Stories by Erica Gunderson

The 6th annual Hospitality Hires Chicago event puts job seekers face-to-face with industry employers who are ready to interview and hire for a variety of open positions.

Activist Aleta Clark has hosted “sleep outs” under a Pilsen viaduct to raise funds to support Chicago's homeless communities and open a shelter.

The National Museum of Mexican Art launched its annual Sor Juana Festival, an event series featuring Mexican and Mexican-American artists. The festival’s name honors 17th century Mexican nun, mathematician, writer and activist Sor Juana Ines de La Cruz.

Three-time Golden Gloves champion Jorge Pacheco became dedicated to boxing as a teenager. He now applies lessons learned in the ring to his business.

A new exhibit from the Glencoe Historical Society explores the town’s beginnings as an unusually integrated community and takes a stark look at how the Black members of that community were pushed out.

Americans are discovering family secrets every day thanks to DNA testing and online genealogy. But not everyone learns they have a luminary of Black American history as an ancestor.

“Proximity” comprises performances about the search for connection in a tech-dominated world, humanity’s fraught stewardship of the environment and the impact of gun violence in cities and communities.

The Chicago Park District is offering teenagers a chance to work where they play this summer in seasonal positions like recreation leaders, lifeguards and junior laborers.

If you weren’t able to make it out to Cantigny Park last summer to see the “Creatures of a Dream World” exhibition of alebrijes, good news! Twenty of those super-sized sculptures have traveled to the North Riverside Park Mall.

In 1994, brothers Sean Tyler and Reginald Henderson were convicted of murder after being tortured into false confessions. They were exonerated in 2021 after serving more than 25 years in prison.

This year, Tim Adams and Frank Smith will be inducted into the Chicago Golden Gloves Hall of Fame as the tournament marks 100 years since the Chicago Tribune sponsored the first competition in 1923.

Little Village is on high alert as two young women have been found dead there in recent weeks. And now with a reported disappearance, 15-year-old Azreya Lomeli, who was last seen walking in Little Village, community members are increasing calls for action from the police.

If you like a little salsa with your fish, Ritmo del Mar at the Shedd Aquarium might be the event for you. The adults-only evening will combine Latino music and cuisine with the aquatic life and cityscapes of the Shedd.

Millions applied for student loan forgiveness before President Joe Biden’s plan was put on hold amid legal challenges. The forgiveness plan’s fate is now in the hands of the U.S. Supreme Court, which just heard arguments on the case.

The colors and flavors of Latino cuisine can be found all over Chicago now, but it hasn’t always been considered worthy of fine dining. Chef Mark Mendez of Libertad said Latino cuisine deserves a spot among the world’s great culinary traditions.

Amid the chaos that characterized the last decades of the Robert Taylor Homes in Bronzeville, an ambitious early education program helped the children who lived there flourish.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s proposed Smart Start program would allow an additional 5,000 kids to go to preschool next year, eventually adding a total of 20,000 slots. The plan would also add money to increase wages for early education providers.

The Seng is a 34-unit condo building that aims to attract middle-income families previously priced out of the area. A three-bedroom unit might go for $333,000, the developer said, compared to the market average of $700,000 in the neighborhood.

Since it first opened inside a health clinic in 2018 and moved to a deconsecrated church in 2019, the Pilsen Food Pantry has expanded its offerings and ambition.

For young Black boys and men, Chicago can be a cradle and a crucible, a place where they can encounter both endless inspiration and endless despair. In “Chi Boy: Native Sons and Chicago Reckonings,” author Keenan Norris draws connections between the experiences of literary giants and those of his own father.

The 2023 Academy Awards will see historic Asian representation, but the Oscars are still coming under fire over issues of representation, even eight years after the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite led to a reckoning within the Academy.

The first recognized African American Roman Catholic priest is on the road to sainthood. Augustus Tolton’s journey from enslaved child to priest is the subject of a series of events happening at the Tolton Heritage Center in Bronzeville.

When Andy Reyes rhapsodizes about the perfect bowl of birria, he has generations of his forebears speaking through him. His family’s birria recipe dates back to 1926, when his great-grandfather developed his own version of the stewed goat dish in Ocotlan, Jalisco.

For 54 years, the 14th Ward was represented by the now-indicted Ald. Ed Burke. Jeylú Gutiérrez said she was inspired to run for office when she saw her ward lacked for city services.

Attention high school seniors and college students: Applications are now open for the Miller-Perez Family Scholarship at the nonprofit Latinos Progresando. Five $2,000 scholarships are being awarded.

In 1997, 13-year-old Lenard Clark was beaten into a coma simply for being Black in a White neighborhood. Chicago leaders began calling for racial reconciliation — a rapid turn that stuck with Yohance Lacour, then a fledgling journalist.