A pilot program in 18 libraries across nine counties trains staff to help residents navigate civil court proceedings, offering a lifeline in communities where legal aid and public transit are scarce.
Investigating Responses
Posted inInvestigating Responses
Illinois Is Turning to Local Jails to Treat Mentally Ill Defendants. Some Early Results Offer Hope — and Warnings
It’s not often that Menard County Jail has a detainee who has been found unfit for trial. The jail, just north of Springfield, is small. With a census that can […]
Posted inInvestigating Responses
These Counties Spend Transit Tax Money on Ride Services. They’re Lifelines for Thousands of Residents
Fledgling dial-a-ride networks are filling gaps in public transit in the collar counties, but they struggle to meet demand.
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Wasted Waters: How Southern Illinois is Coping with Decades of Sewage Flooding… and Why it Still Isn’t Solved.
Five dozen communities in Southern Illinois account for a third of the reported sanitary sewer overflows in the state in the last decade. But with low revenues, population declines, and bureaucratic delays, solutions are hard to come by. Meanwhile, residents face property damage flooded yards and basements and governments that still haven’t fixed the problem.
Posted inInvestigating Responses
Explainer: What is a sanitary sewer overflow?
Sanitary sewer overflows, SSOs, are a release of untreated or partially treated waste from a city sewer. Sanitary sewer overflows are illegal. But when normal systems become overloaded through heavy rain or a larger load from an increasing population, SSOs occur.
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When Seniors Face Expensive Home Repairs, the Solutions Can be a Lifeline…Or Leave Their Families an Inheritance of Debt
Wealth and property passed down from parents to their children can be a major financial boost. But as some aging parents struggle financially, they can become prey to mortgage scams or even the complicated lifeline of reverse mortgages, where homeowners trade equity in their homes for cash but won’t be able to leave their property to their family. Home repair is at the root of the ability of senior Chicagoans to stay in their homes as they age. Local organizations are trying to provide relief without depriving seniors of the ability to pass their homes down to the next generation.
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Jobs. Block Clubs. Investment: How Chicagoans are Interrupting Violence at its Roots
The causes and solutions to gun violence are difficult to quantify—or control. One thing is clear: gun violence is highest in Chicago’s poorest neighborhoods.
Organizers in the hardest-hit communities like Garfield Park say tackling poverty is the only way to create lasting change.
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Cook County Tried to Rid People of Medical Debt, but, for Many, Help Comes Too Late
Since 2022, Cook County has spent more than $4 million to forgive nearly $500 million worth of medical debt for some 278,000 residents, becoming a pioneer among local governments and garnering waves of positive publicity for their efforts.
But an analysis of Cook County’s debt relief accounts show that many people like Ciaccio saddled with debt should have qualified for free care, a sign that local hospitals are failing to screen for some of the region’s poorest patients even as some use aggressive tactics to collect debt.
Posted inEquity & Economic Opportunity
‘Most Drivers Aren’t Making Money:’ App-Based Gig Work Promised Freedom and Flexibility. Workers Feel Exploited and Unsafe.
As the app-based informal economy grows, its many low-wage workers are demanding the same protections and benefits that many other full and part time workers have – to limited success in Chicago.
Posted inInvestigating Responses
‘Granny flats’ are illegal to build in most of Chicago —and political gridlock is keeping it that way.
A three-year pilot program that legalized accessory dwelling units or “granny flats” in some areas of the city opened up more housing options in neighborhoods where cheap apartments have become increasingly rare. But the burst of construction seen so far is a pittance compared to the more than 100,000 affordable units experts say it would take to satisfy demand.
