S1 Ep3: Mattress Full Of Cash

It's knives out in Chicago, as election season draws near.. and there will be mud. 

On March 19th 2024, Chicagoans will see the end of a story multiple years in the making. Voters must decide if the city should create a dedicated source of funds to fight homelessness, but a million dollar astroturfing campaign from the real estate lobby is committed to preventing its passage. Once again. 

Meanwhile Streetwise Editor Suzanne Hanney and Reporter A. Allen interview activist and former Alderperson, Helen Shiller whose legacy left an indelible mark on Chicago's Northside and discover that weaponizing the plight of the homeless is far from new.  

Special thanks to Musician Andrew Bird who donated music from his Chicago-inspired, 2013 EP “I Want To See Pulaski At Night” and Block Club Chicago Reporter Joe Ward who broke many of the stories in this episode, also Chicago Alderpersons Maria Hadden & Helen Shiller, Nicole Bahena, Erin Ryan, Tom “The Mayor of Uptown” Gordon, and the many encampment residents we interviewed for this story.

CREDITS:

Reported by - Jesse Betend, Suzanne Hanney, A. Allen, Kianna Drummond, and Keith Hardiman

Produced by - Jesse Betend

with help from  - Jennifer O'Neill

Music by -  Andrew Bird, Jeremy Blake, AETHER, John Patitucci, and Freedom Trail Studios

Editing by - Suzanne Hanney, Sheila Solomon, Amanda Jones, Julie Youngquist, Terri Lydon, and Cindy Paulauskas

About StreetWise magazine

StreetWise has been part of the fabric of Chicago for 31 years, covering everything Chicago from its people to its social issues, politics, nonprofits, arts, culture, and neighborhoods.

Over the past 31 years more than 14,000 StreetWise vendors have found dignity on street corners in many neighborhoods across the city as they are empowered to earn an income with a hand up and not a handout.

About Rivet360

Rivet360 is a business to business podcast agency. It was founded in Chicago in 2013 with a simple mission: Tell the world’s stories, making them engaging and fun. An obsession with elegant solutions and devotion to editorial integrity have been part of the company from day one—along with a flexible, can-do attitude that customers love.

Tensions flare over the homeless camp in Touhy Park after the Park District decides to shut everything down. The appearance of mysterious flyers claiming the tent city will be relocated to a fancy hotel causes rampant confusion and amps up emotions on all sides. With the election looming, what paths remain for the local alderwoman to get everyone housed before a potentially lethal winter?

Special thanks to Musician Andrew Bird who donated music from his Chicago-inspired, 2013 EP “I Want To See Pulaski At Night” and Block Club Chicago Reporter Joe Ward who broke many of the stories in this episode, also 49th Ward Alderperson Maria Hadden, Nicole Bahena, Erin Ryan, Tom “The Mayor of Uptown” Gordon, and the many encampment residents we interviewed for this story. 

CREDITS:

Reported by - Jesse Betend, Suzanne Hanney, A. Allen, Kianna Drummond, and Keith Hardiman

Produced by - Jesse Betend 

with help from  - Jennifer O'Neill

Music by -  Andrew Bird, Jeremy Blake, AETHER, John Patitucci, and Freedom Trail Studios

Editing by - Suzanne Hanney, Sheila Solomon, Amanda Jones, Julie Youngquist, Terri Lydon, and Cindy Paulauskas

About StreetWise magazine

StreetWise has been part of the fabric of Chicago for 31 years, covering everything Chicago from its people to its social issues, politics, nonprofits, arts, culture, and neighborhoods.

Over the past 31 years more than 14,000 StreetWise vendors have found dignity on street corners in many neighborhoods across the city as they are empowered to earn an income with a hand up and not a handout.

About Rivet360

Rivet360 is a business to business podcast agency. It was founded in Chicago in 2013 with a simple mission: Tell the world’s stories, making them engaging and fun. An obsession with elegant solutions and devotion to editorial integrity have been part of the company from day one—along with a flexible, can-do attitude that customers love.

There are 50 wards in Chicago, but more than 65,000 people living within its limits lack a home of their own - a group activist Carla Johnson refers to as the “51st Ward.”

Our intrepid reporters: Jesse Betend, Streetwise Editor Suzanne Hanney, and Streetwise vendor A. Allen set out to track down Tom Gordon, the so-called “Mayor of Uptown” in hopes of discovering what’s causing a rise in homeless camps throughout the city.

What they find is a community formed in the absence of adequate city services, existing in a legal limbo, and often in conflict with both local leaders and their housed neighbors. But also an unmistakable family. Just who is Tom Gordon? And who exactly made him the Mayor, anyway?

Meanwhile, the forming of a new tent city in a nearby park hits close to home, prompting difficult questions about what, at the end of the day, communities owe each other.

Welcome to the 51st Ward.

Special thanks to Musician Andrew Bird who donated music from his Chicago-inspired, 2013 EP “I Want To See Pulaski At Night” and Block Club Chicago Reporter Joe Ward who broke many of the stories in this episode, also 49th Ward Alderperson Maria Hadden, Erin Ryan, Tom “The Mayor of Uptown” Gordon, and the many encampment residents we interviewed for this story. 

CREDITS:

Reported by - Jesse Betend, Suzanne Hanney, A. Allen, Kianna Drummond, and Keith Hardiman

Produced by - Jesse Betend 

with help from  - Jennifer O'Neill

Music by -  Andrew Bird, Jeremy Blake, AETHER, John Patitucci, and Freedom Trail Studios

Editing by - Suzanne Hanney, Sheila Solomon, Amanda Jones, Julie Youngquist, Terri Lydon, and Cindy Paulauskas

About StreetWise magazine

StreetWise has been part of the fabric of Chicago for 31 years, covering everything Chicago from its people to its social issues, politics, nonprofits, arts, culture, and neighborhoods.

Over the past 31 years more than 14,000 StreetWise vendors have found dignity on street corners in many neighborhoods across the city as they are empowered to earn an income with a hand up and not a handout.

About Rivet360

Rivet360 is a business to business podcast agency. It was founded in Chicago in 2013 with a simple mission: Tell the world’s stories, making them engaging and fun. An obsession with elegant solutions and devotion to editorial integrity have been part of the company from day one—along with a flexible, can-do attitude that customers love.

For most, living in a shelter or on the street is the last resort. As a result, the majority of people experiencing homelessness are “defined out” of accessing aid. In fact, the Department of Housing and Urban Development doesn’t even consider them homeless. Are we obscuring an exponentially larger looming crisis?

On this bonus episode Host Jesse Betend and StreetWise Magazine Senior Editor Suzanne Hanney, host a live panel to discuss these and other issue’s behind the series. 

Featuring: Dr. Molly Brown, Assistant Professor of Clinical-Community Psychology and Director of the Homelessness Advocacy, Research, and Collaboration Lab at DePaul University; 

Erin Ryan. Senior Vice President of Operations at The Night Ministry, a social services organization that works with many of Chicago’s most vulnerable homeless citizens; 

And Lee and Paula, who are both Streetwise Magazine Vendors who are currently experiencing homelessness. 

Sources: 

The Chicago Coalition for the Homeless’ Estimate of Chicago Homelessness Report --   https://www.chicagohomeless.org/new-analysis-shows-76998-chicagoans-impacted-by-homelessness/

DePaul’s HARC Lab --  https://harclab.com/publications/

The Night Ministry -- https://www.thenightministry.org/support-us?gclid=CjwKCAjwv_iEBhASEiwARoemvOuEzrez6RUNyb4BVFGKQ-JpIlmDZ1PPfbBIaYI6_LU17Q1WQHKHahoC-pQQAvD_BwE

StreetWise --  https://www.streetwise.org/

Angelica meets Anthony.  

A fateful encounter in Arizona changes everything.

On the run.

Angelica is headed to prison, but what does that mean for her son, Anthony? 

There was someone who could’ve prevented a lot of what was going wrong in Angelica’s life.

This week: who they were and why they didn’t.

Angelica moves in with the queen-pin of an Iowa drug ring.