In September 2020, the Chicago Public Schools went into its second term of remote learning. At issue were the approximately 115,000 students, predominantly African American and LatinX who were without the technology required to “do” school. In Belmont-Cragin, a predominantly LatinX community on Chicago’s northwest side that held the city’s second highest number of COVID19 cases in November, parents struggle to get on line, get computers and keep their children from falling behind. This episode explores the efforts by Northwest Side Center for Housing to provide financial assistance, computers and technology needs.
In September 2020, the Chicago Public Schools went into its second term of remote learning. At issue were the approximately 115,000 students, predominantly African American and LatinX who were without the technology required to “do” school. In Belmont-Cragin, a predominantly LatinX community on Chicago’s northwest side that held the city’s second highest number of COVID19 cases in November, parents struggle to get on line, get computers and keep their children from falling behind. This episode explores the efforts by Northwest Side Center for Housing to provide financial assistance, computers and technology needs.
Narrator: [00:00:00] In Chicago's Belmont Cragin neighborhood, families struggle with the challenges of online learning while trying to survive a deadly pandemic with limited resources. Here's journalist Jonathan Aguilar and activist Julio Rodriguez with Learning on the Line. I
Sylvia Rodriguez: I had initially bought him a laptop and it, it, it was damaged. It broke. So I had to contact the school to rent a computer from them. Otherwise he wouldn't be doing class right now. And my internet just recently went up to a hundred dollars. So that's something else that I have to keep because [00:01:00] he has to be in school and remote learning, and I can't cut it off, you know, other services, they're not available, and if they are, they're too slow. So, it's expensive.
Jonathan Aguilar: This is Silvia Rodriguez. She's a single mother of two who works two to three days as a delivery driver for the gig economy. And Silvia is fortunate the school her son attends had a laptop to lend. My name is Jonathan Aguilar, and I'm a freelance reporter in the Chicagoland area and a co producer on this podcast.
Julio Rodriguez: My name is Julio Rodriguez. I'm the Director of Community Organizing in Belmont Cragin for the Northwest Side Housing Center. Belmont Cragin is a primarily Latinx community where over 80, 000 residents live and work in a low to moderate income neighborhood. A community that currently leads second in COVID 19 cases.
in the city of Chicago and as of November 28th has a positivity rate of 28. [00:02:00] 1 percent when the average for the city sits at 11. 7 percent.
Jonathan Aguilar: Remote learning began on March 14, 2020. It was meant to be a short term effort but nine months later we're still in full remote learning.
That's Sarah Karp, a WBEZ education reporter. Karp explained some of the major issues facing schools. Despite Chicago Public Schools, also known as CPS, having four weeks to prepare students for online learning, many students did not have computers or internet access when it began. CPS [00:03:00] estimated that 115, 000 students out of their 355, 000 students needed laptops or tablets to access classes at home.
After the first spring quarter of online learning, several data points came out. By May 11th, CPS had about 15, 600 students who were non digital, according to the Chicago Tribune. Sentiment among students and parents alike is that remote learning isn't working.
Student: Uh, I feel like I am learning very little.
Not as much as I was in school, but enough to just, pass by. but not enough to even be engaged
Jonathan Aguilar: That's Xander Cortona a senior at Lakeview High School who lives in the Belmont Cragin neighborhood. Latinx families are facing challenges specifically around language access. One parent in particular about how much her daughter is learning.
Cindy Olivares: Children are falling through the cracks, especially those that don't have internet those that don't have computer access. And most, especially those that don't [00:04:00] have parents that speak the language, a lot of kids are struggling.
She's learning. I would like to say probably at 10%.
Jonathan Aguilar: That's Cindy Olivares, a local Belmont Cragin resident, mother of three, and a community outreach worker. During May of this year, Black and Latinx students were least likely to use Google Meet or Classroom, according to the Chicago Tribune. About 70 percent of Black students and 78 percent of Latinx students accessed the platform at least once, compared to nearly 87 percent of both white and Asian students in the 1st through 12th grade.
No grades were recorded for 77 percent of Black students and 85 percent of Latinx students. One teacher we talked to told us about how unengaged her students are.
Susan Benjamin: They don't participate. They don't come in visually. They, I don't know what, like I said, I think I said last time, I don't know what most of my students look like or sound like.
We've got maybe a 20 percent turn in rate for homework, for something, you know, for assignments. They won't tell you if they [00:05:00] don't understand. And there's no way to reach out and help them understand because they won't respond.
Jonathan Aguilar: That's Susan Benjamin, a high school teacher at Kelly High School in the Brighton Park neighborhood.
Community organizations such as Northwest Side Housing Center have stepped up to try and help. Northwest Side Housing has invested thousands of dollars into
the Belmont Cragin neighborhood to solve issues related to the pandemic.
Julio Rodriguez: Currently we're in Chicago on the northwest side in the Avondale neighborhood. Near Scammon Elementary, a level one plus school.
Jonathan Aguilar: What does your organization, Northwest Side Housing, do?
Julio Rodriguez: The Northwest Side Housing Center responds to the needs of the community by leveraging resources and economic well being. And we focus on community organizing in Belmont [00:06:00] Cragin, through our public elementary schools, high schools. Through working with youth 14 to 18, through housing and immigration.
Jonathan Aguilar: What does like community organizing mean? What does it mean to help the schools and the students? Like what, what are you guys actively doing?
Julio Rodriguez: For us it means Helping to listen to residents, helping them identify specific issues. It's through the Parent Mentor Program, where parents become volunteers in their child's school.
And they're able to help support both students and parents. It looks like working towards the creation of a new public elementary school. It also looks like parents becoming leaders in their school through parent advisory councils, bilingual advisory councils, and through local school councils.
Jonathan Aguilar: This school year is obviously different than any other.
Uh, what is Northwest Side Housing doing?
Julio Rodriguez: Uh, Northwest Side Housing Center has been doing as much as it can. [00:07:00] Um, this year alone we have invested over $50,000 to purchase computers through a non for profit called Compudopt. Little did we realize how pervasive the digital divide has been. We've also been working with different institutions such as Chicago Connected.
Jonathan Aguilar: CPS describes Chicago Connected as one of the country's largest efforts to provide free high speed internet access to students. A goal the program has set out to complete is providing 100, 000 families with internet access. The four year program partners with internet providers to provide 1. 2 terabytes of internet to income eligible families.
But when the program launched, things did not go smoothly. The program has been especially challenging for students who live in attics and basements who have to go through an additional process.
Julio Rodriguez: Early on there were challenges and the process has not been the easiest given the program requires families to go back to their child's school and [00:08:00] request a hotspot.
Jonathan Aguilar: Although Chicago Connected currently provides free internet service, there are families that opted to stay with their current service. Patricia, on Parent and Mary Lyons, stated the following as to why she opted to keep her paid service. I received letters. The many parents told me that it is low speed.
There are four girls in classes and our youngest girl who sometimes also uses the internet in the house. We have an internet contract of 70 a month. Families feel the need to spend money on internet or computers since the ones they are receiving from schools are not good enough. It's been a rocky transition.
I have Xfinity Internet. I wasn't supposed to pay since I had the Chicago Connected Code, but I have a bill for 27. 99. I'm being billed for three months. That's my concern. I call to try and resolve the issue, and I get an answering machine, and I continue to [00:09:00] be billed. The Internet was lagging. The classes get cut.
The first week, folks were forgiving since everyone had Internet issues.
Sarah Karp: And I think it's a little different, than you know, actually, saying okay, they've been handed devices but so many people I'm hearing that the device is not a good device, or it breaks a lot, or the very programs the school asks it to be on,
the computer can't handle so I think that's a different question that I'm not really sure how to get a handle on that more globally but I've certainly heard anecdotally that the quality of the computers is not very good.
Jonathan Aguilar: that's Sarah[00:10:00]
Karp again. Northwest Side Housing surveyed the Belmont Crayton area to establish how families are dealing with online learning. To Julio, the results are disheartening.
Julio Rodriguez: We recently did a survey. Where 112 participants responded and over 50 percent responded that the way they connect online is through their cell phone.
And so I don't know about you, but I only have one cell phone, and I have moms who have four kids, and so God knows how their kids are connecting online. And you get one hotspot per family. You may have gotten Chicago Connected, but your, the speed isn't fast enough. No one knew they had to log into eight hours of remote learning.
That's good for maybe one or two students. What about the [00:11:00] rest? Why is it that we can't change the program to meet the needs of our students? We don't have time for us to let these students get further and further behind. So, some major changes is giving a one to one hotspot to our students, increasing the speed dramatically.
I'm no tech expert, but whatever is needed for four students to be on eight hours of remote learning five days a week is what's needed.
Parents have done as much as they can. They have added more gigabytes to their cell phone, they have changed companies, and they have increased their data usage to pass wi fi to their children's computers. Parents have gone to their neighbors to ask them to lend them their wi fi telling fellow parents they'll help pay a portion of their bill to allow them to use that [00:12:00] internet.
I don't think it's fair that CPS said they were going to facilitate internet through Chicago Connected so students wouldn't have a hard time connecting, and that hasn't been the case. Nothing about the program is working.
Jonathan Aguilar: Maria Carmen is a mother of two children in Chicago Public Schools. Maria feels school administrations have failed parents.
And for me, that's not logical, because the affected are going to be our children.
I'm not going to be either. For me, it's illogical because the ones affected are going to be our kids, not me, the teachers, or the principal. I think and I believe CPS, before starting school, should have held virtual training for parents so they could learn how to use Google Classroom and Google Meets so we could help our kids from home.
Another thing, the principal where my son attends school had a sense my son didn't have internet at home [00:13:00] and didn't help me.
Julio Rodriguez: Those parents who cannot access Chicago Connected free Wi Fi have been offered hotspots. But for many families, it's not a solution.
We don't have them. Who said we have hotspots here? The teachers don't ask how their students are going to connect three times a week and tell her my son can't connect and they don't care. They mark him absent.
To help provide some relief for families, Compudopt has partnered with Northwest Side Housing To provide 500 computers for the Belmont Cragin neighborhood. Compudopt is a national non for profit who attempted to provide technology access and education to underserved youth. Compudopt currently provides drive through computer distribution programs in Chicago and its suburbs.
According to Compudopt, a study conducted by United Way found that 46 percent of families [00:14:00] in Breckenbaum communities do not have access to a computer.
Kaya: So with Belmont Cragin specifically, man that we have given out quite a few computers of Belmont Cragin. I think we're right in about 500 computers in the Belmont Cragin community, and those have really been spearheaded with the help of the Northwest Side Housing Center, and really going out into the community in partnership with foundations and funders to to find those, uh, find those dollars.
Overall in the Chicago area since late April, we'll give out, after today's distribution, over 4, 800 computers in Chicago and the Northern Illinois region. And by the end of the year, we're, uh, we're scheduled to give out about 6, 600 computers overall.
Jonathan Aguilar: That's Kaya, the executive director from Compudopt Chicagoland Region.
While many parents and students gave the school a pass for not having the greatest online learning structure during the spring quarter, By the time fall rode around, patients had worn thin. By that point, schools were six months [00:15:00] into online learning. Even this far in, teacher Susan Benjamin feels as though she's not very connected to her students.
Susan Benjamin: We do not have any interaction with our students because they're not required to come in visually. I co teach in three other N3 regular education classes and, um, what we call general ed. And those students do not come in at all, um, with their faces. A couple of them have their pictures, I think, on their meme, but that's all I see.
And there are a few of them that I've never heard their voice.
Jonathan Aguilar: There's also an extreme lack of communication between administration and individual teachers.
Susan Benjamin: We're basically left in the dark. We have no communication with other teachers, of course, in the building, as we would have during a regular school year.
Jonathan Aguilar: Lack of communication between teachers can cause issues.
Susan Benjamin: [00:16:00] Teachers are trying to stay The grading system they're supposed to be using. And making the students, trying to make the students accountable for handing it or not handing it. But, um, there are some that are just looking at students that I have, um, that are getting multiple Fs.
And you maybe have one student, one teacher that's, they've got 100%. And you can't tell me that those, that that student in that particular class is doing that much better.
Jonathan Aguilar: Teachers have little to no options when students don't earn in homework or refuse to come to class besides calling home or speaking to the attendance office.
There isn't much else that teachers can do. Students are not only contending with the challenges of online learning, but are also facing the real world troubles brought on by the COVID 19 pandemic.
Susan Benjamin: Yes, I've lost three students at Kelley.
Jonathan Aguilar: Teachers are also physically suffering and some are losing motivation to continue to be teachers.[00:17:00]
Susan Benjamin: I keep thinking every once in a while I wonder if I'm not going blind, because my eyes are bothering me. I'm going this week to check it out.
but it's a tremendous amount of stress. And I know there's some younger teachers saying they don't want to do it anymore.
Jonathan Aguilar: The pandemic has been really hard on everybody. Online learning has been difficult for parents and students and teachers alike. But it's been a particularly hard year on Chicago's black and brown communities. Julio, can you tell me a little bit more about like what your families are going through in Belmont Cragin??
Julio Rodriguez: Yeah, thanks Jonathan.
Uh, they've been going through so much. I mean, one day, [00:18:00] they're worried about the internet not loading to the next day. One day, they're about to be in the hospital. They're about to be instigated. They're worried about, you know, are they going to be called into work? Because a lot of folks work at restaurants, manufacturing companies, and folks are really worried, overall, with this level of stress, and with the holidays, and with the weather, it's not helping.
Jonathan Aguilar: What has your organization or the organization you work for, Northwest Side Housing, been doing to help these families? Like, what's something that you're doing now that you might not have been at the beginning of the year or when the pandemic first started?
Julio Rodriguez: Yeah, you know, what I've told people is that we've all become subject matter experts on things we never thought we would have to.
We have taken on administering rental programs for the city of Chicago, helping families with 1, 000 to 3, [00:19:00] 000 to help them. Either rent so they don't get evicted. We're hosting almost weekly food events where we're collaborating with elected officials or other organizations where we've been going out over the summer more so, but giving out PPE, right?
We're effective Christmas attention to preventing. We've given out perhaps 30 or 40 a face mask. And overall, I've been working really hard and going to the front lines. Bringing as much mobile testing for COVID 19 as possible this past weekend. We had a bit of a noise in the detent, over 500 families got tested.
And for us, what the test looks like is having 3 4 options that families can choose from on a weekly basis.
Jonathan Aguilar: Okay, can you, can you go back to the money and tell [00:20:00] me a little bit more about What families are doing with the money, why they need the money.
Julio Rodriguez: Yeah, definitely. So today through funding that we've gotten through programs to assist undocumented families who are left out of the stimulus to the right 500 cash assistance, the rental assistance, we've given out close to six to 700, 000 and really, you know, it sounds like a lot.
It's been really good to keep people afloat. to help them keep food on the table, buy food on daily back, and preventing them from homelessness. Before the pandemic, people were always doing paychecks to paychecks. And for us, by not doing this, we're not supporting capital. Okay,
Jonathan Aguilar: Julio, we've gone through and we've seen what Northwest Side Housing is [00:21:00] doing.
We've seen how families are affected by the pandemic. But I want to ask you, what's the last thing you want people to take away from this podcast? What is something you want?
Julio Rodriguez: Yeah, thanks Jonathan. Thank you to all of those that are listening. For me, it's important that one of three or three things happen.
The first is, for folks, if it's possible to make a donation to Compudopt so that we can get computers into people's hands. Those that really need it. Or donate a laptop, because those laptops and devices will be put to good use long term. Secondly, is to ask questions. Where are your tax payers dollars going?
Why is Chicago Public Schools in the current state that it's in? And if you were at the CPS, [00:22:00] asking yourself, what do you think could have been done differently? If you were that student right now, how would you like someone to advocate for you? How would you advocate for yourself? And last but not least is thinking through what role do you have?
Can you pick up a phone? Can you call a friend? Can you send an email? And begin to ask really good questions. Why is it that black and brown communities continue to be left behind? Why is it that these communities continue to be and suffer the most through COVID and seem to be as seen as an afterthought?
Where these communities should be leading the agenda for public schools. But more importantly, not forgetting about this podcast, but really having this conversation long term with friends and families and self reflecting on it. [00:23:00]
Jonathan Aguilar: My name's Jonathan Aguilar. And this was Learning on the Line
Narrator: Thank you for joining Change Agents produced by Juneteenth Productions funding support from the Chicago Community Trust and the Field Foundation. Please subscribe to our series on Apple podcast, Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever you find podcasts. Do you have a story to share? Join us in the ongoing conversation on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and our website, changeagentsthepodcast.com.