As the clock strikes midnight to ring in the new year, you might see Latinos throughout Illinois doing their best to eat 12 grapes before the clock finishes tolling. Or you may see them running outside with their suitcases in hand. Or tossing water out the front door. These are just some of the traditions that help ensure prosperity, love, and travel — among other things —in the new year. Here are 12 things that many Latinos will do to ring in the new year  Photo by Nataliya Vaitkevich Eating 12 grapes. Each grape represents a month of the year. With each grape, a wish is made. But be sure to eat the grapes before the clock strikes 12:01 a.m. What you wear matters. In Mexico, people will wear either red or yellow underwear on New Year’s Eve. Wearing red means you will find love in the new year. But if [...]

CHICAGO — When South Side Chicago native Jose M. Muñoz was in his early 20s, every decision he made was to keep a roof above his newborn daughter’s head. “If it meant that I had worked a job that, you know, didn't necessarily pay me a fair wage or didn't provide enough for me, I still took it. I took abuse in different ways,” Muñoz said. Despite working multiple jobs to try to pay rent, Muñoz often ended up sleeping out of his car, at a friend's house, and occasionally at work. The Latino Policy Forum and Illinois Latino News (ILLN) are partnering to create a 2-year long public awareness campaign that will illuminate the most common form of homelessness experienced in the Latinx community, which is through ‘doubling-up’ or when a person temporarily lives with others. La Casa Norte, a homelessness resource non-profit, which Muñoz is now the [...]