Better Chicago

This Free Program Is Teaching Chicago Residents How to Have a Voice in Urban Planning

To many, urban planning feels like a mystery — something happening in the background until one day you wake up and that vacant corner lot is suddenly a coffee shop. As an architect working in city planning for most of my career, I know how these decisions get made. For the average resident in a […]

by Eleanor Esser Gorski

July 29, 2025

Christine Rocas on Her Path from Joffrey Ballet Dancer to Rehearsal Director — and Why the Company Is 'on the Right Side of History'

Have you ever wondered what happens to a ballet dancer after they take their final bow on the stage? In Christine Rocas’ case, fate intervened, and she ended up exactly where she was always meant to be. After almost 20 years dancing for the Joffrey Ballet, a Make It Better Foundation grant partner, she is […]

by Vicki Crain

July 14, 2025