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January, 2012
One morning in November, D’Whitney Harris, a freshman at Michele Clark Academic Preparatory High School, posed a question in front of an audience of educators, students, reporters and city officials: “How much would you have to save a day from age 18 to become a millionaire by 65?”Jazanay Taylor, her classmate, didn’t miss a beat. “$7.50 per day, assuming 7 percent interest,” she said. “Were you...
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November, 2011
In his formative years, nothing excited Arthur Robertson more than marching. Tightly coordinated dance moves, flags twirling wide circles in the air, and the hundred spin tosses of wooden rifles and sabers drew him into precision drilling at age 12.Robertson went on to become a teacher and student dean at Paul Revere Elementary in the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood, but his marching...
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September, 2011
Images of a bloody government crackdown and audio of Syrian-accented cries for help filled M. Yaser Tabbara’s law office in suburban Chicago.This was the turning point for Tabbara, a Chicago native who spent his formative years in Damascus, Syria. Despite the expected consequences of speaking out against the Syrian government, he chose to write an op-ed piece in Al-Jazeera English backing the...
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June, 2011
In April 2010, lawmakers in Springfield were making headlines with a suggestion that the National Guard be brought in to address rising violence in Chicago. Claudette Redic recalls sitting at home feeling helpless. Then came a call for women to gather in a show of solidarity.Phillip Jackson, executive director of the Black Star Project, a Chicago-based education reform group, was appealing to...
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April, 2011
In 1976, Juilliard-trained pianist Rita Simó hung a sign outside a grungy old Uptown beauty salon, offering free food and beer to anyone willing to help her clean it up. Six hours and 18 volunteers later, all the caked-on hairspray and grime had been scrubbed away, making room for free music education: the People’s Music School.Simó, the founder, is quick to point out that this institution is not...
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March, 2011
Ahlam Mahmood has long been compelled to help her fellow Iraqis.
Her first stab at humanitarian aid work came shortly after the war began in her homeland in 2003. But her effort came to a screeching halt in 2005, when she and her family had to flee the country to escape the violence.
Her family eventually resettled in Damascus, Syria. There, Mahmood resumed her social work–"this time...
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January, 2011
For British Digby, June 1, 2003, holds great significance: A joyous day of her college graduation, capped by the presence of her mother and younger brother–"both out of prison, watching her walk across the stage to receive her diploma.
The day also served as the inspiration later for Digby to create Just Released, a magazine specifically written for inmates, ex-offenders and their families...
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December, 2010
It's a Thursday afternoon in September, and a tall woman with elbow-length blond hair is pacing outside the foreclosure courtrooms on the 13th floor of the Daley Center. Her platinum hair and assertive gait strike a sharp contrast to the rest of the crowd milling about–"harried-looking lawyers in conservative suits and visibly tense tenants fighting foreclosure.
Holly Krig is taking the...
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September, 2010
Asad Jafri says he often hears, "I used to hate Muslims, just because I didn't know them."
That's what some people tell Jafri after coming face to face with works created by artists of the Inner-City Muslim Action Network, a nonprofit based in Marquette Park on Chicago's Southwest Side.
As the director of arts and culture, Jafri coordinates the organization's cultural activities that...
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