Pictures of rock stars and murals of vivid orange, pink, yellow and other psychedelic colors cover the windows of the Kinetic Playground. Images of Zappa and Zeppelin greet you as you walk through the doors of the small venue. Red and blue dim lights glow around the bar that serves dozens of people waiting for a local band to go on.

Vibrant colors, local talent and cheap beer help attract customers, but according to Kinetic Playground employees, the venue rarely fills its 544-person capacity. Some employees blame the young age of the club. Others attribute the small crowds to an overall lack of a local music scene in Chicago's Uptown neighborhood.

Ironically, Uptown is home to venues with rich histories and influence on the Midwest music scene. The Green Mill Cocktail Lounge has been a jazz hot spot since the 1920s, and the Aragon Ballroom has transitioned from the "it" venue for jazz legends, such as Frank Sinatra and Duke Ellington, to a rock haven that has hosted the Rolling Stones, the Grateful Dead and other top acts.

But Uptown lacks small, intimate clubs suitable for small local acts. As larger concert halls, such as the Aragon Ballroom continue to draw in big bands, the number of small venues in Uptown remains the same, forcing local bands to find performance space elsewhere.

Location, Location, Location

Big-name venues tend to host big-name acts. For Chicago bands, this limits the availability of clubs to play. According to band members, as well as concertgoers, local bands all tend to play at the same types of venues, and more than often, the same places.

"We play places like the Double Door or Martyrs a lot," said Preston Kagan of the Chicago glam band The V Sparks. "Of course we hate it, those places are dives, they suck, but you know, they're pretty much local standards."

Tom Smith of the Chicago rock band Office, agreed.

"We play the typical spectrum of rock clubs in the city, Schubas, the Empty Bottle and the Double Door," Smith said. "We're starting small and working our way up."

Musician Devin Davis echoed the same venues as Kagan and Smith, saying he tends to play small to mid-sized bars in Chicago. Davis also said that getting started and making contacts at clubs and bars can be very difficult.

The Kinetic Playground is a music club across the street from the Aragon Ballroom.

But there is hope for local bands struggling to escape the dive-bar scene. According to Armando Lopez, who manages the Aragon Ballroom in Uptown, local bands can be the opening act for more famous artists.

"A lot of people come here for the exposure," Lopez explained. "Bands like Snow Patrol and OkGo have played here as opener acts and no one knew them. This year [when they returned as headliners], they're sold out."

While Kagan of The V Sparks acknowledged that opening act opportunities like the one described by Lopez do occur, he pointed out that local bands rarely get the chance to open for their more famous and widely known counterparts.

"A lot of the bands that tour have previous arrangements," Kagan said. "They have contracts to play together and so we're [local bands] not really given the opportunity to open for them because it would breach the contracts laid out by managers and record labels."

Broken Social Scene

One of the things that makes the Chicago music scene stand out is the variety in styles and genres. Chicago-music-scene.com lists information of about more than 120 rock, punk, ska, reggae, blues, folk, country, jazz, hip hop, rap, house, dance and other bands in the Chicago area.

"I think what's going on in music in Chicago right now is amazingly progressive and diverse," said Smith of Office.

While variety and diversity of music are celebrated by some, other bands find the Chicago scene to be self-segregated, making expanding an audience difficult.

"I feel like there's no real scene per se," said Kagan of The V Sparks. "There's no common denominator."

Kagan's band mate, who goes by V, agreed. He explained that Chicago seems to be known for its metal music scene, making finding a fan base for 70s-style glam rock a challenge.

"We played at this bar full of tough, beer drinking, biker type guys in the South Side once," V recalled, "and they weren't so into what we were doing; maybe we would have had better luck in Boystown."

Just before a show at the Kinetic Playground, across the street from the Aragon Ballroom, V mentioned that it was the band's first time playing not only at the club, but in the Uptown area.

"This place is cool, but there aren't really a lot of venues in this area," V said. "We usually play in Wicker Park or Belmont."

Percent of Local Music Clubs by Chicago Neighborhood

The numbers support V's gripe. Out of the over 280 venues listed on Chicago-music-scene.com, only nine of them are located in Uptown, while 38 of them are located in Lakeview and 51 in Wicker Park.

Uptown residents notice the scarcity of nearby clubs. "There's not really an Uptown scene," said Bobby Adams, who manages Uptown Lounge, a neighborhood bar. "Uptown is still coming into its own and looking for its identity. It's just taking longer than anticipated"

Kamar Khan enjoys DJ-ing at Uptown Lounge, but feels the venue is out of place in the neighborhood, which doesn't have much of a scene.

"I would actually picture it in a place like Wicker Park," Khan said. "It almost doesn't belong in Uptown."

Some residents blame bigger venues, such as the Aragon Ballroom, for the lack of a smaller, local music scene in Uptown.

"For live concerts, I don't go in Uptown," said John Kennedy, owner of the Universal Music record store. "The Riviera and the Aragon are great places, but big concert places."

Tattoo artist and concert enthusiast Dawn Grace agreed, saying she opts for venues like the Metro, near Belmont, over those in Uptown because mostly big bands play in Uptown. Grace said she wants more places for local bands to play.

Not Such a Lost Cause

At this point, any aspiring musician might think, "screw this" and give up. But not so fast. Things are changing for small local bands.

Internet communities, such as MySpace.com, have exposed bands to new listeners all over the world and provided them with a larger audience than any Chicago venue could.

"We have this 17-year-old fan from Norway," exclaimed Kagan of The V Sparks. "He heard our song at a friend's house through MySpace. It's crazy."

Jam band Jack Straw sets up on the stage at the Kinetic Playground.

While Office may not have a budding fan base in Norway, Smith mentioned that MySpace.com has attracted thousands of new listeners.

"Our MySpace page has over 3,000 hits, he said, "and we don't have 3,000 people at our shows, so someone outside of Chicago is listening."

Davis, like The V Sparks, has found his international fan base growing thanks to MySpace.com.

"I've gotten contacted by people from all over the world via MySpace," he said.
"I think they have a really good platform for checking out music."

In addition to widened and increased exposure, Chicago bands have a loyal local fan base. Though the crowds may be small, they regularly attend shows and stand by the bands they love.

"We have a variety of different people here, of different cultures," explained Mary Gutierrez, a waitress at Ollie's Lounge in Uptown. "But usually all are from the neighborhood. Lots of regulars come here."

Davis agreed, saying he sees many of the same people at his shows in Chicago. "I have been lucky to have some people practically come to every show."

And while fans may be frustrated by the lack of places to see local bands, they ultimately agree that the bands have legitimate talent and live up to Chicago's strong reputation and music history.

"The music scene in Chicago is highly underrated, and a lot of local talents are not famous," said Matt Rytie, who works at the music and book store Shake Rattle & Read. "But I wouldn't live here if there was a crappy music scene."

Anthony Tesfazgi became the man of the house when he turned 10 years old. With his older sister in jail and older brother selling drugs, Tesfazgi made sure that his younger siblings had the safe life that they deserved.

As he sat in his apartment after school one day, his younger brother bolted out of the bedroom with some news he thought was exciting. He discovered a gun when snooping through their older brothers belongings. Tesfazgi confronted his older brother, kicking him of the house for bringing his life on streets into their home.

"Kids need good role models," Tesfazgi said shaking his head slowly. "He had to leave."

With no father in the picture, Tesfazgi, 23, was the male role model for his siblings. Growing up in Uptown, Tesfazgi stayed clear of gangs and drugs, even though he estimates that half of his friends gave in to the pressures of the streets. After attending Uplift high school, Tesfazgi lost many peers to violence. He said four friends died over the summer, all in gang-related incidents. He saw the pain it caused their families and vowed not to do that to his own family.

Tesfazgi's experiences gave him the motivation to begin classes to be a police officer next spring, with the belief that he can help change a community.

"Everyone has their own mind," Tesfazgi said with a boyish smile. "I chose what I wanted to do and stuck to it."

Shoveling snow for his neighbors in freezing cold weather and picking up groceries for the elderly were just some of the odd jobs Tesfazgi held while in high school to make money to help his mother with his two younger siblings.

"My mom was always working and trying to support the family," Tesfazgi said. "With so many kids, it was too much for her to handle." The neighbors knew that his family struggled and encouraged Anthony to help raise money by asking him to do small errands and help around the block.

Anthony "is such a hard worker," said Marcella Corrales, 40, his boss at Michelle's Salon in Uptown. "We love having him around."

In 1998, one of his friends was pushing her son in a stroller through the lobby of the Twin Towers apartment building on Clarendon in Uptown. As she passed by, a bullet shattered a window, barely missing his friend and her son. Tesfazgi said that this experience opened his eyes to the innocent people who can get caught up in gang cross-fire.

Tesfazgi, a muscular man of medium height, with a large cross tattoo on his arm, looks as though he could handle himself on the streets. Yet, he admits he is scared to go out after dark.

"I am a 23-year-old man," Tesfazgi explains. "I should be able to go outside at night and not be scared."

In March, Tesfazgi will take a police training course and soon after will move out of the area to northern suburban Round Lake to become an officer. He knows that his experiences growing up are what will determine his success as a police officer.

"I know what goes on I have been around it all my life," Tesfazgi said. "I believe I can read people and
really understand situations."

Tesfazgi believes so many kids in Uptown get involved in gangs because they don't have a positive role model in their lives. With his own family, Tesfazgi stresses the importance of strong values and makes sure to be there for them when needed.

"I try to just spend time with [my siblings] by playing basketball or video games," Tesfazgi said. He
knows that his younger brother and sister will not get involved in anything that will harm them in the future.

Tesfazgi moved his family out of the area to Edgewater, slightly north of Uptown. He wanted to put them in a safer community environment. He had a lot of trouble when he attended school in Uptown, but can see positive results in his siblings' schooling. Their personal interactions with teachers are something he never experienced growing up.

Tesfazgi knows he has done his job as a father-figure and role model for his siblings and extended family. Even after he leaves the Uptown area, he will stay in touch and remember to check in on his younger brother and sister.

"They are some of the best kids you will ever meet," Tesfazgi said. "I want to think I had something to do with it."

But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him.

Like the Good Samaritan found in Luke 10: 33-34, the Uptown Baptist Church practices what it preaches. The church not only provides a place for spiritual guidance every Sunday morning, it also is deeply involved with the homeless community of Uptown.

"Every church must minister to its community," said Michael Allen, 39, the senior pastor of the Uptown Baptist Church since the summer of 2005. "It has to begin there. This church has always been a church that ministers to the needy. [The homeless] have always been in the DNA of the church."

The gray skies add to the medieval atmosphere of the Uptown Baptist Church.

Located on 1011 West Wilson, the old stone, two-story building seems intimidating from the outside. But walk through the old wooden doors and down a flight of stairs, and you'll find that the menacing building has a heart of gold.

"The best part of the Uptown church is that the homeless of the area feel welcome," said Mindy Cobb, 53, a volunteer at the church since it opened. "The people of Uptown are open to help the homeless and unemployed."
Every Monday night for the past 20 years the church has opened its doors in a program called Monday Night Meals. The basement of the church, which doubles as a bedroom and a kitchen, opens at 4 p.m. Twenty-one tables are furnished with bananas, paper plates and cups of juice. Food donations come from numerous places. Some come from members within the congregation, but most come from outside resources.

"My day starts at 8 in the morning," Garry Akema, 40, the food ministries director for the past 16 years. "I go to five or six stores buying things wholesale or picking up donations. The Blue Man Group donates the bananas every night."

Monday Night Meals provides dinner to between 300 to 500 homeless people. According to Allen the church receives plenty of assistance. Members of the church's congregation volunteer weekly. Students from Wilmette and Winnetka high schools as well as students from Moody Bible Institute and Wheaton College volunteer on a regular basis.

The basement only allows 168 people to eat at one time. The line for dinner starts as early as 3 p.m. Once the doors are opened at 4 p.m., people gather in the sanctuary and wait to be seated. Volunteers act as waiters and waitresses; they seat people, take orders and serve dinners.

"I love the atmosphere," said James Parker, 56, who has been coming to Monday Night Meals for the past three years. "They usually play the piano or preach while we eat. It's great, I love it."

After the meal is provided, the Uptown Baptist Church conducts an optional worship service. Participants climb the stairs to the cozy sanctuary where they sing familiar hymns and listen to Bible passages.

A lesson drawn by pastor Michael Allen representing the Holy Trinity and ordained institutions: family, government, jobs, school and church. The person under the umbrella follows the institutions and is protected from the storms of life.

"We not only care about their physical well-being," Allen said. "We care about their spiritual well-being. We read them teachings from the word of God that will help them along in their life's journey."

The church's own journey has had many twists. After spending three years in a warehouse and two more years in a rented church building, the church finally found a home in the fall of 1981. When it first began, the church agreed to shelter the homeless from November to April. In 1984 the church expanded its support to offer shelter 365 days a year.

The Uptown Baptist Church partners with R.E.S.T., a social service organization located in Chicago as well as in many other cities, to combat homelessness. R.E.S.T. operates its overnight shelter in the church's basement. Every night starting at 8 p.m. the basement of the church houses up to 50 women. The church provides them with dinner, breakfast and a cot. The floors of the basement are solid concrete; the yellow walls create a sense of warmth and security. The basement also includes a recently renovated bathroom that has three new toilet stalls, two showers and two sinks.

The church assigns each woman a case worker. Women and their case managers talk about numerous issues such as drugs and alcohol, housing, job training and resume writing. The church also hosts a free health fair twice a year that offers screenings and lessons on nutritious eating.

The future of the Uptown Baptist Church is not a question about expanding services or renovating the basement to shelter more women, Allen said. The church wants to make more of an impact among the homeless community by not just helping them get off the streets, but by starting them on the right path toward self-reliance.

"We need to be more effective in doing what we're doing," Allen said. "We need to be able to create better opportunities for people to be 'poor no more.' The goal isn't necessarily to serve more people; it's to serve the people we are already serving better by developing better programs or systems for them to be self-sustaining."

V, lead singer of the Chicago glam band The V Sparks, is clad in a white suit and a black and white feathered boa and wears thick black platform shoes straight out of "Saturday Night Fever." V's long brown hair is teased and held in place by mounds of hair spray. His heavily lined eyes would make Captain Jack Sparrow proud.

To his right, guitarist Prescott Kagan is wearing tight white pants and a black and white striped shirt. To complete the over-the-top, rock 'n' roll image, Kagan is smoking a cigarette onstage while the band is playing.

"Some people see the make up and they don't know what the hell is going on," says frontman V, "and that's what I like. It kind of creates an uncomfortable environment yet they're [the audience] drawn to it."

But don't let the wild outfits and crazy make up distract you from genuine talent. With singing reminiscent of David Bowie and guitar riffs Brian May of Queen would envy, The V Sparks are taking the Chicago music scene back to the '70s as psychedelic sounds emerge from a synthesizer.

"Yes we do wear crazy outfits," V admits.
"But no spandex," guitarist Kagan insists.
"Yeah," V agrees, "we're not in the unitard phase yet."
"We don't want to make a mockery of ourselves," Kagan explains. "We're a glam band and we like having fun, but we're not a joke."

Indeed, there's nothing funny about the time and dedication The V Sparks put into their music. Kagan and V spend their time writing small bits of music and lyrics that merge into all of the band's songs. Once the songs are ready to be played, drummer Ashok Warrier and bassist Mike Durband meet with V and Kagan twice a week to practice for two-and-a-half hours.

Kagan adds that the band is currently recording its first album, which sometimes keeps the four of them in the studio five or six days a week.

"I also work a job in computer sales," V says, "so it's a lot of late nights and weekends on top of full work days."

Before the days of recording albums, or working second jobs, V and Kagan were high school students from Morton Grove and Lincolnwood, discovering common interests and a love of music.

"We met in high school, through my brother," explains V. "He [Kagan] heard that I sang so we got together and started recording some really crappy Smashing Pumpkins demos."

Years later, V and Kagan formed a Killers-esque band, Dolari. After several years, Dolari got "played out" and so V and Kagan decided to go in a new direction and formed The V Sparks in 2003. Kagan says the band draws from 70s glam rock bands, like David Bowie, T Rex and Roxy Music.

Bowie's influence can certainly be heard in the lyrics of some of the band's songs. Lines like "crazy textures in the black night sky," from their song "Out of Control," channel Bowie from his Ziggy Stardust days.

According to V, whenever he and Kagan get involved with something, it consumes them. Perhaps this 24-7 glam mentality explains how the band got its name, drawing inspiration from children's television.

"I was sitting with my nephew watching some 'Sesame Street,'" begins V. "It was the alphabet jungle game DVD and when it came up to "v" it was pretty mesmerizing. This "v" came from outer space and there was this really sexy voice of this woman going, "V...V."
"It was a very glam rock image," agrees Kagan, "this glittering 'v' flying through outer space."
"At that moment, it hit me," exclaims V.

With a name in place and a record in the works, the band wants to build experience performing. For now, The V Sparks play local clubs, such as Martyrs or the Double Door, but V and Kagan hope to play larger venues as they gain experience. Kagan explains the band members want to "take things slow" until they feel they have something to show; a quality versus quantity thing.

Though The V Sparks may be taking things slowly, buzz is spreading fast. The band credits Internet communities, such as MySpace.com, for increasing exposure and attracting new fans from all over the country and the world.

"I found out about The V Sparks when I was over at my friend's house," explains Norwegian V Sparks fan Tommy Bless, 17. "He visited their MySpace page and I was absolutely blown away!"

Bless says his friend sort of stumbled onto the band's MySpace.com profile and that he doesn't usually listen to smaller bands from America, or glam rock for that matter.

"I don't actually know why I like The V Sparks, because I don't usually listen to that kind of music. It's a bit of a mystery, but "Out Of Control" is probably the best song I've ever heard. I fell in love with it the first time I heard it."

Despite success over the Web, V and Kagan find it difficult to establish an audience in Chicago.
"There really is no scene per se," says Kagan. "There's no common denominator--"
"−especially for what we're doing," chimes in V. "We kind of get a mixed response and it's always hard to tell nowadays [what people think of us]. I think a lot of people are afraid to let lose and enjoy themselves."

Whatever the response, V says they're in it for the long haul.

"I think we're at the point in our lives where this is all or nothing," he says. "We really want to take it as far as it can go."

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For many college students, language classes are just another part of their academic curriculum. But for Loyola University Chicago sophomore Kyra Brown, her Spanish classes help her well beyond the classroom.

Twice a week Brown travels into the Uptown neighborhood to tutor elementary school students through the Inspired Youth Tutoring program. She often works with the same first-grader, Mario, in both English and Spanish. With English as his second language, she's helped him with his speech, from the phonetics of English letters to English numbers.

"We have number blocks that I had him throw in the air and when they landed, he would say what the numbers were," Brown, 19, said. "After a while, he was doing really well. He was counting up to 40, he had it down."

Language help like this is only one aspect of the Inspired Youth Tutoring program, which has been serving the Uptown community for 22 years. The program also provides at-risk youth with academic help, summer piano lessons and the opportunity to be a part of a children's choir. In a high youth crime neighborhood, like Uptown, Inspired Youth offers students a safe place after school as well as activities to keep their minds off the streets and inside the classroom.

The program currently serves over 100 students in the Uptown area. More than 30 students are in the children's choir, which performs for local nursing homes and at churches. Nearly 25 children also take free summer piano lessons.

Tutoring is held four days a week at the Bezazian Library, which donates the space for free. Student volunteers from Loyola, retirees in the community, and young professionals who want to switch their careers to teaching come out to help students with their homework.

Bezazian Library offers a free space to Inspired Youth Tutoring four days a week.

Most of the students live in the Uptown and Edgewater neighborhoods, and a majority attends the William C. Goudy Elementary School in Uptown. According to Beth Palmer, the founder and director of the program, while an ethnically diverse group of students make up the program, from Hispanic and Black to Middle Eastern, each one of the students possess a strong motivation and enthusiasm to learn.

On one Wednesday afternoon, a volunteer worked on addition and subtraction flashcards with a young girl. She used her fingers to count, and when she got a flashcard right, she celebrated. When she completed one set of cards, the volunteered asked her if she wanted to do more. The young girl nodded enthusiastically. She was eager to continue learning.

Along with flashcards, the program provides students with extra math and reading help. For each student, Palmer has folders, which include vocabulary worksheets, scratch paper to practice writing letters and books appropriate for each child's reading level.

"The supplies she gives and the homework they bring in really supplement each other well," Brown said. "Especially if it's something that they haven't mastered the skills for, yet."

Palmer uses the tutors' impressions to gauge a child's progress. Tutors let Palmer know if a child needs material that is easier or more difficult.

On a recent Wednesday afternoon, one tutor, Mandy Jones, was helping first- grader Sophia with her vocabulary worksheet, which Palmer assigned in the student's folder. When Palmer walked around to check on the progress of each student, Jones let her know that Sophia was struggling to concentrate and understand, so Palmer helped the student herself.

"Most of these kids here are way behind their grade level," Palmer said. "I try to give them things that are at their development level."

In some cases, school faculty will contact Palmer about giving students in the program a little extra attention. The social worker of a 10th-grade special education student in the program contacted Palmer about helping him read "The Kite Runner" for his health class.

"We put it in context and talked about characters with him," Palmer said. "But the vocabulary and references were too difficult for him to understand."

Palmer now has him reading "Bridge to Terabithia", a 6th-grade reading level novel set in America, something he can better comprehend.

"We attempt to improve and hope to improve at a child's own pace," Palmer said.

Every other Saturday of the month, Wilmette Jr. High 8th-graders also volunteer as mentors to first and second-graders in the program. Students meet at Margate Park to participate in a peer-tutoring workshop.

"It's a real breakthrough," Palmer said. "It helps all the youth. It develops the eighth-graders' leadership skills, and they learn the idea of service and how to create an intervention."

Intervention is Inspired Youth's main goal. According to Palmer, through each tutoring session, each child is given the opportunity to be a part of something important.

"The children come hopping in, pull our their homework and ask, 'Can I read this? Can I read this?'," Brown said. "There is so much enthusiasm in this room. The children have been really cooperative and ready to learn."

Uptown is a commercial neighborhood that relies on the "El" Train for business. The public transportaiton system in Chicago affects everyone in the city.

March of the CTA Riders - Weather, shelter and the Chicago Public Transportation System - By David Ma

Under the Bridge - The Uptown Red Line from a different perspective - By Adam Sorensen

Where have all the maps gone? - Sign theft leaves tourists confused and Chicagoans annoyed - By Jeanette Riley

Two little girls come running inside with their pink Barbie backpacks in one hand and a leftover bagged lunch in the other. They scurry past the hallway, ready for an afternoon full of fun. Yet, before they can reach the video games, the girls are stopped in their tracks.

"Excuse me? How are my girls? How was school today?" George Colone asks.

"Good," they respond. "We have some cookies left over from lunch."

They hand Colone some cookies and each lean in for hug. What seems like a dialogue between a father and his two daughters is actually a typical conversation between staff and members of the Robert R. McCormick Boys and Girls Club. Here, everyone is considered family. Since the staff develops such close relationships with their members, they are able to provide these students with a sense of stability. They also act as mentors and try to guide them in the right direction.

Murals line the brick walls outside of the McCormick Boys and Girls Club, which hosts 300 members daily.

"I don't want to say that I'm like their father, because that would make me sound old, but we are like big brothers" says Colone, Club Director. "It's a family environment. I look forward to coming here everyday."

The club, whose members are primarily from the Uptown and Edgewater communities, has been serving children since 1959. It provides quality programming for young people ages 6-18 during the hours they would be at risk, Colone said. According to a study by the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, more kids become victims or offenders of violent crimes on weekdays between 3-8 p.m. than any other time.

Beyond providing a safe haven for these children and teens, the staff also works with members to enhance their education and other skills and to instill positive values in them.

"Our goal is to make them a better person," says Program Director Ezohn Smith. "These are the kids that need us most."

All 1,800 members rotate between five core areas: character and leadership development, arts and crafts, health and life skills, education and career development, and sports, fitness and recreation.

The character and leadership development program includes the Torch club for junior leaders and the Keystone club for senior leaders. These members are elected to each club and are responsible for setting examples and being role models to others. They do so by helping around the club and doing community service and fundraising.

This past September, members from each club joined other Chicago-area Boys and Girls club members for an overnight retreat on Lake Michigan. They pitched tents, learned how to fish and told stories by the campfire. The retreat leaders taught members about local environmental issues so that they can initiate activities to help raise funds for environmental causes.

Members are motivated to be good role models because every year one of them is nominated to give a speech at the citywide Youth of the Year competition. This year, Tommy Calhoun was chosen based on his performance in the club and the grades he received in school. According to Colone, the club director, Calhoun has come leaps and bounds from when he first joined the club.

"When he first started school, his grades weren't great," Colone says. "He was influenced by gang activity and a couple of his friends were locked up or killed. He decided to change his life around. Now, he is on his way to college and is a respectable young man."

Site Director Michael Anderson says he is inspired by members like Calhoun every day. Anderson used to work for an alternative school, but says he felt that the school didn't give these children any hope that they could graduate.

McCormick Boys and Girls Club Site Director Michael Anderson and Program Director Ezohn Smith take a minute to pose by Club backpacks before a rush of kids come in for an afternoon of fun.

Now, Anderson is able to develop meaningful relationships with the members and encourage them to achieve their goals. While he says he is proud of all the members, one particular story means the most to him.

"One of the youths I worked with, he wanted to drop out," Anderson says. "I encouraged him to stay in school and graduate. Now, he is a radio personality at one of the top three radio stations in the city."

Seandale Henley, a radio DJ for Power 92 Chicago, now runs the Studio Hip Hop Youth program at the club. He helps members write positive rap songs and record them. With Anderson's help, he was able to turn his life around and now encourages members in the club to do the same.

Henley feels motivated to help the next generation because of the guidance that Anderson gave him.

"He went the extra mile," Henley, 26, says. "He was really dedicated to me."

Henley plans to put each member's rap songs on a mix tape.

"I was in the same position once," Henley says. "I know what it's like to want to be heard. This will be like their own little personal album," Henley says.

The Studio Hip Hop class is part of the club's vast arts and crafts program. In 2005, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Chicago awarded the McCormick site with the best arts and crafts program in the city. Members consider the arts and crafts program one of their favorite activities, along with the games room and playing basketball.

With 300 members in the club daily, the basketball court and games room are always full. Every afternoon, a handful of members are huddled by the television playing the video game Sonic the Hedgehog, while others are scattered throughout the games room playing foosball, air hockey, pool and ping pong.

The basketball court serves as one of the most popular spots for the 1,800 members at the McCormick Boys and Girls Club.

According to Colone, the club's director, 80 percent of members come three-to-five times a week.

"We have the same kids come daily," Colone says. "For any child to want to come consistently, that's very telling. Great relationships are developed within these walls."

Colone knows the name of every child who walks through the door. And every child knows Colone, calling him Mr. George.

A number of members yell out, "Hi, Mr. George," as they pass by Colone, who is still in the front hallway greeting members at the door. One boy runs up to Colone and shows him a photograph of a religious figure that he got in class. Colone gives the boy a high five.

"Very nice," Colone said. "Now, go have fun."

One hundred and ten miles east of Chicago the small city of Elkhart is a new destination for Chicagoans. The self-proclaimed "City with a Heart" offers public housing options unavailable in the urban center. However, not everyone in Elkhart is happy about this new role.

"What the Chicago area essentially said was 'here Indiana or Wisconsin or Illinois someplace else, here you pay for this," Elkhart Mayor David Miller said. "We are tired of paying for it.'"

As housing options dry up in the city, Chicago-based homeless shelters are forced to find creative ways to help their low-income clients find a home. Increasingly, they resort to sending people outside the metropolitan area, as far west as Galesburg Ill., south to Elizabethtown, Ill. and east to Elkhart.

"We've had a difficult time finding market-rate apartments for folks [in Chicago] even if they have a job," said John Pfeiffer, CEO of Inspiration Corporation, a Chicago organization for the homeless. "Even if they're making $8 to $10 an hour, it's hard to find an apartment they can afford, especially for families."

Elkhart has 672 public housing units from high-rise buildings targeted to housing the elderly, to single-family homes scattered around the town. Of the total units, 296 are specifically for families. Five hundred of the 2,500 public housing applicants since 2003 have been from Chicago, according to Kim Sindle, executive director of the Elkhart Housing Authority.

"We're not advertising actively up [in Chicago]," Sindle said. "It's word of mouth. Once we get an individual living here, they call up to Chicago and say it's a nice community, and more people come."

Sindle started noticing the increase in Chicagoans in 2003, and attributes it to the Chicago Housing Authority's (CHA) demolitions and renovations of its public housing units. In 2000, the CHA embarked on the Plan for Transformation, a 10-year plan to revitalize Chicago public housing. According to its Web site, it aims to have 25,000 units available by 2009, comprising family developments and senior citizen housing.

As of 2005, more than 8,000 units were demolished as part of the plan, according to the CHA Web site. In the interim, while existing buildings are being refurbished and others are being constructed, current residents are being relocated, some temporarily and some permanently, around the city.

Meanwhile, the CHA closed its waiting list for public housing. According to the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, the waiting lists for housing choice vouchers, a program run through the CHA, have been closed since 1997 and only 10 percent of affordable housing needs in Chicago are met.

Both Miller and Sindle noted that they were only one of many towns along the interstates running through Chicago to house more low-income families from the city.

"I was at a conference in Albany, that's in the southern tip of Indiana, and they were getting bombarded with Chicago folks [too]," Sindle said.

Lyda Jackson, the volunteer coordinator at Cornerstone Community Outreach in Uptown, said the agency sends a majority of its clients out of the neighborhood. If they stay in the city, they move to the South and West Sides, but growing numbers are moving out of the metropolitan area. Cornerstone helped a family that had been on the waiting list for Section 8, a federal housing assistance program, for 11 years move to Elkhart in November 2005.

"About two weeks before they moved, they got a letter from the Section 8 people saying, 'Hey we just wanted you to know we haven't forgotten about you. You're number whatever-thousand-and-whatever on their list and we should be getting to your application in the next 36-48 months,'" Jackson said. "So, they moved to Elkhart, and the public housing there gave them a five-bedroom house."

The influx of Chicagoans has some negative effects on the small city. Kim Sindle of the Elkhart Housing Authority said it was a strain on their local social service agencies and the Elkhart economy with so many low-income people in the town.

Mayor David Miller said his city has a large number of manufacturing and low-skill jobs, making it an ideal destination for the Chicago homeless and jobless. However, not all the people in the affordable housing units are working. According to Miller, in one area of 160 units, 102 house zero-income tenants.

"The trouble is if your community has lots of places for people who can't afford to live, they probably can't afford
to do other things themselves either, which can become a burden on the community," Miller said. "There is only so many homeless and or income-dependent people that a community can support."

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