Asiaha Butler, Englewood: Reframing the NarrativeI had a mindset shift. My initial mind was this community is horrible. Then I'm meeting phenomenal people and hearing phenomenal narratives. I'm like, wait, these stories are not told.
Our Stories
Season 5
COVID19 rocked the world in 2020.
Life, work, school and activity came to a screeching halt for most as stay-at-home orders and other restrictions dramatically changed how we interacted and lived. Despite these restrictions, the lack of information and a vaccine, community organizations, organizers and activists stepped up and in to fill the void. They provided food and other basics while keeping to their charge to improve the conditions of their communities and lives of their citizens.
Life, work, school and activity came to a screeching halt for most as stay-at-home orders and other restrictions dramatically changed how we interacted and lived. Despite these restrictions, the lack of information and a vaccine, community organizations, organizers and activists stepped up and in to fill the void. They provided food and other basics while keeping to their charge to improve the conditions of their communities and lives of their citizens.
Season Five Episodes
Our Voices
Isabella Salinas
Isabella Salinas is a fourth-year undergraduate student at DePaul University, majoring in Women and Gender Studies with a concentration in diversity in media and minoring in journalism. She is an associate editor at 14 East Magazine and has been a contributing writer at The DePaulia. Born and raised in Chicago, she aims to be a voice for the marginalized communities like the ones she grew up in with her work.
Aaliyah McFadden
Aaliyah McFadden is a multimedia journalist focusing on a goal of fostering the development of welcoming spaces through creativity and the exploration of diverse communities. She has done work for DePaul University's newspaper, the DePaulia, and worked on stories with NBC. In her reporting, she focuses on illuminating the voices of marginalized and highly impacted communities to educate her audience on stories that they would not usually hear day-to-day. Through multimedia journalism, she has done stories focusing on things from fashion week to the formerly incarcerated.
Vivienne Madsen
Vivienne Madsen is a junior journalism student at DePaul University who’s looking forward to doing more social justice-oriented work like Change Agents. From Hoffman Estates, Illinois, she’s lived in Chicago for two years and loves its rich living history. She’s minoring in history and environmental studies; topics she loves to highlight in her journalistic work.
Ruchi Nawathe
Ruchi Nawathe was born and raised in the Bay Area, California before moving to Chicago to complete her undergraduate degree at DePaul University in 2021. She is majoring in journalism and worked as an editor briefly at her university's newspaper focusing on nation and world news and politics. In the future, she hopes to break into the fashion journalism sphere, but her passion for social justice and politics will follow her wherever her career takes her.
Our Community
The following grassroots organizations serving communities of color across Chicago land partnered with the Change Agents journalists, generating authenticity, insight and trusted connections for our stories.
Behind the Scenes
Madeline Voelkel (she/her) is a documentarian and activist from Columbia, South Carolina. Now based in Chicago, she is still interested in telling stories about the American South, artists, and community, and advocating for reproductive justice and LGBTQ rights, prison reform, and class equity. Graduating from DePaul University this June, she is gearing up to complete her senior thesis “Peaches”, a documentary capturing the importance and poetic nature of girlhood experiences in the American South, alongside an analysis of the parallels between Lost Cause imagery and conservative Southern policy.
Matthew is a young native of Chicago’s South Side writing journalistically since high school. He’s deeply focused on community-based issues, looking to bridge the gap between the media and the people living in the various neighborhoods across and around Chicago. Having grown up in Beverly, he’s lived between the suburbs and the city, having journeyed from Lincoln Park to Harvey and Palos to Englewood and Bronzeville. Find his work in 14 East Magazine at DePaul University, where he’s working toward his bachelor’s degree in journalism.
Funding provided by the Field Foundation and the Chicago Community Trust. City Bureau is our fiscal sponsor.
Other Seasons
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If you have a story idea or know of activists organizations working to bring solutions to the needs of a Chicago-land community of color, please send us a message.
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