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February, 2013
"The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want.”The Bible’s entire 23rd Psalm is written in marker, framed on the yellowed stucco wall, next to the red flyswatter hanging from a nail. Cans of food line the shelf in the tiny coat closet, a makeshift pantry.The psalm is a reminder to keep going when times get tough, said Curtis Horton, 48. He and his partner, Henrietta Riley, 54, are residents of the...
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January, 2012
At the end of every month, Chalonda McIntosh pays her bills. First, rent, then her car loan, then child care for her son. “Then, if I have enough left over, I put food in the house,” she said.But most months, she doesn’t get there. She often can’t pay child care on time and racks up late fees. McIntosh said she’s lucky to have a spot for her son at St. Vincent DePaul’s child care center on North...
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November, 2011
Dolores Mederos likes numbers. A former accountant in Mexico, she keeps a detailed monthly budget for her household in a computer database. But one thing about the U.S. financial system puzzled her: credit.“My entire life, I’ve bought things in cash,” she said. “When I moved here, I noticed that everyone has to have credit.”Credit scores can go as high as 850, but a good score is considered...
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November, 2011
The news: As unemployment rises, politicians from all levels of government are trying to create incentives for small-business owners.Behind the news: Chicago’s effort to help small businesses improve may be helping established businesses in prosperous areas, rather than struggling entrepreneurs.
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July, 2011
Dando la mano a oficiales de Illinois Lottery, Bob Dale se sentía como un ganador. No, él no había ganado el premio mayor ni una de las tarjetas para raspar. Pero su negocio, R.J. Dale Advertising acababa de sellar un contrato de $100 millones con Illinois Department of Revenue, uno de los contratos más grandes concedido a un negocio con dueño negro en Illinois. Pero al repasar su gran...
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July, 2011
The phrase, “business owned by a person with a disability,” may bring to mind a particular image—a small business whose owner is disabled. That describes Raymond Rodgers, who runs Deaf Communication by Innovation, a company that provides sign language interpreting, captioning and sign language instruction.Rodgers, a former social worker, had a friend tell him he’d make a great businessman. But...
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July, 2011
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July, 2011
Shaking hands with officials from the Illinois Lottery, Bob Dale felt like a winner. No, he didn’t win the jackpot or even one of those scratch-off cards. But his business, R.J. Dale Advertising, had just sealed a $100 million contract with the Illinois Department of Revenue, one of the largest contracts awarded to a black-owned business in Illinois.But looking back on his big win now, Dale doesn...
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May, 2011
Freeman Hess sits at the dining room table in his brick bungalow in Roseland on Chicago’s South Side. At 78, his gray hair is thin and fuzzy, like the coating of a peach, but his arms are muscular. He hasn’t lost the physical strength he acquired from operating a forklift for Cook County for 43 years. But in all his years of work, starting off picking cotton in Brownsville, Tenn., and coming to...
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