Carrie Ward, the executive director of the Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault, said the budget impasse led to a loss of institutional knowledge in rape crisis centers across the state.
Rape crisis centers are facing many hardships during the pandemic. Many are struggling to maintain services their clients rely on and balance budgets. Center leaders say it’s a repeat of what they went through during the Illinois budget impasse.
In January, the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority put out a study about how the two-year state budget impasse affected rape crisis centers. Many social services went without state funding, and rape crisis centers had to find ways to adapt. The study reveals criminal justice advocacy dropped by 25%, while individual counseling across the state fell even more. The effects were worse for rural rape crisis centers.
Emily Bollinger / WGLT
As Taylor Mathews lit the forge in his family’s metalworking shop in rural Bloomington, just behind him was an anvil from the ’80s. The 1880s.
Taylor, 22, was surrounded by tools that are decades older than he is.
Time is a funny thing in this workshop. That s one of the things Taylor likes about what he does.
“Knives and edged instruments have built the world,” Matthews said. “They’ve always been used, and you walk into a history museum and there’s masterful pieces of work that were also functional. Knives and swords and things like that.”
WGLT s recap of the event.
Wise’s research sought to discover whether a “color-blind” approach to race impacted how white people perceive microaggressions against people of color.
Wise said the question came from thinking about existing research that focused primarily on “marginalized populations.”
“Me being a somewhat skeptical individual, I always thought, ‘Well, what about the other side of that coin?’” Wise explained. “People of color cannot be marginalized unless there is some other group benefiting from their privileges in society.”
She came across previous studies that showed people who claim they don’t see color tend
not to see subtle discriminatory behaviors “microaggressions” as a problem. Why would this seemingly well-meaning view lead some white people to dismiss the concerns of people of color?
Sean Thorton works in marketing for Illinois State University, and is the artist who did all the design work for ReggieCon. Thorton said the goal of inclusion and promotion of diversity added to the enthusiasm of the artwork.
Black people too often have been associated with only crime and racial trauma in pop culture. But one film that defies the stereotypes and gives power to the Black community is “Black Panther,” which three years after its release continues to stimulate dialogue.
Illinois State University’s ReggieCon event series will host a free “Wakanda For All!” panel discussion about “Black Panther” at 7 p.m. Thursday, via Zoom. It’s the latest in a series of ReggieCon events, each with a panel of experts in comic and popular media who focus on issues of race and diversity.
The three candidates on the ballot for Bloomington mayor are, from left, Mboka Mwilambwe, Jackie Gunderson, and Michael Straza.
Bloomington voters this spring will choose their first new mayor in eight years. The choice is between a low-key veteran city council member and two political newcomers with very different backgrounds. One of them will replace Tari Renner, who is not seeking a third term.
Mboka Mwilambwe
Mboka Mwilambwe, who joined the city council in 2011, said his focus would be on updating the city’s roads and other infrastructure and providing core services like public safety and recreation.
“The streets are the thing that people actually see. When we have some that are in a state of disrepair, I don’t think it makes the public trust what we’re doing. If we do focus on that, we’ll be able to generate a lot more trust from the generic public. Because what we don’t want is the public to look at us engaging in other endeavors, and yet the street in front of