By Alex Morales and Jaime Guzman Published: March 23, 2009 The Resurrection Project in…

Published: October 18, 2007 THE HIGH PRICE OF HOMEOWNERSHIP By: Kimbriell Kelly and Alden K. Loury September 18, 2007 Thaida Booker saw the red brick home in West Englewood and just had to have it. “‘I don’t care what the inside looks like,’” she told her husband Ed Booker as they parked outside the West 64th Street ranch waiting for their realtor to show up. Inside, there was a Jacuzzi tub, a double vanity and a basement big enough to put in a pool table. At $96,000, it was a home they could afford, particularly since Thaida was the only one earning a paycheck. Ed, now 59, had been left permanently disabled after working 18 years for the railroad. They put in an offer and purchased the home in 2001 with a loan carrying a 6.2 percent interest rate. A couple years later Thaida was diagnosed with cervical cancer. The couple refinanced their mortgage for a slightly higher interest rate – 6.8 percent—so they could access some of their equity to pay off their unexpected medical bills. They thought the new rate was fixed. But it wasn’t.

Published: September 28, 2007 Breaking Barriers: Pilsen Basketball League Fights Crime Creatively By HAYLEY GRAHAM June 20, 2007 Pilsen's youth basketball league is traveling to take back their crime-ridden neighborhood block by block. Last week the Summer Youth Basketball League held the first game of its 8th season on 18th Street between May and Carpenter. The league will play at different blocks every Friday evening from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. throughout the summer. Alvaro Obregon, one of the founders of the Pilsen basketball league, said the goal of the league is to break down neighborhood barriers by bringing together people from different territories and to take back streets from gangs.