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Problems associated with divisions by neighborhood and race aren’t new to Peoria. But solutions are needed more than ever. BY ANDY KRAVETZ AND CHRIS KAERGARD OF THE JOURNAL STAR

hen a financial website declared the Peoria area one of the most challenging places in the nation for African-Americans to live, the statistics it cited helped reignite a long-simmering discussion about the disparity between neighborhoods and races within the city. Public officials and neighborhood leaders have engaged in many conversations, formal and informal, over the ensuing months about the problems identified in the survey and what can be done about them. Finding the problems is easy, many of those individuals have said, pointing to a host of them that rise from unemployment and earning power and snowball in complexity as they affect other areas of residents’ lives. But many of those same people have been vigilant about looking for positive steps that are leading to improvement within more disadvantaged regions of the city, and about encouraging people to join the effort to create new opportunities in those neighborhoods.

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EDITOR’S NOTE: Last year’s report by 247WallSt.com listing Peoria as one of the 10 worst metropolitan areas for African-Americans raised many eyebrows. Today, the Journal Star begins a yearlong series looking in-depth at some of the disparities, not just by race but also by city region, across Peoria — from income and employment to education, entrepreneurship opportunities, availability of housing and health care. We’ll look beyond the numbers into what this means for residents in our community — looking at what’s being done to address problems, what promises have been made and kept, and where we’re seeing successes that should be celebrated.

A fitting tribute Despite season-ending injury, Morton star Chandler Ryan takes the court in state championship game BY ADAM DUVALL OF THE JOURNAL STAR

NORMAL — Tears welled and chills ran

RON JOHNSON/JOURNAL STAR

Morton’s Chandler Ryan gets a hug from assistant coach Brooke Bisping after she wore her jersey and stepped onto the court during Saturday’s IHSA Class 3A state girls basketball championship.

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down the spines of those in attendance at Redbird Arena as soon as Chandler Ryan rose off the bench. The Morton senior checked into the Class 3A state championship game to Saturday afternoon’s biggest ovation. She stood on the floor for mere seconds before coach Bob Becker called timeout and got his all-stater out of the game.

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“Great kid,” Becker said following his team’s 58-41 victory over Chicago North Lawndale for back-to-back girls basketball state titles. “I love all of our kids that play  Morton avenges for us, but Chandler’s been really special. earlier loss to North “I’ve been blessed to Lawndale to win coach her.” second-straight In the ninth game of state title. Page D1 the season, the reigning Journal Star LargeSchool Player of the Year went down with a season-ending ACL injury. Ryan was averaging 19.2 points a game and was poised for yet another big season.

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in the 1970s and 1980s. But then things changed.” Ricca, Shrode and Carter gathered recently at Ricca’s house and, over chicken soup and sandwiches, they discussed what they think are the root causes. They agreed housing has played a large part. The homes aren’t kept up. Many have lead paint, which can lead to debilitating childhood issues, and others have been run down to the point where they aren’t safe. The banks, they said, hurt the situation by not giving loans to people to fix up their homes or even to buy homes. As such, the number of renters grew while homeowners left. And the landlords didn’t help either, they said. “Oh, there are good ones, but the biggest majority of the landlords are people who are just in it for the money,” Ricca said. “They come in, buy up homes for $3,000 or $4,000, and then don’t put a penny into them. They let them go until they just tear them down.”

DISPARITY Continued from Page A1

The problem

The report last October from 247WallSt.com ranked Peoria sixth in the 10 “worst cities for African Americans” — one of four in Illinois to make the list alongside the Chicago metro area, Rockford and Kankakee — looked at local data on population diversity, employment rates, annual earnings and some statewide data, including incarceration rates. The concerns identified there are evident in a closer look at data for neighborhoods in older areas of the city, from the North Valley and East Bluff. But they appear most prevalent in South Peoria, which has the largest concentration of minorities — including African-Americans — in the region. Using data gathered by the U.S. Census Bureau through the yearly American Community Survey, the numbers for South Peoria and its main 61605 ZIP code reflect a disparity for all residents — black and white — with other parts of the city: ■ The unemployment rate, at 21.6 percent from 2010-14 data, is more than double the overall city’s rate. ■ Residents make less money than in any other Peoria ZIP code. ■ Educationally, residents don’t go as far in school and have fewer degrees — associate, bachelor’s or higher. ■ More people are recipients of public aid. ■ Renters edge out homeowners, the only ZIP code where this is the case other than the 61606 enclave where most Bradley University students live. Within the city as a whole, the median annual household income — half the residents make more; half make less — is $46,062. In 61605, the median income is less than half that rate, $21,527. In Peoria overall, more than half of the population between 18 and 24 has at least some college education or an associate’s degree. Add in those who have received their bachelor’s degree, and that figure rises to 63 percent. In South Peoria, it’s the opposite. According to U.S. Census data, 73 percent of those within that age range in the 61605 ZIP code have no more than a high school diploma.

Jobs first

drives family health. All of those things are impacted by the head of household, whether that’s a female or a male, being unemployed or being underemployed.” For those who are working two jobs to make ends meet, it affects the amount of time parents can devote to kids who need help “for homework, for life skills, knowing where they are at night,” Moore says. Race plays a part in that disparity seen across ZIP codes, says Laraine Bryson, president of the Tri-County Urban League. “When you think about it, how do you get a good job and live in a good neighborhood? You usually start with a good job,” she said. “And if you live in a good neighborhood, then your children will go to better schools.” Meanwhile, being unemployed or underemployed also narrows your choices in where to live or what you can afford to pay for a dwelling, Moore noted. “We have the working poor who live here,” says Lorraine Carter, president of the Martin-Western South Side Neighborhood Association. “A lot of them move into this area as the rents are not as high as up north or in other places. A lot of people can’t afford to buy homes and they don’t have the good work history so they can’t get credit.” And that, Moore says, doesn’t just tie into the ability to be upwardly mobile, it puts a damper on entrepreneurship. While there are more minority-owned and -operated

businesses in Peoria than many people realize, she said there are not nearly as many as there could be. “When you’re unemployed or underemployed, you can barely buy groceries and school supplies, so you can’t put money aside to save for this business venture,” she said. “You could have a great idea, you could have the cure for cancer, but because you cannot afford to go to a bank to get a loan for the equipment to do what you need to do to bring that to fruition, that goes wanting.” Wayne Cannon, the director of adult services at Common Place, says more needs to be done to provide better job opportunities for people. Peoria, he said, is a small town and it’s the small businesses that can provide most of the jobs.

Changes, not for the good Bryson grew up near the Urban League’s MacArthur Boulevard offices. Then, most people were homeowners. People weren’t rich, but they had a job that could support a family. And she remembers South Peoria being dotted with businesses that people could walk to and support. But as the jobs vanished, the neighborhood changed. Homeowners turned into renters. Those who could move away did. And some homes became vacant. That’s reflective of a change that the south side has undergone in the past half-century. For decades, the area covered by the 61605 ZIP code has been seen as a blue-collar, work-

ing-class area — as were the North Valley and East Bluff. “When I was a child, we weren’t poor, we were the middle class. Most people worked at Caterpillar,” said Lavetta Ricca, the head of the Olde Towne South Neighborhood Association and an activist who has bent many a City Council member’s ear about the issues in South Peoria. “It was the most wonderful place in the world to grow up. We didn’t own a car, but we didn’t need one. We had grocery stores, beauty shops, bakeries, you name it, we didn’t need a car. It was a city within a city.” In the 1930s, the federal government opted to demolish several homes in the area deemed uninhabitable. In their place went Warner Homes and Harrison Homes, public housing complexes designed to provide temporary housing for veterans returning from World War II. Then, in the 1970s, more homes and buildings, just south of Downtown, were razed. But where other parts of the city gained new homes and population, South Peoria didn’t. Instead, the housing stock got older. Bobette Shrode, one of Ricca’s neighbors, moved into South Peoria in the early 1970s. She grew up near Sheridan Village but opted to start her new life with her husband several blocks south. She, too, remembers a more serene area. “There was no place my children couldn’t go,” she said. “And this was back

Urban renewal was supposed to cure blight and fix “broken” neighborhoods. But it didn’t, Bryson of the Urban League says. Like Cannon, she points to the city’s demolition of several blocks in what was known as Southtown. Scores of residents were moved from the area just south of Downtown to other parts of town. And the planned development didn’t happen as quickly as hoped. A recession in the 1980s, combined with layoffs at Caterpillar Inc. and a general downturn, left wide swaths of land empty. It’s only been in the past 15 to 20 years that much of Southtown has been built up. “You could knock down three houses on the block and leave two on each end,” she said. “What does that do the neighborhood and by the time you knocked down those homes, they had been vacant for a few years. What do you think that does to property values?”

Residents rally The 247WallSt.com report last year “struck a chord in town,” Councilwoman Moore says. But it also emphasized the need for follow through. “I’ve asked people, ‘So, what are you doing in response to that?’ (Then there’s the sound of) crickets,” Moore said. “A lot of people are saying, ‘Something needs to be done about that. They need to do something.’ Well, what is the ‘something’ and who are the ‘they’? Because, I submit, you look in the mirror, and that’s the ‘they.’” Moore says there’s been significant improvement in the number of residents paying attention and getting involved and points to the Southside Community United for Change organization — a coalition of neighborhood associa-

Community interest Still more aid — and attention — comes from organizations across the community that tackle specific needs, allowing residents greater opportunities.

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In understanding why these disparities exist, policymakers, leaders of area not-for-profits and residents alike point to the challenge of employment. “Unemployment drives everything,” says Peoria Councilwoman Denise Moore, whose First District incorporates both South Peoria and the North Valley. “Unemployment drives the economics of a household, it drives student achievement, it

Attempted improvements

tions and individuals that brings in 30 to 50 residents a month for meetings — as a group that has built substantial momentum. The accomplishments from SCUC include starting a litter patrol to address one prevalent problem in the neighborhoods, and establishing a “tool library” so that residents who can’t afford home repair equipment can have access to it and improve their property. As far as bringing pride back to the community, for the last two years they’ve had a Christmas tree on an empty lot. They spend their own money and they kept that tree lit for the whole season, and it started to bring back pride for the community because it was like a barbecue to come out and decorate that tree. Such small-scale ideas give people confidence to begin thinking larger, Moore said. “There’s no magic to it. But if you grow up in an environment where your ideas aren’t encouraged, then you think your ideas have no value,” she said. “But when you hear people say, ‘Yeah, that’s a great idea, why don’t you go do that? And we can make it better by tweaking it, doing this or doing that.’ That is what is starting to happen now on a bigger scale.” There’s also one more factor: The combined voices through SCUC help Moore advocate for more attention to that part of the city on specific projects, whether infrastructure work or other improvements. The group’s efforts have also encouraged individual neighborhood associations to become more vocal about their needs. And, as an elected official, she says that attention also creates a demand for accountability from her. “I tell them, don’t let me off the hook,” Moore says. The Local Initiatives Support Corporation’s attention to the East Bluff and South Peoria has also created clear pockets of improvement in those neighborhoods. Moore cites small-dollar awards for improvement projects — “small wins that are helping to encourage and inspire those in the community who didn’t think they could do it, who now know they can do it” — alongside larger efforts. The East Bluff ’s success with federal grant money for building new homes, as well as the city’s decision to offer matching funds from tax-increment financing district growth for exterior home repairs have caught the eye of South Peoria residents hoping that LISC and the city can duplicate those efforts in their own neighborhoods.

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Later this month

Continued from Page A14

Whether it’s underemployment hurting a family’s budget or the fact that much of South Peoria exists within a “food desert” — a region without a grocery store — Neighborhood House President and CEO Becky Rossman says “hunger is a huge problem” for children. Recently, Neighborhood House started feeding children before and after school. It provides as many 350 “snack packs” for children to bring home on weekends. During the summer, the agency serves as many as 77 children a day for lunch. Addressing that issue plays into broader ones that affect kids’ futures. “If you are not eating, it’s hard to

 A historical look at the growth of the African-American population in Peoria.  Several black entrepreneurs discuss challenges they’ve faced in business and offer ideas on how others can surmount them. learn,” Rossman said, days before the announcement that a Save-A-Lot grocery would open at the site of the former Aldi store that was the only grocery in South Peoria. Still more strength comes from individuals who are determined to make improvements in their part of the city. For Ricca, Carter and Shrode, they’ve raised children here and own

their dwellings. It’s their home, and they aren’t leaving behind a lifetime of memories. “I can still hear my dad telling me when I was 17 years old, I had just gotten married, and he said, ‘The South Side has been good to our family, and now it’s your turn to help the South Side,’ ” Ricca said. “Ever since then, I have been a neighborhood activist.” And there’s optimism that from smaller, manageable steps can come significant progress to combat blight and improve opportunities. Bryson sees the possibilities. “We get one person at a time,” she said with a smile. Andy Kravetz can be reached at [email protected] or 6863283. Follow him on Twitter @AndyKravetz. Chris Kaergard can be reached at [email protected] or 686-3255. Follow him on Twitter @ChrisKaergard.

Scientists: Possible new octopus species found near Hawaii

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This image provided by NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research shows a possible new species of octopus. Scientists say they have discovered what might be a new species while searching the Pacific Ocean floor near the Hawaiian Islands. It’s unusual to find an octopus without fins so deep in the ocean, said Vecchione, who noted that the previous depths at which an octopus without fins was found were all less than 4,000 meters, or 2.5 miles. Two scientists he has consulted “agreed that this

is something unusual and is a depth record ...,” said Vecchione, who is with NOAA’s National Systematics Laboratory. The octopus was discovered during a search of the ocean floor by a remotely operated vehicle from NOAA’s Okeanos Explorer, he said.

U.S. man says he would be ‘lucky’ if part he found is from missing plane SEPANG, MALAYSIA (AP) — An American adventurer said Saturday that it would be a “very lucky discovery” if the piece of aircraft he found on a sandbank off the coast of Mozambique is confirmed to be from the Malaysia Airlines jet that vanished two years ago. Blaine Gibson, who said he’s been searching for Flight 370 over the last year, flew to Malaysia to attend a commemora-

tive ceremony to be held Sunday by families of the 239 people who were on board the plane to mark the second anniversary of its disappearance. Speaking to The Associated Press upon his arrival at the airport outside of Kuala Lumpur, Gibson said that he had wanted no publicity about his Feb. 27 discovery until after the piece was assessed by investigators, but that news of the finding leaked.

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tists say they have discovered what might be a new species of octopus while searching the Pacific Ocean floor near the Hawaiian Islands. On Feb. 27, a team found a small light-colored octopus at a depth of about 2.5 miles in the ocean near Necker Island, said Michael Vecchione of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The octopus did not have fins and all of its suckers were in one row on each arm, Vecchione said. The octopus “did not seem very muscular” and was light colored, he said. “This resulted in a ghostlike appearance, leading to a comment on social media that it should be called Casper, like the friendly cartoon ghost. It is almost certainly an undescribed species ..., “ he said in the statement posted on Wednesday on the NOAA website.

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Family mourns mom, daughter killed in crash Washington woman, 6-year-old remembered with roadside memorial By Andy Kravetz of the Journal Star

WASHINGTON — Evelyn Collins took a deep breath and reflected on the loss of her daughter and her granddaughter, both killed in a horrific crash Friday. “It gives me comfort to know that I raised them in a Christian home, and that Holley was raised in a Christian home,” she said softly. “I have faith in God, and I know they are in a better place.”

Regina A. Swartz, 46, of Washington was killed when her car collided with another vehicle at 5:15 p.m. at the intersection of Cummings Lane and U.S. Route 24. Her daughter, 6-year-old Holley, died hours later at the hospital.   A teenage boy was cited with failing to yield to a red light. Washington Deputy Police Chief Jeff Stevens said Saturday the minor teen, whose name and age haven’t been released, was driving a 2001 Ford Mustang west on

U.S. Route 24 when he ran a red light and struck a 2007 Chevrolet Impala driven by Swartz, who died at the scene. Holley was rushed to the pediatric intensive care unit at OSF Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria but died at 9:38 p.m. Friday, said Peoria County Coroner Johnna Ingersoll. “It was a side impact,” Stevens said. “It looked to me like it was the

RON JOHNSON/JOURNAL STAR

A photograph of Regina A. Swartz and her daughter, Holley, with her husband, Keith Swartz, sits on a memorial left at the intersection of U.S. Route 24 and Cummings Lane on Saturday. Swartz, 46, of Washington was killed when her car collided with another vehicle at the intersection on Friday. Holley, 6, died hours later at OSF Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria.

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ARREST NUMBERS SPOTLIGHT DIVIDE Blacks’ involvement with justice system at odds with population EDITOR’S NOTE: Last year’s report by 247WallSt.com listing Peoria as one of the 10 worst metropolitan areas for African Americans in the United States raised eyebrows. The Journal Star is doing a yearlong series examining some of the disparities, including income, employment, housing, education, entrepreneurship opportunities and health care. Today’s installment looks at the frequency at which African Americans are involved in the justice system compared with their percentage of the population.

By Scott Hilyard of the Journal Star

PEORIA — It’s a quantifiably popular feature of the Journal Star’s website — the daily listing and photographs of people arrested and booked into Peoria County Jail. Frequently it is in the top ranks of the most viewed items posted on pjstar.com. Daily viewers of the rows of photos of the county’s most recent arrested inmates can’t help but be struck by one obvious fact — there is a preponderance of African-American faces staring into the lens

of the county jail booking camera on any given day. Angry. Smiling. Blank. Scared. Wounded. A wide range of emotions are on display. Statistics back up what eyes and minds behold from the daily booking sheet. African Americans are involved in the justice system at rates disproportionate to population numbers. In 2014, the most recent available data from the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority, African Americans SEE DISPARITY, A11

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DISPARITY From Page A1

going through the Peoria County judicial system were admitted to prison at a rate almost three times the number of whites (313 blacks; 134 whites). The demographic makeup of the county is nearly the inverse of the prison statistic. The county population was 72 percent white and 19 percent black in 2014. The numbers of admissions by race are consistent through the years, according to the ICJIA data provided to the Journal Star. There’s more. Statistics show the majority of people arrested in 2014 in the five counties that make up the 10th Judicial Circuit (Peoria, Tazewell, Marshall, Putnam and Stark) were white as opposed to nonwhite, 56 percent to 44 percent, again according to ICJIA data. But like the prison data, the numbers are disproportionate to the demographics of the area. According to the ICJIA, the population of the area was 86 percent white in 2014, 14 percent non-white, a category that includes Hispanics and others. A third category tracks traffic stops made by the police as reported to the Illinois Department of Transportation. In 2015, Peoria police made 4,784 traffic stops, according to the Illinois Traffic Stop Study of 2015. Of those, 2,511 (52.5 percent) were of minority drivers; 2,273 (47.5 percent) were of white drivers. This was despite a demographic breakdown that shows the city of Peoria is 62.4 percent white, 26.9 percent African American, 4.6 percent Asian and 4.9 percent Hispanic, according to 2010 census data. 

“If you don’t stipulate that there is a disparity in the criminal justice system that works against African Americans, then you are fooling yourself,” said Ed Yohnka, communications director for the Illinois branch of the American Civil Liberties Union. “At every level — traffic stops, search consents, arrests, imprisonments — at every level you look at there is a disparate impact in the African-American community.” For instance, Yohnka said, everybody breaks the traffic laws — whether it’s driving one to five mph over the speed limit to non-stop right turns on a red light. Yet African Americans are stopped by the police in numbers greater than their percentage of the population. “Who gets targeted,” Yohnka said. “Traffic stops have become the portal to further law enforcement issues. Often time police officers are looking for ways to begin an investigation with a traffic stop.” Marwin Spiller is associate dean of social sciences at Illinois Central College. He came to central Illinois

from Bangor, Maine, a small city with a small minority population. “With regard to the disparities in prison admissions, yes this is a real problem that I think is caused, in part, by the almost complete social, economic, and physical segregation of black people in general and black men in particular from the day to day operations and happenings of the city,” wrote Spiller in an emailed response to questions on the topic. “Black men in this town do not have any significant or visible presence in any sector of employment, area of government, mainstream organizations or public spaces outside of basketball, the criminal justice system, and predominately black communities and spaces. I lived in the state of Maine prior to moving here, I am no more likely to see an AfricanAmerican male enjoying dinner in Olive Garden on a Friday night or running on the treadmill in the gym here in Peoria as I was in Bangor, Maine.” Because black males are not integrated into the mainstream of city life,

the only interaction or exposure that the white community have with them is through sports or the criminal justice system so incarceration becomes an easy narrative to play out, Spiller said. “As years go by, black people begin to internalize the reality that the white population have of them so they self segregate, accept poverty, poor education, unresponsive leadership and disparities in the criminal justice system as conditions of being black in Peoria,” Spiller wrote. Kevin Lyons served as the Peoria County state’s attorney for 23 years. He is now a judge in the Peoria County 10th Judicial Circuit Court. He frames the issue in economic terms, not racial ones. “Even after I have been here 30 years I begin to think that everybody, not some, everybody that was in jail would come into my courtroom and I would ask them, ‘Are you working,’  and it would come out, of course, ‘No,’” Lyons said during a recent interview in his judge’s chambers. “So I would say ‘When was the last time

you were working,’ and I was stunned to hear them say, ‘I’ve never worked.’ It all funnels down to no one works.” It’s more than high unemployment and a lack of living-wage jobs that leads to eventual contact with the justice system, Lyons said. It’s not only that the people he sees in his courtroom don’t have a job, Lyons believes those people don’t necessarily even want a job. He also equates intransigence with interaction with the criminal justice system. “Unemployment might be high in certain parts of the community, but an overwhelming number of unemployed are not the least bit interested in securing work. Anyone who looks at this  has to think ‘this system is not working,’” Lyons said. “There is some truth to the sad notion that you can be stopped for driving while black. It’s just sad, but there are places that a white American would draw stares if they were driving in certain areas. The same thing happens to black Americans. “ Lyons re-emphasized

that willful, deliberate unemployment is the root of any disparity in the criminal justice system. “But, the No. 1 thing clearly to me that causes a person to be arrested is they have no job. And that goes back to everybody’s grandmother’s remark, idle hands are the devil’s workshop,” Lyons said. “Because if you have nothing to do, as my mother would say, you will find something to do and it’s probably not good. You think it will all self-correct at some point. But it doesn’t.” Karen Wilson is secretary of the local NAACP and a child of the 1970s who recalls visits to school by Officer Friendly. “The black community no longer thinks that Officer Friendly is all that friendly,” Wilson said. “Parents have to teach their black male children how to behave when they’re stopped by the police. But these days, even acting respectful and compliant doesn’t always keep you safe,” she said. Wilson said the preponderance of stops and arrests of African Americans by police officers is ingrained in society, but hopes change is coming. “It has been a police culture, but I think that (Peoria Police) Chief (Jerry) Mitchell is trying to reverse the culture,” she said. “Man got a badge, thought it was permission to mess with you. That’s what needs to change, and maybe with all that is going on in this country there is a reason to be hopeful.” Chief Mitchell did not respond to inquiries for comments for this article. Scott Hilyard can be reached at 686-3244 or by email at shilyard @pjstar.com. Follow him at Twitter.com/scotthilyard.

Political disorder not new for the U.S.

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Violence at Trump rallies drawing comparisons to turmoil in the 1960s BY JERRY SCHWARTZ OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Even before the presidential candidate arrived at the rally, the arena seethed. Fistfights broke out as the national anthem played. Supporters tore up demonstra Protesters tors’ signs, block main road beat them leading to Trump with sticks, campaign rally in pummeled Arizona. Page A2 them with folding  More camchairs. paign updates. The year Page A2 was 1968; the candidate was Alabama Gov. George Wallace. If you’re struggling with feelings of deja vu, you’re not alone. The recent dark turn of the 2016 presidential campaign — the ugly scuffles and confrontations at Donald Trump’s rallies — has brought back memories of the turmoil of the 1960s and fueled fears that America is careening into a similarly angry and violent era. Will it happen? There’s no way of knowing. Some note this is a different time: When Wallace climbed the stage of Detroit’s Cobo arena, on Oct. 29, 1968, college campuses were exploding, American cities were in rubble, and Wallace’s

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Al Wylie has seen a lot of history. An African-American whose family has lived in Peoria since the 1870s, he’s also heard a lot about what life was like back then. “My great-grandmother Mattie Washington was born in Farmville, Va., in 1864,” said Wylie, at his north Peoria home. “She and her husband, Coles, came here around the late 1870s.” Peoria’s African-American history started with families like the Wylies, who moved north for opportunities and settled in cities like Peoria to find work. As the minority population continued to swell in Peoria, equal rights and a better life were sought after, but not always met. That struggle continues today.

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Cedric Riley owns Smokin’ Notes BBQ at the Sterling Bazaar Shopping Center in Peoria. EDITOR’S NOTE: Last year’s report by 247WallSt.com listing Peoria as one of the 10 worst metropolitan areas for African-Americans in the United States raised eyebrows. The Journal Star is doing a yearlong series examining some of the disparities, including income, employment, housing, education, entrepreneurship opportunities and health care. Today’s installment includes interviews with African-American entrepreneurs discussing challenges they have faced and what they think needs to be done. A second story takes a historical look at how African-Americans settled in Peoria and where they are today in the community — geographically and economically. BY PHIL LUCIANO OF THE JOURNAL STAR

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any children on the south end don’t dream big. Their world is too small. That’s how Cedric Riley saw it, firsthand. Riley, who grew up in South Peoria and now owns two businesses, echoes other local black entrepreneurs: African-American youths often don’t see beyond their Peoria neighborhoods. Even if they do well in school, many don’t learn of possibilities in education or careers that push them toward success as adults. “Where there is knowledge, there is power,” says Riley, 39. “In the black com-

munity, there is a lack of knowledge (for youths). They need knowledge about money, about business — just knowledge about how society works.” As with his pals a generation ago, he says black teens of today’s Peoria seek lavish lifestyles seen in hip-hop videos and among flashy neighborhood drug dealers. “You want the materialistic things in life, but you don’t know how to get the money,” Riley says. “If you work at McDonald’s, you can’t afford an Escalade.” That’s the temptation that tripped up a young man Riley recently got to know. Riley tries to give second chances to people with troublesome pasts, often hiring them at his

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Early history The first documented black person to live in Peoria was Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, a French speaker from Santo Domingo who purchased land here in 1773. Described by a British army officer as “a handsome, well-educated Negro,” du Sable “cultivated land and built a house between the old fort, above the present Mary Street, and the new settlement which was below the present Liberty Street,” wrote sociologist Romeo B. Garrett, Bradley University’s first AfricanAmerican professor. Du Sable lived in Peoria for at least 10 years before becoming the first permanent settler of Chicago. Though the inhabitants of Peoria were subject to a 1787 law forbidding slavery in the northwest territories, there is evidence slaves were kept by residents.

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Continued from Page A1 Smokin’ Notes BBQ and RTC Trucking. One new hire had spent time in prison for robbing a store. To Riley, he said he’d pulled the gun after concluding he had no prospects for a career or advancement. Riley hired him to drive a dump truck. One day, as they rode in the truck together, the ex-con grew quiet as the two overlooked a job site. As a kid, the worker had known no older males with a steady job. “You know,” the worker said, staring at all of the trucks moving about the site, “if I had known, something like this existed, I probably wouldn’t have robbed that store.” Many black teens falsely envision only two career choices: low income or illegal income. That’s evident to Leslie McKnight, who manages economic development programs for the city of Peoria. Even African-American adults aren’t aware of opportunities and programs. “In my work in the community, I have an opportunity to talk with the youth, families and businesses that reside in the south side,” says McKnight, who also operates a management-consulting firm, McKnight and Associates. “Their common concerns are not knowing what resources are available to assist them, and not having immediate access to available resources. What can occur in a community hindered from resources is a perpetual generational cycle of complacency, despair and even apathy.” A report this year by the Great Cities Institute at the University of Illinois at Chicago found that 30.8 percent of 20- to 24-yearold black men were out of work and out of school in Los Angeles and New York City — a figure that hits almost 50 percent in Chicago. In the same age group, the rate was 20 percent for Hispanic men and 10 percent for white men. As summed up by the

New York Times’ editorial board, “The crisis of permanent joblessness is concentrated in minority neighborhoods where it feeds street violence, despondency, health problems and a socially corrosive brand of hopelessness among the young. The problem extracts a heavy social cost in those neighborhoods and threatens the viability of entire cities.” Education is often stressed as a key, but not just via the classroom. A 2014 paper from the Center for Law and Social Policy, an advocacy group for lowincome people, stressed that schools need more counselors to encourage minority students to take college-track classes and to assist parents in shepherding their kids through the college-application and financial-aid processes. “Many school counselors feel their graduate training did not adequately prepare them for their role in urban settings,” the center found. How can young AfricanAmericans — from kids on up — find a trajectory for success? And once there, how can that success be sustained? For insight, the Journal Star contacted four local, black entrepreneurs.

ship opportunities.

Solutions

■ Entrepreneurship. “Entrepreneurship is not just a business model. When you are entrepreneurial in thought, you are always thinking of solutions and you seek out opportunities. You possess innovative and creative thinking, which is expressed through a willingness to set goals and accomplish them. The entrepreneurial mindset should be taught in schools. ■ New approaches. “Create a built-in living environment where AfricanAmericans can be exposed to diverse opportunities and resources within their community. This ecosystem model requires direct investment of all sectors (i.e. health, education, employers and government) to create a healthy and safe living environment where community members can have immediate access to stable housing and health services, employers willing to hire locally, and public and private educational institutions.”

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Challenges

■ Poverty: “Ninety percent of Peoria’s African-American population lives in the south side of Peoria, and 65 percent of the AfricanAmericans within this area live in poverty. This shocking statistic, coupled with chronic disinvestment in the area, hinders all factors in the community related to progressive education, health, housing, employment, and entrepreneur-

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Challenges

Challenges

■ Bigotry. “As an AfricanAmerican man, you don’t get treated very well.” ■ Haplessness among young people. “You feel you are in a cage. How do you get out of that cage?”

Solutions

■ Help with basics. Entrepreneurs know their expertise, but not always necessities like tax requirements and other fiscal duties. “I didn’t know anything about bookkeeping.”

■ Networking. “I feel some of the challenges we as African-Americans face are the ability to network with various organizations that have the resources we can tap into to get our businesses started.

Solutions

■ Awareness. “Train young people how to interact within certain environments and get them to feel comfortable approaching those who are already in business. That might be one way to get young people thinking about business ownership.” ■ Mentors. “A mentoring program can be set up with small businesses to train young people how to stage a business for the best marketing effect, how to provide the best customer service, how to write business plans and how to assemble proper financial statements.”

PHIL LUCIANO is a Journal Star columnist. He can be reached at [email protected], facebook.com/philluciano or (309) 6863155. Follow him on Twitter @LucianoPhil.

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■ Lack of capital and lack of help with strategies to handle economic fluctuations. “Being in business in Peoria has been challenging. Although I have been blessed to stay up and running, I see many other black business fail on a daily basis.” ■ Racism. “I will probably never reach a relevant level (of success) because of my skin color. It’s common in the black business world.”

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Solutions

■ Battle plan. Create template business plans and market strategies for would-be entrepreneurs preparing to borrow money. “No working capital, no business.” ■ Partners. “Develop limited partnerships to shore

■ More outreach, less bureaucracy. Service agencies don’t always seem in touch. “They need to get out into the community and see what is happening.”

Cedric Riley Smokin’ Notes BBQ, 3311 N. Sterling Ave. (309) 966-0076 smokinnotesbbq.com RTC Trucking, 2006 S. Griswold St. (309) 966-2951

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THE McROBERTS MEMORIAL LAW SCHOLARSHIP FUND The will of Mrs. Hattie Feger McRoberts, who died on April 8, 1953, established a scholarship fund for the purpose of offering financial aid to deserving individuals who wish to study law. PNC Bank, as Trustee of the McRoberts Memorial Law Scholarship Fund, is pleased to announce that we are now accepting applications for the 2016-2017 academic year. Selection of those who are to receive aid is made by a board of three Nominators as provided in the will.

An applicant for the scholarship must meet the following qualifications: • The applicant must have been a resident of Peoria County for at least five years immediately preceding selection. • By the end of the academic year in which the award is made, the applicant must have completed such college courses as will enable immediate enrollment in a recognized law school. • The applicant must require financial assistance in order to obtain a legal education. Applications must be post marked no later than May 31, 2016, and it is expected that the awards will be made within sixty days thereafter. Additional information and applications may be obtained by contacting:

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By Laura Nightengale of the Journal Star EDITOR’S NOTE: Last year’s report by 247WallSt.com listing Peoria as one of the 10 worst metropolitan areas for African Americans in the United States raised eyebrows. The Journal Star is doing a yearlong series examining some of the disparities in Peoria, including income, employment, housing, education, business opportunities and health care. Today’s installment examines housing and the higher percentage of African Americans living in lower-income residential areas.

PEORIA — Martha Ross continues to live on Peoria’s south side although she has had opportunities to move to a neighborhood with a better reputation. “Sometimes when I hear gunshots, which I do a lot, I say to myself, ‘I should be moving somewhere else.’ I’ve stayed because I want to make a difference. I want to make things change and change for the better,” Ross said. A South Peoria resident for 36 years, president of the Peoria Public Schools Board and president of the Goose Lake neighborhood association, Ross understands the issues facing her community, including the concentration of often poor, often black families in the city’s neglected southern end. She’s hesitant to use the word “segregation” — she grew up in Mississippi during a time when blacks worked long days in the cotton fields, could attend only designated schools SEE DISPARITY, A19

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Stacy Hardin was busy making hundreds of soy candles and then selling them at the recent Pekin Marigold Festival.

Quest for the perfect candle leads to Peoria business By Thomas Bruch of the Journal Star

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box full of empty candle jars resides on the front porch of Stacy Hardin’s home, a harbinger of what the inside contains. Candles are stacked against one wall and then another, boxes full of them in every seeming fragrance. It’s a modest, one-story home in central Peoria, but in the fall the Hardin home resembles a miniature soy candle factory.

“Basically, the candles take over the whole house,” Hardin laughed. Fall is the busy season for Hardin Soy Candles, the homemade and handpoured candle business that Hardin started in 2003. The seasons change, the temperatures cool and the inviting flame of a candle is indulged. The exposure to customers also increases with the collection of festivals in the fall. In any given week from September through December, Hardin produces SEE CANDLES, A20

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Overhauling ‘motor voter’ to increase registered voters By Rebecca Beitsch

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That’s the idea behind “automatic registration,” which five states have adopted and two dozen others have considered in the past two years. Jonathan Brater of the Brennan Center for Justice, a public policy institute at the New York University School of Law, said

voter ID laws may get more attention, but getting more Americans registered to vote could have the biggest impact on elections. “Registration is one of the biggest barriers to voting,” Brater said. “Every election, thousands of people go to the polls and can’t vote because of complications

with registration.” Under the federal Motor Voter Act, which went into effect in 1995, states must offer to register any eligible citizen who seeks a new driver’s license or public assistance. But in many states, SEE VOTERS, A14

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DISPARITY From Page A1

and water fountains and weren’t welcome on a certain side of a metaphorical railroad track — but she has no doubt that there’s disparity between the blacks and whites in Peoria. “Now I think the railroad track is still there, but it’s camouflaged. If you can afford it, you can go across it, and you can have everything everyone else can have,” Ross said.

Segregation Words such as “segregation,” “integration” and “racism” are perhaps more likely discussed in a history class than they are in a city planning meeting in 2016. Segregation, many people believe, was ended long ago. Didn’t the Fair Housing Act of 1968 take care of that?  But Peoria, despite being

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on the cutting edge of fair housing issues when it passed its own fair housing law five years ahead of the federal act, is, statistically, one of the most segregated communities in the country and was named last year by 24/7 Wall St. one of the 10 worst U.S. cities for black residents. A numeric measure called a Dissimilarity Index is used to quantify the extent of segregation between two groups by comparing how two populations are distributed across a certain area. The DI is measured on a scale of 0 to 100 and is used to indicate what percentage of a group would have to relocate in order to be equally distributed. A DI of zero would indicate a perfectly integrated, evenly dispersed population; a DI score of greater than 60 is considered very high segregation, according to Brown University,

Report it If you suspect you have been subject to discrimination when trying to buy, rent, lease, finance or sell a home, you can contact the Fair Housing Project at Prairie State Legal Services by calling toll free, (855) 347-7757. Protected classes include race, national origin, sex, religion, disability and family status, among others.

one of two organizations that measures DI. In 2000, Peoria area’s white-African American DI score was 75.7, ranking 23rd highest of 318 metropolitan areas using census data from that year. It was in light of this revelation that Prairie State Legal Services expanded its fair housing program in 2014 using a federal grant, but Melanie Cannon, the staff attorney who heads the project, said so far they’ve been underwhelmed by the number of

racial discrimination cases brought to the office. What they discovered were few cases of blatant, outright racial discrimination, but more subtle forms of racism and wide disparities in access to economic opportunities. It’s difficult to categorize Peoria’s statistically segregated status as an issue of race or socioeconomic segregation because the two factors are so closely tied together.  The Tri-County Regional Planning Commission drafted in 2014 a Regional Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing, in which the commission identified five census tracts that qualify as racially concentrated areas of poverty, as defined by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Each of these five tracts were located in South Peoria, occupied by a majority of

black residents and had a poverty rate above 40 percent. The  report made no inferences as to why such segregation exists in the community, acknowledging the complex social phenomenon is affected by many factors.

Disinvestment Almelia Nickels, who has lived in her south side home off MacArthur Highway for nearly 40 years, sees fewer people willing to make investments in her neighborhood. When one of those longtime homeowners moves or dies, the property often becomes a rental, or worse, remains vacant because of a lack of interest from potential buyers. Vacant homes and rental properties owned by absentee landlords, she said, contribute to the decline of the neighborhood’s aesthetic

and reputation in the community.  “When I’m trying to pick up my area and make it look nice, some of my neighbors are not doing that,” Nickels said. The pattern of disinvestment, she says, mirrored the phenomenon of “white flight” as caucasians left the south side for outlying areas. “I remember when coming up here visiting back in the ’60s, they used to have signs about littering. You would be fined,” said Nickels, whose brother lived in South Peoria at that time. “When the majority of whites moved out of the area, the signs left.”  Peoria’s black population swelled from 1940 to 1970, mostly because of families seeking job opportunities in the blossoming manufacturing industries.

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Jimmy Binkley parties Before Halloween, I asked for help (gifts and stuffed animals) for the annual Jimmy Binkley Christmas Party for Seniors. And the Dec. 1 soiree went off wonderfully as always, with entertainment and food aplenty (along with gifts and stuffed animals) for 200 guests at the American Legion Post 979 in Bartonville. But, even more than last year, donors responded with overabundance. Thanks

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LOCAL

Spirit of giving thrives locally an’t find the Christmas spirit? You must not be looking in Peoria. In addition to everything else this town does come December, readers have outdone themselves in lending a yuletide hand regarding efforts and problems spotlighted in this space. Maybe, sometimes, I take reader benevolence for granted. A story will appear here, and readers fill the gap — usually without my asking for anything. When I take time to think about it, I’m amazed at the resources they give abundantly. Grumblers often complain that newspapers don’t run enough upbeat news. So, to give thanks, along with perhaps fostering more good cheer, let’s take a look at how you readers have been putting extra ho-ho-ho in the holidays.

TODAY

Vigil for missing boy One month to the day since a teenage Pekin boy seemingly vanished, his friends, family and supporters came together for a candlelight vigil Saturday. They prayed for the safe return of Robert Bee Jr. B1

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SPORTS

Area residents and officials discuss possible solutions to racial inequality By Thomas Bruch of the Journal Star

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here was a time when Keri Hayes was just another member of the community, going about life in Peoria. She arrived here in her late teens in 2001, went to college and has spent her adult life working here now as a consultant for an employment office. But somewhere along the way something changed for Hayes. Maybe it was her brother’s prison sentence, in which she has fought for years the premise of the charges, or the hiring practices she has witnessed or the distressed neighborhoods she’s lived in. Whatever it was, the 15 years of living here has shifted her perception of Peoria. And then

in 2015, the city was named the sixth-worst metropolitan area in the United States for black residents, compared with their white counterparts, in a report by the business website 24/7 Wall St. This year, 24/7 Wall St. declared Peoria the worst city for black residents. The city of Peoria responded to the latest ranking by hosting a community forum six weeks after the report was published to determine what needs to be done to address the disparity in the community. The forum at the Gateway Building attracted a diverse group of more than 300 people; the city anticipated an audience of about 120. At the forum, those attending sat at tables for 12 and talked through possible solutions to the

racial inequality. The solutionbased workshop format drew plaudits from many people, but the forum had its critics from those in attendance who have been living or working in these troubled neighborhoods. Some expressed the sentiment that the exercise jumped to the solution stage without identifying root causes of these issues. Some felt jaded that the meeting was being held three months prior to the election of many municipal positions. Jimena Lopez, who works as a Spanish interpreter in Peoria County, showed up on behalf of the Hispanic community in Peoria, a population enduring similar disparities. She felt as if

The force is with the Rivermen Peoria Rivermen win 4-3 against the Evansville Thunderbolts on Saturday during Star Wars night at Carver Arena. C1

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Family’s donation honors ‘nutty’ Newtson brothers By Nick Vlahos of the Journal Star

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Today’s TODAY: $4,340 TO DATE: $100,480.25 list: A12 GOAL: $155,000 DONATE: christmasfunddonation.com This is a 501(c)3 contribution and may qualify for your employer’s matching gift program.

BARTONVILLE — There’s plenty James Rathbun could say about his late brothers-in-law, but one thing appears certain: They were pretty nutty. Rathbun might not be the only one who felt that way about Ron and Ricky Newtson. And those who did didn’t mean that in a negative sense, evidently. “Their names come up all the

time,” Rathbun, a Bartonville resident, said about the Newtsons. “They were just good people.” Good enough for Rathbun and his wife, Glenna, to want to memorialize them though the Journal Star Christmas Fund. Among the hundreds of donations the newspaper has received this year was one from the Rathbuns. Their $200 gift is helping to purchase food baskets and toy-stuffed stockings for needy

families in Fulton, Peoria, Tazewell and Woodford counties. The Rathbuns’ generosity came with a dedication: “In memory of Ricky and Ron, the ‘Nutty’ Brothers.” The nickname is a play on the Newtsons’ surname, James Rathbun said. Childhood playmates, including Rathbun, coined it. Ron Newtson, older than Ricky SEE NEWTSON, A12

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DISPARITY



there had been a lack of introspection on the part of elected officials. “They’ve been in charge during all of this,” Lopez said. Many, however, are proceeding with guarded optimism. Almost everyone lauded the overwhelming attendance. Now people are wondering if the commitment will be there from all sides to produce real change this time. New NAACP President the Rev. Marvin Hightower noted there are many tough conversations to be had on the matter of race itself, but that a “strategic inflection point” has been reached. “People are interested, people are listening and people are ready and willing to do something,” Hightower said. “We can address this now. We can’t put it off.”

NAACP President the Rev. Marvin Hightower

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No surprises In Hayes’ mind, the 2015 report listing Peoria as one of the worst cities for black residents didn’t surprise many people. “I don’t think many people in the black community would disagree with that,” Hayes said. “I think it’s 100 percent accurate.” The general consensus from residents, leaders and employees of the agencies and not-for-profits of the predominantly African American parts of the city either agree with the report’s findings or — short of agreeing with the actual numerical designation given to the city — concur that the underlying issues contributing to the report’s findings are indeed plaguing those communities. “The report told us what we knew was already happening,” First District Councilwoman Denise Moore has said several times.

People are interested, people are listening and people are ready and willing to do something. We can address this now. We can’t put it off.”

Throughout 2016, the Journal Star has published a series of stories highlighting the disparities affecting black residents of Peoria. These stories ran the gamut of topics, from income to housing to health care to jobs. When asked about the disparities she sees in her life, Hayes repeated most of those same topics from her own observations: education, segregation, lack of employment opportunities. She couldn’t chalk up a problem to financial literacy — because of the rampant poverty in many cases, there aren’t finances to budget. “There are so many levels to this,” Hayes said.

The city’s next step City Manager Patrick Urich wrote a nine-page response letter to the 24/7 Wall St. findings that was read at a City Council meeting last month. His letter examined the website’s use of regional and state U.S. Census data to draw conclusions for the city. Urich said he didn’t identify the use of that data as a flaw in the report necessarily, but he did think it illustrated that the disparity is in part a regional problem. The letter is posted on the city’s website. Urich added that media reports, including the Journal Star’s City of Disparity series, that focused on the issue solely in the context of the city of Peoria gave other parts of the region a pass on its role in the problem and its part in helping find solutions. At the same time, he was adamant in recognizing the extent of the inequality that persists within city limits. “There are significant issues of disparity even inside the city as much as there are in the

region,” Urich said. “I’m not trying to say the city is off the hook. What I’m saying is that everybody plays a part.” The suggestions made by those in attendance at the Dec. 6 meeting were compiled by a city staff member sitting at each table and were placed into buckets of different categories: education, asset development, infrastructure, health, work force development and justice. The result of this exercise, Urich said, was to outline a bottom-up approach where the residents are contributing the solutions that they see. City staff members are now parsing through those categorized buckets and a second public report will be written. In the third or fourth week of January, another meeting will be held to address that report and continue the dialogue. Urich said that immediate sessions will be scheduled following that to drill down on the different areas that come out of the report. These are the beginning stages of this process, and the end goal is for the city to create actionable plans based off this community input. “We don’t want to just talk,” Urich said.

Repeat from a decade ago Rita Ali, an Illinois Central College administrator and longtime civic organizer and volunteer, attended the cityled forum. She said she believes some people decided not to attend the meeting because they had heard enough talk over the years and had seen little change. Ali would know — in 2006, a similar group of meetings and action forums were held, called the Covenant With Black America. This initiative was

based off a book of the same name written by Tavis Smiley that gave a template for communities to implement a plan of action for the concerns of African Americans. Ali served on the committee for the local Covenant plan. The process bore a resemblance to what the city is attempting this time around, focusing on individual issues — economics, unequal justice and education — and then translating dialogue to action and implementation. Ali said real strides were accomplished from this initiative, especially in after-school programs. But after a few years, the initiative stalled. Leadership eroded and meetings stopped being scheduled. In one case, a committee head passed away. “Slowly but surely, it fizzled out,” Ali said. To avoid this current effort encountering a similar fate, Ali had some recommendations. The Covenant initiative from 10 years ago involved almost exclusively the black community, Ali said. She credited the Dec. 6 forum this time around for the turnout of the whole community, both white and black residents in large numbers, willing to participate, calling it “a great start.” She also thought there needed to be real commitments from public and private entities in central Illinois in contributing to the solutions. Her strongest concern, though, was the lack of data specific to Peoria alone. Doug MacIntyre, 24/7 Wall St. editorin-chief and CEO, confirmed that many of the cities listed on his publication’s “Worst” lists lack that city-specific data. Ali thought it was difficult to throw resources at a problem without knowing the problem

first, something that data could crystallize. She pointed to the city’s response letter, which stated that the incarceration rate for the city and region is unknown, as a place to start connecting with other agencies. “If we have our own data, no one else from the outside can catch us off guard,” said Ali, who also hoped some of these concerns would be addressed in the January meeting.

Community continues on

Though she expressed dimmed expectations, even Hayes found herself hoping for progress this time. “I’m all for it if there’s actually going to be change,” Hayes said. “I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt for now.” This perspective of wariness, frustration and hope from Hayes comes from years of working toward small advances in improving the conditions for black residents of Peoria, in being active on multiple fronts. Hayes and NAACP secretary Karen Wilson recently organized an event called the Pathway to Manhood Teen Summit, which brought in successful black men from professions other than sports to share their stories with teenage black males. No one RSVP’d ahead of time, but about 50 teens showed up that day — an undeniable success. A Pathway to Womanhood Summit is planned for the spring. She has second-guessed whether all the effort is worth the cost. But Hayes continues on because she believes it’s the right thing to do, and because she wonders if there is any alternative. “It’s tiring. There are times when I want to give up, but I can’t,” Hayes said. “Who else will do it?” Peoria is about to find out.   Thomas Bruch can be reached at 6863262 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @ThomasBruch.