Kemone Hendricks News Today

When Kemone Hendricks started Evanston’s annual Juneteenth parade in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, celebrations included just a car parade and online events. Four years later, the founder and executive director of Evanston Present and Future said the fifth annual celebration will feature floats, music and dance performances at the parade, as well as various...

Evanston Community Foundation held its first in-person Public Service Challenge since before the COVID-19 pandemic at the Joseph E. Hill Early Childhood Center Saturday. Established in 2000, the Public Service Challenge seeks to help Evanston residents navigate the intricacies of running a city office or school board campaign through nonpartisan training, according to Senior Director...

Evanston Present and Future will hold the “Capturing Moments: Teen Parent Photo Session” event on March 9. At the one-day free event, young parents will be able to take family portraits with their children. Kemone Hendricks, the founder and executive director of Evanston Present and Future, said she wanted to organize an event for teen...

After lying dormant for two years, nonprofit Evanston Present and Future’s Juneteenth Creative Dance Team Program is back in full force, with auditions beginning in February for Black and Brown residents in Evanston, according to the nonprofit’s Facebook page.  Kemone Hendricks founded Evanston Present and Future and its Juneteenth Creative Dance Team Program in partnership...

Content Warning: This story contains mentions of sexual assault. Poet and dancer Sunshine Lombré shared a spoken word piece about reproductive rights and sexual violence to a crowd of listeners dressed in pink at Evanston’s Pro-Choice Rally and March on Sunday. Lombré emphasized that most cases of sexual assault go unreported, which contributes to minimized...

Hecky’s Barbecue, an Evanston institution for nearly 40 years, won the Chicago Tribune’s Readers’ Choice Award for the best Chicago-style BBQ in April. The award is the first the restaurant has received since its founder, Hecky Powell, died in 2020, according to Cheryl Judice, Powell’s wife and the current president and owner of Hecky’s. Judice...

Growing up in Evanston’s 2nd Ward, Darlene Cannon lived in a mostly Black neighborhood. Since she was born in Evanston more than five decades ago, she has lived within the same four-block radius. Her community was built on support, she said, where children would always play together outside.  But the demographics of her community have...

Kemone Hendricks, founder of Evanston Present and Future is organizing Evanston’s first in-person Juneteenth Parade, which she said will bring the community together to celebrate “America’s real freedom day.” Juneteenth commemorates the end of slavery, honoring the date federal troops arrived in Texas on June 19, 1865 and brought news of freedom to America’s remaining slaves. The Emancipation Proclamation had been issued over two years prior, but the order to free slaves wasn’t foll...

UpdatedThu, Apr 29, 2021 at 11:49 am CT Reply The Evanston City Council approved a schedule of special events Monday. Final approval of some events is pending updated state coronavirus regulations. (Shutterstock) EVANSTON, IL — A schedule of special events in Evanston this summer was approved by the Evanston City Council Monday. The list (see below) include traditional favorites like the Starlight Concert Series Movies in the Park and Bike the Ridge, as well as two new events organizers hop...

Since the Fair Tax Amendment was rejected last November, advocates are focusing their efforts toward building greater trust around the initiative and ensuring people across the state understand its purpose. The Fair Tax Amendment would have introduced a progressive income tax to Illinois. The state currently mandates a flat income tax of 4.95 percent.  Illinois ranks eighth in the country for tax inequality, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Throughout the state, the ...