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PI Original
by Ellyn Fortino
5:06pm
Mon May 20

Education Activists Take School Closing Fight To City Hall (VIDEO)

Education

A few hundred education activists kicked off the last day of the Chicago Teachers Union's three-day march against school closings at William J. & Charles H. Mayo Elementary School Monday morning. Education activists also delivered a petition calling for a moratorium on school closings to City Hall this afternoon. Progress Illinois was there for the actions. 

Quick Hit
by Ashlee Rezin
4:20pm
Mon May 20

Chicagoans Continue Three-Day March Calling On CPS 'To Keep Our Schools Open' (VIDEO)

The West Side leg of the Chicago Teachers Union's (CTU) three-day march against school closings saw dozens of parents, teachers and education activists blocking traffic throughout the area's streets Monday, chanting “Save Our Schools!”

“We are marching to keep our schools open,” said Jesse Sharkey, vice president of the CTU, at the launch of Monday’s West Side march at Elizabeth Peabody Elementary School, at 1444 West August Blvd.

Peabody is one of 54 schools slated for closure under a CPS proposal to shutter, consolidate and turnaround a record-breaking number of schools at the end of this school year. The district says it is attempting to address a $1 billion deficit and “utilization crisis” of more than 100,000 empty seats. The proposed plan has incited massive protests and outrage throughout Chicago.

“If some of these schools don’t come off the closure list, there’s going to be a ton of outrage and moral indignation from people all across the city,” said Sharkey in an interview with Progress Illinois. “But how do you do get your point across to a board that doesn’t really listen? This thing is being driven by the mayor, and the mayor doesn’t care.”

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Quick Hit
by Ashlee Rezin
1:12pm
Mon May 20

CPS Policies Reinforce Segregation In Chicago, Finds CTU Report

On the 59-year anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark decision to end segregation in public schools, Brown v. Board of Education, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) released a report claiming widespread segregation still exists in Chicago Public Schools (CPS) and the district’s administration is doing nothing to address it.

In the 2011-2012 school year, 69 percent of African-American students in CPS were in schools with more than 90 percent of the student body composed of the same ethnicity, according to Friday’s report, titled “Still Separate, Still Unequal” (PDF).

“The newest CPS leadership frames the district’s current inequities as an inevitable result of demographic trends,” the report reads. “Their fraudulent attempts to absolve corporate reform of any culpability in our separate and unequal school system are an extension of the resistance that enforcement of desegregation faced in the decades after Brown v Board.”

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PI Original
by Ellyn Fortino
5:16pm
Sat May 18

CTU Pledges To Continue Fight Against CPS Closings During West Side March

Education

Hundreds of education activists took to the city's West Side streets Saturday as part of a three-day march in opposition of Chicago Public Schools’ plan to close 54 schools, among other actions, in June. Progress Illinois was there for the march.

PI Original
by Ashlee Rezin
1:56pm
Fri May 17

Englewood Renters Left Without Electricity, Gas Due To Foreclosure: 'We Were Left In The Dark' (VIDEO)

Housing

Eight members of the Shaw family, including a 14 month-old baby, have been living without gas or electricity for nearly a week, according to parents Shantisha and Ezekiel. Late last year the Shaw’s landlord was foreclosed upon and Freedom Mortgage Corp. took over the deed for the building. We talked to the Shaw family about their struggles and what may be next for the family affected by the ongoing foreclosure crisis in Chicago.

Quick Hit
by Ellyn Fortino
1:17pm
Fri May 17
1 comment

Report: Chicago Homeowners Lost $3.1 Billion In Wealth Last Year, Communities Of Color Hit The Hardest

The city of Chicago lost more than $3.1 billion in wealth, or about $2,900 per household, in 2012 as a result of the foreclosure crisis, according to a new report from the Alliance for a Just Society.

And more than $192 billion in homeowner wealth was lost nationally last year, the new analysis shows.

Communities of color in Chicago saw more foreclosures and lost wealth per household compared to other communities.

In 2012, the average Chicago household in zip codes with the highest concentration of people of color lost $3,700 in wealth, the “Wasted Wealth” (PDF) report found.

In comparison, the average wealth lost in segregated white communities was about $1,300 per household.

“Seeing this loss of wealth per household is profound," said the Rev. Marilyn Pagán-Banks, president of IIRON, which also worked on the release of the report. "People of color in Chicago, whose majority equity holdings remain in real estate, have been particularly affected by the crisis.” 

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