Maudlyne Ihejirika

Chicago Chronicles Columnist, Staff Reporter

Maudlyne Ihejirika is an award-winning, urban affairs reporter, columnist and author with experience in journalism, public relations and government. She holds a B.A. in journalism from University of Iowa, an M.S.J. from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University and an honorary Doctorate from Saint Xavier University. She writes the Sun-Times “Chicago Chronicles,” long-form columns on “people and places that make Chicago tick,” with a focus on black and brown communities. Her honors include the prestigious Studs Terkel Award, top national and local awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and the National Association of Black Journalists, and several civic awards. She’s president of the Chicago Journalists Association and the National Association of Black Journalists Chicago. Her expertise in urban affairs, immigration and refugee issues, and social justice has led to appearances on CNN, FOX, ABC, CBS and NPR. She’s a frequent guest contributor on WTTW’s “Chicago Tonight: Week In Review” and FOX32’s “Good Day Chicago.” Follow her at @Maudlynei on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

With no long-term health insurance to cover home hospice care, the community is coming to the aid of the 102-year-old historian, author and political and civil rights activist. It’s about giving this elder statesman and griot of Chicago’s black community his flowers while he is still with us.
On Tuesday the local venture philanthropy fund A Better Chicago will announce grants to seven groups targeting COVID-19 learning deficits impacting Chicago Public Schools students.
When her character, “Jada,” was diagnosed with breast cancer on this season’s “The Chi,” it started actress Yolonda Ross’ real-life journey to support Black women dealing with this cancer. On Oct. 30, Ross will unveil a photo exhibit and partnership donating $100,000 to three Chicago organizations at an event in Bridgeport.
En asociación con seis organizaciones de Chicago, PepsiCo lanzó el lunes su iniciativa de $5 millones, que busca crear caminos profesionales para 3,000 jóvenes en los lados sur y oeste en los próximos cinco años.
Partnering with six Chicago organizations, PepsiCo on Monday launches its $5 million “PREP by PepsiCo | Stronger Together” initiative, seeking to create career pathways for 3,000 young people on the South and West Sides over the next five years.
In the first wave of capital grants issued by the Chicago Community Trust’s year-old “We Rise Together” initiative, 10 real estate development projects are getting $7.4 million to spark revitalization in eight disinvested South and West side communities.
Founded 152 years ago as a Civil War orphanage, the noted West Side social services agency UCAN Chicago named Christa Hamilton its first woman and first Black CEO. Its programs include foster care, violence prevention and workforce development.
“This tells me we made a great decision,” CEO and President Roger Hochschild says of putting the call center in a disinvested community.
With such a treasure trove of history in the Chicago estate of Associated Negro Press founder Claude A. Barnett and his legendary actress/socialite wife Etta Moten Barnett, Estate Sale Goddess proprietors Lynne and Ty McDaniel knew it was a matter of time before museums swooped in. A fourth of the collection is now headed to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture.