Chicagood is an online magazine launched by The Chi-Town Project. It is a magazine for social conscious Chicagoans that focuses on social awareness issues and those who step up to make Chicago a better place for tomorrow. We also like to have fun and celebrate what it means to be Chicagoan and what is good in our city. Be Chicagood.
We love saying that we live in the greatest city in the world. The beautiful skylines, innovative monuments and strong-willed spirits that dwell within the city gives us more reason to boast about Chicago’s greatness. However, as we progress into a rapidly changing future, many of our great city’s downfalls become glaringly obvious as we strive to become a world class city. Poverty, corruption, education and gang violence are only few of the many social awareness issues that have surfaced within Chicago’s inner walls.
That’s where The Chi-Town Project steps in. We serve as a platform of fresh ideas, as a series of projects with the ability to ignite passion, discussion and action among Chicagoans for the greater good. Together we can strive for one ultimate goal: guiding Chicago to a better tomorrow. As a curation of social goodness, we celebrate not only the city’s identity but also the achievements that define what makes Chicagood.
Join us as we inspIre. dreAM. aCHIeve.
The City of Chicago and Cook County has joined resources together to find summer jobs for Chicago youth.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle announced One Summer Chicago on Friday. It’s a partnership between government and community groups and will provide 17,000 summer jobs and 168,000 educational and recreational opportunities.
Walgreens, the nation’s largest drug store chain headquarted in Deerfield, IL is piloting a program to hire cognitively and physically disabled employees in its retail stores across the country.
The votes are in for the White House’s Campus Champions of Change Challenge, a competition for college students addressing social awareness issues, like homelessness, hunger, sustainability concerns, and more.
Voters had until March 3 to choose from 15 final candidates. The top five vote recipients, who will attend a White House event and host an episode of mtvU’s signature program Dean’s List. One of the 5 winners a University of Chicago project, Moneythink.
Breaking News. The White House has just announcement that Chicago will no longer hold the G8 summit. Instead it will be relocated to Camp David. Chicago will still be the host for the NATO summit on May 20-21.
The Chicago Police Department got some serious upgrades to their aging fleet of Police Pursuit Vehicles. Ford announced the sale of 500 new Police Interceptors to the CPD that will eventually replace the old Crown Victoria. With a 25% boost in fuel economy and a slick V6 engine that performs as well or better than a V8, these SUV/ sedan combo pack a serious punch. A fleet-wide 20 percent fuel economy gain would stand to save the department at least $20 million a year with fuel prices hovering near $4 a gallon.
Best of all, the new Ford Police Interceptors are made locally, creating 230 jobs at the Torrence Avenue plant.
You’ve probably heard of Cash Mob happening in cities around the world by now. We’re pleased to report that a Cash Mob movement has been running locally helping struggling Chicago businesses stay afloat.
If you haven’t heard of Cash Mob, it’s a lot like Flash Mob, but instead of random people coming together at a certain time and place to break into a dance, they break open their piggy banks and wallets and spend at least $20 at a family owned struggling small business. Call it a reverse Groupon if you will.
It is quite a sight to see when the store is having a typical slow day, and suddenly people start pouring through the doors, waiting in line and buying up useful items. That’s what happened at Andersonville Galleria last month.
March 24th is National Cash Mob day, so expect a big event. Tune in and see where the Cash Mob Chicago will hit on that day.
Follow the movement and help local shops along the way.
Cash Mob Chicago
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The Northeastern University Center for Labor Market Studies released some startling numbers. Taking a look at the five industrial Midwestern states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin shows that the number of Illinois workers who have been unemployed for more than six months is pushing record highs. In 2012 42% of unemployed Illinois workers had been out of work for more than 6 months! And a third of those have been jobless for over a year. The average duration of unemployment of 40 weeks has been consistent.
Chicago has an ambitious plan to create the largest urban parks project in the lower 48 states. At a whopping 140,000-acres, the area south of Chicago that is now recovering from the economic and environmental fallouts of the industrial facilities that once flourished in the region, will be transformed to become a gigantic urban park system. It won’t quite be a single continuous park but rather a network of open spaces within the Calumet area.
Chicago is amazing and demonstrates how innovative a project can go to help several social awareness issues at once.
Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport is returning back to its roots. Before it became home to the world’s busiest airport, it was once an apple orchard farm. Hence the airport’s abbreviation: ORD. And now, it will be even more busier as it will have to share airspace with another flying friend…. 1.5 million of them that is.
