migration and housing: the alchemy of education

Chicago has always been a destination for those seeking new opportunities from the southern black belt and more recently from throughout the globe. Since August 31, 2022, the city of Chicago has received more than 10,500 new arrivals from the United States border. Since May 9, 2023, 25 additional buses have arrived into the city. To date, the city has housed ~5,000 individuals throughout the city in a shelter system built to support not only new arrivals, but Chicago's unhoused neighbors. As shelter's reach capacity, individuals are asked to reside at district police stations until additional shelters are built and resourced. 

While local news has covered the most extreme situations involving this mass migration and community integration effort including infestations, human trafficking, and the death of Luis Alberto Aguilar Peres, there are ample elements to be celebrated. People throughout the city of Chicago are being housed, fed, and cared for through volunteer and mutual aid efforts. Communities are blossoming in new ways. Schools and educators in the city of Chicago continue to be a critical key to integration. Chicago classrooms are an incredibly viable space to educate and celebrate toward the thriving communities in which we dream. 

Join us for 90 minute Saturday sessions to discuss the latest news surrounding this migration, collaboration around cultural and trauma informed responses to the situation, and to submit any questions and concerns on how this affects public education in Chicago. Sessions will include rotating guests/presentations from those that have been on the ground at shelters, district stations, and working directly with our newly arrived community members.