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A $100,000 grant from the Forest Preserve Foundation will help underwrite increased wages for Forest Preserve Experience crew members this summer.

“We are so pleased to support young people who rely on summer employment to help themselves and, in many cases, their families meet financial needs,” said Forest Preserve Foundation President Shelley A. Davis. “The Forest Preserve Experience (FPE) program is unique. It addresses the needs and challenges particular to young women and men residing in Cook County who experience unemployment and barriers to employment.”

The funding comes via a new grant recently secured from the Central Indiana Community Foundation, which previously has supported Forest Preserve Foundation-backed youth conservation programs.

Wages for participants this year will be increased from $10 an hour to $13 and hour for crew members and from $13 an hour to $14.50 an hour for assistant crew leaders. FPE is a nationally award-winning program that provides 5-weeks of summer employment for high school youth and young adults (ages 14 to 20) whose families utilize the services of the Housing Authority of Cook County (over 85% of participants are African American). Participants reside in communities that suffer from high unemployment rates.

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Originally published on abc7chicago.com 06/11/2020  |  Image: ABC7 Chicago

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle has announced Thursday that $40 million will be invested in the county's COVID-19 contact tracing program.

Preckwinkle was joined by Cook County Department of Public Health Co-Leads Dr. Rachel Rubin and Dr. Kiran Joshi for the announcement.

The investment means the county will be able to trace 3,000 contacts per day.

"For Cook County to reopen, it is critical that we quickly ramp up our contact tracing capabilities," Preckwinkle said. "The program will help us to continue to mitigate the pandemic by identifying new cases quickly and helping residents who have been exposed to someone carrying the disease.

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Originally published on chicago.suntimes.com 06/04/2020 | Image: Chicago Sun Times

Rapper Vic Mensa joined Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle at a Thursday news conference focused on encouraging people to help repair small businesses that were looted or vandalized, but the singer and activist said that if people really want to clean up the community, “don’t wait until it burns down.”

The Chicago rapper said the “real looting” is the schools closed on the South and West Sides, while a new police academy is being planned and the black bodies “stolen by police officers in our city and across our nation.”

Mensa and Preckwinkle spoke at the East 47th Street headquarters of Mensa’s SaveMoneySaveLife Foundation, which promises to use art and entertainment “to foster sustainable change.”

Mensa called for an “end to police brutality,” saying that if officers charged in George Floyd killing in Minneapolis were bad apples, it’s time to “cut down the tree.”

Preckwinkle spoke of the neighborhoods and businesses that were ransacked over the past few days as some used peaceful protests following the Floyd’s death in Minneapolis by police as a cover to loot businesses.

Preckwinkle encouraged people to help “repair the devastation we’re facing” and acknowledged that many feel “frustrated, traumatized and exhausted” by the coronavirus pandemic, the high rates of unemployment and the toll of racism.

“Along with these protests we must return to rebuilding our communities that have been devastated by looting and destruction,” Preckwinkle said. “We must protect our family-owned, minority-owned businesses who are still cleaning up broken glass and decimated shelves.”

Preckwinkle said thousands of residents have already stepped up to help with neighborhood cleanup, and she encouraged everyone “to continue forward in the spirit of community.”

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Originally published on chicagotribune.com 06/06/2020 | Image: Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune

Former President Barack Obama and Gov. J.B. Pritzker were among 81 Democrats added Saturday to Illinois’ delegation for the party’s national nominating convention in Milwaukee, though what the event may ultimately look like remains in flux due to the coronavirus pandemic.

State Democratic officials were forced to change party meeting rules due to the pandemic to allow for electronic and mail balloting to select party officials and allies to join the 101 delegates elected in the March 17 primary.

Obama, also a former state and U.S. senator, automatically qualified for the Illinois delegation as a former president. Obama maintains a residence in the Kenwood neighborhood of Chicago despite remaining in Washington, D.C., after leaving office.

Pritzker, too, qualified for delegate status as governor along with the rest of Illinois’ statewide elected officials, its 13 Democratic congressmen and two U.S. senators, and several state lawmakers and aldermen.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot also earned automatic status while Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle was added in her government post and as county Democratic chairman.

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