@missouriindependent.com.And finally, the bad joke nobody asked for: Did I ever tell you about my grandfather? He has the heart of a lion. And, a lifetime ban from the zoo.Welp, that's it for me. From Denver I'm Sean Diller, original reporting for the stories in todays show comes from the Missouri Independent, Capitol News Illinois, and the Tennessee Lookout. Thanks for listening, see you next time.

Since February, police officers have been turning unhoused people away at O'Hare International Airport so they won't sleep there. The situation is just one sign of how persistent and pervasive homelessness is in Chicago. Shelter beds are full, and recently arrived asylum seekers are also in need of the social safety net. Reset learns more about the options left for the city's unhoused population and what solutions social service agencies and the city's new administration are considering with guests Elvia Malagón, social justice and wage gap reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times, and Ali Simmons, case and outreach worker with the Law Project of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless.

Brooke Lang graduated from the University of Illinois with a Masters of Architecture degree. Her design career began in 2006 while working for some of Chicago's top architecture firms including Brazley, Epstein Global and Harding Partners. Brooke studied overseas at the Sede di Roma facilities in Rome and won the Donald E. Bergeson Sustainable Design Award for the “Office of the Future” design concept.   Since 2008, Brooke has been involved in a number of organizations including the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, Interior Design Peer Alliance (IDPA), NOMA (National Organization of Minority Architects) and Grove3547, a Bronzeville community organization.  In addition, she also taught architecture history classes for City Colleges of Chicago Center for Distance Learning program. https://www.brookelang.com/ https://www.instagram.com/brooke.lang.design/

    BACKGROUND:  According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, in 2020, there were over half a million people experiencing homelessness on our streets and in shelters in America.  Seventy percent were individuals, and the remaining 30 percent were families with children.  They lived in every state and territory, and they include people from every gender, racial and ethnic group.  However, some groups are far more likely than others to become homeless.  In the same year, The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress revealed that African Americans are overrepresented in the population of people experiencing homelessness compared to their share of the overall US population.  A recent report by the Chicago Coalition for the homeless found at least 65,000 people were experiencing homelessness in Chicago in 2020, including those who temporarily stayed with others in addition to people living in shelters and on the street. Additionally, similar to national data, although African American Chicagoans make up roughly 30 percent of the city's population, they represent 70 percent of the City's homeless.  For housing advocates and activists, ending homelessness is connected to the moral imperative to end racial inequities within our society's systems, policies, and social practices.    INTRODUCTION:  Today, we'll be talking with Emily Krisciunas (Chris-shoe-nas), Director of Chicago Funders Together to End Homelessness.  Incubated at Michael Reese (a public foundation) since 2020, CFTEH seeks to foster a person-centered, ecosystem approach to ending homelessness that reaches across systems and sectors.  CFTEH is one of several local networks of Funders Together to End Homelessness - a national network of funders supporting strategic, innovative, and effective solutions to homelessness.  CFTEH has more than 30 members and is comprised of a shared table of family foundations, community foundations, corporate philanthropies, and the local United Way. The collaborative is guided by a steering committee of four funders and two full-time staff. Collectively, CFTEH members have directed more than $50 million over the last two years towards efforts to prevent and end homelessness in Chicago, supporting more than 200 organizations across the region since 2020. In 2022, CFTEH launched its first pooled fund effort—the Housing Justice Fund—which makes grants to support advocacy, community organizing, and narrative change efforts.  In our conversation, we'll learn about how the local philanthropic sector came together to co-create a strategy to end homelessness in Chicago with providers, advocates, government, community partners, and residents with lived experience.  Welcome Emily!    QUESTIONS:     I'd like to start by having you share with us the origin story of CFTEH.      Thanks for having me.  Nice to be with you.  I think that CFTEH began as a more informal network of, maybe, 10 or 12 local foundations.  So much of this groundwork was laid long before I came onboard in 2020. And I think that this group grew out of this observation that philanthropy has a ton of resources, and a ton of power to help end homelessness, but that those resources aren't always well coordinated or optimized.  Both within philanthropy and with partners in the public sector.  And around the same time, we had colleagues who were connected to the organization that you mentioned in the introduction, Funders Together to End Homelessness at the national level, and were starting to see these local collaboratives pop up in other communities.  There was one really notable one in Los Angeles called Home for Good that I think was particularly influential.  And so this group of funders started to be interested in replicating that collaborative model here in Chicago.  And in order to do that, this group realized that they would need a home, sort of a backbone – administratively and operationally for that work, and we were so lucky that Michael Reese Health Trust was beginning the process to becoming a public charity, which gave them some new resources at their disposal.  They could incubate new initiatives; they could advocate in a different way. So, in 2019, before I came onboard, they raised their hand within the group and volunteered to be the home for CFTEH, which enabled the group to hire their first dedicated staff person, which became me.    In 2022, CFTEH created its first strategic plan.  I understand you conducted a series of listening sessions with community and stakeholders to begin the process.  What were the key takeaways from those sessions?  It's a great question and felt like an important phase in CFTEH's work.  There were two big pushes around listening.  The first one came when I started in the role.  As a precursor to strategic planning, I met one-on-one with all of the funders who were participating in the collaborative, and I wanted to get a sense of how they thoughts about addressing homelessness, and what their own grantmaking priorities were, and what their motivations were to be in the group.  I remember this thing that Marianne Philbin, who is a colleague at Pierce Family Foundation kept saying, which was, “CFTEH should be doing things that it can uniquely do as a group that individual foundations can't do on their own”.      And that felt like a recurring theme in all of the conversations that I had with funders.  But what I think wasn't clear from the beginning was what exactly that “what” be?  What was the unique contribution that CFTEH would have that individual foundations could not do on their own, but that became a guiding set of questions that informed the second round of listening that we did in 2022, which as you said, was focused not within our philanthropic community, but instead on all of our external partners.     So, you're exactly right.  We did, with your help, interviews and focus groups with at least 50 community stakeholders, and these are people with lived expertise of homelessness, advocates, colleagues in government, policy makers, service providers, and I think there were a bunch of important takeaways from that experience.  They really centered around the role that philanthropy has to play in naming and addressing the role that racism has in homelessness, and drawing that connection a little more clearly.  They wanted philanthropy's help in promoting this more expansive definition of homelessness, not the often narrow federal government definition of homelessness that is just a person maybe, staying on the street, or in a shelter or on the train, but instead this much more expansive experience of people who are maybe couch surfing, or living doubled-up or under the threat of violence in their home.    They were really interested in seeing CFTEH think about its power and how it wields it and how it shifts it to communities who are impacted by homelessness.  Partners also had some really helpful critiques, frankly, about the way philanthropy often does grantmaking.  About how arduous and burdensome that process can be.  How inflexible it can be.  That was really something that we saw reinforced in our own grantmaking data that CFTEH reflected on in its strategic planning process where we saw a lot of grants being made just a single year at a time, often restricted.  So, we got a lot of feedback from community stakeholders about the role that CFTEH could play in maybe helping model grantmaking in a different way, and nudging and supporting our foundation members in making their grantmaking processes around ending homelessness as flexible and accessible as possible.    I understand that from those listening sessions Emerged a set of “guiding principles”.  Can you share those principles with us that will guide the work of CFTEH for the next three years?  We landed on four of them, and looking back I can see the way that each of them feels really anchored to the community feedback that I just highlighted for you.  So, the guiding principles in the CFTEH plan are:  To lead with and center racial equity in housing justice in all of the work that we do.  The second one is on Targeted Universalism.  An acknowledgement that homelessness is so disproportionately experienced by communities of color, and particularly Black and African American communities, and so approaches to ending homelessness ideally will benefit all people experiencing homelessness but should really be targeted to the groups and communities who are experiencing it the most, disproportionately.   The third one is around centering people with lived expertise in homelessness and housing instability in all of the decision-making that we do. And we're exploring all day, every day, different ways to do that in the work of CFTEH.   And then the fourth one is around this idea that, fostering a person-centered, ecosystem approach to ending homelessness, as you mentioned in the intro. This idea that homelessness is this idea that is really simple, in that the solution is housing, but that it is [also] really complex, in that all of these different systems, frankly, are failing people who come to experience homelessness and are often interacting with the justice system, or the employment system or education system, but at the end of the day it is still a person a neighbor who is experiencing homelessness and that we have to keep the person at the center, even though we're talking about lots of complex systems that are contributing to that persons, perhaps, lack of access to housing.      What can you share about CFTEH's strategic plan, including goals and objectives?      Our north star in the strategic plan is for CFTEH, this community of funders, to contribute to a significant reduction in the number of people experiencing homelessness in the Chicago region.  With that focus, in particular on Black communities who are experiencing homelessness most disproportionately.    In the theory of change that CFTEH has developed for its strategic plan, it suggests that if CFTEH leans into these four big functions that we identified for ourselves as an educator, as an advocate, as a model (as I said earlier for our members) and as a convener, we can help advance these three big categories of change.    One related to more equitable housing policy, another around shifting power to communities most impacted by homelessness, and the third one is around bringing greater alignment into these often disconnected and disjointed sectors and systems.  To your point you just made, that are often contributing to a person's experience of homelessness.    And I love that CFTEH, in its pursuit of these goals laid out in the strategic plan gets to be this sort of lab for new ideas.  We really can be this model for new ways of working.  We learn a lot from other communities that are experimenting in the way that we are, from other funder networks, and communities like New York, LA and Baltimore and the Bay area that are often piloting really different public/private partnerships that we aspire to replicate here in Chicago.  So, even though we have a strategic plan, we're trying to make it vibrant and useful as is possible in the work that we're doing every day.  Tell us more about the Housing Justice “Pooled” Fund and how it ties into the strategic plan.  Yeah, I'm so excited!  So excited about this effort.  What's interesting is that we don't  necessarily set out in the early days of the strategic planning process to have a pooled fund.  It wasn't really part of the early conversations about what CFTEH would be, and I think the more we got into the planning process, and the more we reflected on what our members are funding currently, and what our stakeholders really wanted CFTEH to do, the more a pooled fund emerged as a really interesting idea that could fill some of the important gaps.    So the Housing Justice Fund, as you said, is a pooled fund, and what that means is that a bunch of our members, around 15 of our CFTEH members, have collectively pooled funding at Michael Reese, as our fiscal sponsor, to launch this grantmaking effort.  It's a $2 million dollar pooled fund, and it is specifically focused on advocacy, community organizing and narrative change and public awareness work related to preventing and ending homelessness.       And the reason we focused on that cluster of things is because we saw that it really wasn't being funded.  That showed up in a lot of grantmaking data that we looked at from our members.,  We saw that, maybe, 1 or 2 percent of the groups collective grantmaking was supporting that group of things I just mentioned.  I also had a ton of conversations with people working in the advocacy space who talked about how hard it was to find funding for their work and it just started to emerge so clearly as the perfect gap for CFTEH to fill.    The fund is focused on new and emerging and often small and BIPOC-led organizations that are doing this work.  We really tried to, in the application process, to do outreach to organizations that were not receiving funding from any of our members.  We are trying to build relationships with new organizations who might have had a really difficult time accessing philanthropy in the past.  The last thing I would say is that we tried to design the process really differently.  The former grant writer in me, my heart sings around this part of it because we, for instance, designed a process where applicants could choose how they made their requests.  They could submit it in writing if that felt like a good fit to them, if they happened to have a grant writer on staff.   And if they didn't, or if they felt like using their voice and their story to make their request was a better fit they, instead, could hop on a call with CFTEH staff and we would ask them a set of questions and guide then through, essentially, the application.  And then we would, as staff, take on the responsibility of documenting and preparing the group's application, then sharing it back with them for them to review, approve and finalize.   We got a ton of takers, first of all, for that kind of format of application, and at least in the first round, a lot of positive feedback about being able to lower barriers to applying.  Especially for really tiny, volunteer-led organizations who may not have a grant writer on staff.  And then, for organizations, they also then were able to have a narrative prepared describing their work that they felt really good about that, ideally, they can use for applications with other foundations as well.    So, the pooled fund has started, and you've started issuing grants?  We just announced our first round of grants in December, 2022.  We announced $1.2 million in the first round to 11 partners that we're so excited about.  They are all doing such incredible work.  Some of them are really focused on policy at the city level or state level, either passing city or state ordinance or enforcing one.  They are, in other cases, focused on tenant organizing efforts, building  the collective power of tenants in a specific building or a specific neighborhood.  And then others are focused on narrative change aspect of the fund I mentioned.  Trying to challenge conventional narratives about what homelessness looks like, who experiences it and why they experience it, and are using first-person storytelling or art-making or other forms of documentation in order to do that.  So, we're so excited to be working with that group of partners, and we're planning to do another round of grant making in the spring or summer of this year.      A great deal of growth has happened in 2022. What can we expect from you and your team in 2023?  If CFTEH is going to do some cool, innovative things, ideally, we'll do those things and then document what we're learning about them.  We learned a lot in the first round of the Housing Justice Fund process about what we can do way better in subsequent rounds and so we're really interested in documenting those learnings and ways to share them, whether its through social media, like you mentioned, or blog posts.  I'm so lucky I'm getting the opportunity later this month to be on a panel at the National Funders Together to End Homelessness conference in California.  I'll have an opportunity to talk about this work there.  But yes, I think that what we're trying to do is learn a lot.  Learn and make mistakes and share what we're learning with our members and partners, both regionally and across the country.   And, in terms of 2023, it's an exciting question. I think a lot of things come to mind.  The first is that CFTEH doubled in size last year, which was a thrill to me, so we hired a new colleague, Kathy Neidorowski, who I have to shout out.  She came onboard last year as our CFTEH Program Coordinator and brings this incredible expertise and background as a social worker and a macro social worker, so really thinking about the ways that complex systems interact with each other and impact a person or household experiencing homelessness.  So totally thrilled to think about 2023 and what we can do as a small but mighty team of two.   And I think the area of growth that I'm most excited about for CFTEH is related to the Housing Justice Fund, in a way because it's about all of the other resources and power that CFTEH has to advance the collective goals of our grantees through the fund.  Because we have a lot of ways that we can advocate ourselves.  We can join in the advocacy of our grantee partners, and I think in 2023, we're excited to be a lot more visible, vocal and external in that way, and find other ways to support this cohort of grantee partners through the Housing Justice Fund in lots of ways beyond the funding.  It's another piece of feedback that we heard a lot from community stakeholders.  It's like, “Philanthropy, you have relationships!  You can open doors for us.  You can bring us with you to meetings, and then let us do the talking.  When you make a phone call,  someone picks up”. So we're trying to catalog all of the other many ways that CFTEH has power and relationships in community that can advance the collective goals of our grantees.  So, advocacy feels like it's very much on the horizon for CFTEH this year and I'm excited with my colleague Kathy to build out the work related to that.    CLOSING:    Emily, thank you so much for talking with me today about the role of CFTEH in addressing homelessness in Chicago.  The links and resources Emily provided today will be added to this podcast for our listeners.    LINKS:  Chicago Funders Together to End Homelessness  Funders Together to End Homelessness  Michael Reese  all Chicago making homelessness history  Home for Good    REPORTS:  Chicago Coalition for the Homeless Estimate of People Experiencing Homelessness  National Alliance to End Homelessness  HUD Annual Homeless Assessment Report       

  According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, in 2020, there were over half a million people experiencing homelessness on our streets and in shelters in America.  Seventy percent were individuals, and the remaining 30 percent were families with children.  They lived in every state and territory, and they include people from every gender, racial and ethnic group.    However, some groups are far more likely than others to become homeless.  In the same year, The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress revealed that African Americans are overrepresented in the population of people experiencing homelessness compared to their share of the overall US population.  A recent report by the Chicago Coalition for the homeless found at least 65,000 people were experiencing homelessness in Chicago in 2020, including those who temporarily stayed with others in addition to people living in shelters and on the street.  Additionally, similar to national data, although African American Chicagoans make up roughly 30 percent of the city's population, they represent 70 percent of the City's homeless.  For housing advocates and activists, ending homelessness is connected to the moral imperative to end racial inequities within our society's systems, policies, and social practices.    INTRODUCTION  The Center for Housing and Health's unique program, the Flexible Housing Pool, works to address the region's homelessness through system coordination. Through the Flexible Housing Pool (or FHP), Cook County is able to rapidly house and provide supportive services to some of the region's most vulnerable populations, including individuals experiencing homelessness who cycle through the criminal justice system and utilize hospital emergency rooms for care.  In this episode, I'm talking with Pete Toepfer, Executive Director of the Center for Housing and Health. The Center's mission is to honor every person's right to a home and health care by bridging the housing and health care systems to improve the lives of Chicagoans experiencing homelessness.  We'll hear more from Pete about how FHP has expanded in the past three years to meet the growing demand for permanent supportive housing and how the organization is centering racial equity in its strategic priorities.    Welcome Pete!     QUESTIONS    Just last week, the Flexible Housing Pool, or FHP, housed its 1,000th resident. Congratulations on this milestone! Can you share more about its significance in the context of serving people in the Chicago region experiencing homelessness?    Kuliva.  Thanks so much.  As you pointed out, an awful lot has changed since 2019.  The least of which was the covid 19 pandemic.  For a little context, in the first year of the Flexible Housing Pool, like lots of projects that are starting up, it began fairly slowly.  In the first year we housed just under 60 people, and now we're at 1,000.  So as you can tell, the growth has been very, very rapid, but very, very necessary when we're talking about the tens of thousands of our neighbors who are homeless each year in Chicago.  So, for me, the biggest takeaway is that we have dramatically improved the lives of a thousand of our neighbors, and many of those are children.  About 350 of those thousand people are minors/children.  So those are children who will not have to experience the trauma of living in cars and bouncing between an aunt's house or grandma's house,  a shelter and that can focus on school, friends and playing.  Just like every child should do.      One of the stories that I feel is really fitting around the Flexible Housing Pool is one of the first residents who received housing as a result of the Flexible Housing Pool.  Her name is Kayla Wallace, and she was actually one of the residents who was at an early press conference talking about the promise that the Flexible Housing Pool could bring.  She was also someone who had been bouncing between hospitals, got seriously injured on the job while working as a tour guide on one of the double-decker buses downtown, and was no longer able to pursue her musical career. Fast forward to today.  Kayla is now chair of the Flexible Housing Pool governance council.  This is essentially the Board of Directors for the Flexible Housing Pool that makes decisions about where we are going as an overall project that brings together all the community stakeholders.  She is representing tenants of FHP, and is facilitating the meetings.  It really is a full circle moment for her and for the Flexible Housing Pool.  I think that speaks to one of the points that you brought up about how we're trying to live out the value of racial equity within the Flexible Housing Pool.  That, within that governance council, residents of FHP have, per the bylaws, 40 percent of the seats.  These are folks who have experienced homelessness and they have the same voting power as someone who put in six million dollars.  They are truly the experts in the direction that we need [to go in].    So I think that one of the other things that's exciting about where we've come is that we have two of the largest managed care organizations in the state who are now investors in the Flexible Housing Pool, because they see it as part of their best interest to help their members maintain health, achieve better health outcomes, and as a managed care organization is charged with doing, control costs. It is not a good investment to continue to have someone get hospitalized for conditions that could be better controlled in primary care settings, but that's very difficult for people to do if they don't have a stable place to live, and that's exactly what the Flexible Housing Pool does. So, with CountyCare and Meridian Health Plan, we talk to them regularly about how we are serving their more complex members who really, but for having a safe and stable home, struggle, and cycle through different, high-cost crisis settings.      In the past, you're reported chronic disease conditions, serious mental illness, justice system involvement and undocumented status as housing barriers experienced by FHP participants.  Considering the impact of the pandemic, what other barriers are you and your team working to address?    One of the big ones is that we want to ensure that people joining the Flexible Housing Pool have a meaningful choice in where they want to live.  We promote the value of “housing first” along with racial equity and both of those really hinge on self-determination.  We want folks to be able to choose the types of neighborhoods they want to live in.  That are close to their loved ones, close to transportation, the grocery store, to their health care resources.  But what we were finding as we really dug into our data, was that people were being clustered in the same neighborhoods that have historically been red-lined and disinvested for decades and decades in Chicago.  We alone as one program aren't going to solve for that problem but we brought that concern to the larger governance council and the Chicago Department of Housing and said we want people to live everywhere in the city, but we want them to have meaningful choices, and we know that we're not able to offer the same number of units in certain northside neighborhoods as we are in, say, Austin or South Shore.  Continuing to have folks clustered in the same neighborhoods is not ideal.  If that's what people are choosing – wonderful.  But we know that without that actual choice, that it isn't necessarily realistic.  So, what we are trying to do is set meaningful and achievable goals for increasing the number of units we have in what     we're calling “opportunity neighborhoods”.  Ones that have lower percentages of poverty and lower percentages of violent crime, which generally are also correlating to places that have other types of resources.  That's an effort we have going this coming year, especially as we launch a variety of new programs.    You also mentioned the really disturbing disparity that exists within the homelessness system in Chicago where upwards of 70+ percent of people experiencing homelessness identify as Black, despite only representing about a third of the City's population.  We've been tracking that since day one to ensure that the folks coming to the Flexible Housing Pool are representative of the larger homeless community so that we are starting there but then also throughout their experience in the program that they are not falling off and disparities aren't developing in different steps in the project.  Like, once we find them, do they actually reach housing?  Do they stay in housing once they enter the program?  And I can say with pride and confidence that we don't see those disparities developing.  So about 80 percent of participants that we serve that identify as Black or African American, which should be the case based on what we know about the larger demographics of homelessness in the city.          My understanding is that the program cost is about $125,000 per household per year, which includes:  Outreach and engagement  Pre-tenancy supports (e.g., assistance with initial housing assessments and housing applications)  Tenancy supports (referrals to community-based services, transportation and connect to health and social services)   A housing subsidy  FHP Administrative costs    Can you share more on how this represents a return on investment for FHP partners and investors?      A quick point of clarification:  so, you're about $100,000 too high.  It's only about $25,000 per household, per year.  Which is still a lot, frankly, given what investors often are typically used to paying especially in the health care space.  But that $25,000 per year, as you mention, does cover a really wide spectrum of needed services from the time that someone is identified as being homeless and needing a housing intervention, all the way through helping someone stay housed.  And just to underscore one important thing, once people enter the Flexible Housing Pool, 98 percent remain stably housed for a year or longer. So once they come into the Flexible Housing Pool, they stay and remain stable, which is hugely, hugely important.      In that sense, that investment is ensuring that a member or a patient or one of our neighbors has housing stability.  To me, there's no price on that.  And, we know that we live in an environment where need to look at budgets, priorities, and costs.  And so, a way to think about it, especially, let's say, for one of our insurance company partners, or managed care company partners; what if someone had 3 or 4 hospital stays over the course of the year?  What would those hospital costs average out [to be] for each stay?  What we hear, is that if someone ends up in the hospital, it can average about $10,000, roughly.  Of course, it can depend on medicines, procedures, things like that.  But, just alone, if we're able to reduce even one or two of those hospitalizations, then the insurance companies have already saved money on that particular individual because they aren't going to the hospital, especially for something that may not have been necessary in the first place, a condition that got worse because someone was outside on a day when it was -5⁰F with an additional -10⁰F windchill. Someone doesn't need to have their toes amputated, and instead of being discharged from the hospital back to a tent, this person is going to their home.  And, potentially being discharged sooner because there doesn't need to be long-term scrambling and planning for where a discharge can happen.  When someone has a stable address, it's not hard to know where someone is going home to.      What other positions (moral or fiscal) does FHP take to persuade institutions and systems to pay greater attention to clients they serve who experience homelessness?   To me the clearest answer to that is that housing is a human right.  Everyone, no matter who you are, what you've done, where you come from, deserves a safe and stable home.  To me that is a very clear moral imperative and one that we can't say enough until we no longer have any of our neighbors sleeping out on the streets, on the el (elevated trains) or on park benches.  To me it also speaks to the larger priorities that we have in society.  We find money for an awful lot of things.  Be it the City-level or at the national-level.  To me the fact that we allow, that we tolerate our neighbors experiencing homelessness is part of a moral re-alignment that's necessary for how we think about ourselves as individuals, but how, more importantly, we think of ourselves in community, and in community with others.  Especially those that have been failed by our systems and have faced oppression, racism, and discrimination.      So the Flexible Housing Pool is here to say, “Come one, come all.  You are welcome here.  We're going to help you find a home and we're going to help you stay there, to help you get healthier, to reach your goals and to reach your potential”.    Tell me what we can expect in scale and scope in 2023?  So, I think there are three things I'm really excited about.  The first is that we'll be launching a Re-Entry Initiative for some of our neighbors who will be coming home from Illinois' state prisons.  These are folks who will be returning to Chicagoland, Chicago and Cook County, are going to need a place to stay and the Flexible Housing Pool is going to help them find those homes and to get back on their feet, and reconnect to people that they care about and to the places that were once familiar to them.      So that Re-Entry Initiative is going to serve between 50-100 people this year, and we're excited about that opportunity. It includes a workforce component as well, working with the North Lawndale Employment Network, which has a deep history with the North Lawndale community and also working with folks within the re-entry space.  So that's one thing that's exciting.    The second is in partnering with two of the state of Illinois' Healthcare Transformation projects that are funded through the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services.  Part of their charge is to think about delivering healthcare in a new way.  Those projects have decided that the Flexible Housing Pool is going to help them achieve that charge.  So, Wellness West, based on the West Side of Chicago and the South Side Healthy Communities Collaborative  are both going to be connecting with the Flexible Housing Pool, identifying members in their collaboratives that are going to be the best fit for the Flexible Housing Pool and working with us in the next year.    Actually, just last week, when (U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development) Marsha Fudge made a visit to Chicago to announce a $60 million dollar investment in homelessness, the Flexible Housing Pool was one of Chicago's projects and one of the projects that I think helped our local application be especially attractive and competitive as part of the national review.  And so the Flexible Housing Pool is going to be connecting with a federally-funded program through HUD through the HUD Continuum of Care programs for another 100 households, and leveraging our existing experience and some of the resources we have towards this larger end.  So, a lot happening in this coming year, too, Kuliva.  Lots of exciting things and a lot more people to serve.     Closing:  Pete, thank you so much for talking with me today about the role of FHP in addressing homelessness, and improving health outcomes for the most vulnerable in Chicago.  The links and resources you've provided today will be added to this podcast for our listeners.    Links  Center for Housing and Health  Flexible Housing Pool  all Chicago making homelessness history  National Alliance to End Homelessness  HUD Annual Homeless Assessment Report 

Joan's guests today are: - Gary Menzel, President/Business Manager at Roofers & Waterproofers Local 11, with our Union Strong segment - Doug Schenkelberg, Chicago Coalition for the Homeless - Joe Brancatelli, joesentme.com - Team Hochberg's David Hochberg

In 2018, the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless proposed an ordinance that would tax home sales over $1 million at a higher rate in an effort to fight homelessness in Chicago. On Monday, Mayor Lightfoot and her allies in City Council blocked a hearing for that ordinance, known as Bring Chicago Home. Reset breaks down what happened and what's next with Carla Johnson, grassroots leader with the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, and Ald. Matt Martin, 47th Ward, and Ald. Maria Hadden, 49th Ward, the two sponsors of the ordinance.

Chicago Tribune reporter Maddie Ellis joins Lisa Dent on Chicago’s Afternoon News to explain a report released by the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless which found that over 65,000 people experienced homelessness in 2020. Follow Your Favorite Chicago’s Afternoon News Personalities on Twitter:Follow @LisaDentSpeaksFollow @SteveBertrand Follow @kpowell720 Follow @maryvandeveldeFollow @LaurenLapka

On this week's InDepth, we dive deep into the current state of affordable housing and homelessness with the Director of Policy for the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless and hear from community members at one of three budget public engagement forums about their concerns. ------Make sure to subscribe to WBBM InDepth on the Audacy app; leave us a review & rate on Apple Podcasts, too!Have a topic or story you want us to go InDepth about? Tweet us at @wbbmpodcasts

Dr. Feinberg is an Associate Professor at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and serves as the REI Fellowship Program Director as well as the Medical Director for Northwestern Fertility and Reproductive Medicine. She is the Past-President of the Society for Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility and is an Editorial Editor for Fertility and Sterility and the creator and co-host of Fertility and Sterility On-Air podcast. Dr. Feinberg is a fierce advocate for women's health and reproductive choice and has written opinion pieces have been published in the Washington Post, STATnews, Rewire, The Hill and Time magazine and she sits on the National Medical Committee of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Dr Feinberg is the founder and president of the Chicago Coalition for Family Building, a not for profit that awards grants for fertility treatment and adoption. She is passionate about her Peloton, running, reading fiction, playing Wordle and finding joy. Listen to Dr. Feinberg as she discusses with Jenn: • Her path to Reproductive Endocrinology. • A look back on the COVID Task Force. • The vaccine decision-making challenges. • How access to care changed during the pandemic, for good. • The debate over access to reproductive healthcare and the implications for fertility care access. • The controversy on mosaic embryos and how practices are navigating potential transfers. • Whether PGT lives up to the hype. Want to share your story or ask a question? Call and leave us a message on our hotline: 303-997-1903. Learn more about our podcast: https://iwanttoputababyinyou.com/ Learn more about our surrogacy agencies: https://www.brightfuturesfamilies.com/ Get your IWTPABIY merch here! https://iwanttoputababyinyou.com/merch Learn more about Ellen's law firm: http://trachmanlawcenter.com/ Learn more about Dr. Feinberg's practice here: https://fertility.nm.org Learn more about the Chicago Coalition for Family Building here: www.coalitionforfamilybuilding.org

People living doubled up with friends or family due to economic hardship, sometimes called invisible homelessness, is not always clear to communities or even those experiencing it due to stigma and lack of resources. The Chicago Coalition for the Homeless teamed up with advocates and researchers to develop a unique way to count people living doubled up using U.S. Census microdata. In this episode, we talk with researcher Molly Richard, a student at Vanderbilt University, Samuel Carlson, manager of Research and Outreach at Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, and Edrika Fulford, a community organizer with lived experience of doubled-up homelessness. We dedicate this episode to Edrika who died shortly after this recording. Those who knew her said that Edrika brought immense passion and resolve to all that she did as a leader and advocate, whether speaking at rallies, testifying at press conferences, officiating events, or providing interviews with the media. She will be deeply missed and forever part of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless's mission and legacy.

We're back from our Covid delay with a topical episode about how much cops suck. Join us for the budding Wes/Gunn bromance, Cordy's "one of a kind" top, and Kate actually acting like a person for two minutes. It's Angel S2E14: The Thin Dead Line!   Twitter, IG, & FB: @boozeandbuffy Email: boozeandbuffy@gmail.com Chicago Coalition for the Homeless: www.chicagohomeless.org Art Credit: Mark David Corley  Music Credit: Grace Robertson

Jeff Wolin first approached the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless with the idea for his new book 'Faces of Homelessness' in 2018.

Nicole Scott is the Managing Partner at NMS Family Law Firm in Illinois. Nicole is a Family Law Practitioner, currently servicing the Chicagoland area. She graduated from Philadelphia University with my Bachelors of Science in Law and Society. While attending Philadelphia University, she interned for Councilman Curtis Jones Jr., of the 4th District and she worked for Kane and Silverman, P.C. While attending John Marshall, she interned for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, externed for the Honorable Judge Lionel Jean- Baptiste who resides in the Domestic Relations Division in Cook County, worked for the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless as an Alvin H. Baum Fellow and she most recently worked as a senior law clerk at Schiller DuCanto and Fleck, LLP (the largest firm that practices solely family law in the nation). As far as school involvement goes, she was on the executive board for The Glenn T. Johnson chapter of the Black Law Students Association. There, she was the Advocate General, and her role involved being the face of community service and community relations for the group. She was also an Executive Board Member of the Journal for Information Technology and Privacy Law serving as Communications/Business Editor. Through all, she was able to maintain her position at the top of my class and graduated Cum Laude. Learn from her expertise and what trends are helping grow her firm on this episode of The Managing Partners Podcast! —- Array Digital provides bold marketing that helps managing partners grow their law firms. arraylaw.com Follow us on Instagram: @array.digital Follow us on Twitter: @thisisarray Call us for a FREE digital marketing review: 757-333-3021 SUBSCRIBE to The Managing Partners Podcast for conversations with the nation's top attorneys.

Mike Stephen talks to Tracy Baim, the co-publisher of the Chicago Reader, about that publication's 50th anniversary and what it means to the city. Then, we learn about a proposal to fight homelessness in Chicago from Edrika Fulford, a member of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless' Grassroots Leadership Team. And Mike tells the story of a high school prank that will help improve that school's cybersecurity.

Quote: “Your EAP should be a hub.  It should be the place that everybody goes to when they need a resource, counselling, childcare, elder care, any kind of wellness resource.” Bernie Dyme I had such a wonderful and information-filled chat with Bernie Dyme last week that we decided to turn it into a 2-part series.  In case you missed last week, here's the link to Part I It's not mandatory that you listen to it first, but I recommend that you do.  There's so much amazing content, it would be a shame for you to miss out on any of it. At this point in time, we're all looking for some return to “normalcy”.  As the pandemic continues, (and it doesn't seem like there is any end in sight) we continue to struggle through the challenges and are doing our best to keep moving forward.  On this episode of Authentic Living with Roxanne, we welcome back EAP expert, Bernie Dyme to hear Part II where he will share his thoughts about the increase of EAP and mental health services being utilized and helping leaders design a safe and mentally healthy workspace for their teams. Since co-founding Perspectives Ltd in 1981, President and CEO Bernie Dyme has helped developed an organization committed to delivering the highest-quality workplace resource programs. Bernie continues to create a balanced approach between cost savings and safe, healthy, and productive workforces. Authentic Touch Points: Creating a mentally fit workplace.  1:00 Learn to discuss what's uncomfortable.  6:30 Keep the communication open.  11:00 We need to broaden the definition of trauma.  17:00 Offering support through COVID.  20:00 Throughout his career, Bernie has used his formal clinical training and business experience to provide consulting services to hundreds of organizations. He is an active member of more than a dozen professional and community organizations. Bernie has also served as the president of the board of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless. Bernie is a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW). He has a master's degree in social work from The University of Chicago. As we move toward reopening workspaces and gathering again, I encourage leaders to reach out for guidance about presenting their authentic self to develop an improved workplace for everyone with less conflict. I offer executive coaching and leadership training that will help you create more resilient teams and retain your best people.  Click here to contact me at your convenience or click here to Chat with Roxanne! Stay Authentic,   Roxanne Links: Bernie's websiteEmail Bernie:  bsd@perspectivesltd.comBernie's LinkedIn profile Roxanne's LinkedIn profileRoxanne's email: roxanne@roxannederhodge.com Chat with RoxanneRoxanne's previous podcasts

Quote: “Leaders are struggling with culture, how to maintain a culture and closeness and some kind of sense of intimacy that's good for business as well, remotely.” Bernie Dyme At this point in time, we're all looking for some return to “normalcy”.  As the pandemic continues, (and it doesn't seem like there is any end in sight) we continue to struggle through the challenges and are doing our best to keep moving forward.  On this episode of Authentic Living with Roxanne, we welcome EAP expert, Bernie Dyme to share his thoughts about the increase of EAP and mental health services being utilized and helping leaders design a safe and mentally healthy workspace for their teams. Bernie gave us so much great information that we are splitting this into a two-part series, so be sure to tune in again next week for Part II. Since co-founding Perspectives Ltd in 1981, President and CEO Bernie Dyme has helped developed an organization committed to delivering the highest-quality workplace resource programs. Bernie continues to create a balanced approach between cost savings and safe, healthy, and productive workforces. Authentic Touch Points: We bring our whole selves to work.  2:30 Creating a safe workspace in person or virtually.  6:30 We're utilizing EAP more now than ever!  13:00 Establishing relationships in the “new abnormal”.  17:30 Show up to create a mentally fit workplace.  20:30 Throughout his career, Bernie has used his formal clinical training and business experience to provide consulting services to hundreds of organizations. He is an active member of more than a dozen professional and community organizations. Bernie has also served as the president of the board of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless. Bernie is a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW). He has a master's degree in social work from The University of Chicago. As we move toward reopening workspaces and gathering again, I encourage leaders to reach out for guidance about presenting their authentic self to develop an improved workplace for everyone with less conflict as I offer executive coaching.   Click here to contact me at your convenience or click here to Chat with Roxanne! Stay Authentic,   Roxanne Links: Bernie's websiteBernie's LinkedIn profile Roxanne's LinkedIn profileRoxanne's email: roxanne@roxannederhodge.com Chat with RoxanneRoxanne's previous podcasts

Buffy's two exes come face to face once again! Join Jason and Harrison Thursday for lots of sexual tension flying in every direction, brutal torture scenes, and all things FAITH! It's Angel Season 1, Episode 18: Five by Five!   Twitter, IG, & FB: @boozeandbuffy Email: boozeandbuffy@gmail.com Chicago Coalition for the Homeless: www.chicagohomeless.org Art Credit: Mark David Corley  Music Credit: Grace Robertson

For most, living in a shelter or on the street is the last resort. As a result, the majority of people experiencing homelessness are “defined out” of accessing aid. In fact, the Department of Housing and Urban Development doesn’t even consider them homeless. Are we obscuring an exponentially larger looming crisis? On this bonus episode Host Jesse Betend and StreetWise Magazine Senior Editor Suzanne Hanney, host a live panel to discuss these and other issue’s behind the series.  Featuring: Dr. Molly Brown, Assistant Professor of Clinical-Community Psychology and Director of the Homelessness Advocacy, Research, and Collaboration Lab at DePaul University;  Erin Ryan. Senior Vice President of Operations at The Night Ministry, a social services organization that works with many of Chicago’s most vulnerable homeless citizens;  And Lee and Paula, who are both Streetwise Magazine Vendors who are currently experiencing homelessness.    Sources:  The Chicago Coalition for the Homeless’ Estimate of Chicago Homelessness Report --  https://www.chicagohomeless.org/new-analysis-shows-76998-chicagoans-impacted-by-homelessness/ DePaul’s HARC Lab -- https://harclab.com/publications/ The Night Ministry -- https://www.thenightministry.org/support-us?gclid=CjwKCAjwv_iEBhASEiwARoemvOuEzrez6RUNyb4BVFGKQ-JpIlmDZ1PPfbBIaYI6_LU17Q1WQHKHahoC-pQQAvD_BwE StreetWise -- https://www.streetwise.org/

Who are the homeless? Maybe it’s someone you know. Housing insecurity is real, pervasive, and traumatic. As the COVID-19 pandemic drags on, more and more people are teetering on the edge of homelessness. But what historical factors impact where traditionally segregated groups of people choose (or are forced) to reside in the first place? What policies have made it especially difficult for Black and Brown people to own property in high-resource neighborhoods? On this Chicago-centric episode of the Kinda Sorta Brown podcast, jump in with Dinah and Daisy as they navigate the evolution of housing segregation. Then, tune in for a “Homeless 101” conversation with the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless guest speakers Claudia Cabrera and Maxica Williams, the Special Projects Organizer and a passionate Speakers Bureau Advocate, respectively. Join us to find out how their fascinating heritages and unique identities as a cancer survivor, a person with a disability, Black and Latinx women, and an immigrant fuel their passion for advocacy and social work.

Joined by guest host Kensy Cooperrider (24:12), Adam and Kensy discuss if being bilingual can be beneficial when dealing with pain (03:31) and how the “OK” symbol could have become a dog whistle for white supremacy (28:16). Corrections (61:01). Enjoy!   Learn more about Kensy’s charity of choice, the “Chicago Coalition for the Homeless”. “We organize and advocate to prevent and end homelessness, because we believe housing is a human right in a just society.”   [News Story]   Does Your Pain Feel Different In English And Spanish?   Family Outraged After A Universal Character Made “OK” Symbol On 6-Year-Old’s Shoulder   [Episode Links]   Kensy Cooperrider (www.KensyCooperrider.com)   Our Website (www.WaterCoolerTalkPod.com)   Artwork (www.Kohney.com)

Today we welcome Eleni Sauvageau (@Electriceleni) and Mike Migdall (@ItsMigdallTime) into the Bundledome!Mike and Eleni, are two actors, comedians, and Twitch Streamers from Chicago who are part of the Neoscum podcast. Check it out at neoscum.com.Their cause this week is the the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless. They are the only non-profit in Illinois dedicated to advocating for public policies that curb and can ultimately end homelessness. Our organization leads strategic campaigns, community outreach, and public policy initiatives that target the lack of affordable housing in metropolitan Chicago and across Illinois. Find out more and donate on their website - chicagohomeless.orgWe’ve donated to them, if you donate and send proof to bundlebuddiespodcast@gmail.com we will shout you out on the show.This week we played.....A Wish Upon A StarSuper Bernie WorldMech Romancer About the podcast.....Welcome to bundle buddies, we are playing through the ENTIRE itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality.What is the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality? In June 2020, in response to the massive social movement following George Floyds murder, Indie gaming marketplace / community itch.io but together a game/media bundle with all proceeds going to support organizations that are working directly with those affected by racial injustice. When all was said and done the bundle included 1741 items from 840+ creators. It raised $8,153,803.03 for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and Community Bail Fund split 50/50. A truly incredible amount, and a testament to peoples desire to see justice enacted.If you are one of those people who supported this worthy cause you have likely heard of the hits included in the bundle, but there is a LOT of stuff. Some great, some insane, and some bad. it's tough to know where to start, or if a game if worth it. So we're here! Each week we randomly dip into a few of the 1365 are games from the bundle and sharing our thoughts. In the spirit of this bundle, every episode we highlight a new cause and donate. If you donate we'll give you a shout out on the show.Tune and and play along or just tune in to listen to two video game enthusiasts play some very wonderful and weird games.....and also some bad ones.Theme Song: Neoishiki by Role MusicHosted & Produced by: Eric T Roth & Alex Honnet

Von Rumps has the ideal energy to talk about Radiohead at length. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the monumental 'Kid A', Rumps sits down with host Case Lowe for a thorough breakdown of not only the record, but their friendship as well. Chicago is preparing for a brutal winter with a pandemic that still greatly targets Black communities and frigid temperatures that will harm the houseless. The Chicago Coalition for the Homeless ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfQD1QiQ9o4 ) can help. Click the link for more information and how to donate. Women's reproductive rights are once again under attack. The Center for Reproductive Rights ( https://beta.reproductiverights.org/ ) is fighting the good fight. Please aide them if you can. Host Case Lowe can be found on both Twitter ( https://twitter.com/_caselowe ) and Instagram ( https://www.instagram.com/_caselowe/ ).

In this week's episode, Matt Haas joins Julie and they chat about Halloween, road tripping, homemade pizza, and smoking a blunt with "God". Strain of the week: Pineapple Express. Charity of the week: Native American Heritage Association, Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, and Brave Space Alliance. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/budbuddies/support

Today, the Kicking the Seat Podcast and Keeping it Reel's David Fowlie enjoy a leisurely tour of Europe’s finest fine-dining establishments and quaint hotels (virtually, anyway) with a look at Michael Winterbottom’s The Trip and The Trip to Italy. The first of a two-part review of all four Trip films, this heartfelt and spoilerific conversation delves into why a series about two British actors bonding and bickering over week-long excursions resonates so deeply with a couple of middle-aged film critics.Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon are positively electric, playing fictitious versions of themselves as they confront family drama, career crossroads, and the kind of existential dread that can only be properly addressed through one-upmanship of Michael Caine impressions.Also, David talks about his journey to the 2020 Bank of America Chicago Marathon, which has gone virtual this year, and lets you know how you can help him raise money and awareness for the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless.Lastly, Ian invites you to check out his YouTube-exclusive interview with director Laura Gabbert, whose new delectable new documentary, Ottolenghi and the Cakes of Versailles, is now available On Demand, courtesy of IFC Films!Episode 588 was only fifteen years old!Show Guide:Intro Music: 0:00 - 0:14Intro: 0:14 - 4:25The Trip Trailer: 4:25 - 6:34The Trip / The Trip to Italy Discussion: 6:34- 1:02:52David’s Journey to the 2020 Virtual Chicago Marathon: 1:02:52 - 1:16:06Outro Music: 1:16:06 - 1::16:22Keep up with the latest seat-kicking goodness by following, liking, rating, and subscribing to us on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, iTunes, Stitcher!

Reset checks in with the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless and a shelter in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood to discuss remote learning barriers for some of the city’s most vulnerable children.

Andy’s guests today are three people who have been involved with forming and running coalitions to advocate on behalf of networks of hundreds of small businesses and contractors in the event industry during the pandemic. The one in Chicago is spearheaded by Michelle Durpetti, Ali Phillips, and Colin Pearson, and Jeannette Tavares formed the one in Washington DC.   Michelle Durpetti is a Chicago based wedding planner, venue owner, and restaurateur with Michelle Durpetti Events. Ali Phillips is also a Chicago event producer with Engaging Events by Ali. Jeannette Tavares is the owner of Evoke Design & Creative, an event planning and production company out of Washington, DC.   Listen as these amazing women discuss why they thought it was necessary to start these Coalitions to help small businesses and people in the event industry, what they see happening because of this pandemic, and the response they have received. Michelle, Ali, and Jeannette share what they want to happen and why they believe that the Coalitions will continue long after the pandemic has run its course.   They saw a need and have set out to bring the plight of small business owners, and people who support the event industry, to the elected officials in their cities. Could you do something like this in your area? We all have a voice and it’s time to use it. We are all experiencing more stress and other issues during this pandemic. Andy has put together a list of the top ten tips for dealing with stress, which he has compiled from interviews with icons of the wedding and event industry. If you would like a copy, go to www.theweddingbiz.com/toptips.   SUPPORTING THE WEDDING BIZ Become a patron and support Andy and the show: For as little as $6 per month, or $0.75 per episode, are you willing to support the industry insights Andy brings on his podcast? If you are so inspired: contribute.    Show Highlights: [01:34] Andy introduces each of his guests, Michelle, Ali, and Jeannette. [03:02] Andy reads the first two paragraphs of the letter that the Chicago Coalition sent to Illinois Governor Pritzker. [03:55] Michelle shares why she felt they should form the Coalition. [05:06] Ali discusses the three critical points of the letter. [07:41] Jeannette speaks about her experience with the Washington, DC Event Coalition and what they are doing for the event community. [09:34] Jeannette talks about getting information about their ecosystem together for lobbying. [11:11] Michelle and Ali share the responses they received from their letters. [13:13] Jeannette speaks about the response from the D.C. Coalition. [14:23] Listen, as Jeannette talks about what she wants to happen because of the DC Coalition. [15:54] Michelle and Ali share what their goal is with the Chicago Coalition. [17:18] What would you suggest for anyone in another city that might want to start a Coalition? [19:40] Jeannette shares some other things that she feels are important. [20:49] Ali adds that we all have a voice and how important it is to let elected officials know what we need. [21:36] Michelle shares some last words for people in the event industry. [22:49] Thank you, Michelle, Ali, and Jeannette for being on the show!   RESOURCES DC Events Coalition The Chicago Coalitions letter to the Governor    Michelle Durpetti Michelle Durpetti Events @mdurpettievents Instagram | Twitter @MichelleDurpettiEvents Facebook   Ali Phillips Engaging Events By Ali @aliphillips Instagram @EngagingEventsbyAli Facebook @aliphillips Twitter   Jeannette Tavares Evoke Design & Creative Jeannette Tavares Episode 230 on The Wedding Biz @evoke_dc Instagram @EVOKEDC Facebook @evokedc Twitter   Follow The Wedding Biz on Social:  The Wedding Biz The Wedding Biz on Instagram: @theweddingbiz The Wedding Biz on Facebook: @theweddingbiz   Support The Wedding Biz by clicking here.    Title Sponsor: This episode is sponsored by Kushner Entertainment  www.KushnerEntertainment.com   Mentioned: Alan Shukovsky Episode 268 on The Wedding Biz

Political Editor Craig Dellimore talks with Doug Schenkelberg, the head of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless and Richard Ducatenzeiler,  Director of the provider Agency Franciscan Outreach about the depth—and variety—of homelessness. They also talk about what the City is doing and what everyday people can do to help.    

What is the Builders Board, why does it exist, and how can you get involved? Tune in to hear from two Builders Board co-chairs about this impactful and inclusive organization. Listen through for a surprise interview with Beth Malik, Associate Director of the Law Project of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless. Each year, the Builder’s Board selects a local Chicago organization as its fundraising focus, and this year Chicago Coalition for the Homeless is the focus organization. Learn more about the organization, the vital work it does in the Chicagoland community, and how you can come out and support by attending this year’s fundraising event, Harvesting Hope.Click here to purchase your ticket for Harvesting Hope on October 17! About Beth Cunningham MalikElizabeth (Beth) Malik is an attorney and the Associate Director of the Law Project of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless. Prior to becoming Associate Director in 2015, she worked as the Youth Futures attorney, a role she has held since joining the CCH staff in 2007. A 2005 graduate of University of Denver Law School, she previously worked 18 months at the Rocky Mountain Children’s Law Center. She earned a bachelor’s in English and environmental studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In 2010, Ms. Malik was honored with the Kimball R. Anderson and Karen Gatsis Anderson Public Interest Law Fellowship, a significant honor awarded by the Chicago Bar Foundation. Beth continues to coordinate CCH’s Youth Futures Mobile Legal Clinic, which provides civil legal services to over 400 homeless youth throughout metro Chicago. About Lili SilvaLili Silva is a co-chair of the Builders Board for the first time this year. She served as silent auction co-chair in 2018, where she surpassed all previous years’ fundraising goals. Lili loves giving back and seeing what an impact the Builder’s Board can make towards deserving organizations in the Chicago area. Lili works as a senior project coordinator at Skender, where she has worked for two years. About Colin MaloneColin has been a member of the Builders Board for the last 3 years and co-chair for the last 2 years. He joined the Board in hopes of providing a helping hand to the organizations that the Builders Board sponsors with their Annual Harvesting Hope event. He attended the University of Colorado at Boulder and from a professional perspective he has been in Technology for 15 years and is currently a VP of Sales for Windstream, a Fortune 500 Manager Services Provider.

EPISODE 90 - DOUG SCHENKELBERG, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CHICAGO COALITION FOR THE HOMELESS by Michael Golden

Episode 9: Freshman, rookie, newbie. How can schools help students make the difficult transition to 9th grade, often leaving behind the smaller, more protected environments of middle school to navigate the larger high schools with different teachers and different classmates. In this episode, we hear from Emily Krone Phillips, author of The Make or Break Year: Solving the Dropout Crisis One 9th Grader at a Time. Phillips worked as the Communications Director for the Chicago Coalition on School Research. She currently works as the Communications Director for the Spencer Foundation. We’ll also hear from local 8th and 9th grade students who share their hopes, fears, and advice for handling this difficult transition.

Panhandling is a right to free speech and is guaranteed by the 1st Amendment to the United States and Illinois Constitutions. Diane O’Connell, a lawyer with the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless joins WGN Radio's Karen Conti to discuss the recent lawsuit against the Village of Downer’s Grove regarding their panhandling laws along with what is and is not constitutional when it comes to panhandling.

Tonight on the Karen Conti Show! The show begins with Diane O’Connell from the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless to discuss the lawsuit against the Village of Downer’s Grove regarding their panhandling laws. Then, author of Renew Your Wows, Jeffrey Sumber, talks about taking responsibility for your happiness.

The statistics are staggering.  According to Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, nearly 80,000 people in Chicago are facing food and shelter instability.  Michael Airhart exemplifies what one person can do to tackle a huge problem.  For many years, he has cooked meals in his kitchen, has gone out into the streets, under bridges and into shelters to help feed and encourage those who are in need.  What an honor it was to recently interview Michael Airhart in the Middleby Residential showroom in Chicago along with Justin Cunningham and Essence Smith of SocialWorks to discuss their collaboration with Taste for the Homeless on June 22nd.  Chef Jaime Laurita and I joined Michael along with a team from SocialWorks to spend time with some of the people in Chicago who are ministered by Michael and share with them the delicious meal that Chef Jaime made for them.

In this month's episode, Bernie interviews Doug Schenkelberg. Doug describes the integrity of his team's mission, the importance of saying "yes," empowering your team and more.

Julie Dworkin of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless says that because 3 out of 4 homeless people in the area are sleeping on the floors and couches of friends and family, they’re not counted in the city’s regular homeless census. And that leaves them out when it comes to the federal aid they desperately need. Then Tribune business reporter Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz gives us an update on a court case that could decide the fate of Chicago’s food truck scene.

Natalie Behling, Junior at Notre Dame, discusses her experience working with the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless through the Center's Summer Service Learning Program. She shares how a visual communication design major ends up organizing bands for a punk rock festival in downtown Chicago, and gains a lasting experience meeting the homeless face-to-face on her daily commute. Natalie shares her definition of the word “kin," how that term has impacted her worldview, and opened her to a friendship with a man from Chicago named Myron. She also discusses what it means to think about the ways in which design can work for social good.

The Chicago Nightlife Awards take place June 7th at Concord Music Hall. The event begins with the Red Carpet Media gala at 7:30PM. Where nominees, guests, and attendees can celebrate their fashion, style, and answer questions about their nomination. The Awards ceremony begins promptly at 9PM. The Chicago Nightlife Awards are proudly partnered with Howard Brown Health and The Chicago Coalition for the Homeless – all ticket purchases and suggested donations benefit these charities and the Chicago community.

On November 18, 2009, WRFG's (Radio Free Georgia - http://wrfg.org) Class Chronicles hosted a live interview with Anita Beaty, the Executive Director of the Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless, J.R. Fleming, an organizer with the Chicago Coalition to Protect Public Housing and the Chicago Independent Human Rights Council, and Tiffany Gardner, the Human Right to Housing Director at the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative. They discussed the human right to housing, the national housing crisis, the recent UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing's First Official Mission to the United States, and the homelessness and public housing situations in Atlanta and Chicago.

Holy guacamole fun times! This week Kathryn Born interviews Natalie van Straaten. Mark Staff Brandl talks about Jeff Hoke's kickass book-website-museum Museum of Lost Wonder. Mike Benedetto gives a DOUBLE FEATURE REVIEW. Lastly there is a special bonus treat at the end of this weekâ��s show, it is a surprise. Natalie van Straaten has been a professional writer on arts subjects for more than 30 years and founded Chicago Gallery News in 1983. A curator, educator, administrator and organizer, she serves on various arts advisory boards and is a frequent juror in art competitions. She served as Executive Director of the Chicago Coalition for Arts in Education (1983-1986), and co-directed an art gallery for fourteen years. Shamelessly and apologetically lifted from Publishers Weekly Starred Review. Every now and then, a book comes along that's almost impossible to categorize, like Hoke's beautifully illustrated gem, a strange marriage of alchemical lore and psychology, science and "wonder." Hoke, an artist and a senior exhibition designer at California's Monterey Bay Aquarium, writes that the eclectic museums and curiosity cabinets of the 1600s inspired him, and that he wants to return us to a time before "science became a belief system unto itself," a time when artist-alchemist-scientists were able to search for inner truth via mystical experiences and experiments without being ridiculed. Guided by the Greek muses and lured by his lovely color illustrations, readers are beckoned into seven "exhibition halls," named for the stages of alchemical transformation from base matter to divinely inspired knowledge. Each exhibit also includes a pull-out interactive paper model, such as a "Do-It-Yourself Model of the Universe" in chapter one, where Hoke playfully addresses various creation myths. The chapter on dream states, visions and hypnosis is particularly fascinating. This is a book to linger over; it gradually reveals itself as a sly philosophical meditation on human consciousness, bringing in concepts from Tibetan Buddhism and quantum physics. Coming soon! Rodney Graham!!!