After three community activists Steve Casey, Sheelah Muhammad and Jeff Pinzino came together it was decided that the Fresh Moves non-for-profit would address the issue of neighborhoods in Chicago not having direct access to healthy fresh foods.

Casey, Muhammad, and Pinzino have been working to deliver foods from local growers and organic distributors to people that have to travel a mile or more for fresh food. Having to travel a mile or more to the nearest fresh food distributor is considered a food desert area and a health crisis. Living in a food desert area causes huge increases in diet-related illnesses like diabetes and obesity.

Last year, Fresh Moves topped 400 other projects and won the 2011 People’s Choice award at the 10^th Annual Chicago Innovation awards.  Fresh Moves has strengthened our local economy, improved/encouraged healthy eating habits, and introduced a unique solution to ending the food dessert problems in Chicago.

In June 2012, Mayor Rahm Emmanuel and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack announced they will be allocating money to Fresh Moves to help fund the expansion of initiative to end food deserts and deliver fresh produce to necessary neighborhoods in the City of Chicago. Fresh Moves will now have two mobile produce markets (the second mobile market rolls out in September 2012)that will cater to the Lawndale and Austin neighborhoods on the west side and future neighborhoods with the addition of the second mobile market. Another interesting aspect of Fresh Moves is that SNAP benefits are accepted and there is a 50 percent discount on fresh produce for customers using LINK food stamps.

The Fresh Moves staff is not only moving people forward but also the city of Chicago.

If you are looking to donate and or get involved with the organization please visit the website at http://freshmoves.org/contact/ , follow Fresh Moves on twitter @freshmoves and like them on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/freshmoves

In four years, he wants to create 100 miles of protected bike paths — not just painted lines on the street but paths separated from car traffic by posts or other dividers. By next summer, he wants the city’s first large-scale bike-sharing program, starting with 3,000 bikes.

That is pretty impressive. Chicago could really encourage alternative forms of transportation as cars are becoming more of a problem with soaring gas prices and being home to some of the worst traffic congestions in the nation.

How does Chicago stack up with other cities? Currently Copenhagen is leading the way in cities with the best cycling infrastructure and ridership, (Copenhagen has a whopping 38% bike ridership  commute compared to Chicago’s 2%). Chicago looks to eventually top that by trying to replicate the culture of many hipster neighborhoods in Chicago such as Wicker Park and Logan Square that boasts a very solid 22% ridership. In America Portland and Minneapolis are looked to as the most bike friendly cities with Chicago not too far away. These cities already have an impressive bike lane infrastructure but soon will probably looking at Chicago’s infrastructure with envy.

Interestingly Mayor Rahm believes that having solid bike lanes and programs will help many companies that are attracted to the coasts to stay put in Chicago and boost the local creative class.

It will help us recruit the type of people that have been leaving for the coast. They will now come to the city of Chicago. The type of companies that have been leaving for the coast will stay in the city of Chicago.

When we were kids, we thought the future would rely on flying cars and teleportation. Who would have thought that bikes would be the vehicle of the future!?

The Little Free Library concept started out when Todd Bol set up a miniature schoolhouse full of books for neighbors and other Hudson, Wisconsin, visitors to read, return or replace. Built as a way to honor the memory of Bol’s mother, it quickly became apparent that these little libraries were more than just a way to exchange books. They have encouraged neighbors to make new connections face-to-face and inspired people use their building and creative talents to improve their community.

Since late 2009, the Little Free Library non-profit has operated under the watchful eyes of Bol and Rich Brooks. And the grassroots program has spread throughout the United States and overseas. Wisconsin, the home state of the Little Free Library, has the most registered little libraries, including 60 in Madison and 45 in Milwaukee. There are even little libraries as far away as Germany, the United Kingdom and Ghana. As of July 2012, the number of registered little libraries was reaching for the 3,000 mark. People are requesting registrations at an astounding pace.

Here in Chicago, there are three little libraries set up — with more hopefully on the way if Chicagood readers take action. One, located just inside the entryway of the Starbucks at 1245 West Fullerton Avenue, is overseen by Felipe Prieto and was funded through a grant by the Awesome Foundation.

“People don’t quite believe it’s free,” Prieto said. “It has been really popular with the students from DePaul [University], as well as children and adults from the neighborhood. When we tracked the books, we went through 1,000 books in just one month.”

Although the little library’s shelves were nearly bare the day Chicagood visited, Prieto says people usually keep it well-stocked. The nearby Lincoln Park Library also regularly donates books. Public libraries generally view the LFLs as a valuable tool to encourage reading, sharing and community.

Chicago resident Joan Schenk is an enthusiastic supporter of the Little Free Library movement. The founder of Library, Information, Services, Technology (LIST) Foundation, Schenk has extensive experience working with Chicago Public School libraries. She is currently evaluating potential Little Free Library locations in downtown Chicago.

“If I could, I would like have these libraries everywhere,” she said. “We have to figure out — creatively — how to make it work.”

Anyone can set up a Little Free Library. Stewards — what the organization calls those who register a library — include individual bibliophiles, Eagle Scouts, business owners, organizations, high school and college students, and many others. It only costs $25 to register a LIttle Free LIbrary; stewards receive a sign to put on their library, placement on the organization’s Google map, and more.

Schenk encourages people to set up their own Little Free Library if they can, and has some advice for those who are considering it.

“Start with yourself and what you have. Don’t procrastinate or say, ‘I can’t,’” she said. “Even if it’s just one book and you share it with your neighbors, do it.”

The Little Free Library organization offers several options for stewards who want to purchase a ready-to-install little library. Other library owners prefer to build a unique library themselves. Established little libraries include replicas of log cabins, bird houses, British phone booths and yurts. Some are created from recycled materials such as debris from Hurricane Katrina or old barns, while others repurpose items such as newspaper vending machines. The possibilities are nearly as endless and creative as the books themselves.

We would like to see more of these Little Free Libraries right here in Chicago! Groups in cities like Los Angeles and San Antonio, Texas, are already aiming for 200 and 100 Little Free Libraries, respectively. We’d like to see Chicago keep up with these cities — or even do better. If you decide to be Chicagood and set up a Little Free Library in Chicago, let us know!

It blends typical playground equipment with vertical gardening. By combining these two elements, a new type of interaction is created between children and gardening, making gardening fun and learning hands on. We also envision the Vertical Play Farm will create excitement and interest within the local community. Kids, parents and grandparents will visit the Vertical Play Farm together, to not only play but also check on the fruits, vegetables and flowers they planted.

Get on this link and vote! We would love to see this happen right here in Chicago!

CPS CEO Jean-Claude Brizard says this year’s graduation rate is projected at 60.6 percent. CPS cites increased graduation rates over the past five years. Brizard calls it “impressive,” but says more work needs to be done to make sure every CPS student graduates and is ready for college or a career.

Brizard singled out schools for individual graduation rate growth. One school was Phoenix Military Academy, where the graduation rate went from 42 percent in 2007 and 2008 to nearly 75 percent in 2010 and 2011.

There are about 405,000 CPS students who attend more than 675 schools. It’s the third-largest school system in the U.S.

Congrats Class of 2012!

To determine our top 50 bike-friendly cities for 2012, we evaluated cities with populations of 95,000 or more, using data provided by the Alliance for Biking and Walking and the League of American Bicyclists, as well as input from local advocates and bike-ped coordinators. To make the list, a city must possess both a robust cycling infrastructure and a vibrant bike culture. Read on to find out how your city stacks up. —Ian Dille

5. Chicago

Population: 2,695,598When former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel took over as mayor in 2010, he brought with him Washington’s forward-thinking former transportation director, Gabe Klein, and an ambitious agenda to reinvigorate Chicago’s bike network. The Streets for Cycling 2020 plan calls for the installation of 100 miles of separated bike lanes over the next four years, a commitment local bike advocates refer to as “staggering.”

There’s already a lot to love. A protected bike lane on Kinzie Street was installed in just six weeks; cyclists now account for 51 percent of the traffic during rush hour. Other funded projects include turning an elevated railway into a bike path and expanding the bike-share system to 5,000 bikes. During Chicago’s Bike the Drive event each May, thousands of cyclists flock to Lake Shore Drive for a car-free 30-mile ride.

The Office’s Darryl Philbin (Craig Robinson) challenges Parks and Recreation’s Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman) (both who are Chicagoans by the way) to see how far he’s willing to go for that World Series. Hilarious! How far are you willing to go for a World Series?

Walk Score recently launched a new service called Bike Score which examines how friendly biking is in the cities across America. Chicago managed to crack the top ten with the same score as NYC.

If you look at all the cities ahead of Chicago and NYC, they are all quite smaller. This gives Chicago a disadvantage from the start. Generally the downtown areas are a hot commute zone with the most bike lanes and best overall biking experiences. With these smaller cities, the downtown area is closer and easier to reach throughout the city on bike than Chicago.

What you think? Chicago got a well deserved 10th? Or should it move up higher/ lower?

http://www.walkscore.com/bike

This weekend, more than 50 woman who have lost their children rallied against Chicago’s high crime rate in honor of Mother’s Day.

The rally was punctuated with 5 deaths and over 20 others wounded over the weekend.

The women assembled Sunday say reports like these need to stop. The Mother’s Day march is an annual tradition led Rev. Michael Pfleger of St. Sabina Parish, both to protest the ongoing violence that threatens youth in the city and to provide support for mothers who have recently lost children.

“Some mothers, this is their first Mother’s Day without their child and they don’t know what to do,” Pfleger told the Chicago Sun-Times. “So I let them know that we think about them, care about them, and I don’t want the pain of this day to override them being a mother.”

Despite an initiative by the Chicago Police Department to up police resources in some of the city’s most dangerous areas, homicides in the cityincreased by 60 percent during the first three months of the year.

VIA: Huffington Post