|
|
In a festive
display of unity, hundreds of people came together in early April
to celebrate 10 years of organizing, fighting for, and winning neighborhood
improvements.
The Blocks Together Ten Year Anniversary Celebration, traced the
history of the organization’s evolution from a small block
club to a powerful community organization uniting thousands of residents
from over 200 blocks.
Blocks Together is made up of residents, schools and churches in
the West Humboldt and the North Garfield Park communities of Chicago.
Community members paid tribute to their accomplishments, while emphasizing
that the past ten years are just a commencement of the great victories
to come.
“It’s important for us to take time out and acknowledge
everything that we have accomplished. In the past 10 years we’ve
brought more than 20,000 people together at more than 300 community
meetings and events. We celebrated our victories, recognized the
strong diverse group of community leaders that make up Blocks Together,
and vowed to keep on fighting for our rights,” explained Blocks
Together Board President Delores Collins.
Trudy Janisch, who was one of Blocks Together’s first members,
reminded the crowd of all that they had accomplished. “We’ve
won major improvements including repairs to many local schools,
accountability from corporations that are located in our community,
over $4 million in investment to streets, alleys, sidewalks and
sewers, access to trilingual information about property-tax saving
programs, after school programs, changes to the 911 system, and
much, much more!”
Blocks Together board member Carmen Fernandez explained that celebrating
Blocks Together was also a celebration of the strength and will
of the entire community, “There are a lot of stories in Blocks
Together’s history. Personal stories, block stories, community
stories. All of them are the stories of people working for justice,
community, and unity through Blocks Together.”
back
to top
|
|
|
