Appendix
Scroll down to view our appendices.
Embedded Files
Click for Appendix A: Proposal
Click for Appendix A: Proposal
Proposal
This is a proposal to conduct interviews with migrant children and parents and Chicago Public School (CPS) teachers in order to better understand the current Chicago migrant crisis as well as its effects on the city’s school system. Over the past several months, the US has seen a large influx of migrants crossing the southern border coming primarily from Ecuador and Venezuela, and these people are being relocated by Texas Governor Greg Abbott to democratic sanctuary cities such as New York and Chicago among others. These cities, along with the country as a whole, are working to accommodate for the new entries and leveraging resources for organizations like Chicago Public Schools to help provide the best outcomes for new immigrants.
CPS has already begun to integrate migrant children into their schools but not without obstacles. At the end of last year, over a quarter of all the students enrolled in CPS were English learners. However, the number of bilingual teachers has dropped since the 2018-2019 school year from 2,126 to 1,801 last school year, creating a bilingual student-teacher ratio of 43:1. To combat this, the district added $18 million towards bilingual education services with $8 million going directly towards the new migrant students. We are curious about how these measures have worked thus far, and we are hoping to make recommendations for next steps.
Interview
We will be interviewing migrant families the morning of October 24th at Carl E. Vonne Elementary School in Chicago, speaking with 2 families about their different experiences
Our team’s focus is ensuring teachers and volunteers are prepared for teaching and integrating migrant students into the classroom.
We hope to learn more about the experiences of teachers and migrant families within the CPS system and how they see the system lacking in support for English Learners.
Roles
Facilitator - Peter Orsak
Note taker - Gabi Lockowitz
Note taker - Charlotte Konopko
Script
Hello and thank you for meeting with us today, your participation is extremely valuable to us and our project. Our names are (state whoever is present) and we are students at Northwestern University. As a part of our business writing class, we are working on putting together a presentation on the current status of immigration in Chicago and how Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is handling the influx of students, specifically how teachers can be best prepared to handle new students. We are going to be asking you some questions about your experience so far, but if there is ever a question you do not feel comfortable answering, that is completely ok and we can move on to the next question. Thank you again for your time and we look forward to hearing more about you and your story.
Questions
For interview questions with parents, please see Appendix A and for interview questions with teachers, please see Appendix B.
Debrief plan
After conducting our interviews, our group will comb through our notes and try to find consistencies across interviews/conversations and highlight key themes.
Data Analysis Plan
We plan to code for three main categories relating to integration of migrant children after completing our interviews. These include: language integration, curriculum integration, and social integration. We will rate elements of the interview on these themes using a numerical scale so that we can quantify our data and notice which themes are most occurring. These categories are flexible, and if we notice other prominent themes within our interviews or the absence of any of these themes, we will be sure to account for them.
Furthermore, we plan to use our research as a framework and examine how our interview results fit into the notes that we already had on migrants in Chicago as well as the way that Chicago Public Schools is integrating migrant children.
Appendix A - Questions for Migrants
Questions
Background information
Where are you from?
How long have you been in Chicago?
Why did you leave your home country and what was your journey like?
Where are you living now, who is part of your family?
School experience
What was your child’s education like in (home country)? When was the last time they were enrolled in school?
How do you feel your child’s teacher is doing? Is your child learning english?
Use resource related to shortage of bilingual teachers and how it is affecting students
What is your child’s routine when they come home from school?
Do they do homework? Does anyone help them with their homework?
Do they have a snack?
Extra activities?
Broader about CPS
What are you most worried about when thinking of your child’s education?
Is there a resource that you wish Chicago Public Schools had?
Have you been able to talk to teachers about your child in the classroom? If so, have those conversations been helpful?
Appendix B - Questions for Teachers
Questions
Experience
What’s your experience working with English Learners and students with IEPs?
How do you plan to best integrate and support the migrant students not only in the classroom but as people in need?
What are you most worried about?
What measures did the broader CPS system put in place to better help you welcome these new students?
What is the biggest gap you are seeing between English Learners and native english speakers?
How can we help?
Where do you think you could use the most support in supporting students?
What do you feel are the most important steps we can take? Why?
How is teaching migrant students different from your average CPS student?
Santana, R. (2023, September 21). What’s behind the influx of migrants crossing the U.S. southern border? PBS. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/whats-behind-the-influx-of-migrants-crossing-the-u-s-southern-border
Issa, N., Loria, M., & WBEZ, N. M. |. (2023, August 20). CPS juggles funding, bilingual staff to welcome thousands of new migrant students. Times. https://chicago.suntimes.com/education/2023/8/20/23837103/cps-migrant-bilingual-students-public-schools
Click for Appendix B: Data Memo
Click for Appendix B: Data Memo
Data Memo
As we continue to gather more information on the status of migrant children and families arriving in Chicago, we can get a better understanding on where and how we can continue making improvements in both our education system as well as tending to personal needs, physical and mental. This memo summarizes the information we have on the families arriving, CPS students and schools, CPS school ratings, and accountability report.
Chicago Migrant Family Breakdown
See Figure 1 and Figure 2
As seen in Figure 1, we can see that a majority of people arriving in Chicago come from Venezuela, with the rest coming from smaller countries within Central and South America. Figure 2 shows us that out of those 11,115 people who have come as of 10/06/2023, 427 people, roughly 3.84%, are still requesting a shelter place. Chicago currently has a good ratio of those sheltered to unsheltered, meaning that this is not a major cause for concern at the moment. Using Figure 1, we can get a better understanding of the children’s background and learn how to help them in a way that is accustomed to them and their needs.
CPS Student Breakdown
As of September of this year, CPS has a total of 477 elementary schools and 157 high schools, or a total of 634 schools and 42,579 employees for its 323,291 currently enrolled students. That’s an average of around 510 students per school and around 7.6 students per employee, but this includes all CPS employees, not just teachers. According to Niche, CPS has around a 15:1 student to teacher ratio, slightly above average for public schools. But, this data could be subject to change with the influx of migrant students.
See Figure 3
As seen in Figure 3, as of September 2023, over 70% of students were economically disadvantaged, over 24% were English Learners, and over 16% had individualized education programs. With the influx of migrant students, almost all of which would be considered English Learners, we can expect the programs in place, such as the English Learners Program and Dual Language Program, to be overwhelmed with students. Many of these students have not received any formal education since they began their journey to the United States. From this data, we realize we must put a financial emphasis on funding these programs and recruiting volunteer/substitute teachers who can support these students in need. CPS’s budget of just under $8 billion dollars must be allocated first to the migrant families and students desperately in need of support.
CPS 2020 Accountability Report
This dataset comes from the CPS Rating and Accountability status report in 2020, which is an annual report that is completed every year as a way to evaluate the school’s progress. The School Quality Rating Policy (SQRP) is a key metric that was created to “Communicate to parents and community members about the academic success of individual schools and the district as a whole; Recognize high achieving and high growth schools and identifying best practices; Provide a framework for goal-setting for schools; Identify schools in need of targeted or intensive support; and Guide the Board's decision-making processes around school actions and turnarounds.” The data is also separated to highlight how English Learners as well as students of different races perform relative to their peers. Here are key takeaways from analyzing the dataset for elementary schools.
See Figure 4
These findings suggest that CPS allows hispanic students to grow at a rate that exceeds all other schools. This could be because potentially hispanic students come from a less experienced academic background, and reap the benefits of school at a higher rate than their peers. I am curious to see how these numbers might change as students enter high school, as potentially thow growth rate could flatten. Also, since the growth rate is from 2020, it would be interesting to see how the data might change as more migrant children enroll in CPS.
CPS Student Racial Makeup
See Figure 5
As seen in Figure 5, the CPS student racial composition is very diverse, with 46.6% Hispanic students and 35% African American students making up the vast majority as of September 2023. It’s incredibly important to consider the racial makeup and background of students within the CPS system because it highlights how vital it is to have teachers and school administrators that both represent the students and know how to reach all students coming from different backgrounds. This data can help better inform decision making on qualifications for teachers and needs of students.
Next Steps
Given the information we have presented, and continuing to stay up to date with new information as it comes in, we can continue to monitor changes in the success of CPS reported through Accountability Reports. We would also like to investigate data that investigates English learners relative to hispanic students because this will likely show disparities between students who have been raised in Chicago and those who recently migrated to the city. We suspect that adding migrant children into the CPS system will spread school resources extremely thin, creating hurdles for teachers and administrators and barriers to learning for students.
https://www.cps.edu/about/district-data/metrics/accountability-reports/
Click for Appendix C: Research
Click for Appendix C: Research
This article emphasizes the importance of mental health support for displaced children and their families. Many refugees experience trauma from fleeing their homes which can have severe impacts on their mental well-being. Children are particularly vulnerable due to their limited cognitive understanding and lack of coping skills. The article emphasizes that the journey itself can be traumatic, with dangers and abuses faced along the way. Family plays a crucial role in a child's mental well-being, but not all parents are able to provide a loving and supportive environment. Even after reaching a refugee camp or gaining asylum, harsh conditions, including a lack of basic necessities, discrimination, and abuse, continue to affect mental health. The cumulative impact of adverse experiences can have long-lasting effects on a child's mental and physical health. One prevalent symptom experienced by refugee children is recurring traumatic nightmares, which greatly disrupt their sleep quality and overall functioning.
This article focuses on the stresses put on Chicago Public Schools by the recent influx of Central and Southern American immigrants to Chicago. The immigrant families travel to the U.S. in large part to give their children a better education along with more career opportunities. Many parents are waiting to find work until their children are safely enrolled in school, thus making schooling a priority for these families. This year 5,300 new English-learning students registered for CPS compared to 3,000 in a typical year. There were 77,000 total english-learning students last year accounting for 25% of the total CPS population. This influx of Spanish speaking students has come at a poor time as CPS has systematically cut funding for bilingual services: the number of students per employed bilingual teacher went from 33 English-learner students per bilingual teacher (2018) to 43 kids per today. The government has allocated $18 million more in funding for bilingual education services with $8 million tied directly to new migrants. There has been a CPS team created by Karime Asaf tasked with locating families and enrolling them in the appropriate school and directing resources to schools with new students. With the help of CPS data analysts, the team is figuring out which schools are most likely to have the programs and space to support each kid rather than having students randomly showing up across the district.
This article highlights issues that have arisen due to the influx of migrant students who are entering the CPS schools. One issue is the lack of bilingual coordinators and resources to serve the influx of migrants. The students are arriving with severe medical needs and with major learning gaps, therefore needing extra support. However, neighborhood schools have taken more than 100 migrant students and don’t have enough resources and staff to meet the students' needs. Therefore, CPS has turned to the community and partnered with several organizations to raise new funding for more dual-language program coordinators and bilingual teachers.
This article by NBC Chicago provides statistical numbers of the migrant crisis. As of October 5th, more than 17,000 have arrivded to the city since August 2022 and governor Prtizker expects about 1,250 migrants to arrive each day in the next week. The reasons for this is because Texas’s’ governor Abbot is no longer respecting the Chicago curfew time set and is sending about 120 buses full of migrants to Chicago. Despite this, community leaders and members organized the neighborhood’s first city-run temporary migrant shelter for about 400 migrants.
This article is not only about how city officials are concerned about the infamous Chicago winter ahead, but it also gives insight into why Venezuelan families came to Chicago. Some boarded buses at the border because they recognized the name and assumed it was large enough to find a place to work. Others had distant relatives or heard from friends that it had robust social services. Many said that they arrived in Chicago because they were offered a free plane or bus ticket from a previous shelter. In an interview, one Venezuelan said “We came here with one sole purpose: to work.”
The migrant crisis in Chicago is putting strains on the city’s budget. Experts are projecting a $538 million deficit for 2024 with more than a third of it attributable to the migrant crisis. Currently, Chicago has over 10,000 migrants living in temporary shelters and nearly 1,500 housed in police stations. So far, Chicago has spent $83 million of taxpayer money on solving resource deficiencies–with 3 companies receiving 94% of this money. Currently, the city is spending approximately $5 million per week with no permanent solution in sight. Future plans include moving migrants out of temporary housing and finding a permanent solution. Mayor Brandon Johnson plans to relocate migrants from police stations to prefabricated shelters, similar to those in New York. Further, there is a growing concern around the increased need for security with a preoccupied police force and the creation of tent cities.
This piece discusses the tragic suicide of Rona Rozo, an asylum seeker from Venezuala, and her impact in highlighting the need for mental health services for immigrants. Rona came to the U.S. with her son and sister; however, before long, she became incredibly anxious about the idea of the government taking her son. Without adequate resources, Rona was unable to access support and took her own life. The article then broadens the conversation to discuss the mental health impacts at large. With an estimated 15% to 30% of immigrants developing PTSD, Chicago and major cities alike ought to allocate proper funding to mental health services, immigrant community members express. Even after obtaining more permanent residences, parents worry severely about their kids being taken away from them, with one parent even concerned that her child would be taken by the government for not participating in Halloween. This example truly highlights how difficult acclimating to a totally unfamiliar culture can be and how devastating the mental toll can be.
This article details a Venezuelan family's treacherous journey to the United States. While this family did not settle in Chicago, the article provides an excellent example of how to document a migration story which will be useful when we try to do the same for a migrant family now living in Chicago. On their journey north, the family faced illness, human traffickers, and harsh landscapes, but persisted through it all and made it across the border just before Biden’s decision to stop allowing Venezuelens through. The article continues with their story in the U.S. and explains that while life is somewhat better, they are still struggling to find economic security and are facing upcoming legal challenges.
This article highlights the number of migrants that are coming into the United States and the reasoning behind it. The number of migrants coming to the United States is exponentially increasing. In 2022, 2.7 million migrants reached the border for the entire year and now, for 2023, 2.8 million have reached the border as of August.Many countries in Latin America have not recovered from the pandemic and their economies have worsened. The flow of migrants coming to the United States is described as “continuous” and experts do not expect the flow to stop anytime soon.
FOX 32 Chicago met with a woman in Rogers Park who just spent 8 months traveling from Venezuela to Chicago hoping to provide her children with a better life, find a higher quality of life to work, and help her family members who still remain in Venezuela. However, her and her family are struggling in Chicago because there is not enough shelter, food, and clothing resources to provide for all migrant families.
The article explains how the number of arriving immigrants has doubled in recent weeks exacerbating the problems facing the city in terms of providing adequate housing and resources. Many immigrants said to the NYT team that their primary reason for coming to Chicago was escaping dire conditions back home and in the hope of finding work. Chicago signed a $29 million contract to house migrants in winterized tents, but the overall cost of accommodation is expected to exceed $345 million in less than a year and a half. The article highlights the expected problems that will come as the weather gets older as many of these immigrants are sleeping in outdoor tents. Efforts are being made to spread the migrants more evenly across the country to ease the challenges in cities like Chicago.
This article is about how at some Chicago Public Schools, the parents can choose based on preference if they want their child to be in one of two programs. One program is dual language where the students are taught in both languages. The other program is where students are predominantly taught in English and then have an hour period of Spanish a day. Children are often rushed into learning English in the classroom and it is found that they need to know their first language well before they can learn a second language
This article provides an overview of the type of trauma endured by migrant children on their journey across the border and the persisting effects of such trauma, termed “toxic trama.” This article is written primarily to inform caregivers and educators on how they can best help migrant children process this trauma, acclimate to their new surroundings, and succeed in their new school environments. It includes several tangible suggestions for schools and communities, which we can certainly draw from to create our proposed solutions section of the project.
This article provides a detailed overview of the challenges many migrant children and schools are facing due to the large influx. In the last year, CPS saw an increase of just over 5,400 English learners (those who come from non-English-speaking homes for their English proficiency). Schools may have staff who can speak with and support English learners, but this is not a substitute for a bilingual program. Further, many recent migrant students speak indigenous languages, such as K’iche’, Kichwa, and Quechua and thus must naivaget school without much support. Ben Felton, chief talent officer for CPS, says the district aims to continue to increase teachers with endorsements and use its Teacher Residency program to train bilingual teachers and hopefully encourage people to move into teaching.
CPS requires $3.1 billion in critical infrastructure for facilities in the next five years as part of a $14.4 billion overhaul as outlined in the Facilities Master Plan. The $3.1 billion will be used for urgent window, roof, and heating/cooling systems repairs, while another $5.5 billion will be allocated to support STEM education and accommodate disabilities, career and tech education programs, and new facilities (sports, atriums, etc.). The district had budgeted $155 million for facilities projects for the current fiscal year and plans to request more capital funding. This provides some important context and background information to better understand how CPS is responding to the migrant crisis as it outlines some of the other major challenges facing these schools.
This article is about how CPS teachers are urging education officials to help with the influx of migrants arriving within their schools. There is a need for teachers that are bilingual as most of the migrants are not fluent in English. Many of the students lack basic necessities like shoes and clothes, which is a concern because a cold chicago winter is right around the corner. The board needs to give migrant students an exemption from an English only exam because this is a barrier to their education and it can also be traumatizing because they will be forced to take an already hard exam, in a language that they are not familiar with. Teachers are seeing the problems in their schools and are taking action and initiative to the school board and to education officials.
This article explains the various forms of trauma endured by migrant children on their journey north. In addition to outlining the different forms of trauma, the article provides instructions for foster parents on how they can best help migrant children address their trauma and acclimate to their new lives in the United States. This article will be very useful in informing our recommendations for parents concerning how to best help their children emotionally.
This article explains how Brighton Park Elementary School offers a voluntary, biweekly support group run by Moorhouse and Carrillo, a school counselor, for students grappling with the upheaval of immigration. Moorhouse and Carrillo ran the students through activities that allowed them to understand their feeling and emotions, while also finding solutions on how to deal with their anxieties. Many students started opening up and sharing their emotions because they felt they were in a safe environment with students going through similar experiences. Overall, this article demonstrates the positive impact social-emotional support at school can have on students with emotional trauma and stress after enduring dangerous journeys to the US.
https://www.americanprogress.org/article/5-ways-state-governments-can-support-student-mental-health/
This article goes through the current state of mental health support from the government and then focuses on 5 distinct ways the government can support the mental health of students. One, the article calls the government to establish a “statewide student mental health task force” to evaluate and recommend evidence-based policies for improving student mental health in schools. The second suggestion calls for more state-level interagency collaboration. For example, in some areas there is coordination between the state's health and education departments to provide on-campus health and mental health services to students and communities. The third and fourth points are about increased access: either making school-based third-party providers covered by medicaid more accessible or adding more in-house mental health solutions. Lastly, the article advises the government to invest in programs that improve school culture: some strategies include trauma-informed training for school staff, integrating mental health into curricula, and conducting school climate surveys.
This article focuses on the experience of children who migrated from Venezuela to the US who are now living in Chicago. Migrant children, such as 6-year-old Hassly Cespedes, faced enrollment issues on their first day of school in Chicago this year due to outdated paperwork and language barriers. This situation highlights the challenges faced by recent migrant arrivals, particularly those who don't speak English. CPS has allocated additional funding (about $15m) for bilingual instruction due to the growing number of English learner students. While CPS made a statement that said that students in temporary living situations (such as police stations) could enroll immediately, several children were still turned away.
This article details out-of-school factors that are common among poor families that may contribute to a child’s success in school. These factors include: (1) low birth-weight (2) inadequate medical, dental, and vision care (3) food insecurity; (4) environmental pollutants; (5) family stress; and (6) neighborhood characteristics. By reading on the effects of these factors, we can determine areas where Chicago Public Schools might be able to pick up the slack.
This article outlines a perfect guide to how to educate students who struggle with language and cultural differences using a specific elementary school arts class as an example, and recommends “using cooperative learning strategies that foster functional communication; organizing skills and content around themes; using informal, family-like settings in which the teacher works with small groups rather than focusing on large group instruction.”
This article highlights how the longstanding infrastructure of CPS is built to handle the influx of new students. They currently have 3000 certified bilingual teachers and over 2000 classrooms with transitional bilingual programs, yet they still see students show up to schools that do not have these teachers and programs. In order to ease the process of buses, CPS has increased pay rates and introduced new incentives for more drivers, but this goes just beyond a district shortage. Through this, they have taken down the average bus ride length from more than an hour to an average of 28 minutes. While there is still a lot of room to go, they need to hit areas that are still being underserved.
This source is a news-style article that investigates a snapshot of bilingual education in CPS. It gives some interview content from migrant people who have arrived in Chicago, and it also provides many useful graphs that can be effective when brainstorming for our data project or to potentially use on our website. It gives some more detailed information about the day-to-day processes of bilingual learning programs, as the source we presented on Thursday from CPS offered the goals and criteria for programs, but very little information on how they function on a daily basis. One statistic that was especially striking from this source was
This article focuses on the ways CPS is boosting resources to make sure they are available for all students and families. CPS deployed mobile units to shelters and police stations to help families enroll their kids into school, no matter where they are staying. They also opened a pilot welcome center that helps to organize transportation from shelters in the city to ensure that the services are being brought to every shelter area. In June, the U.S. Department of Education posted an updated toolkit to help schools meet the new students' academic, socio-emotional and mental health needs. Looking at other states such as California and New York, they are experiencing the same hardships CPS is experiencing with the large influx of new students and not enough resources.
This article discusses CPS CEO Pedro Martinez’s confidence level with providiing resources for the migrant students. It mentions that bus rides for general CPS students have been halted with the recent influx of students. It includes data on the number of newcomer students and has a video of Martinez addressing the issue. He says they are working with mental and physical health resources in Chicago to provide care for the migrant children and parents.
This article focuses on the growing Latino population in the United States and the high dropout rates of Latino students in high school and college. The IES-funded NCER grants have been used to develop two programs to support this challenge. First, the Juntos Project was designed to create an intervention model working with teachers, school leaders, and parents of Latino middle school students. The second project is called project LEAPS (Latino Education After Public School) which helps students as they transition from middle to high school. The research also identifies lessons about how to be disruptive given that current approaches are not working. Some of those lessons include 1) parents are the most important teachers in a child's life, 2)move from a deficit framing to an asset framing, and 3) attend to within-group variation.
This article focuses on the statistics on how CPS is handling the new influx of students. It states that at the end of last school year, there were over 77,000 English language learners, over a quarter of all the students enrolled in CPS. Along with this influx of ELs, the number of bilingual teachers has dropped since the 2018-2019 school year from 2,126 to 1,801 last school year. This made each bilingual teacher average 43 students per teacher. To combat this, the district added $18 million towards bilingual education services with $8 million going directly towards the new migrant students. The article notes that this organization is thanks to Dr. Asaf, as she has been able to help students and families in every way possible.
This news article includes interviews from the principal of Zapata Academy and a representative from Roberto Clemente High School. Both individuals highlighted specific issues related to resource quantity and allocation. They said that initially they felt that they had enough resources, as Chicago Public Schools will receive additional funding for each student enrolled. However, they also said that the quantity of students they anticipated would move in later would overwhelm the system. They also said that resources in place, such as welcome centers, are underutilized, and there is a lack of transportation to welcome centers as well as schools.
This article focuses on how CPS CEO Pedro Martinez feels regarding how adequately CPS can welcome new migrant students into the school system. CPS is dealing with busing issues. CPS has 47 diverse learner students with bus routes lasting more than an hour and CPS is also unable to provide busing services for all students who need due to driver shortages. Pedro Martinez is confident that these conditions will improve.
This article outlines 6 essential strategies for teaching English learners according to Teachers. These strategies include the “Picture Word Inductive Model,” “Sentence Frames,” “Comprehensible Input,” “Collaborative Summarizing,” and others. He also created a twitter list of even more strategies. I think the Picture Word Inductive Model seems incredibly effective for English learners. As someone who has studied a second language, having as much context and clues to the meaning of a word can help you figure it out on your own and thus put it to memory. I hope when we speak with teachers we are able to discuss some of these strategies.
This PBS news article from late September gives a big-picture overview of the current migrant crisis as well as why the influx of migrants at the Southern border is so extreme this year relative to others. They note that we saw a huge decrease in the number of immigrants and migrants during Covid-19, so many more are making the journey now. It also discusses the temporary protected status that the Biden administration has given to Venezuelans as well as resource adjustments and impacts that are occurring throughout the US to accommodate for new arrivals.
This ABC Chicago article outlines the recent influx of migrants into Oak Park and how community members can help. Currently, there are police stations and churches helping accommodate, but cited water bill concerns and hot water supply. There is a rally and march Monday, October 23 to encourage Oak Park residents to pitch in for the support of migrants in need. This article showcases a microcosm of the entire issue in one community, but leaves me feeling hopeful that people are still willing to help.
This article explains that there are many families still struggling and the migrant influx is taking a hard hit on schools. Many children are suffering from the lack of basic needs such as clothes, food, and housing. Teachers are asking for more federal funding to help the new students as many are doubled and tripled up into small apartments. One school does not even have a single bilingual teacher and is currently using Google Translate to speak with the students. They are feeling an extra sense of urgency as winter is coming around the corner and it is going to turn into dangerous living conditions for all families and they need to come to a solution soon.
This article discusses the reaction to Chicago's recently announced plan to place a massive "winterized" shelter camp for migrants. The responses are mixed from community members, and more than 2,000 people have signed a petition in protest. On the other hand, as explained by the Deputy Mayor of Immigrant and Refugee Rights, this is a good turn-lock key solution so that 4,000 people can be indoors before winter.
The parents we interviewed this week expressed a need for more extracurricular activities for migrant students who are enrolling in CPS. This is congruent with the theme of research our class has already done to identify the importance of looking at the needs of the migrant children holistically, rather than only academically. To investigate further, I read a Master’s research paper on the benefits that children who are involved in extracurricular activities reap as a result of their participation. These benefits included better grades, higher standardized test scores, and higher self-concept. These students were also less likely to use drugs and alcohol and had decreased absenteeism as well as a greater connection to the school.
The article focuses on the importance of after school activities for children, which is relevant as the interviews we conducted last week emphasized how migrant students are interested in engaging with such programs. This article discusses two studies conducted by Harvard and Stanfordthat emphasize the crucial role of early childhood development in shaping future success in school and the workplace. Roxanne Moschetti at TMCC explains that engaging in various activities during childhood, such as sports and music, fosters connections between different brain pathways, enhances creativity, strategic planning, and improves executive function. Moschetti also acknowledges the challenges parents face in finding and affording such programs, urging them to explore unconventional options. Additionally, she stresses that these activities benefit both children and adults, helping reduce stress and ultimately contributing to better overall health.
This Journal segment highlights commonalities in the some of the experiences of Latino immigrant students’ experiences, including the importance of parent educational involvement in early school years, the lack of early childhood education that can lead to potential academic disadvantages for students, and characteristics of the students that can both aid and hinder their educational pursuits. Latino parents often demonstrate to their children incredible resilience, which is a benefit in their educational modeling, as well as have strong, large family connectivity, which can heighten feelings of acceptance and minimize the effects of poverty on the children. However, these Latino children often face more difficulty than their nonimmigrant counterparts, as they are 1.5x more likely to grow up poor, can grow up in homes where English is not spoken at all, and are more likely to go to lower income schools where safety is not guaranteed. Therefore, “strong partnerships among schools, families, and communities are vital to the success of immigrant students” of which include additional opportunities and outreach between families and institutions.
The article highlights current news about the Biden administration allowing for Venezuelan migrants the authority to work with the improvisation of work permits. There are restrictions such as only a portion of migrants being able to work based on how early they had arrived into Chicago, but bystanders and families themselves are hopeful because migrants will be able to bypass the 180-day period for verification and authorization to work. Moreover, migrants will be more independent working, and there are further hopes that all undocumented migrants and immigrants have the freedom to work, for it is as easy as “the stroke of the pen” on the Biden administration’s part.
A video by the NBC focusing on where the money has gone for handling the migrants in shelters. It highlights salaries for nurses, guards and cleaners that an out of state company has which the city of Chicago pays tens of millions of dollars to which in turn has an effect on the taxpayers who are essentially paying for it. The video takes into the perspective of Alderman Andre Vasquez as he says that if the city is going to spend these big sums of money, he wants it to go to Chicago and not an out of state company that handles employment of the staff. He also believes that local companies can do the work for less as there are many nonprofit organizations willing to do the work.
A PBS video from late april that briefly covers the situation but what caught my attention was the talk about the funding received by the city officials from the state government and how they received no financial aid from the federal government in the start. The state financial aid was “only 20 million” which is discussed to be too little for the task that was presented and the reporters say that sum was spent quickly leaving officials in the city to scramble to solve the problem with no money. This ties in with my previous research where the city gets blamed to overspend money on expensive labor by out of state employers. The video discusses the fact that this originates from Texas and recognizes that Chicago is having to deal with the humanitarian crisis.
In recent news, the Biden administration has mandated deportation flights to occur around twice every week in mindfulness of the Venezuelan migrants who illegally crossed the border to the United States. Despite offering humanitarian aid to Venezuela, the Biden administration decides to resume pauses in flights to and from Venezuela to allow for deportation flights. Onlookers are infuriated at the fact that Venezuelans are being flown back to a country in which a quarter of its residents have long fled the country and in which store shelves have long been empty.
This article, released only a week ago, dictates the housing plan for migrants for winter months that has been pushed by Chicago Mayor Johnson. It aided in understanding the scope of migrants that have been coming up to the US, in terms of the budget and number of individuals. The current Chicago migration crisis is estimated to cost Chicago taxpayers $361 million from January to December 2023, including food, housing, and other resources. Chicago officials, running out of space in police stations and airports to house migrants, intend to create a ‘winterized base camp’ with fortified tents and resources. More than 3,567 migrants are in police stations and 11k more in shelters around the city. This housing plan would give aid to 1,000 migrants per location. Some express worries and concerns about the migrants living in subpar conditions that are heavily impacted by the cold, and hope to have the resources available to continue to help those migrating.
This article, written and published on ABC’s national website, details the city of Chicago’s initiative to shelter migrants in city run airports. Since June, 3000 migrants have arrived by plane to Chicago to seek asylum. 500 migrants live within O’Hare airport at any given time before they can be transferred to a more permanent shelter. The need for the city to shelter hundreds of migrants in the world’s second busiest airport clearly highlights the extent to which the migrant crisis has developed. It will be interesting to ask our interviewees if they have any experience being sheltered in a Chicago airport.
The ABC 7 article describes the differing reception experienced by Ukrainian and Venezuelan migrants during their entry to Chicago since 2022. 30,000 Ukrainian refugees have come to Chicago since 2022 while the article reports 19,000 migrants from Venezuela arriving during the same period. The article cites a much more established Ukrainian population within Chicago as being a central factor in the lack of home insecurity. Another important factor is the federal government’s special status granted to Ukrainian migrants given the war.
This article provides a fulminatory breakdown of all of what Chicago residents need to know about the migrant crisis: the current political measures to address the crisis such as deportation flights back to Venezuela, signing contracts for millions of dollars in funds to aid migrants, and how Chicagoans can help with the cause.
A news story on CBS news Chicago highlighting the recent efforts from Mayor Brandon Johnson of Chicago to push for further federal funding to better handle the migrant crisis as well as other states also pushing for more funding. The proposal for more funding comes in a time where winter is approaching Chicago and more shelters need to be built for the consistent influx of migrants.
This article follows the migrant crisis in Chicago, including a point of view from an immigrant who migrated to Chicago at the age of three. The article notes that English learners have increased by more than 5,000 since last year. It also states that although schools may have bilingual staff that can speak with English learners, it is not an adequate substitute for an official bilingual program. Additionally, these bilingual programs vary by school and by language. The article also discusses the potential difficulties of enrolling in school while in temporary living situations.
The article from the Chicago Sun-Times explores the Biden administration's decision to grant temporary protected status and work authorization to Venezuelan migrants. The move is aimed at providing a reprieve for Venezuelans who have fled their home country due to political and economic turmoil. The article likely delves into the implications of this decision, its impact on the lives of migrants, and the broader context of U.S. immigration policies.
The article examines the influx of immigrants in Chicago. Some migrants communicate their journeys to get to Chicago, and the city struggles with brief notice about arrivals. Alderman Byron Sigcho-Lopez calls for help from neighboring municipalities as Chicago's capacity is overwhelmed. Over 15,000 migrants have arrived since August 2022, with many in police stations and city shelters. Alderman Andre Vasquez anticipates more arrivals, especially with the 2024 Democratic National Convention. This highlights the necessity for state and federal aid. The Chicago Refugee Coalition voices concerns about accommodating migrants in tents during winter.
The article focuses on the logistics surrounding the process of CPS onboarding bilingual teachers to address needs of students belonging to asylum-seeking families, primarily of Spanish-speaking origin. Over the last five years, CPS has scaled back on the number of bilingual teachers it employs. This is in sharp contrast to the rise in students needing additional instruction related to language barriers inside the classroom. Part of the discrepancy here is attributed to how CPS accounts for bilingual teachers, with officials estimating that bilingual-certified teachers paid as part of their regular teaching positions do not count in the statistics counting bilingual instructors. The CPS also claims that $18 million more is being allocated this upcoming school year for bilingual services. Getting kids to school is another problem. Many migrants don’t know which schools to send their children to and this is exacerbated amongst families that are homeless – a number that rose to its five-year high in April. There is not only a need for resources to be provided to students once they are at school, but onboarding measures which proactively reach out to shelters and homeless organizations in the Chicago area to identify appropriate educational pathways for migrant children.
This article provides an exhaustive summary of the intricacies of immigrant mental health, addressing different risk factors and interventions at different levels while acknowledging the gaps in current research. It highlights the significance of understanding and enhancing mental health outcomes for immigrant as they acclimate to new environments. Some of the key focus is on the differential risk factors faced by immigrant populations, the emotional difficulties experienced by mothers, the documentation status and its effect on mental health.
This article discusses a pilot program that transformed high school classrooms into welcome centers for migrant families. This program takes place near West Town and Humboldt Park, and provides services like school supplies and vaccinations.
The article discusses a decision in Illinois to temporarily halt the enrollment of immigrants in a health benefits program. The pause is attributed to budget concerns and is raising concerns about the impact on the well-being of immigrant communities. The article delves into the reasons behind the decision, its potential consequences on the affected population, and the broader implications for immigrant health in the state.
As of 2021, there were 44.7 million immigrants residing in the U.S., including 20.8 million noncitizen immigrants and 23.9 million naturalized citizens, who accounted for about 6% and 7% of the total population, respectively. About a quarter (27%) of likely undocumented immigrants and nearly one in ten (8%) lawfully present immigrants say they avoided applying for food, housing, or health care assistance in the past year due to immigration-related fears. Some immigrants, such as those with temporary protected status, are lawfully present but do not have a qualified status and are not eligible to enroll in Medicaid or CHIP regardless of their length of time in the country.
Many migrants arriving in Chicago with serious health issues are taken to a fully-staffed clinic in Belmont Cragin. The clinic does full reviews, anything from tuberculosis to measles, vaccinations, COVID-19. Although the county has tried to reach as many migrants as possible, not all go through the health screening process. Rocha said Cook County Health needs more money from the state to continue caring for asylum seekers. Several migrant children who are staying at a temporary shelter in Little Village joined a nearby elementary school on Monday, and up to a dozen high school-age students might soon join Little Village Lawndale High School, according to local Ald. Mike Rodriguez.
The state of Illinois is embroiled in a political and financial debate over its Medicaid-style health care benefits for undocumented immigrants. While the state has historically provided coverage for low-income undocumented children and recently expanded to include older adults, advocates sought further expansion to include adults aged 19 to 41. However, the state announced changes that include a temporary enrollment pause, enrollment caps, and the introduction of copays for certain hospital visits. Advocates argue that these changes are rooted in bias and may limit access to care for a vulnerable population, while proponents emphasize the need for cost-saving measures. Governor J.B. Pritzker, who initially supported the program, now faces a difficult political dilemma as the state grapples with projected budgetary constraints. The situation underscores the complex nature of healthcare policy, touching on issues of access, cost, and political considerations in the context of immigration and healthcare.
The article highlights that undocumented immigrants are generally not eligible for most federal health care benefits due to their immigration status. This includes programs such as Medicaid, Medicare, and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). These programs are typically available to U.S. citizens, certain lawfully present immigrants, and some specific non-citizen groups. Undocumented immigrants do not fall into any of these categories. However, the article explains that there are some limited exceptions where undocumented immigrants can access certain health care services regardless of their immigration status. Emergency Medical Services (EMS) are available to everyone, regardless of their legal status, under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA).
Click for Appendix D: Resources
Click for Appendix D: Resources
Benito, Emily. “Importance of Afterschool Programs for Children’s Development” ABC- Kolo New Now. Oct 27, 2023
Shafer, Leah and Walsh Bari. “Migration, Separation, and Trauma: What educators should know about the often-painful experiences of newly arriving children — and how to help” Harvard Graduate School of Business Education. July 2018
Wilson, Nikki. “Impact of Extracurricular Activities on Students” The Graduate School- University of Wisconsin. May 2009
Salzman, Nell. “What to know about Chicago's migrant crisis.” Chicago Tribune, 26 October 2023, https://www.chicagotribune.com/immigration/ct-what-to-know-migrant-crisis-20231026-hhhvu5hcvnfdlc7twe3mnw2aza-story.html. Accessed 20 November 2023.
Silva, Daniella. “Chicago Scrambles to House Migrants as Winter Approaches.” NBCNews.Com, NBCUniversal News Group, 26 Nov. 2023, www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/chicago-scrambles-house-migrants-winter-approaches-rcna125581.
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