■ Want to recycle electronics? Here is how PAGE 4
FREE Vol. 40 No. 29
July 22, 2026 ■ Also serving Garfield Park ■ austinweeklynews.com
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Dexter Leggin mourned across West Side He trained parents to advocate for their children and was foster father to many By JESSICA MORDACQ Staff Reporter
On June 10, Dexter Leggin died at the age of 71, leaving behind a legacy of helping parents and children across the West Side. Leggin was a foster parent to multiple children, worked as an internationally renowned fashion designer and tailor, and, for over a decade, volunteered with Community Organizing and Family Issues (COFI) to train West Side parents on how to advocate for their children locally and rally around policies that supports low-income and immigrant families. Tracy Occomy Crowder, deputy director of policy and external affairs of COFI, said the organization will miss the care and support Leggin gave to West Side families, and she’ll miss his humor. “He always had something funny to say, always lifted your spirits and figured out a way to make it fun,” Occomy Crowder told Austin Weekly News. Ellen Schumer, executive director of COFI, said, “He kept us entertained and there’s some really hard things the organization and families go through… it’s the care connected to the humor.” Schumer recalls first meeting Leggin at Delano Elementary School in West Garfield Park, where some of his foster children were enrolled. He worked in the school part-time for Family Focus Lawndale, which provides parental sup-
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George Manning remembered as street named for him At the intersection of Midway Park and Menard Avenue, signs for ‘George Edward Manning II Way’were erected to commemorate his life and legacy By EMMA BRADFORD Intern Reporter
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When the City of Chicago shut down 50 public schools in 2013, including Delano, Melody Elementary in West Garfield Park was relocated to the Delano Elementary building and became Melody STEM Elementary. Leggin played an instrumental role in rebuilding the school after it was shuttered.
Family, friends, acquaintances, mentees and community members gathered Saturday evening July 18 at the intersection of Midway Park and Menard Avenue in Austin to celebrate the life of George Edward Manning II and unveil an honorary street named after him. Wearing white, more than 50 people showed up to share stories and commemorate a man who had deep connections in the Austin community as well as someone who was committed to service, membership, friendship and worship.
See DEXTER LEGGIN on page 8
See GEORGE MANNING on page 7
Dexter Leggin with mothers from POWER-PAC’s West and South Side branches port and resources for children in West Side neighborhoods and, in 2011, he was a part of a community-school partnership between Delano and COFI to engage parents in a leadership program. “He had been working so deeply in Garfield Park that he moved there so that he could really understand where people were coming from,” Occomy Crowder said.
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