New welcome center to provide food, supplies and health care for migrants in Chicago
CHICAGO (CBS) – A new center for migrants opens on Tuesday at a Chicago High School.
Thousands of new arrivals have joined Chicago Public Schools in the past year, and the city said more children were coming this summer. CBS 2's Lauren Victory got a tour of the new center at Roberto Clemente Community Academy.
The welcome center consists of four classrooms in the middle of a working school. It will operate after school begins and close before school ends, so there should be little to no intermingling.
Getting comfortable is the goal for community coordinators assigned to the first stop at Chicago's first migrant welcome center. It's where families can grab snacks and supplies and view an informational video in several languages.
A tour of a new space showed off an entire classroom dedicated to school enrollment. Mayor Brandon Johnson and others viewed the area where social workers will focus on connecting parents and kids with programming related to housing, transportation, medical and more.
Newcomers will receive immunizations, vision screenings, and more in the last room, which is all about health and wellness.
"I want to be really clear, this is not a shelter," said CPS CEO Pedro Martinez. "It is a place where families in this region of the city who have been referred can come and get enrolled and get connected with services."
Martinez said the district already provides all of those services to thousands of migrant families across Chicago. A center inside a school streamlines the process instead of trying to navigate different appointments with different departments.
"What a difference when you bring those wraparound services to one place," said Beatriz Ponce de Leon, deputy mayor of immigrant, migrant, and refugee rights.
New arrivals will be referred to the welcome center by Chicago's Department of Family and Support Services and community-based organizations. The expectation is about two to three families will be seen at a time.
CPS will spend about three-quarters of $1 million on the operation. No one was shy about plans to replicate this pilot program.
"My team will be looking closely at outcomes related to this welcome center, not only to improve its operations, but to also determine best practices for the potential to expand this model throughout our city,"
Migrants are expected to be able to utilize the welcome center as soon as this week.
