The DeKalb Area Women’s Center is now eligible for new funds named for M. Joan Popp, to be administered through the DeKalb County Community Foundation.

STATE

Applications to be accepted for heating bill aid

The state’s winter heating assistance program for seniors and people with disabilities will begin scheduling appointments and accepting applications for aid Oct. 1. The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) is funded through the Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity’s Office of Community Assistance.

Customers must bring all required documentation when applying for assistance including:

• Proof of gross income from all household members for the 30-day income period beginning with the date of the application.
• A copy of current heat and electric bills issued within the last 30 days (if they pay for their energy directly).
• A copy of the rental agreement (if they are renting) showing that utilities are included, the monthly rental amount and landlord contact information.
• Proof of Social Security numbers for all household members.
• Proof that the household received Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF); Aid to the Aged, Blind, or Disabled (AABD); or other benefits, such as Medical Eligibility or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), if receiving assistance from the Illinois Department of Human Services.

Disconnected households and families with children ages 5 or under can begin applying for LIHEAP assistance Nov. 1. Individuals not eligible for priority enrollment can start applying Dec. 1. LIHEAP applicants will be served on a first-come, first-served basis until May 31, 2019 or until funding is exhausted.

For additional information about the program, go to liheapIllinois.com or call 877-411-9276.

COUNTY

New fund to aid women’s center

The DeKalb Area Women’s Center is now eligible for new funds raised by the M. Joan Popp Women’s Empowerment Fund, administered through the DeKalb County Community Foundation.

The fund was created through an estate gift from Joan Popp after her passing in September 2017. The fund supports the mission of DAWC, which Popp was involved with for many years, to empower women and eliminate discrimination.

Popp was a professor at Northern Illinois University for 36 years and served on several departmental, college and university committees and held many offices, including president of the Northern Illinois University Annuitants Association. In 1992, she was named Physical Education Teacher of the Year from the Northern District of the Illinois HPERD Association.

Donations can be made online at dekalbccf.org/donate or by mail to the DeKalb County Community Foundation, 475 DeKalb Ave., Sycamore.

For more information, contact Executive Director Dan Templin at 815-748-5383 or dan@dekalbccf.org.

DeKALB

Library will help students with their homework

District 428 students can again turn to tutors at the DeKalb Public Library for free help this school year.

Tutors will help students in grades one through eight from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays. The program coordinator will maintain contact with the child’s teacher, and a card will be attached to work completed with Teacher in the Library.

Teacher in the Library is held in the Youth Study Rooms in the children’s department. To register a child, contact Connie Squier at teacherinthelibrary@dkpl.org.

Tutoring help will not be provided on a few dates that conflict with holidays and other programs. The library calendar in the monthly brochures and online will have information about the blackout dates.

For more information, call the Youth Services Department at 815-756-9568, ext. 3350.

SYCAMORE

Vacant storefront attracts women’s apparel business

A women’s apparel store will fill a vacant storefront that once housed a craft store in downtown Sycamore. A former downtown craft store will no longer be empty after a northern Illinois-based boutique moves in before the holidays.

UOI Boutique, based in Sterling, is expected to open its second location in October at 307 W. State St. That storefront housed Crafted, a handmade goods and do-it-yourself store, for less than a year when it closed in May.

Urban Outlet Inc. owner John Brady said his company started as a men’s apparel store when it opened in 2000 in downtown Sterling. It switched to women’s apparel in 2013.

The company is hiring full- and part-time sales associates and a store manager for the Sycamore location. For information and to apply, call 815-632-3171 or send resumes to uoicustomerservice@gmail.com.

SANDWICH

Candidates may circulate petitions for alderman

Sandwich residents who are interested in running for alderman can start circulating petitions to get onto the ballot for the April 2019 city council election.

Four seats, all four-year terms, are open – one in each of the city’s wards.

Denise Ii, city clerk and election official, said they include Ward 1, held by Richard Robinson since 2003; Ward 2, held by Cara Killey since 2007; and Ward 4, held by William McMahon since 1995. A Ward 3 seat is vacant.

Petition packets are available between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday at the city clerk’s office in City Hall, 144 E. Railroad St.

To be an eligible to run, a potential candidate must have been a resident of the ward for at least one year, e a registered voter, not be in arrears in payment of any tax or debt to the municipality and cannot have been convicted of perjury, bribery, infamous crime or other felony.

Candidates for Ward 1 must file between 23 and 73 petition signatures, Ward 2 between 16 and 66, Ward 3 between 13 and 63, and Ward 4 between 11 and 61. Completed petitions can be filed from 8 a.m. Dec. 10 through 5 p.m. Dec. 17.

All candidates in line at 8 a.m. on the first day of filing, or whose petitions are received in the first mail delivery of the day or are retrieved from the first city hall drop-box pickup of the day, will qualify for a lottery to determine ballot position. 

Later filings will be placed on the ballot in order of filing.

Candidates must return their filing receipt to Ii with their statement of candidacy, nominating petition sheets, economic interest statement receipt, and any certification related to the striking of signatures attached to the last petition page. Filing a loyalty oath is optional.

For more information, call 815-786-9321.

–DeKalb County News Briefs–