🛎️ Hotel strike could hit Chicago Marathon weekend

City Mental Health Services Reaching More People

Chicago has deployed its first “street psychiatry” teams as part of an ongoing effort to close the city’s longstanding gaps in health outcomes and support unhoused Chicagoans.

The pilot program is sending teams of practitioners from Rush and UIC out into the city – to shelters, CTA stops, encampments, and elsewhere – in an effort to meet some of the city’s most vulnerable people where they are and connect them with services. Officials with the Chicago Department of Public Health said Chicago is one of only a handful of U.S. cities taking this approach.

Calling for help: Chicago’s Crisis Assistance Response and Engagement (CARE) program, which sends EMTs and clinicians to individuals experiencing mental health crises, expanded in May and has responded to 51% more 911 calls since then. Callers must explicitly request and qualify for the service, which is only available from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday to Friday. City officials hope to eventually scale up to 24/7 coverage.

Big picture: Both of these projects are part of the citywide Mental Health Equity Initiative (MHEI), launched in 2020. It served more than 173,000 people in its first five years. It also drastically expanded this year to include not only Chicago’s seven city-run mental health clinics, but also a network of 53 partner organizations able to provide services in schools, at community centers, and other public spaces.

How to find resources:

• The city’s various mental health services can be accessed online at mentalhealth.chicago.gov
• The Cook County helpline at 211 or 211metrochicago.org can steer residents to a range of additional services.
• The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is 24/7.
• The Illinois Domestic Violence Hotline at 877-863-6338 is also 24/7.

Largest Hotel Strike in Chicago History Could Happen

Thousands of room attendants, dishwashers, servers, and other downtown hotel employees voted to authorize a massive strike just weeks ahead of the Chicago Marathon. Contracts for the members of UNITE HERE Local 1 expired at the end of August. A recent survey found that one-third of its hotel workers were not paid enough to cover rent or mortgage payments. [CBS]

More Bikes and Scooters Headed Our Way

Chicago is extending its contract with rental company Divvy. The new contract, which still requires City Council approval, would implement some cost-savings for riders and add thousands of new bikes, e-bikes, and scooters to Chicago streets. [Sun-Times]

• Listen: We shared our Divvy and e-scooter etiquette. [City Cast Chicago 🎧]

Racial Disparities in Curfew Enforcement

City ordinances prohibit minors from being on the street past 10 p.m. without adult supervision and give police a range of tools to use when they encounter minors. But a new analysis finds kids in predominantly Black and Latino neighborhoods are ticketed, arrested, and their parents are fined much more often for curfew violations than kids in majority white neighborhoods. [Block Club]

More Latinos Calling This Neighborhood Home

Little Village was once known as the city's largest Latino neighborhood, but a new report found Belmont Cragin now has the largest Latino population. On today’s podcast, we discuss how this happened and how other Chicago neighborhoods are changing. [City Cast Chicago 🎧]