Then, rents went up in her neighborhood and Irene couldn’t afford to stay. So she moved to a more affordable apartment in a different neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side. It pained her to leave Bronzeville, where her great-grandmother had settled during the Great Migration as millions of African-Americans left the South for greater opportunities. Irene has seen family members leave Chicago for the suburbs and Iowa in search of a better life, too.
But Irene isn’t taking all this change lying down. She’s decided to fight the city policies that she sees as disruptive to African-American children, families and their communities. So she started speaking up — and loudly.
The Chicago Reporter teamed up with Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting to tell the story of how the mass school closures affected Irene and her family, and why she’s made it her life’s mission to prevent more shutdowns from happening. This story is the latest installment in the Reporter’s “Empty schools, empty promises” series.
Listen to the story:
Article Appeared @http://www.chicagoreporter.com/when-chicago-closed-her-kids-school-she-decided-to-fight-back/