| | Neighbors,
On Monday, our office will be closed for Indigenous Peoples' Day as we reflect on the questions of forced displacement and belonging. That question stayed with me as I stood with housing advocates at City Hall to demand funding for housing in our next FY2027 budget. I also shopped locally with the City Clerk to uplift our business in the ward and joined our seniors in games of bingo. Plus, free soil testing tomorrow, and sign up for our Senior Wellness Fair happening next Thursday.
Keep Chicago Housed Across generations, Black, Brown, immigrant, and working-class families of the 26th Ward have survived radical neighborhood change: maintaining cultural corridors and striving for the investment they deserve. The neighbors who have fought to make our streets safer, cleaner, and bountiful have most recently weathered recent developments without enough protections.
We can trace this history across the Northwest Side. West Town was once home to large working-class immigrant, Black, Mexican and Puerto Rican communities. Puerto Rican families who had already been displaced from Lincoln Park by urban renewal and rising housing costs moved west into Wicker Park, West Town, and Humboldt Park. Decades later, another wave of redevelopment and rising real estate values have shifted again, pushing many lower-income residents farther north and west and into homelessness. This change has not stopped at a single neighborhood boundary—it continues through westward communities.
And renters feel this change deeply. Renters in Chicago have seen a 9.5% increase in rent over the past three years, the biggest increase of any major city in the US. What my most vulnerable renters share with me is that just a $100 a month rent increase, coupled with SNAP cuts, Medicaid/Medicare cuts, and increases in utility bills, has pushed them closer to instability. At the end of the day, they are without home equity as they move out of the neighborhood, pull their kids from their schools, and strive to build roots in new communities.
On Thursday, I joined over 60 advocates outside of City Hall to demand the FY2027 city budget include funding for the Chicago Low-Income Housing Trust Fund to prevent currently housed low-income households from losing their homes, the Flexible Housing Pool to help households exiting homelessness find and maintain housing, and critical housing and support services for those experiencing homelessness. This funding is vital. With a $13 million budget, the Trust Fund is able to serve over 2,500 households, meaning for about $5,200 a year, those families have lifegiving stability.
Chicago’s homeless response system is already at capacity. The Coalition to End Homelessness is requesting a $2 million increase to bridge the gap between changes to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) federal homeless funding.
We cannot be a housing-first city if we are not ensuring our neighbors with the most barriers – those with serious physical or mental health needs and those returning from jail or prison – are prioritized. And these programs work, with fewer emergency room visits, inpatient stays, and EMS responses. Keeping Chicagoans housed is the smartest and most humane investment we can make. |
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Shopping in Solidarity On Tuesday, I joined the Office of the City Clerk for its Shopping in Solidarity initiative, which encourages residents and visitors to support local businesses throughout Chicago. The event highlighted four businesses across the ward: Roeser’s Bakery, Niko’s Flower Designs, ¡WEPA! Mercado del Pueblo, and Dope Drip Cafe. From longtime neighborhood establishments to newer businesses bringing fresh ideas and opportunities to the community, each represents an important part of what makes the 26th Ward special. Community sustainability looks like connecting with local business owners and encouraging residents to explore and support the businesses right here in our community. Keep a lookout on the Clerk’s instagram for the upcoming videos!
Small Business Improvement Fund Pulaski Corridor TIF is OPEN The City of Chicago’s Department of Planning and Development (DPD) is opening a new round of Small Business Improvement Fund (SBIF) applications for the Pulaski Corridor TIF district, with $2.63 million in available funding. The SBIF program provides grants to eligible small businesses and property owners to help cover costs of building improvements and renovations. Applications open November 1st at 9 AM and close November 30th at 5PM. An informational webinar will be held on Wednesday, November 4th, at 1 PM to review the program, eligibility requirements, and application process. Register for the webinar here. |
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Humboldt Park Town Hall - Monday, October 26 Humboldt Park: If you didn’t attend our first town hall, we are hosting another on Monday, October 26, at Lowell Elementary, 3320 W Hirsch St. Town halls are where my team and I share what our office has been working on and what’s being done specifically in your part of the 26th ward. It is also where I get to hear your questions and concerns. Sign up here. |
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| | Join your neighbors at El Coqui Garden for a Lead Screening Day on October 10! Advocates for Urban Agriculture (AUA), in partnership with the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) Soil Kitchen and Ion Stewards Energy, a local business, invite our neighbors to attend our community Lead Screening Day at El Coqui Garden. We will test community members’ soil for lead.
We will test soil samples and discuss how we can work together to keep our neighborhood clean. The data we collect will help us work together to keep the 26th and 36th Wards clean, healthy, and resilient through green infrastructure and nature-based solutions. Learn how you can participate in soil and air testing to help improve our community. Ion Stewards Energy is working in partnership with the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) and the UIC Center for Extreme Conditions and Health Excellence (CEHCE) for this testing.
Saturday, October 10, at El Coqui Garden El Coqui Garden Community Lead Screening Day 2600 W Crystal St., Chicago, IL 60622 Time: 10:00 - 1:00pm
Questions? Email us at info@ionstewardsenergy.com. |
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| | Coffee and Bingo & Senior Wellness Reminder This week, we brought Bingo and community connections to seniors at Armitage Commons and Las Moradas! Residents joined us for fun, bonchincheo, and conversation with Alderperson Fuentes about upcoming events and opportunities for older adults in the 26th Ward, including our annual Senior Wellness Fair next week!
Our ward office, alongside State Senator Omar Aquino, State Representative Lilian Jiménez, and Cook County's 8th District, will bring together community organizations, government agencies, and service providers to connect older adults with valuable resources, including healthcare, legal assistance, transportation, benefits, and more!
📅 Thursday, October 15, 2026 ⌚ 10:00 AM–1:00 PM 📍 Mozart Park, 2036 N. Avers Ave.
🤙 RSVP today. Register online or call our office at 773-395-0143. |
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Office Closed Monday for Indigenous Peoples’ Day “Chicago” comes from shikaakwa, the word for the wild onion that grew all along the rivers and marshes. This is the homeland of the Potawatomi, Odowa, Ojibwe, and the Council of Three Fires, along with other Nations who traded and gathered on this land. This day, once named Columbus Day, brought genocide, enslavement, and forced removal of native people. That same violence spread across this continent.
Indigenous Peoples’ Day must also mean course-correcting on how we understand history and how to be in solidarity and begin correcting these atrocities. In 2024, the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation won back part of its ancestral land in DeKalb County after the US government illegally sold it 175 years ago. It is now the first federally recognized tribal land in Illinois.
The ripple effects of brutal colonization, displacement, broken land treaties, and institutionalized disinvestment are still present today. Families in the 26th Ward are being pushed out of the very homes they’ve lived in and created for generations and CBP destroys indigenous lands to expand their southern border wall. Indigenous roots live in our blood, food, practices, and faces. Course correcting is the work we do together; it starts with investment without displacement and centering populations that have always been impacted by forced removal.
On Monday, October 12, our office will be closed in solidarity with Indigenous Peoples’ Day and will reopen Tuesday, October 13 at 9 am. |
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| In Solidarity,
Alderperson Jessie Fuentes |
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| | | Immigration Rights Resources |
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| | | Construction season has begun! Don't forget to check out our construction projects for updates on upcoming work in your neighborhood. |
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| | The 26th Ward's community-led zoning process requires anyone requesting a zoning change to first complete a zoning intake form. After review, they present their request to the Zoning Advisory Committee and answer questions. In some cases, they may also present at a community input meeting. |
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| If you know someone looking for reproductive justice resources in Chicago, they can go to this Department of Public Health resource page to use the City’s digital community resource directory. There is also a free talkline (1-888-493-0092) where operators are available to share information on various reproductive justice options. |
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| | | | | If you need assistance with a city service, let us know! You can submit your request through our website, by giving us a call, or submitting a request directly to 311.chicago.gov. Our team is here to provide the support you need and ensure our community thrives. |
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