Making Choices…

I just finished writing this press release for Westside Health Authority, a community-based non-profit on Chicago’s west side, and the topic is so compelling that I wanted to share it with you. 

Perhaps you can pass it or help them out…

  PEOPLE’S RALLY ON JULY 14^TH

LAUNCHES CAMPAIGN TO DEMAND

RIGHTS FOR AUSTIN HIGH SCHOOL

STUDENTS…“WHY NOT OUR CHILDREN?” Chicago, IL. (July 1, 2009)… Since 2004, Chicago’s largest school district — the Austin community — has faced injustice by having no public high school to accommodate all its students.  Meanwhile, the site of the former Brach candy company, the only lot in Austin with sufficient space for a state-of-the-art high school — sits empty.  Austin also has the largest gap in the city between the number of seats available in high-performing schools and the number of students who need them.  To draw attention to this travesty, the Westside Health Authority (WHA), Every Block A Village (EBV) and the Austin Community Education Network (ACEN) are leading a protest march, “The People’s Rally” on Tuesday, July 14^th, at 5:30 p.m. from 4800 W. Chicago Avenue to 401 N. Cicero Avenue (Brach site). 

Despite recognition by Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education and prior CEO of Chicago Public Schools that “Austin has a huge unmet need for a high school,” the city’s redevelopment funds from TIF (tax increment funding) were primarily been spent on South Side schools.  Each year, about 1200 Austin youth need a high school to attend.  

Currently, the makeshift solution of adapting a few middle schools into a high school has been inadequate.  The local charter and private schools can only manage a small number of students.  As a result, about six hundred students each year – for a total of about 2400 STUDENTS are faced with challenges in attending school outside their district.  The problems of gang violence, bus fares, drugs and spiraling drop-out rates might be reduced with a renewed focus on providing Austin with a proper, state-of-the-art high school.  Chicago Police Department statistics rank Austin as #1 in overall crime.

“The sign of a healthy community can be measured by the quality of its schools,” says Jacqueline Reed, Westside Health Authority’s CEO/Founder. 

Virgil Crawford, Community Organizer from WHA and ACEN adds, “Other communities provide a good education for their high school students.  Why not our children?”

Community members, parents, students, clergymen and community advocates will be given a platform on July 14^th to express their concerns to local officials.  For more information about the rally, contact Chanel Glover (WHA), 773-287-6086.

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