Misericordia, Chicago’s Hidden Community Monday, Nov 15 2010

Misericordia is a community for people with special needs. Photo by Kristen Aguirre

By Catherine Durkin and Kristen Aguirre

For the past 18 years Tina Stendardo wakes up, gets ready, and heads to work, where she strives to help people with intellectual disabilities do the exact same thing.  Enhancing the lives of others with special needs is her passion, which correlates with the values of Misericordia.

Stendardo is the developmental training director at Misericordia, a not-for-profit corporation that houses individuals with developmental disabilities.  As the developmental training director, she oversees the work programming at the organization. Stendardo has worked with Misericordia for almost two decades, and says her experience has been anything short of “wonderful.”

“As corny as it sounds there is such a family feel here,” Stendardo said. “For an organization who has 1,000 employees and 600 residents and so many things coming and going, there really is a nice family feel at Misericordia.”

Tina Stendardo is the developmental training director at Misericordia. Photo by Kristen Aguirre

The Misericordia Heart of Mercy home is a community of care for more than 600 children and adults, who suffer from mild to profound developmental disabilities. The organization is located in Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood, on a sprawling 31-acre campus with a variety housing options for individuals to live as independently as possible.

“We believe that the people who live here have a life worth living,” Stendardo said. “It is about all of us supporting these residents and making sure they have the most meaningful lives and that’s how u build a community.”

But Misericordia does more than simply giving its residents a place to live; according to Stendardo, the organization maximizes their level of independence and self-determination. This is done through a variety of ways, such as job placement which Stendardo believes is the most important.

Misericordia has a core group of residents that work around the surrounding area, at retail businesses and organizations such as Jewel, Lowes, and Best Buddies. The corporation also works through enclave employment, which consists of a job coach taking residents to various work sites and completing the task under the supervision of the coach.

“What that does is it really allows the residents who are more severely disabled to have a job in the community because they work really hard but they might need supervision or verbal prompt,” Stendardo said.

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Mapping of 2009 Lincoln Park Muggings Friday, Oct 15 2010

In the summer of 2009, there were several young men who were the target of muggings in Lincoln Park.  Five of the seven muggings have been linked together, and police believe that two other muggings could be related as well.  The map below shows the location of the seven muggings as well as give a brief description of each one.

As of Sept. 1st, 2010 no arrest have been made related to the crimes.

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Click the map to move around from different pinpoints, or click view larger map.

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Alex Morales-Aponte Discusses The Resurrection Project of Pilsen Monday, Oct 4 2010

Alex Morales-Aponte speaks to a DePaul graduate journalism class about the community of Pilsen and The Resurrection Project. (Photo by Luz Garcia Cubillos)

The residents of the neighborhood Pilsen in Chicago have been struggling financially before the economic crises even hit.   Recently, The Resurrection has been helping ease the finical burden Pilsen residents have been facing.

The Pilsen neighborhood is located in the lower west side of Chicago and is the heart and soul of Chicago’s Mexican-American community.  The community has been hit hard in the last two decades with foreclosures and other economic problems.  The Resurrection Project (TRP) was formed in 1990 to help better organize Pilsen and bring it back to the thriving community it once was.

Alex Morales-Aponte is responsible for TRP’s external communications such as social media and the organization’s website as well as being a tour guide for the Discover Pilsen tour.  He explained that subprime mortgages were pushed onto the people of the Pilsen community, which they actually could not fully afford.  This led to many of the individuals and families homes being listed in foreclosure.

In return, in 2010 TRP formed the Neighborhood Stabilization Program in partnership with Proviso Township Mental Health Comission.  This program will begin the acquisition and rehabilitation of 18 foreclosed vacant and single family and two flat homes in Melrose Park and Stone Park for families to rent through the Lease-To-Own purchase.  This program is targeting families with low to moderate income who will now have an opportunity to invest in their future.

Morales-Aponte stressed that the TRP mission starts with building relationships.

“When we sell these homes,” Morales-Aponte said. “We are selling a part of the community.”

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Andrew Huff Of Gapers Block Speaks At DePaul Sunday, Sep 26 2010

Andrew Huff speaks to a DePaul University graduate journalism class about his blog Gapers Block. (Photo by Mike Reilley)

A gapers block is Chicago term, that describes traffic slow downs because drivers looking at an accident or other incident.  Based on that idea, Andrew Huff wanted to get people to slow down and take a look at what is going on around Chicago on his hyperlocal blog Gapers Block.

Huff is the editor and publisher of the site that started in 2003 now receives around 250,000 visitors per month.  The site publishes stories about news or events that are happening in the city. How do they decide on what to write on?

“If it’s interesting to you, it’s going to be interesting to someone else,” Huff said.

Recently, the site received a grant for $35,000 from the Chicago Community Trust to enhance the growth of new sources for quality local news.  The grant will allow the site to pay some writers for their submissions.  Huff said, that Gapers Block is looking primarily for stories about Chicago communities that are not receiving enough attention.

The site is also undergoing a major redesign and is considering adding a business section. The main idea behind the redesign is to shift and widen the Merge (city news) and Rearview (local photo) sections in order to showcase the writers of the blog more.

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Global Recession is Forcing More Americans to Teach English Overseas Thursday, Jun 3 2010

Late in the afternoon John Bacon’s students begin to get aggravated with their English teacher. But their teacher is quick to remind them that if they have a bad attitude it’s not going to be a fun class.

“Most of the days are good,” Bacon said. “The kids can be frustrating sometimes but I’m frustrating to them and we try to work around that,” he said.

The children leave at 6pm and Bacon heads home to drop off some belongings. His love for Korean food has caused him to cook less in his new home country so he opts for his favorite restaurant. While it might remind him of a good old-fashioned U.S. diner, the menu is quite different and less expensive.

“Dinners are incredibly cheap and you get a lot of food. Ill get a bowl of bibimbap, which means mixed rice with vegetables and spicy sauce, and then they’ll bring up some miso soup and some side dishes with that, for about 4,000 won which is only $3.80,” Bacon said. “So I eat out… a lot.”

Bacon seems to live the life of a young average American, and yet he is living abroad in Korea teaching young children English.

“Originally the very first reason [I left for Korea] was that I was having a lot of difficulty finding employment fresh out of college,” Bacon said.

Like many graduates, Bacon was faced with rising unemployment rates which left him jobless and forced him to find other sources of income. That search ultimately led him to teach English as a second language overseas.

“At first I was intimidated about teaching ESL but the more I read on it the more interested I got and the offer sold me,” Bacon said.

And more recent graduates are going the same route. The opportunity to live abroad, study a new culture, and most importantly make money is attracting more recent grads. The Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) Institute is a school that helps young adults to get certified to teach and find a job abroad.

Established just five years ago, the TEFL Institute vows to take English worldwide. The program certifies adults to teach English abroad in foreign countries.  Through online and on campus classes, the institute certifies 1500 students yearly and has over 25 locations all over the world, with their Chicago location as its headquarters.

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NOLA Thursday, May 6 2010

NOLA preforming.

Phil Earhart is currently finishing up his last semester student teaching at Thorton High School in Harvey, Illinois. The 22-year-old aspires to teach high school students when he graduates, with his degree in history education. But Earhart’s students may be surprised to learn that he plays guitar and piano, as well as being the lead singer in the local band NOLA.

NOLA was formed about eight years ago, when Earhart was in high school in his hometown of Orland Park, Illinois. He was good friends with current band members Ben De Biasio and Mike O’Meara, who were in a funk band called “The Super Champions.” De Biasio explained that their band needed a front man and Earhart needed a band, which is how NOLA was born.

When asked what genre of music NOLA falls under, Earhart explained that the band has been trying to develop a specific sound for years.

“As our taste in music changes, our music changes, and that is the equation for how we sound today,” Earhart stated. “We try not to ‘sound’ too much like any other bands, although I’m sure we do sometimes. I’d like to hear what our fans think our sound is, because that is all that really matters.”
The band is currently comprised of three other members besides Earhart: Ben De Biasio, Mike O’Meara and Sean Kimzey. NOLA competed in the Battle of The Bands and won five consecutive events in high school, through which the band gained notoriety.

But there have been obstacles the band has had to overcome throughout the years. The main hurdle that NOLA has had to deal with, was band members attending different colleges all over the state. The band was accustomed to practicing whenever and wherever, as they all lived in the same town; but due to the distance practice became limited.

Phil Earhart and Ben De Biasio singing.

The members of NOLA did not let the distance hinder their livelihood. Instead, they looked at the separation as a time to write and grow as individuals.

“We wrote a lot of music using the Internet, sending each other ideas via sound recordings,” Earhart explained. “We were writing songs 200 miles apart and it was pretty cool. I was writing lyrics and playing piano and guitar parts over a song, that was written in Chicago and sent to my computer.”
Each summer, the band looked forward to being in the same hometown to write and play their music. Earhart said it is always a special feeling for the members of NOLA to be back in Orland Park and getting back into the grove.

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CME Group Feature Story Thursday, May 6 2010

Neil Lustyk sits at his desk at the CME Group's Globex Control Center in downtown Chicago. Lustyk is the Associate Director at the control center during the third shift from 3:00 A.M to 11:00 P.M. (Photo by Catherine Durkin)

While most individuals are sound asleep, Neil Lustyk is on his way to work at 2:30 a.m.  Lustyk currently works the night shift as the Associate Director of the Globex Control Center at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange located at 20 South Wacker Drive.

For the past eight years, Lustyk has been working the third shift in the CME control center from 3 a.m. to 11 a.m.  During the third shift, Lustyk manages the control center and oversees the other night staffers during what as known as the European shift.

Prior to working at the CME Group, Lustyk worked at a similar analyst job at the Chicago Board of Trade.  Lustyk applied for the third shift at the CME group after noticing that it paid well.

Lustyk had very little college experience prior to working in the financial sector.  He originally started as a broker on the trading floor at the Chicago Board of Trade where he began to learn hands on about the trading world.

“My education in this business is really based on my experience on the floor,” he said.  “I started there when I was 19 years old and I will be 50 soon; meaning I have been in the business for almost half my life.”

Lustyk acknowledged that in current times, people who are job hunting in the business world without a college degree are fighting an uphill battle and he considers himself lucky to have his current job.

Before becoming associate director of the Globex Control Center, Lustyk was an analyst at the CME Group.  As an analyst he would take phone calls from customers all over the world, who were having problems with trading applications or had questions in general.

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