NCP honors 28 "Community Heroes
As a child, Betty Swanson rode the bus with her mother through the Auburn Gresham
neighborhood, with its classic Chicago-style bungalows and Victorian-era homes,
and thought it was a beautiful place. As an adult, Swanson has lived in the
area since 1964 and seen it go through good times and bad.
“No matter which way it falls, I still love the neighborhood,” she said.
Her love has translated into 15 years of leadership. She has served
as a block club president, facilitator for the community policing program, board
president for Auburn-Gresham Neighborhood Housing Services and board member
for the Greater Auburn-Gresham Development Corp.
Photo: Richard Muhammad
Deanna Woods, left, was selected as one of Englewood's Community Heroes.
She is shown with a poster of her late niece Seritha White.
Swanson has “exemplified and gone far beyond any means and measure to be a
Community Hero in the Auburn Gresham area,” said Ernie Sanders, New Communities
Program organizer for the Greater Auburn-Gresham Development Corp.
Swanson and 27 other neighborhood leaders have been chosen
as Community Heroes and will be recognized for their efforts Nov. 30 during
the New Communities Program Leadership Assembly at the Palmer House Hilton Hotel.
(
Download the Heroes booklet here in Adobe PDF
format [large 4.1 MB file] or visit the neighborhood pages to see heroes
from each area.)
NCP lead agencies and their partners chose these "ordinary" people for their
extraordinary commitment to improving neighborhoods that are part of the NCP
planning process.
Assembly organizers call the Community Heroes “individuals who offer their
passion, strength and talent to improve their neighborhoods, benefiting people
who may never know them by name, but who will reap the rewards of their work.”
A “Community Investment Portfolio” will also be unveiled at the NCP Neighborhood Assembly. It
consists of 14 projects that are being pursued in NCP neighborhoods and that need
additional investment to move forward.
‘In the trenches'
“Any time someone calls me and asks me to help in any way, if I possibly can,
I do. I’m not too quick to say ‘no,’ if it means working with the community,”
said Swanson.
Swanson is looking forward to the Neighborhood Assembly and is obviously a
strong believer in community organizing and neighborhood activism.
“If you love the area you are living in, only you and the people around you
can bring it back to where you want it to be,” she said.
Joy Aruguete, executive director of Bickerdike Redevelopment Corp., had a
hard time choosing the Community Heroes for Humboldt Park. The eventual honorees
were Miguel Morales, of Community Organizing for Obesity Prevention in Humboldt
Park , and Ofelia Navarro, of the Spanish Coalition for Housing.
“We don’t recognize our local leaders near enough, especially the ones who
are less inclined to put themselves out there for recognition. They are the
quiet leaders in the trenches working every day,” said Aruguete.
“A lot of times community plans don’t go anywhere because you don’t have the
resources, or people, or opportunities, and I think one of the things the whole
New Communities Program has brought together is a venue to plan, to bring people
to the table, and at least some of the resources to get that plan moving,”
Aruguete observed.
“But even with all those things, you still need to have your folks, right?
Being able to highlight the contributions that people have made is important,”
she said.
Highlighting the good
“It’s so good to see something positive, something highlighted in our
community that is going to help us go forward,” said Carmelita Frias, chosen as
a Community Hero for Pilsen by The Resurrection Project.
Frias went from volunteering for a local foundation to starting her own
organization to benefit children in her neighborhood. The mother of four and
creator of Carmelita’s Kids uses athletic events and other outings to expand the
experiences of Pilsen youth.
“In this community, it’s typical for children not to leave a three- to
four-block radius,” said Frias. But Chicago has many opportunities for free or
reduced priced activities, she said.
Frias has taken children by the hundred to White Sox, Cubs and Chicago Bulls
games, visited museums and given away thousands of books. She believes
positive experiences will help youth make better choices and strive to live
fuller lives.
The Community Hero award, she added, is another way to highlight good things
about neighborhoods.
“I feel like Pilsen is such a hidden treasure. I mean I love my community, I
love the kids, I love the people here. You always hear about the negative things
when there are just so many great and wonderful things,” she said.
“When you’re active where you live, you know what’s going on. You are aware
of what’s going on, you’re aware of what might go on in the future,” said Murray
T. Johnson, Sr., one of two Community Heroes for the Washington Park
neighborhood.
Johnson, president of the Washington Park Neighborhood Association, has lived
in the area for 56 years. He has been a block club president and actively
engaged in the NCP process through St. Edmund’s Redevelopment Corporation, the
lead agency for the community.
Johnson sees his activism as “something that any ordinary man would do for
his community. Basically that’s walk, get to know the people, try to get them
organized, let them know what’s going on.”
With signs of positive changes, following a decline and loss of over
40,000 people in the last 10 to15 years, Johnson argues that long-term stakeholders
in communities have little choice than to get involved.
“We’re only eight miles from downtown. Instead of people working and going
way out to the suburbs, two or three hours, in the traffic, they can get a bike
and ride to work. They can run to work,” he said.
“It’s very important that you know what’s going on and be involved in it, if
you are going to survive over here in Washington Park,” Johnson said.
‘Reliability, consistency and concern’
Englewood residents and work group members defined a Community Hero “as a
person who is a resource for the community, a person who other individuals at
the local level can go to and find out information, or rely upon for volunteer
assistance with community activities.
“It’s that character of reliability, and consistency, and concern over others
that really distinguishes them from other residents in the community,” said
Johnnie Muhammad, Teamwork Englewood outreach and project coordinator.
Englewood chose Henry Wilson and Deanna Woods as Community Heroes, who are
“very different in their outward display of heroism,” said Muhammad.
Henry Wilson has been retired almost 20 years, but has never retired
from giving back, and is seen as the “Godfather of Community Redevelopment,”
since Englewood’s decline in the early 1970s, Muhammad said.
Woods has been a good resource for youth and struggling families,
particularly women trying to raise children in West Englewood in a very
dangerous environment, he added.
For Woods, whose niece Seritha White was killed by a stray bullet in March,
the recognition is bittersweet. Since the death, Woods has expanded her
activism, including work with Teamwork Englewood and other organizations.
“I’m trying to help people, like I would have wanted some help. I really
didn’t get noticed until tragedy happened to me, and really it was too late. I
would like to get to people before it’s too late,” she said.
Learn more about the Heroes from each neighborhood:
Auburn-Gresham,
Chicago
Lawn,
Douglas,
Grand Blvd. and North Kenwood-Oakland,
East
Garfield,
Englewood,
Humboldt
Park,
Little
Village,
Logan
Square,
North
Lawndale,
Pilsen,
South
Chicago,
Washington
Park,
West
Haven,
Woodlawn.
Click here to read City Council resolution on Community
Heroes
Photo: Richard Muhammad
Henry P. Wilson, far left, has a long history of work in the
Englewood neighborhood. He was chosen as a Community Hero.
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