South Side Weekly

South Side Weekly The South Side Weekly is an independent newspaper for and by Chicago's South Side. Over the summer we publish monthly.

We publish in-depth coverage of the arts and issues of public interest alongside oral histories, poetry, fiction, interviews, and artwork from local photographers and illustrators. Started as a student paper at the University of Chicago, the South Side Weekly is now an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting cultural and civic engagement on the South Side, and to providing educa

tional opportunities for developing journalists, writers, and artists. The paper is produced by an all-volunteer editorial staff and seeks contributions from across the city. We distribute each Wednesday in the fall, spring, and winter, with breaks during April and December. A full map of our distribution network is available here. For information about advertising check out our media kit on our website. Send submissions, story ideas, comments, or questions to [email protected] or mail to:

South Side Weekly
6100 S. Blackstone Avenue
Chicago, IL 60637

---

Community Guidelines:

We welcome civil discussion of the issues raised by our posts but hateful language of any kind will be deleted and reported immediately.

In our latest issue: 75,000 gathered in downtown Chicago on June 15 for “No Kings,” a wave of national protest calling t...
06/19/2025

In our latest issue: 75,000 gathered in downtown Chicago on June 15 for “No Kings,” a wave of national protest calling to tax the rich, demand a Gaza ceasefire, and oppose what many call authoritarian moves by the Trump admin.

Photos by Paul Goyette, recap by Jacqueline Serrato.
https://issuu.com/southsideweekly/docs/ssw_06.19.25_72be65d109b238

“We are not seeing any legality or rationality in ICE’s choices of enforcement right now. It’s very much just, if we fee...
06/18/2025

“We are not seeing any legality or rationality in ICE’s choices of enforcement right now. It’s very much just, if we feel like we have some sort of way to deport them, we will,” a lawyer said.

On June 4, ICE agents arrested a community organizer and mother, Gladis Yolanda Chavez Pineda along with at least nine others in Chicago’s South Loop. A petition urging her release has drawn over 10,000 signatures.

"A proposed ordinance being voted on tomorrow would give the Chicago Police Department the unilateral authority to impos...
06/17/2025

"A proposed ordinance being voted on tomorrow would give the Chicago Police Department the unilateral authority to impose “snap curfews” on teens, with no oversight and no clear rules."

Who benefits from snap curfew? Take a look at this Op-Ed by Robert Vargas

What giving police unchecked powers to detain teens means in authoritarian times.

Education, housing, health care, safe neighborhoods, and jobs are all key to upward mobility, but out of reach for many ...
06/09/2025

Education, housing, health care, safe neighborhoods, and jobs are all key to upward mobility, but out of reach for many in Chicago. A new Illinois Answers Project series co-published with the Weekly explores what's driving inequality and where solutions may lie in our latest print issue.

https://issuu.com/southsideweekly/docs/ssw_06.05.25

Home repairs are essential to helping senior Chicagoans stay in their homes as they age. Local organizations are working...
06/04/2025

Home repairs are essential to helping senior Chicagoans stay in their homes as they age. Local organizations are working to provide support without compromising seniors’ ability to pass their homes on to the next generation.

Laura Stewart for Illinois Answers Project

This story was originally published by the Illinois Answers Project as part of their series Making it in Chicago: Detours and Dead Ends on the Path to Opportunity. aShon Minter Williams is waiting for a letter that could arrive any day now—one that may force her to leave the home her family has ow...

Can we build a system that makes room for our freedom?Opinion: Black and Brown Youth Need Commitment, Not Criminalizatio...
06/04/2025

Can we build a system that makes room for our freedom?

Opinion: Black and Brown Youth Need Commitment, Not Criminalization.

✍️ Kofi Ademola and Reynia Jackson

y first time speaking in front of the City Council, with Mayor Richard M. Daley at the helm, was in the 1990s as a teenager arguing against the so-called anti-gang ordinance. What I didn’t know then was how this racist policy was connected to a long historical arc of Chicago controlling, regulatin...

Catch The Weekly's Investigations Editor, Jim Daley, on ABC7 as he discusses his reporting collaboration with the Illino...
06/02/2025

Catch The Weekly's Investigations Editor, Jim Daley, on ABC7 as he discusses his reporting collaboration with the Illinois Answers Project, exploring the links between divestment, poverty, and gun violence.

Block clubs and other community-driven programs offer ways for people to connect to deter violence in Chicago.

The Child Care Assistance Program significantly reduces costs for Illinois families and it can be an essential source of...
05/31/2025

The Child Care Assistance Program significantly reduces costs for Illinois families and it can be an essential source of income for child care businesses.

Yet it doesn’t provide enough relief for many families and providers, an Illinois Answers Project investigation found.

Story by Madison Hopkins and Meredith Newman

While the state infuses hundreds of millions a year into child care programs, the strict eligibility requirements and limitations for its largest child care subsidy exclude tens of thousands of families.

Since 2022, Cook County has spent more than $4 million to forgive nearly $500 million worth of medical debt for 278,000 ...
05/29/2025

Since 2022, Cook County has spent more than $4 million to forgive nearly $500 million worth of medical debt for 278,000 residents.

But an analysis of Cook County’s debt relief accounts show that many of those people should have qualified for free care.

Reporting by Binghui Huang for Illinois Answers Project

Cook County became the first local government to buy medical debts in bulk. But data shows the majority of debt was relieved for people who likely should have qualified for free care—a sign that hospitals are failing to screen for some of the region’s poorest patients.

The secretary of homeland security was in Springfield on Latino Unity Day. It did not go well for her.
05/29/2025

The secretary of homeland security was in Springfield on Latino Unity Day. It did not go well for her.

very spring, hundreds of Latinx residents bus it to Springfield to advocate for their communities and to talk to their state representatives and senators on a variety of issues: immigration reform, public education, healthcare access, and more. Dozens of established non-profit organizations from Chi...

Few recent studies examine how curfews affect public safety in the U.S., and findings are mixed. One found changing curf...
05/23/2025

Few recent studies examine how curfews affect public safety in the U.S., and findings are mixed. One found changing curfew times can backfire. There's no research on letting police declare curfews at will; Chicago may be a first.

Do curfews make us safer? Jim Daley explores this complicated question:

Academic research has found mixed results.

Address

Chicago, IL

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when South Side Weekly posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to South Side Weekly:

Shortcuts

Share

Category