1 week Ago By Chicago Tribune
In order to raise awareness of youth homelessness and bring attention to its causes and solutions, the U.S. Senate passed its first resolution recognizing November as National Homeless Youth Awareness Month in 2007.
While recent media scrutiny has brought long overdue attention to the inadequate support system for people facing homelessness in Chicago, the unique risks that young adults face in this space are still largely unaddressed. Approximately 12,000 young people are homeless on any given night in our city, and they are not just looking for a place to stay as they flee abuse, struggle with mental health challenges, face rejection due to gender expression and age out of the foster care system. The risks to this segment of the unhoused community are elevated due to age-related mental health, inadequate education and human trafficking — and these hazards are far more likely to ensnare LGBTQ+ youths and former foster youths as they transition to adulthood.
Despite these challenges, this neglected group also embodies hope and change and the brightest of futures. Community investments in foundational supports such as access to affordable and stable youth housing, education, and mental health services ensure young adults can overcome these obstacles, break the cycle of poverty and simply be well. When we fail youths in this first crucial phase of their maturity, we risk throwing away incredible potential and creating a lifetime of problems for our community and support systems.
With a comprehensive slate of wraparound services, and a newly renovated and expanded campus on Chicago’s West Side, Covenant House Illinois is fighting this uphill battle alongside other dedicated nonprofits, community activists and civic leaders. By providing more housing and meals, as well as education, counseling and job training, our collective efforts can create sustainable pathways toward self-sufficiency. The purpose of National Homeless Youth Awareness Month is to bring visibility to what is largely an invisible population.
When we fail to even perceive a problem, we cannot accept responsibility for it and create viable solutions. At this very moment, young people on the cusp of adulthood everywhere in our city are experiencing the devastation of homelessness. They desperately need our recognition and our support.
We are calling on all Chicagoans to respond to this crisis by supporting the agencies, community groups and advocacy organizations working diligently to help this vulnerable population — through movements such as this month’s Sleep Out Chicago on Nov. 21 . Its success not only assures that our at-promise youths are visible but also funds concrete resources and tools to help them realize the futures they so richly deserve.
There are many ways to help, but it is essential that Chicagoans step up and give, volunteer, and advocate to make change possible for our most vulnerable residents. Let’s work together to lift up our local youths, constructing a narrative of hope for our community. — U.
S. Rep. Danny Davis, 7th District; state Rep.
Lindsey LaPointe, 19th District; Ald. Walter Burnett, 27th Ward; and Susan Reyna-Guerrero, LCSW, CEO, Covenant House Illinois Chicago police Officer Casper Lauer, Officer John Quinn, Sgt. Patrick Delaney, 1st Deputy Superintendent James Riordan, Officer Andres Vasquez Lasso, Officer Ella French, Officer Samuel Jimenez, Officer Luis Huesca, Officer Areanah Preston and now Officer Enrique Martinez.
This is just a small sample of the hundreds of Chicago police officers who have been murdered in the line of duty. Enough is enough! Society, through its elected officials, must do everything possible to protect police officers and first responders. It’s time to restore the death penalty for the murder of any first responder.
The death penalty has a deterrent effect to committing serious crime. I am aware of all the arguments for and against the death penalty. Illinois eliminated it based on several problems.
Since, then, the criminal justice system has become more sophisticated. We know we cannot rely solely on eyewitness testimony to convict anyone of a serious crime. We have DNA and high-definition surveillance cameras to introduce irrefutable evidence.
There are those who would argue that a civilized society does not execute criminals. You can turn that around and argue that a civilized society must do everything possible to protect those who protect it. I know that many liberal politicians are opposed to the death penalty.
I would argue they do not fully support the police and other first responders. Enough is enough. Back the blue because they back you.
— Michael C. Flynn, retired Chicago police officer, Chicago Will the public ever understand? The line-of-duty killing of Officer Enrique Martinez is a tragic lesson in why it is crucial for individuals stopped by law enforcement to obey the officer’s orders . A Nov.
7 article reports: “A video of the shooting, recorded by a neighbor and posted to social media, captured the burst of gunfire after officers repeatedly warned the vehicle’s occupants to ‘stop reaching.'” What many do not understand is that the reaction time to someone’s action is a losing proposition, as sadly revealed in the killing of Martinez. Imagine if the passenger of the vehicle had reached into the back and pulled out a cellphone, as opposed to a gun, and Martinez had fired fearing the passenger was reaching for a weapon.
There would have been cries for Martinez to be fired and charged. The fact that many in the public think it is perfectly acceptable to ignore law enforcement commands makes a law enforcement officer’s job incredibly difficult and dangerous. We’ll never truly know, but I strongly suspect it was Martinez’s hesitation, even though the passenger was ignoring police commands, that put Martinez at a fatal disadvantage.
— Patrick Murphy, Naperville My top issue during the 2024 election was climate change. For decades, it has been clear to scientists, experts and even fossil fuel companies that our climate is changing due to human-made carbon emissions. Climate change is not something that will affect us at some point in the future.
It is happening now. Hurricanes Helene and Milton, recent flooding in Spain and the wildfires that routinely shroud the nation in smoke have been caused or exacerbated by climate change. Climate change affects human health too.
Wildfire smoke causes respiratory distress, climate-warming emissions from cars reduce air quality and cause smog, and extreme heat events silently kill vulnerable people in their homes. With that in mind, it is devastating to see America elect a climate change denier to the White House. But we must fight on.
I am 29 years old; I must fight for my future and for those who come after me. I am calling on Chicago and Illinois to take the reins of leadership on climate and clean energy. Illinois needs to do everything we can to help usher in a clean economy that will protect the planet and public health.
We need to make it easier to permit and site renewable energy. We need to invest in public transit to reduce our dependence on cars. We need to build more housing in dense, walkable communities and prioritize transit-oriented development; we need to stop subsidizing car-dependent sprawl.
Not only will these actions help Illinois and Chicago become climate leaders, but also, they will create better, healthier communities that can grow, which has electoral benefits as well. We also need to communicate these successes. Present Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act has revitalized American manufacturing by jump-starting the clean technology economy.
Almost two-thirds of these new facilities, jobs and benefits have been in red states or districts. And yet those material gains in these communities meant nothing in this election because Democrats did not showcase them. If Illinois embraces climate action and the clean economy, we need to highlight our successes and show the people and the country what good, progressive governance looks like.
The 2024 election was certainly a setback, but it is not the end of climate action. Our leaders and our communities must step up and show what is possible. Climate change will affect all of us, if it hasn’t already: I invite everyone to join in this journey.
— Eric Knapke, Chicago Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email [email protected] ..
