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Battling Gentrification by Showcasing the Windy City’s Rich Puerto Rican Roots

Fluttering Puerto Rican flag marking the entrance to the Paseo (Stroll) Boricua at Humboldt Park.

Photo by Jesús J. Montero for palabra

Battling Gentrification by Showcasing the Windy City’s Rich Puerto Rican Roots

Known for its eclectic charm as an urban oasis and cultural vibrancy, Humboldt Park in Chicago is home to numerous ethnic restaurants, cultural centers, and art galleries. It's no wonder many flock here. As in other big cities across the country, the Windy City has for many years experienced the harmful impact of gentrification. While geographic location varies, the recipe remains identical: while developers purchase/remodel properties seeking skyrocketing rents, longtime residents are continuously displaced. Those negatively impacted are also usually the same: working-class Black and Brown communities.

But one creative entrepreneur is determined to keep the essence of his neighborhood alive and thriving. For over a decade, poet, gallerist, professional tour guide, and Chicago native Eduardo Arocho has been enthusiastically sharing with visitors and locals alike his unconditional love and commitment to his rich Puerto Rican roots. As owner and founder of Paseo Boricua Tour Company, his is more than a "stop-and-drop-names" excursion. Part of Paseo Boricua - the economic, political, and cultural capital of Chicago’s Puerto Rican community - the tour is a culturally immersive experience where participants get to feel the warmth and sabor (flavor) of Arocho and his friendly people - even having the option of adding lunch reservations to support one of the local restaurants featuring Puerto Rican cuisine.

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Two people with two books, open in front of them.

At Expand Democracy, scholarship is a democratic tool. How research on elections, representation, and governance shapes reform.

Getty Images, Pichsakul Promrungsee

Why Academic Work Matters for a Movement

When I began publishing research on elections and representation, I always imagined the audience as primarily academic - political scientists, methodologists, perhaps a few practitioners who hunt for new data. But as my work with Expand Democracy deepens, I find myself reflecting on how scholarship shapes the public conversation and why academic writing is not necessarily a detour from democracy but can be a foundation for it.

This essay reflects on that specific interaction: how academic work contributes to our understanding of democratic institutions, why it remains essential for reform movements, and how my own research aligns with Expand Democracy’s evolving mission.

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child holding smartphone

As Australia bans social media for kids under 16, U.S. parents face a harder truth: online safety isn’t an individual choice; it’s a collective responsibility.

Getty Images/Keiko Iwabuchi

Parents Must Quit Infighting to Keep Kids Safe Online

Last week, Australia’s social media ban for children under age 16 officially took effect. It remains to be seen how this law will shape families' behavior; however, it’s at least a stand against the tech takeover of childhood. Here in the U.S., however, we're in a different boat — a consensus on what's best for kids feels much harder to come by among both lawmakers and parents.

In order to make true progress on this issue, we must resist the fallacy of parental individualism – that what you choose for your own child is up to you alone. That it’s a personal, or family, decision to allow smartphones, or certain apps, or social media. But it’s not a personal decision. The choice you make for your family and your kids affects them and their friends, their friends' siblings, their classmates, and so on. If there is no general consensus around parenting decisions when it comes to tech, all kids are affected.

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Planting Hope in a Hard Season
selective photo of petaled flower
Photo by raquel raq on Unsplash

Planting Hope in a Hard Season

In an Advent reflection penned several years ago, Anne Lamott wrote, “even as everything is dying and falling asleep…something brand new is coming. Hope is coming….swords will be beaten into plowshares, spears into pruning hooks.

“This is a little hard to buy,” she admitted, “with a world stage occupied by—well, I’m not going to name names. But setting aside one’s tiny tendency toward cynicism,…in Advent — we wait; and hope appears if we truly desire to see it….we find it where we can….”

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