The public library now offers six full days of service year round with Monday hours expanded across all branches. For your neighborhood branch hours, click here. 

Learn the tools to tackle urban environmental challenges and identify opportunities for change; then you'll lead an environmental service project in your community with support and resources.

Attend one of the orientations listed below to learn more. To reserve a seat, please contact 773-755-5122 or use the online form here.

• Saturday, August 25, 11 a.m. to noon, Chicago Center for Green Technology, 445 N. Sacramento Blvd
• Monday, August 27, 12 p.m. - 1 p.m., Chicago Department of Transportation, 30 N LaSalle St, 11th floor
• Tuesday, August 28, 6 p.m. - 7 p.m., Hyde Park Arts Center, 5020 S. Cornell Dr.

To participate in the training course, you must be a Chicago resident and attend one of the orientations above. The course will be held at the Chicago Center for Green Technology, 445 N. Sacramento Blvd, Wednesdays, September 12 through October 17 from 5:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. A $75 fee covers class participation and project support. Financial assistance is available upon request. See their website for more information.    

Each month in summer an outdoor family-friendly movie is featured for the folks in our community. Two hours before dusk, the music starts, free BBQ is served, lawn games are enjoyed, all while people chat and mingle. After dusk, the outdoor cinema rolls. Yes - there is even an industrial sized outdoor popcorn machine. The lawn space is located at Bethany UCC, 4250 N Paulina. Free parking in the lot of Ravenswood Elementary, a nice perk when you're bringing blankets, folding chairs, etc.

Global Explorers Kids is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, incorporated December 2005 and located in Lincoln Square. Dedicated to providing children with the opportunity to explore the diversity of the world's peoples and helping them to understand and respect different cultures, using the arts as a catalyst towards learning, the organization grew out of the founders' involvement in fine arts, arts education, arts administration, anthropology, and world travel. Recognizing a lack of cultural understanding in US society, the founders saw the arts as a means of helping children - and thus future generations - cross cultural boundaries.

Global Explorers Kids uses a child-centered, hands-on, multi-disciplinary artistic approach to exploring the world's cultures, utilizing children's natural curiosity and desire to learn about others.

In a world shrinking due to globalization and a local community that is increasingly diverse, unfortunately, prejudices are still prevalent and ethnic communities tend to exist in isolated pockets, rarely intermingling. Studies show that children learn new cultural patterns easily; it is important that their early learning aids in their understanding and respect of differences, rather than perpetuating stereotypes and prejudice.

Global Explorers Kids seeks to teach children from an early age about the diversity of the world's peoples, helping them to understand and respect different cultures.  To learn more about this initiative, check out their most recent newsletter. 

Check out the new infrastructure map on our webpage!

W. Eastwood Avenue from Damen to Leavitt

Crews from the Dept. of Water Management (DWM) are working to replace the old 1891 water main under Eastwood Avenue between Damen and Leavitt. The work is schedule to be completed by late August.  To see the residents' notice click here. 

N. Wayne Avenue from Irving Park to 600 Feet South

The sewer main under the 3900 block of Wayne Avenue is currently being replaced by DWM private contractors and the concrete base course has been laid at the road is open to traffic.  Other utilities are finalizing their connections under Irving Park Rd and lanes are detoured.  The final restoration will be scheduled once all the final work has been completed. To see the residents' notice click here. 

Peoples Gas Main Replacement

Construction crews from Peoples Gas and their contractor Northern Pipeline continue their multi-year gas main replacement project in the 47th Ward. Sod has now been laid (grass seed in some instances) in a number of areas throughout the ward to restore damage to city parkways. Please remember the tips on our website to care for your sod once it has been installed. 

Metra Track and Bridge Construction along Ravenswood 

• West Side Ravenswood- Irving Park to Berteau (Wall 9): Drill, Set and Pour Soldier Beams/Install Lagging
• West Side Ravenswood- Grace to Irving Park (Wall 10): Demo existing crib wall
• Lawrence: Install Temporary Platform (in Sears Parking Lot) and Install SOE

Metra Traffic Closures and Detours 

• Irving Park to Berteau Detours will be up until November 2012.
• Grace to Irving Park Detours will be up until November 2012.
• Parking has been restricted between the CTA tracks and Ravenswood on all streets from Grace to Berteau to accommodate u-turns while the road is closed.  The south side of Bernice has parking restrictions from Lincoln to Ravenswood to accommodate two-way traffic until Ravenswood is reopened.
• Parking restrictions and detours may be opened, when possible, and re-closed once work is ready to resume.