October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month worldwide. The South Side Drive acknowledges the many warriors who survived this horrible disease and our heartfelt condolences to the families of those who didn’t.
This month we also celebrate “Come Alive October 5!” More than a slogan, on that historic day in 1982, over 250,000 new African Americans were registered to vote, empowering our city to elect its first Black mayor, the Honorable Mayor Harold Washington.
Last month’s issue centered almost 90% on men, this month you’ll read about some heroic, strong, and determined women who are working toward restoring our communities. Two of these women, Naomi Davis and Eva Maria Lewis, are about the business of finding ways to erase the disparities between Chicago’s South Side, with its lack of resources and amenities, and Chicago’s North Side, with its abundance of resources and amenities.
As you read the articles in this month’s issue about these two women, you’ll find the similarities remarkable. Although generations apart, they both realized the disparities in their South Side community, by spending time in the resource-rich, amenity-rich neighborhoods on Chicago’s North Side.
Naomi Davis came to Chicago in 2000 to study law and decided to make it her home. Although she lived all over Chicago, her experience living on the North Side planted in her a determination to do whatever she could to make her own community as livable and walkable as possible. What she did almost single-handedly, and what she continues to do as founder and CEO of the Blacks In Green Organization makes for an amazing story.
One year before Naomi Davis came to Chicago; Eva Maria Lewis was born in Chicago’s South Shore Community and raised there by a single mother. In her desire to give Eva Maria the best of everything, and realizing the best educational opportunities were not in her own neighborhood, Eva Maria’s mother sent her daughter to schools outside of her community. When Eva Maria was a senior at Walter Payton College Prep on Chicago’s North Side, she came to the realization that her neighbors deserved the same kind of safe and livable communities that were being experienced by her North Side classmates. At the age of 19, Eva Maria founded the Free Roots Organization, a powerful organization that is making a difference and giving a voice to her community.
Disparities come in many forms, and powerful women working toward closing those disparities come in many professions. Genese (Genny) Turner, described in her LinkedIn profile as a “dreamer and doer all wrapped into one,” is the Director of Health Equity and Strategic Partnerships for the Chicago Department of Public Health. Her work toward closing racial disparities in health currently involves overseeing the expansive Healthy Chicago 2025 Project. We feature Healthy Chicago 2025 in this month’s issue.
These articles highlight the incredible ways women are making a difference, and when hundreds of women come together the impact is a hundred times more awesome. That’s why we are thrilled to present a powerful article in this month’s issue about the work of the world’s leading sorority, AKA (Alpha Kappa Alpha) written by PR Guru and contributing writer, Melody McDowell.
We know that this month ends with Halloween, but we urge parents to plan Halloween fun indoors away from COVID and gun violence.
We’re hoping everyone gets their vaccination to help curb the pandemic so that we can resume our Jazz at the Quarry on Friday evenings soon.
You’ll find our magazine in businesses, cultural institutions, even Aldermen’s offices, and you can also access the full issue at http://southsidedrivemag.com. Please visit and share!
