To help lessen the immediate impact of the Save A Lot closures, Mayor Brandon Johnson announced a partnership between United Way of Metropolitan Chicago and Lyft to provide free round-trip rides to grocery stores in the city.
Mayor Brandon Johnson announced the program, funded by Lyft and administered by the United Way of Metro Chicago, following the abrupt closure of seven Save A Lot stores.
South suburban Ford Heights, one of Cook County’s food deserts, is now home to a high-tech farm thanks to funding from the county and United Way.
A United Way of Metro Chicago event that began as a small mall food drive raised more than 65,000 pounds of nonperishable food and household items for 10 pantries across the south and southwest suburbs Wednesday.
Mayor Brandon Johnson, alongside the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) Commissioner, Dr. Olusimbo Ige and the Mayor’s Office of Reentry director Joseph Mapp and United Way of Metro Chicago announced a $600,000 investment in a new microgrant that will support Chicago organizations who are working to expand mental health care and other wraparound supports for formerly incarcerated people.
As part of Giving Tuesday,1,500 food kits were assembled Dec. 2 at Aspire Center for Workforce Innovation and soon will be distributed to households who need them. United Way of Metro Chicago and BMO organized the effort. The food will go to those who are in need in the community, according to Darnell Shields, executive director of Austin Coming Together, which is based at the Aspire Center and helped to open the building.
A call center aiming to help Chicago-area residents find housing, food and other resources is celebrating its recent move to the South Side. The 211 Metro Chicago call center is a city- and county-backed resource hub operated by the United Way of Metro Chicago. The free 211 hotline connects people to assistance in meeting their “basic needs,” like housing, access to food, utility payments and employment.
A grand opening celebration was held Tuesday for a new 211 hotline call center in Grand Crossing on Chicago’s South Side aimed at helping Cook County residents navigate health and social service resources.
The City Club of Chicago hosted a panel with United Way of Metro Chicago, Austin Coming Together, and BMO, highlighting the success of investing in resident-led work through the Neighborhood Network Initiative.
The 211 Metro Chicago helpline has helped connect residents to social services more than 320,000 times since it was launched two years ago, program leaders said Tuesday.