August 29, 2026 - The Chicago Journal

Erika Debrah Reed Traces Time and AI in The Gift of Time

The Chicago Journal Staff on August 29, 2026

By: Dar Dowling

Most books about artificial intelligence begin with the technology. Erika Debrah Reed begins with time itself, with Aristotle’s observation that time is composed of parts that do not fully exist, with Augustine’s insight that the past lives only in memory and the future only in expectation and the present only in immediate attention, with Einstein’s revelation that time is elastic and relational and inseparable from the observer’s position in space. That opening philosophical arc is not preamble. It is the argument. If we do not understand what time actually is, we cannot understand what it means to have more of it returned to us, or what it would take to live that time well.

Reed is a strategist for one of the world’s largest retail organizations, an advisor to venture capital firms, and someone whose professional life is spent at the intersection of commerce, real estate, and transportation. She brings to this book the specific kind of intelligence that knows how to hold a very large complicated system in view while also understanding the human behavior operating within it, and that combination gives The Gift of Time a quality of grounded insight that purely technological treatments of AI often leave aside.

The book moves outward from the philosophy of time through the history of timekeeping through the transformation of the work week through the era of autonomous vehicles through the emergence of humanoid robotics through the automated future of aviation through the autonomous divide that separates those who will benefit most from these transitions from those who risk being left behind through the education renaissance that AI is making both necessary and possible and finally into what Reed calls the philosophy of curiosity, the quality of engaged, open-ended attention that she identifies as the deepest human response to a world increasingly shaped by machines.

What makes the reading experience so genuinely engaging is the quality of the specific cases Reed deploys throughout. The story of KITT and the 1982 Pontiac Trans Am alongside the contemporary Tesla neural network is not a nostalgic detour. It is a precise illustration of how cultural imagination shapes technological adoption, and how the fantasy of a trusted machine companion that frees human attention for more important things has been with us far longer than the technology required to realize it. The elevator operator strike of 1945 is not a historical footnote. It is a case study in the specific psychology of automation trust and how the combination of economic necessity and deliberate psychological reassurance made the driverless elevator ordinary in a generation.

The Gift of Time turns its attention to the ordinary places where time disappears, the commutes and the administrative loops and the fragments of attention scattered across obligations. Reed pairs a philosophical framework with a practical question, which is what a person might actually do if those fragments came back whole. She leaves the answer to the reader.

If you want to understand what artificial intelligence actually means for the texture of your daily life, your relationship with time, and the question of what you are here to do with the finite hours you have been given, The Gift of Time by Erika Debrah Reed is the book that addresses all three with more depth and more warmth than anything else currently available on the subject. Pick up your copy on Amazon today and start thinking about the most important question the AI era has raised so far.

Former West Englewood School Reopens as 50-Unit Affordable Housing Development After 13 Years Vacant

The Chicago Journal Staff 2 on August 29, 2026

The Charles Warrington Earle School in West Englewood, vacant since Chicago’s mass school closures in 2013, has reopened as a 50-unit affordable housing development with on-site supportive services for residents at risk of or experiencing homelessness. Mayor Brandon Johnson and city officials cut the ribbon on the $35 million project at 6121 S. Hermitage Avenue on August 26, 2026, marking the completion of a nearly decade-long effort to repurpose one of the South Side’s shuttered institutional buildings into a residential anchor for the surrounding neighborhood.

Key Takeaways

The Charles Earle School Apartments deliver 30 one-bedroom and 20 two-bedroom units priced for households earning between 15% and 60% of the area median income, with nine units reserved through the Chicago Low-Income Housing Trust Fund’s MAUI program for households earning roughly $13,000 per year.
Wisconsin-based Gorman & Company led the $35 million adaptive reuse project, which received $4.2 million in tax-increment financing and $540,000 in Chicago Recovery Plan Permanent Supportive Housing funding from the city’s Department of Housing.
The Phoenix Foundation and Phoenix Recovery Services will provide on-site wraparound services for residents, including support for individuals and families experiencing or at risk of homelessness.
Approximately 34% of the development’s units were leased at the time of the ribbon cutting, with income eligibility for a two-person household capped at a combined annual income of $58,320 at the 60% AMI tier.
The 129-year-old building, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is one of more than 20 school-to-apartment conversions Gorman & Company has completed nationally.
A July 2026 study by researchers at the University of Chicago and Johns Hopkins University found that neighborhoods surrounding long-vacant schools saw a 10% increase in gun violence compared to similar neighborhoods where schools remained open, while repurposed school buildings appeared to mitigate that effect.

A Conversion Nine Years in the Making

The Charles Warrington Earle School was built in 1897 and served students in West Englewood for more than a century before Chicago Public Schools closed it in 2013 as part of the largest mass closure of public schools in the nation’s history. Former Mayor Rahm Emanuel shuttered 50 schools that year, six of them in the greater Englewood community. Gorman & Company purchased the Earle property in 2017 for $200,000 and began discussions with the local alderman about converting the 65,000-square-foot Renaissance Revival building into affordable housing.

The project moved through Chicago Plan Commission approval in late 2023, secured its full financing package in 2024, and broke ground in October of that year. Beehyyve Architects designed the residential conversion, and Burling Builders served as general contractor. The development preserves the school’s historic exterior and interior elements — at least one resident has a chalkboard original to the former school mounted in her apartment — while reconfiguring former classrooms into one- and two-bedroom units with modern energy-efficient systems.

The financing structure drew from multiple public and private sources beyond the city’s direct contribution. The Illinois Housing Development Authority, Federal Home Loan Bank’s Affordable Housing Program, ComEd (which committed over $250,000 in energy-efficient incentives), Low-Income Housing Tax Credit equity, and federal and state Historic Tax Credit equity all supported the project. The development is pursuing Enterprise Green Communities certification and features high-efficiency heat pumps, energy-efficient HVAC systems, and upgraded lighting throughout.

Supportive Services Distinguish the Development From Standard Affordable Housing

The Earle School Apartments are not a conventional affordable housing project. The partnership between Gorman & Company and the Chicago-based Phoenix Foundation and Phoenix Recovery Services embeds supportive services directly into the building’s operations, targeting individuals and families who face housing instability. Nine of the 50 units are funded through the Chicago Low-Income Housing Trust Fund’s MAUI program — Multiyear Affordability through Upfront Investment — which provides interest-free forgivable loans to developers to replace up to 50% of a private first mortgage, allowing those units to serve households at 15% of the area median income.

The remaining units are spread across income tiers up to 60% AMI. Monthly rents start as low as $315 for a one-bedroom unit at the lowest income tier, not including utilities. For the West Englewood neighborhood, where the median household income sits around $24,400, the income-tiered structure is designed to keep the development accessible to the immediate community rather than drawing residents primarily from outside the area.

Earle Joins a Growing Pipeline of School-to-Housing Conversions

The Earle project is Gorman & Company’s eighth development in Illinois and part of a portfolio of more than 20 school-to-apartment conversions the developer has completed across the country. Matt Burbach, Gorman’s director of development for Illinois, noted at the ribbon cutting that approximately 34% of the Earle units were already leased. The developer has two additional Englewood-area projects in various stages of planning: Regenerator, a partnership with local community groups to convert the former Woods Mathematics and Science Academy into a community and health center with affordable housing, and a pending redevelopment proposal for the former Bontemps Elementary School at 1241 W. 58th Street.

The broader landscape for Chicago’s shuttered school buildings remains mixed. A 2023 investigation found that the majority of the 50 closed schools remained vacant or unused years after the closures. As of mid-2026, eight former school properties are still unoccupied and publicly owned. The Chicago Board of Education recently approved the sale of additional former school buildings for reuse, with another round of sales expected in the coming weeks. CPS has been working with an advisory committee of real estate professionals, community members, and elected officials to evaluate redevelopment proposals for the remaining properties.

Research Links Vacant Schools to Neighborhood Violence

The Earle ribbon cutting arrived weeks after a July 2026 study by researchers at the University of Chicago and Johns Hopkins University drew a direct connection between long-vacant school buildings and increased neighborhood violence. The study found that neighborhoods surrounding schools that remained vacant after the 2013 closures experienced a 10% increase in gun violence compared to similar neighborhoods where schools had not closed. Neighborhoods where closed schools had been repurposed did not show the same increase, suggesting that adaptive reuse projects like the Earle development carry measurable public safety implications beyond their housing function.

Mayor Brandon Johnson, who worked as a Chicago Teachers Union organizer at the time of the 2013 closures and publicly opposed the shutdown campaign, said at the ribbon cutting that the administration is committed to ensuring every school closed in 2013 is repurposed and returned to community use. The Earle project fits within a broader set of housing investments by the Johnson administration, which passed a $1.25 billion Housing and Economic Development bond — described as the largest public investment in affordable housing and economic development in Chicago’s history — and established a $135 million Green Social Housing revolving loan fund through City Council in May 2025. In April 2026, the Department of Housing announced a separate $300 million investment supporting 15 developments that will create or preserve 1,223 housing units across the city.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is eligible to live at the Charles Earle School Apartments?

The development serves households earning between 15% and 60% of the area median income. For a two-person household in Chicago, 60% AMI translates to a combined annual income of approximately $58,320. Nine units are reserved for households at 15% AMI through the Chicago Low-Income Housing Trust Fund’s MAUI program, serving individuals earning roughly $13,000 per year.

What supportive services are available to residents?

The Phoenix Foundation and Phoenix Recovery Services provide on-site wraparound services for individuals and families experiencing or at risk of homelessness. The services are embedded in the building’s operations and available to residents as part of the development’s supportive housing model.

How was the project funded?

The nearly $35 million project was financed through a combination of $4.2 million in city tax-increment financing, $540,000 in Chicago Recovery Plan Permanent Supportive Housing funds, Low-Income Housing Tax Credit equity, federal and state Historic Tax Credit equity, Illinois Housing Development Authority support, Federal Home Loan Bank Affordable Housing Program funds, and over $250,000 in ComEd energy-efficient incentives.

How many of Chicago’s closed schools have been repurposed?

Of the 50 schools closed in 2013, some have been converted into residential or community uses, but eight former school buildings remain unoccupied and publicly owned as of mid-2026. The Chicago Board of Education recently approved additional sales of former school properties, with more expected in the coming weeks.