Chicago’s Montclare neighborhood on the city’s Northwest Side is home to several senior care facilities and many more senior citizens, who are at greater risk of contracting COVID-19 than other age groups.

Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th) represents a broad swath of the community, as well as parts of the Hermosa and Portage Park neighborhoods.

“Because of the fact that we have a lot of seniors here … we’ve done about 6,000 calls to our residents in the 36th Ward, checking in on them, making sure they’re doing OK,” Villegas said. “The alderman’s office is the catch-all for everything, and so we’re dealing with federal issues, state issues, county issues, etc.”

First elected in 2015, Villegas is a close ally of Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who handpicked the alderman as her City Council floor leader last year.

On Tuesday, Villegas and 22 other alderman advanced an ordinance that would grant Lightfoot emergency powers to authorize spending and contracts related to coronavirus relief efforts. Ten alderman voted against the measure.

The ordinance will go in front of the full City Council on Wednesday.