■ Looking for flood relief ... 2 years later PAGE 4
FREE Vol. 39 No. 41
October 15, 2025 ■ Also serving Garfield Park ■ austinweeklynews.com
West Side health providers plan for federal cuts
Annual Wellness West event discusses multiple challenges By ZOË TAKAKI Contributing Reporter
Doctors, patients and West Siders gathered last week for the fourth annual meeting of the 40+ members of Wellness West, a collaboration of health and social service providers. This meeting, though, squarely faced the current and expanding impact of major federal budget cuts for community health efforts as well as the deportation of many immigrants. Misty Drake, executive director of the organization, started the discussion by addressing the challenges facing Chicago, which she said have increased over the last six months. “From elements of funding cuts to being traumatized in our own homes, I want to make sure that these challenges are acknowledged here today as we reflect on the importance of working together to deliver care for those individuals See WELLNESS WEST on page 9
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ER doc Thomas Thomas Fisher is running for Congress, page 8
Building the Westside Cultural Archive Westside Historical Collective to preserve local photos and stories
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Photographer Kenn Cook Jr. founded the Westside Historical Collective earlier this year to create an archive for the West Side of Chicago. By JESSICA MORDACQ Staff Reporter
At Legler Regional Library in West Garfield Park on Oct. 11, about 100 registered West Side participants scanned photos and letters, got their portraits taken, recorded personal and group oral history accounts, and learned from experts how to conserve photos and docu-
ments at-home. This History Harvest was a kickoff event for the Westside Historical Collective’s cultural archive. “I want to be able to give people access to telling their stories,” said Kenn Cook Jr., who founded the Westside Historical Collective a few months ago. “We’re not monolithic. Our stories are so nuanced. There are different kinds of stories here, and I want to tell all stories.”
Cook aims to upload materials that the collective amasses online and, if funding allows, host a traveling exhibition throughout the West Side to display archival material and have oral history listening sessions. This way, the archive can be accessible to researchers and students, but also community members See ARCHIVE on page 7
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