Executive Summary 

This page features our executive summary, which is a high-level overview of our report explaining our research and processes for how we reached the conclusion and our recommendations.

The Issue

Chicago Migrant Crisis 

Chicago has experienced a surge in migrants over the past months as seen in Appendix A with data as of 10/06/2023 from the Committee on Immigrant and Refugee Rights (CIRR) that tell us over 10,000 Migrants from South America have made their way to Chicago. The distribution of migrants between the countries are varied, but, the majority of migrants are Venezuelan which data from the CIRR show us to be roughly 72%. This data is shown in Appendix A. 

An important data to note is the distribution of families and individual migrants arriving to Chicago. The distribution can be seen in Appendix A with data from the CIRR showing us that out of the approximate 10,000 migrants, over 7,000 are individuals part of families and around 3,000 are individual men or women.

The issues that the families face include housing, food, education and integration. These are complicated issues to solve and for our timeline it is unrealistic to try and tackle them all. Therefore, our group decided to focus on education. Specific topic and purpose can be seen in the tabs below. 



Topic and Purpose 


Topic

The topic is understanding the lived experience of recently arrived Venezuelan migrant students in the United States as they integrate into the Chicago Public School System.

Purpose

The purpose of our report and all the work we have done in this service learning project is to help CPS better understand who the children in their school are. We wish to aid teachers with integration by helping them understand the migrant children's background, journey, and issues they face as migrants. 



Our Questions and Focus



This focus includes: reasons behind migration (ie labor migration, escaping violence, familial ties, etc), potential mental and/or physical trauma experienced, characteristics of migrant children in terms of education, learning styles, and any accommodations, and additional support migrant students may require (ie mental health, physical health, insurance, etc). 

Conclusion and Recommendations

The goal of this will be to create comfort in the migrant students education by allowing them to learn at their appropriate pace through alternate extracurricular programs and resources.  

2. Follow a Migrant-Inclusive School System Like that of Principal Parra's

For this recommendation, the methods of Erie Elementary Charter School implemented by Principal Parra allows migrant students to learn over the summer, get school supplies and other accessories and lastly help students and their families with a safe space to sleep in gymnasiums. 

3. Use Strategies beyond ELS instruction and School Curricula to Help Students Learn English

Lastly, by implementing specific learning strategies beyond the ESL instruction in school curricula, the migrant students can get a more adapted and effective learnning experience. For example, translation earbuds and language apps. 


Conclusion

To conclude our report, we want to highlight the migrant families and their journey to Chicago. Leaving their homes and going on a dangerous journey and getting to Chicago where life has been difficult. The families have to find homes with a place to sleep. The parents have to find work to provide for their children. The children are put into schools that are thought in a foreign language. 

All of these factors play a role in the mental and physical toll that the families have to endure as they adapt to Chicago living. The children are the focus of our report and their time in school can be a way to help them with their situation by becoming a place where they feel safe. This also opens pathsways for learning to become better as a student who does not feel safe in school will not be in state of mind to learn. Therefore, we believe by implenting our three recommendations, the students will see school as a place they want to go to and this will lead to their lives becoming better and futures brighter which we believe is the main purpose of a school.