City ID Card: Is It Right For Chicago?

John Kass is a columnist for the Chicago Tribune

He has won honors including the Society of Professional Journalists' Sigma Delta Chi national award for general column writing, the Scripps Howard Foundation's National Journalism Award for commentary, the Chicago Headline Club's Lisagor Award for best daily newspaper columnist and the Chicago Tribune's Beck Award for writing. 

The son of a Greek immigrant grocer, was born June 23, 1956, on Chicago's South Side. He grew up there and in Oak Lawn. Growing up he held a number of jobs — merchant marine sailor, ditch digger, waiter — before becoming a film student at Columbia College in Chicago, where he worked at the student newspaper. He obtained an internship at the Daily Calumet in 1980, and ended up working there as a reporter until he left for the Tribune in 1983.

He lives in the western suburbs with his wife and twin sons.

Political strategist, media personality, and urban marketing pioneer, Maze Jackson has a diverse background of experience in the worlds of business, politics, and community engagement. 

For over 25 years Maze has been lobbying for high profile clients, creating community-based solutions and driving the discussions that shape impactful policies.  Maze has been featured on ABC, CBS, The New York Times, Chicago Sun-Times, and a variety of other high profile media outlets, and can be heard daily on WVON 1690 AM on the WVON Morning Show.  As VP of Business Development at The Intelligence Group, Maze focuses on utilizing his network of experienced vendors, institutional relationships, and effective tactics to create strategies that allow The Intelligence Group to achieve clients’ goals.

Michelle Garcia has been working for Access Living as the Latino Community Organizer since 2009, in which she took a personal interest, particularly that of educating and collaborating with the Latino community about disability rights and services.  She has had the opportunity to collaborate with other Latino groups and organizations that work within the Latino Community which has helped expand their knowledge about disability related issues. 

Garcia is also the coordinator of a Latino advocacy group called Cambiando Vidas, whose mission is to create social change within the Latino Community.

As a Community Organizer she is responsible for increasing the number of Latino leaders with disabilities; as well as to raise awareness of disability issues such as: Immigration, Transportation, Civil Rights, and Self-Esteem within the Latino community; thru organizing educational forums in different areas of the city with most Latino population, to educate Latinos with disabilities about disability rights and services. 

In 2016, she spearheaded the first National Conference for Latinos with Disabilities by bringing together Latino Community Organizers and Service Providers from across the country to speak about individual states and community support. The National Coalition for Latinos came together to work on educating, empowering, and embracing our Latino communities with disabilities. The National Coalition of Latinos with Disability has grown with the support and work of many great Latinos with disabilities and other allies.

Tanya Head is a consultant for women currently in cook county jail; she works with female prisoners who are about to be released from prison. She helps them with resources for housing, shelters, clothing and any other basic needs that will help them with their transition back into society.

Tanya has been a member of Target Area Development since 2014; In her role with Target area she assists with weekly community meetings, have been part of the cease fire (a Community Public Safety program). She also worked with Pastor Michael Edday at Peoples Community Development as a Case manager and held a CVVP Parent leader position within the west side of the community.  In June 2014, Tanya worked for Peoples Community Development for the expungement event for Dorothy Brown, at that event she was a great motivating factor in getting people to sign up for our re-entry program and the custodial class. One of her most compelling attributes to society is her documentary she did while incarcerated called Pregnant Behind Bars and turning her life over to God at AFC Church. She like Meshach, Shadrach and Abednego, she has been throwing the fire and back.

Tanya Head is currently a Graduate from Kennedy king college and now attending Northeastern University for her BSW in social work.