Neighborhood News
As reported by DNAInfo, McKinley Park resident Scott Jacobsen is recovering from injuries suffered when he was hit and dragged for blocks on 35th Street in Bridgeport while bicycling on May 2, 2016. Driver Joshua Thomas was apprehended along with other men in the car, but to date they have only been charged with misdemeanors.
Community members can help Jacobsen and his family offset their medical costs by contributing to his GoFundMe campaign.
The Curbed Chicago website, the local franchise of the national Curbed real estate blog, featured McKinley Park in an extensive photographic walking tour of the neighborhood.
The April 12, 2016, article goes into great depth on the history of the McKinley Park neighborhood and includes lots of excellent photographs.
Click here to read Curb Chicago's virtual walking tour of the McKinley Park neighborhood.
The Midnight Circus, a Chicago Park District program that hosted extremely popular shows in McKinley Park in 2015, will return in 2016 for noon and 3 p.m. shows on Saturday, Sept. 10, and Sunday, Sept. 11, 2016. As detailed in an emailed Park District announcement, the Midnight Circus will perform at ten different Chicago parks in August, September and October this year.
Read more: Midnight Circus Returning to McKinley Park in September 2016
The Aquinas Literacy Center at 3540 S. Hermitage Ave., Chicago, is continuing its program of free language instruction for McKinley Park residents who wish to study English as a second language. Now in its 20th year, the program helps more than 200 students annually by connecting trained volunteer tutors and learners through individualized instruction and access to the center's language lab.
Volunteers are critially needed to meet the high demand for language tutors, and the center is hosting its next training over the evening of Friday, April 29, and the day of Saturday, April 30. Click here for more information; contact Kristen Dempsey Pasyk at (773) 927-0512 or aquinaslite
Read more: Aquinas Literacy Programs Bring Together Tutors, Learners
The McKinley Park Community Garden, which for the past three years has maintained a popular neighborhood gardening program at 1900 W. Pershing Road, has canceled its 2016 season due to the sale of the garden's land and pending development by the new owners. In an email sent to garden members, the group announced that all 2016 gardening was canceled and that everyone who signed up for a plot would receive a refund.
The news came as a surprise to the program, not only that the season was canceled, but also that the land was for sale and then sold. Outreach to the new owners was unsuccessful, as they could not commit to holding off development or re-sale through the 2016 gardening season.
Read more: Community Garden Shut Down: Land Sold, 2016 Season Canceled
