This futuristic thinker is joining our team to help facilitate organization and reach South Side communities
By Ireashia Bennett
Portrait of Shabaka Verna, taken by Ireashia Bennett
We are very pleased to welcome a new team member, Shabaka Verna, to City Bureau as our Operations Coordinator.
Shabaka brings ambition, a knack for balance to our team and a background in media and storytelling. His passion for community and storytelling can be seen in his recent work as a Civic Reporting Fellow where he covered the impact rising utility fees have on South and West side communities. As Operations Coordinator, Shabaka will maintain logistics around external programming, like event/training rentals, ordering supplies and maintaining vendor relationships. He also works closely with the Operations Manager to support our financial processes. Overall, he keeps our internal and external engine running smoothly while exhibiting thoughtfulness and perseverance.
Here’s a little bit about Shabaka.
Can you tell us about yourself and your career background?
A lot of my career has been a mix of working on career stuff and helping organizations start things up. Right after high school, I wanted to go to college, but I wasn't sure what for. Also, my family needed money so I had to work. I was fortunate enough to use my high school resources through After School Matters to get a documentary film internship with a production company called Truth & Documentary. I still had to do odd jobs, like work in the foodservice industry, but I was always interested in media and storytelling to help community.
What drew you to media and film?
My first real draw in media was when I got the chance in eighth grade where we did a vlogging pen pal project where we shared what it was like to live in our neighborhood with other kids on the other side of the city. I put a lot of effort and put my all into that project. All of eighth grade, Mr. Lemoine, my teacher, did a lot for us. We also did a young author’s book and a fake newspaper about the Civil War, which I really liked. I felt the most passionate about creating media and connecting with other people.
You were a 2021 Civic Reporting Fellow at City Bureau! What was that experience like? Can you share a moment you’re most proud of?
I feel like getting the fellowship was a proud moment. I've been wanting to do the fellowship for a while. I knew about City Bureau since 2017, but I was still in school thinking I wanted to explore getting more degrees and just sticking to school. So I never was able to follow the fellowship path.
Last year, I took on an IT support role that was pretty flexible and gave me the room to be able to apply for the fellowship. The fellowship connected to my passion for connecting with people across the city and understanding the city’s problems. I love my city, but Chicago has some fucked up things about it, so I wanted to be a part of writing about those injustices. I at least wanted to understand how we can build power to fight those injustices.
So that was a big part of why I applied to be in the 2021 fellowship.
What was your beat?
We investigated the utility problem on the South and West sides of Chicago. We looked at data about the zip codes that were most impacted by disconnections, high energy and gas prices, and how disconnections and high costs have affected communities of color.
I was most proud of completing my interview with Naomi Davis, founder and Executive Director of Blacks in Green. She’s a big visionary in urban green space. In the interview, she talks about building South Side and Black communities where you can walk to wherever you need to like you can on the Northside. Hearing her vision in terms of conservation and green space was impactful and empowering for me.
At first, I was struggling to get in touch with her. I reached out quite a bit. I thought, “maybe I should just kind of put this one away.” But Eric Cox, one of the editors in the fellowship, helped me get in touch with her. He was like, “Yeah, I interviewed her last year. Let me help you and connect you.” I got lucky there.
What drew you to City Bureau?
I started participating in the Documenters program and went to a Public Newsroom. I liked how they listed out all of the local government meetings, which is not something I would look for. It hit me that all of these meetings happen and we barely know about them or see the results of these meetings. Documenting, even on an individual level, is a small part of what goes on in the city on a daily basis. Realizing that felt grand, but also empowering to me because some of the utility of the Documenters program is to be able to ask: Was this meeting accessible? Was this meeting the best way to have a meeting for the public? Is the public given access to this and how can the public use this? Because what's the use of a meeting if the public does not know where their vote or tax money is going?
The Documenters program was an introduction that showed me how important City Bureau could be.
What are you most excited about in your role as Operations Coordinator?
City Bureau is well-run and there’s accountability, respect and a lot of communication within the workplace. I aspire to be as good as my coworkers.
In this role, I am mostly dealing with finances, such as paying Documenters and staff for reimbursements. I'm also developing the office, making it more of a home office for the City Bureau community. It can sound boring, but I know the impact will still reach the community. And, that's the biggest thing for me–reaching the South side community.
With our most recent project, the Community Benefits Agreement zine, I’m learning how to deal with USPS, distribution terminology and all that. I usually just take a piece of mail to the post office but I'm learning the complexities. So all around, there's a lot to be excited about. And I'm looking forward to more challenges.
Can you describe your connection to Chicago? What do you love the most about the city and the community that you're a part of that you live in?
It starts with my mom, she's a musician. She plays the harp. She came to Chicago to study and went to school for classical music. She wanted to understand more of the African roots in music. That’s my indirect connection. I just never left. My experiences here have connected me with a lot of friends and good people along the way. I can’t disown Chicago. I’ve crossed paths with a lot of people that care about me and contribute positively to my life. And, I want to give back and do right by them.
That’s amazing, that you grew up with a harpist as a mom! What was that like?
It's a complicated situation because she sacrificed quite a bit by not being in a regular orchestra. So, she wasn’t getting paid consistently. She’s also an immigrant so there were struggles with that. It was a lot of good and then a lot of struggle we had to grow up with as a family.
But in terms of music, I've always been inspired by her and what she does with music and how her work is centered around creativity and healing. Music can heal and help you understand yourself.
To connect with Shabaka, reach out at shabaka@citybureau.org.
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