Latest news with #Bronzeville
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Former President Obama visits Chicago to finalize Obama Presidential Center details
The Brief Former President Obama made several stops in Chicago to discuss details of the Obama Presidential Center. Obama went to Peach's Restaurant in Bronzeville and met with Chef Cliff Rome. The former president ordered shrimp and grits, salmon croquette and peach cobbler. CHICAGO - Former President Barack Obama made several stops in Chicago to discuss details of the Obama Presidential Center, from dining to the museum's exhibits and touring the site in Jackson Park. What we know Obama met with Chef Cliff Rome of Peach's Restaurant in Bronzeville. While there, the former president greeted some patrons and ordered shrimp and grits, salmon croquette and peach cobbler to go, based on Rome's recommendation. As the founder of Rome's Joy Companies Catering, Rome is partnering with Bon Appétit Management Company to run the Obama Presidential Center's restaurant, café and provide catering on the center's campus. Working together as "BAMJoy," the teams hope to meet the center's vision and needs. The backstory The Obama Presidential Center spans 19 acres and will feature an athletic center, fruit and vegetable garden, museum, auditorium, a Chicago Public Library branch, restaurant, café and more. The center is scheduled to open in 2026 and will be free and open to the public. The Source Details for this story are provided by a press release from the Obama Foundation.
CBS News
22-05-2025
- CBS News
Teen charged with shooting 14-year-old in Bronzeville neighborhood
A teenage boy was charged with shooting another teen in the Bronzeville neighborhood earlier this month. Chicago police said the 17-year-old was arrested in the 3500 block of Sotuh Rhodes Avenue on Wednesday. He was then charged with one felony count of attemepted first-degree murder and one felony count of aggravated battery with the discharge of a firearm. The teen was identified as the suspect who shot and wounded the victim, a 14-year-old boy, on May 7 in the 200 block of East Pershing Road. Police did not say what led up to the shooting or the relationship between the two boys, but said the 17-year-old was placed into custody and charged accordingly. He is scheduled to appear at a detention hearing on Thursday.
Forbes
20-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Reclaiming Bronzeville: Melissa Nicole Allen Leads $100M Charge To Revitalize Milwaukee's Historic Black Neighborhood
Melissa Nicole Allen founder and president of Maures development group In the heart of Milwaukee, a historic Black neighborhood called Bronzeville is stepping into a new renaissance rooted not in loss but in legacy. And this month, Bronzeville Estates has officially opened its doors! Leading this reclamation is Melissa Nicole Allen, the powerhouse founder of Maures Development Group and one of Wisconsin's first minority and woman-owned real estate development firm. Since founding Maures Development Group in 2006, Melissa has been consistent in her mission to reshape the Bronzeville Community into a thriving cultural and economic hub for the city of Milwaukee. Maures Development Group's portfolio includes landmark projects like the Good Hope Branch of Milwaukee Public Library, the Historic Garfield Apartments, and the America's Black Holocaust Museum. She has invested over $100M and is developing over 400 housing units in the Historic Milwaukee community. For Melissa, this huge investment in Bronzeville isn't just business, it's ancestral. As a Milwaukee native, she has witnessed firsthand the underfunding and decline of this community and is taking the charge to make lasting change personally. Her pathway to revitalize the Brownsville Community includes a multi-site development spanning 16 parcels that includes 30 units across 17 buildings anchored in the Bronzeville Arts and Cultural District. This development represents a 12.2 million investment with nearly $30 million in construction contracts awarded to diverse contractors. "My philosophy is leveraging bricks and mortar to bring pride and hope to people," says Melissa Throughout the Reconstruction and Jim Crow eras, Bronzeville was a thriving economic hub for Black Milwaukeeans. That was until the late 1960s when the construction of Interstate 43 tragically displaced over 8,000 residents. This led to the destruction and closing of hundreds of Black owned businesses and tore apart the fabric of this vibrant community. Black Americans are no strangers to systematic takedowns of our thriving communities. For instance,, the burning of Towns like the Greenwood district in Tulsa (Black Wall Street) and Rosewood, Florida. Like Bronzeville, these were more than neighborhoods but beacons of Black American innovation, entrepreneurship, and economic independence. Bronzeville Estates is truly a Phoenix rising from the ashes. Melissa and developments through Maures are a constant reminder that despite recent efforts to downplay Black American contributions, Black legacy and history cannot be erased. It must and will be resurrected. Allen's leadership through Maures Development Group is part of a growing wave of Black developers who are not only reclaiming physical spaces but rewriting the rules of urban revitalization. Their work resists gentrification's silent displacement and instead champions intentional design, historical reverence, and generational empowerment.
CBS News
12-05-2025
- CBS News
Water rescue underway in Lake Michigan at 31st Street Harbor, Chicago police say
Chicago police confirmed a water rescue effort is underway at 31st Street Harbor in Chicago's Bronzeville neighborhood Monday afternoon. CPD said that about 1:55 p.m., their marine unit was called to the 3100 block of S. DuSable Lake Shore Drive for reports of a person in the water. Video posted on the Citizen app showed a significant presence of first responders by the water. Marine unit members could be seen descending long ladders that first responders had placed in the water on the far side of the break wall, opposite to the docking area of the harbor. No further information from officers at the scene was immediately available, Chicago police said. It was not known how the person came to be in the water, or whether only one person or more than one person was involved in the incident. No further details were immediately available.
The Independent
08-05-2025
- General
- The Independent
Catholic Chicagoans celebrate as native son Pope Leo XIV becomes first American pope
After white smoke billowed Thursday from the Sistine Chapel, signaling that a pope had been chosen, students in every classroom at The Frances Xavier Warde School in Chicago had their eyes glued to TV screens. As the image of the new pope, Chicago native Cardinal Robert Prevost, appeared onscreen, cheers erupted through the hallways. Children jumped out of their seats, pumping their hands in the air. 'Our students are just beside themselves," said Mary Perrotti, director of advancement at the school. 'They're beyond excited and can't believe a Chicagoan is their new pope. They were in awe.' Prevost, 69, took the name Leo XIV and replaced Pope Francis, who died last month. The first American elected pontiff, Pope Leo XIV was born and raised in Chicago before undertaking his ministry in Peru. Catholic Chicagoans gathered in churches and celebrated from their homes as the historic decision was announced. 'Our young people have a model now of a leader with justice and compassion at the heart of his ministries — and who is from their home,' Perrotti said. "It's such a deep feeling of connection for them.' Prevost was born in 1955 in the south side Chicago neighborhood of Bronzeville and grew up in suburban Dolton, where he attended Mass and elementary school at St. Mary of the Assumption. He later studied theology at the Catholic Theological Union of Chicago in Hyde Park and taught in local Catholic schools, including at St. Rita High School, according to the school. Linda Eickmann, 62, was also born and raised in Dalton and attended St. Mary's. When she saw the news of the new pope on TV, she screamed with joy. 'How cool is that?" she said. "A pope from my elementary school, from my town. It's unreal.' Eickmann remembered Prevost's family as being so deeply involved in the St. Mary's community that everyone knew their names. They ran sloppy joe sales to raise money for the school, and all their sons were altar boys, including Prevost. Everyone at St. Mary's knew Prevost wanted to be a priest one day, Eickmann said. Raul Raymundo, co-founder of a local community advocacy group called the Resurrection Project, said Thursday was a proud day for Chicagoans and hoped Pope Leo XIV will "continue Pope Francis' legacy and Chicago's legacy of social justice and compassion, especially in welcoming immigrants.' 'There's tears of joy, of hope, of motivation to rise to this moment and leave this world better than we found it," said Raymundo, an immigrant from Mexico who grew up in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood. At Holy Name Cathedral, about two dozen people gathered to pray as light filtered in through the stained glass windows. Father Gregory Sakowicz, the cathedral's rector, said that when the new pope was announced, the sun came out in the city — a coincidence that he described as 'God's way of remaining anonymous.' He said he was 'happily shocked,' and that he had a burning question: Whether the new Pope was a White Sox fan? When a journalist in the crowd said she'd heard Pope Leo XIV is a Cubs fan, Sakowicz chuckled. 'God bless him,' he said. Social media also erupted with excitement over Pope Leo XIV's Chicago connection and people swapped memes and jokes about Chicago staples — deep-dish and tavern-style pizza, the Chicago liqueur Malort and baseball. Many users also proclaimed hope the new pope would represent Chicago's history of social justice. 'For Catholic Chicagoans, to have a native son who has been born and raised in a city where support and care of all has always been central to who we are as a city, it really speaks volumes," Perrotti said. "I truly believe his upbringing in Chicago informs his ministries, his compassion and sense of justice. Now, he can give the world a sense of who we are as a city.'
