WTTW News invites you to Black Voices: A Conversation with the WTTW News Community a virtual event on Monday, August 29 at 8:00 p.m.
It’s no secret that the educational resources of the city of Chicago are not evenly distributed. The story goes back to the 1863 ordinance that required separate schools. In 2013, then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago’s public school system closed more schools at the same time than ever before, mostly on the south and west sides of the city . This left 11,000 mostly black and brown students displaced.
Since these closures, CPS has experienced declining enrollment, which in turn has triggered a reduction in funding for schools in these neighborhoods under the student-focused budgeting model. Today, school funding is less equitable than ever, with schools in high-income areas being subsidized by private donors. All of these factors have disproportionately affected black students, leaving them with reduced access to quality education. There is a lot of work to be done to counter this long history of divestment.
As the new school year approaches, chicago tonight co-presenter and Chicago Tonight: Black Voices Host Brandis Friedman will lead a conversation on the outlook for the 2022-2023 school year and actions to be taken to increase equity in education.
Primary support for CHICAGO TONIGHT: BLACK VOICES is provided by Fifth Third Bank. Additional support is provided by Gertrude Dyane and James H. Wooten, Jr.; Allstate; The Chicago Community Trust; The Joseph & Bessie Feinberg Foundation; The Field Foundation of Illinois; Lloyd A. Fry Foundation; Julian Grace Foundation; Nicholas Antoine; and Judy and John McCarter.
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