For the first time in seven years, teachers in the third-largest U.S. school district are expected to go on strike Thursday after contract negotiations between Chicago city officials and the Chicago Teachers Union hit a stalemate Tuesday night. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced Wednesday morning that classes at Chicago public schools will be canceled Thursday in anticipation of the strike.
Along with familiar issues such as contract length, benefits and class sizes, one of the core demands of the teachers union is not explicitly about their work environment but rather community justice: access to affordable housing.
…Doug Schenkelberg, executive director for the Chicago Coalition of the Homeless, notes that roughly 81 percent of CPS homeless population are black students, although they constitute little more than a third of the overall student population.
According to the district’s 2018 figures, more than 16,450 of its students experience some form of homelessness — and that’s a conservative estimate, Schenkelberg said.
…Teachers are demanding that the city commit to creating sustainable housing, housing subsidies for lower-paid school staffers such as aides, and a support system for homeless students.
…“It’s generally accepted that within the school system, it’s important to make sure kids are fed,” Schenkelberg said, citing federally funded breakfast and lunch programs. “We know whether a kid has access to healthy food impacts their educational opportunities. That’s a generally accepted principle; there’s no reason we shouldn’t be talking about housing in the same way.”
From left, leader Bridgette Barber, Education Attorney Alyssa Phillips, and Organizer Bisma Shoukat at a CPS back-to-school training. (Photo by Claudia Cabrera)
I am thrilled to assume my new position as education attorney with the Law Project at CCH. I run outreach, professional training, and legal clinics on the educational rights of students who experience homelessness. These are offered at school and community venues throughout the Chicago area, focusing on suburban Cook County and the collar counties. I also run monthly legal clinics at the Waukegan Public Library, Family Resource Center in Bolingbrook, Wayside Shelter in Elgin, and family shelters in the Chicago area
I help our staff of six attorneys provide legal aid to homeless children, youth, and families on school-related matters. Issues include immediate enrollment, school discipline, special education services, preschool access, transportation, and school fee waivers. I also assist clients in disputes over the rights and services to which homeless students are entitled under state and federal law.
In September, I concluded a two-year fellowship at CCH – the second Equal Justice Works fellow assigned to CCH in five years. My project was to advocate and provide legal assistance focused on the educational rights of homeless students, including new outreach sites in the suburbs. I closed 143 educational rights cases in two years. The cases included transportation, enrollment, preschool access, and school fee waiver issues.
While attending Notre Dame law school, I spent a summer at CCH interning through the Public Interest Law Initiative (PILI). I also interned another summer at the Chicago Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Inc. For both internships I conducted case intakes and outreach to homeless youth. I also drafted a memo that led to Illinois state agencies releasing guidelines that clarified unaccompanied youth are eligible for SNAP food benefits.
I am excited to continue advocating for the educational rights of families and children experiencing homeless. Educationplaysa significant role in ending homelessness. Quality and appropriate education provides consistency, resources, and a social network for students. For students experiencing homelessness, school might be the only space that feels familiar to them and the only place they know they will receive support, including regular meals.
The CCH model of combining advocacy, community education, and direct representation is incredibly impactful in addressing systemic barriers for people experiencing homelessness. I am honored to be given the opportunity to work for an organization that works tirelessly for the rights of students, youth, families, and adults who are coping with homelessness.
More than 40 Chicago punk, prog, noise, rock, and surf musicians, including current and former members of PiL, Pegboy, Naked Raygun, and Local H, will perform an October 21 memorial concert at Metro, raising money for the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless.
The Rob Warmowski Memorial: A Benefit for the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless will honor the lifelong Chicagoan who was a fixture on the local music scene since forming the surf-punk band The Defoliants in 1984. Rob died last month after a brief illness.
Musician and audio engineer Steve Albini will emcee the evening. Pegboy, Cheer-Accident, ONO, Silver Abuse, Watchmen, 007, and Dummy will perform, along with Rob’s own bands, The Defoliants, Buzzmuscle, SIRS, and San Andreas Fault.
When: Monday, October 21, 5 p.m. – 10 p.m.
Where: Metro, 3730 N. Clark Street, Chicago
The evening will feature a DJ set by Scary Lady Sarah and a performance by the jazz band at Mather High School, Rob’s alma mater. Also performing will be special guests Martin Atkins of PiL and Pigface, Eric Spicer of Naked Raygun, and Scott Lucas of Local H and The Married Men. Metro owner Joe Shanahan is providing use of the iconic music hall.
Rob Warmowski
Rob Warmowski was 52 when he died on Sept. 1, following a short illness. After breaking onto the Chicago 1980s punk rock scene with his band The Defoliants, he went on to form several other music projects over the next four decades. His most recent was San Andreas Fault, a surf-noir band.
Rob’s widow, Maureen Sullivan, planned the memorial to celebrate her husband’s life and work while raising money for a cause he cared deeply about – homelessness in Chicago.
Rob was grew up in the city’s Rogers Park neighborhood. He later lived in the South Side Bridgeport neighborhood for 28 years, where his wife Maureen was born and raised. In addition to his musical legacy, Rob wrote frequently about sports and labor issues, running the popular Twitter accounts @whitesoxski and @ScabbyTheRat
The Rob Warmowski Memorial: A Benefit for the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless is an all-ages, donation-based event with a cash bar. All proceeds go to the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless. For more information, please visit https://www.facebook.com/events/492048414860791/?ti=icl
The Illinois Lottery is doing its part to address homelessness by setting aside profits from a newly launched scratch-off game to assist those in need.
Proceeds from the Easy as 123 scratch-off ticket, which was launched Sept. 3, will go to the Homeless Prevention Revenue Fund and will be used by the Illinois Department of Human Services.
Niya Kelly, state legislative director for the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, said state Rep. Thaddeus Jones, D-Calumet City, told her during a speaking engagement at Loyola University three years ago that he wanted to do a scratch-off game to address homelessness and sustain the 20-year-old Homeless Prevention Revenue Fund. Kelly and Jones worked on the item’s language together.
“We were able to pass it through the General Assembly, hopeful that this money would be able to ensure that across the state, someone falling on hard times doesn’t end up experiencing homelessness,” Kelly said.
The Homeless Prevention Revenue Fund provides assistance with rent and utilities in addition to support services.
“This money actually goes to continuums of care throughout the state and they are responsible for finding agencies that provide assistance,” Kelly said.
The 45-year-old lottery system, operated by Camelot Illinois, has released instant games to benefit charitable organizations and first responders, but the Easy as 123 game marks the first time it has tackled homelessness, which Kelly said is a unique initiative for the lottery.
“There are specialty games, but there hasn’t been one that has addressed homelessness,” she said.
The Easy as 123 tickets cost $2, with $20,000 being the maximum amount players can win.
Kelly said she hopes the game catches on.
“The money goes towards an amazing, successful program,” she said. “We save so much money by keeping people housed than having them experience homelessness.”
For the eighth year in a row, Chicago Coalition for the Homeless was honored to be a part of Riot Fest, held in Douglas Park on September 13, 14 & 15. The Riot Fest staff has been staunch supporters of our work since 2012, and this partnership has helped CCH raise over $200,000 to fulfill our mission.
We could not be more grateful to Team Riot Fest, the artists that donated prizes, and to the wonderful volunteers that helped out this year!
CCH’s tent was stuffed to the rafters with prizes to win – over 90 in all. Headliners among the raffle prize inventory were the 11 autographed guitars, signed by such veteran acts like Bad Religion, Social Distortion, and the Violent Femmes. Continue reading A record set, with thanks to Riot Fest
Streeterville resident Dorothy Lam says she’s seen homeless children cuddled up in their parents laps in the doorways of downtown Chicago more than once. But she didn’t think about the total number of homeless kids in the city until she was expecting a child of her own.
So she came to Curious City with a question:
How many homeless kids are there in Chicago, and what can I do to help?
Turns out, that depends on who you ask. Estimates range dramatically, from 1,215 to 20,779. And the number of runaways or kids without a guardian ranges from 6,745 to just seven.
It’s easy to quickly get lost in these numbers, but they have a real human impact. That’s because estimates of Chicago’s homeless population dictate federal funding, and low numbers mean fewer shelter beds, food and social workers available to help these kids survive.
Hard to Find
To get a community the funding it needs to fight homelessness, federal agencies have to know how large is the homeless population. So the first step in fighting homelessness is counting the homeless.
Here’s the problem: Most children facing homelessness — about 81 percent, according to the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless — are living in homes. They’re just not in their homes. They’re called “doubled-up,” meaning they’re staying with friends and relatives, typically until welcomes are worn out. Although the federal definition of homelessness has included this perpetually couch-surfing population since 2001, they often don’t make it into the official federal tally simply because they are more difficult to find.
In an attempt to estimate the homeless population in any given city, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development requires what’s called a point-in-time count. Every year, every shelter must turn over the tally of people who slept in shelter beds on a given night in late January. And every other year, communities must also send out volunteers to try and count every person sleeping on the streets on that same night (although Chicago and many other communities choose to do that in-person count yearly).
In 2018, the shelters and volunteers counted 5,450 homeless people in Chicago, 1,215 of whom were children.
But the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless believes that figure is a significant undercount. Through a combination of estimates and Census data, they believe there to be 86,324 homeless people — 20,799 of whom are kids — in Chicago. That’s more than 17 times the size of the point-in-time tally for the under-18 age group.
According to the coalition, about a third of all homeless kids are unaccompanied minors…
As another school year begins this week, data released today shows that homelessness remains a major issue for students in Chicago’s public education system — particularly in wards with predominantly African American populations. This data has prompted several aldermen with the highest numbers of homeless students in their wards to urge Mayor Lori Lightfoot to support a dedicated funding stream to combat the problem.
Alderman Walter Burnett – Photos by Sam Carlson
“Everyone is very concerned about the budget deficit right now and I am as well,” said Alderman Walter Burnett (27th Ward). “But the underfunding of housing and support services that has left thousands of children in our schools homeless is also part of our budget hole. It is time to make addressing homelessness a priority in our city and in our budget.”
As always, the Law Project at the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless will offer free legal aid and advice to city and suburban families and students experiencing homelessness if they encounter issues upon their return to school. Those recognized as homeless includes households living in shelters or doubled-up in someone else’s home.
Before Mayor Lori Lightfoot revealed her projected budget deficit in a “State of the City” address, members of the Bring Chicago Home coalition rallied Thursday outside her Harold Washington Library Center event, again calling on the mayor to keep the promise she made to the coalition during her campaign.
In recent weeks through the media and communications from her staff, Mayor Lightfoot revealed her intention to shrink the city’s budget deficit in part by raising the city’s Real Estate Transfer Tax (RETT) – a one-time fee applied to real estate purchases – on property sales that exceed $1 million. If she does this, Mayor Lightfoot would raid the same revenue source she had promised to use to combat homelessness and a dire shortage of affordable housing. Continue reading Bring Chicago Home: Community leaders rally outside ‘State of the City’ address, call on mayor’s broken promise on homelessness
