DO NOT MISS THIS EVENT- food, sightseeing, commentary for Reporters

The Nitty Gritty Itinerary (featuring a more comfortable, air-conditioned coach bus) Depart Tribune Tower, 435 N. Michigan Ave.: Light breakfast to go. Residents' Journal, 4859 S. Wabash Ave.: Residents' Journal -- by, for, and about public housing residents -- prints articles in Spanish, Chinese, and Russian and is distributed free to Chicago's 35,000 public housing households. Recently the paper won honors for an investigation into why out-of-town firms doing business with Chicago Housing Authority were making campaign contributions to the 17th Ward Democratic organization, the power base of Terrence Petersen, CHA CEO and former 17th Ward Alderman. We'll meet Mary Johns, Editor, and Beauty Turner, Associate Editor. Little Village High School Campus, 3126 S. Kostner Ave.: Joining the ranks of elite high schools such as Walter Payton and Northside Prep this fall are the four small schools on this brand new, $63-million campus tucked away on the Southwest Side. In May 2001 when Chicago Public Schools balked at going forward with construction of the school, needed to alleviate the region's ongoing overcrowding problems, mothers and some others from the community staged a 19-day hunger strike. Following the School Board's agreement to go forward the community became involved in the planning process. We'll meet 22nd Ward Ald. Ricardo Muñoz and others who helped organize the hunger strike and the community planning effort that led to the school's construction. Lunch at Mi Tierra Restaurant, 2528 S. Kedzie Ave.: Buffet at longstanding family-owned Mexican restaurant that is a destination in Little Village. [On the morning of the recent Mexican Independence Day Parade down 26th Street, 200 dignitaries breakfasted here.] Mark Doyle from 2nd Federal Bank and a representative of Little Village Chamber of Commerce will join us to discuss the dynamism and growth of Chicago's Latino community, particularly on the Southwest Side, as well as home mortgages for the undocumented and related business/economic development and immigration issues. Brighton Park Neighborhood Council, 4476 S. Archer Ave.: Bounded by I-55 to the north, Western Avenue to the east, 49th Street to the south, and Central Park Avenue to the west, Brighton Park's ethnic make up changed from predominantly Polish, Irish, Lithuanian and German to predominantly Latino, Asian, and African American. Today nearly 80 percent of its 45,000 residents are Latino. As a leader among community-organizing groups that are less than 15 years old, BPNC is addressing affordable housing issues such as creeping gentrification from the northeast, developing new opportunities for local youth to have a greater say in what happens in the neighborhood, and working on other issues. We'll meet Kim Drew, staff person, as well as a housing leader and a youth leader. Time: 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.