Obama gets F from Chicago activists

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CHICAGO, April 26 (UPI) -- Activists in the poor Chicago neighborhood where U.S. President Barack Obama got his start as a community organizer say he hasn't done enough for them so far.

Giving Obama a failing grade for his first 100 days in office was Roseland community activist Mark Allen, who said during a public forum with U.S. Sen. Roland Burris, D-Ill., "Some of us who worked with (Obama) from the beginning of his career through the presidency are not satisfied. Some of these streets are worse than they were when he walked down these streets," the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

Urban problems have been given short shrift by the White House, evidenced, Allen says, by the fact that an anti-gang program touted on Obama's Web site, CeaseFire, did not receive any federal stimulus money.

The Sun-Times said former Chicago Housing Authority Director Phil Jackson directed his ire at Burris, telling him that when funding for the summer jobs program Black Star was cut off, three of the 80 children it had helped were shot and one was killed.

"We have to rebuild the black family," Jackson said. "We need strong institutions in our community."