ORIGIN Youth In The News

Chinatown leaders call for new South Side high school

From Sun-Time: http://chicago.suntimes.com/politics/chinatown-leaders-call-for-new-south-side-high-school/

[Ming Chen, 18, speaks at a hearing on the Chicago public schools capital budget, calling on the district to build a new high school to serve the Bridgeport and Armour Square neighborhoods. He rides the bus for 30 minutes to get to Kelly High school in Brighton Park from his home in Chinatown. | Andy Grimm/Sun-Times]

Ming Chen, 18, speaks at a hearing on the Chicago public schools capital budget, calling on the district to build a new high school to serve the Bridgeport and Armour Square neighborhoods. He rides the bus for 30 minutes to get to Kelly High school in Brighton Park from his home in Chinatown. | Andy Grimm/Sun-Times

Each morning, 18-year-old Ming Chen gets up about 6 a.m. to get ready for school, or, more specifically, for the 30-minute bus ride that takes him to school.

Thomas Kelly High School is the most popular school for Ming and most high-school age kids in Chinatown, because it is one of the closest neighborhood schools, though “close” still means many kids from his neighborhood take two buses to get there.

The teen was one of half a dozen speakers at a hearing Monday evening on the Chicago Public Schools capital budget, which does not yet include a new high school to serve growing communities on the city’s Southwest Side.

Ming, who plans to study mathematics or finance in college, said he wasn’t concerned about the budget crisis currently facing CPS.

“This community deserves more resources,” said Ming, who earned a full ride to Denison University. “If there was a neighborhood school that was closer, I would probably go there.”

Other community leaders also seemed less concerned about the bad news that confronted the district last week, when Gov. Bruce Rauner vetoed a $215 million payout to the district that hinged on reaching a deal on the state budget.

On Friday, the district unveiled a capital plan that could total $938 million, with CPS CEO Forrest Claypool pointing out that the construction budget comes from tax revenues that can’t be diverted to pay for school operations.

[C.W. Chan, chairman of the Coalition for a Better Chinese American Community, speaks at a hearing on the Chicago public schools capital budget, calling for a new high school to serve the Chinatown and Bridgeport neighborhoods. | Andy Grimm/Sun-Times]

David Wu, a member of the Coalition for a Better Chinese American Community, said the menu of neighborhood schools available to Chinatown and Bridgeport aren’t bad, with many students choosing Kelly, Whitney Young, King College Prep, but none of them are close by. With a long wait before and after school for transportation home, many Chinatown students give up on extracurricular activities.

The Chinatown area’s population is growing, as is the nearby South Loop, but the area remains a “school desert,” Wu said.

“Thirty years ago, most Armour Square or Bridgeport families sent their children to parochial schools,” Wu said. “But the demographics have changed, with many more Asian and Hispanic immigrants than in the past. These families need a good neighborhood school option.”

District spokeswoman Emily Bittner said after the meeting that the capital plan does include spending for a new high school on the South Side — with a price tag as great as $77 million — but she said the district has not yet decided where it will be located.

“Origin” Presentation 起源青少年組織成果展示會

“Origin” Presentation

                                     －Love Yourself，Love Community

起源青少年組織成果展示會

                     －愛自己，愛社會

    This Tuesday，”Origin” youths’ final report event has been successfully completed. Youth and other community members were gathered together in the CASL Grand hall to celebrate this event. We learned about Chinatown’s situation and worked together to create a better Chinatown community.

  本週二，由”起源”青少年組織舉行的成果展示會順利完幕。青少年們和來自各社區組織的嘉賓歡聚於華人諮詢服務處大禮堂，一同了解芝加哥唐人街的狀況，一同攜手共創美好社區。

    This event is solely based on the purpose of community improvement and awake people’s feeling of belonging to the community. We allow people to know about Chinatown’s situation and learn more about our community. Youths from Coalition For A Better Chinese American Community(CBCAC) form a special team called “Origin” to create a better Chinatown community. “Origin” have a special  means that the youth will be the next generation’s leaders for the Chinatown community.  

為促進華人社區發展，喚醒人們對自己社區的歸屬感。讓人們更加了解唐人街狀況，了解芝加哥華人社區。一班由華埠更好團結聯盟（CBCAC）的青少年們，組成了一支特別的行動小組——起源（ORIGIN）。寓意著青少年將會是我們下一代華人社區的主人，將會是我們創建更好華人社區的源泉和動力。

    Within the past two month, Origin youths have been working very hard to improve themselves. They hope to use their passion, enthusiam, creativity, and unique working style to express our idea and dream to the Community. We did many researches through internet to gather information about the Chinatown community. We collect information mostly about Chinatown’s history, culture, public services, environmental sanitation, Safety , and events to create a better understanding of Chicago Chinatown. We organize all the information and data to make a power point  about Chinatown’s current situation. We present the power point to different community organizations and allow them to know more about Chinatown’s current situation. The presentation talk about Chinatown’s major problems such as sanitation, Safety , and parking. In addition, the presenters came up with solutions to those problem such as building more public garbage cans, more biking patrols, more parking lot, and encourage people to use bike more.

經過將近兩個月的磨練中，『起源』青少年們不斷嘗試突破自我。希望能用青少年富有的熱情和活力，年青人的創新，和獨有的做事方式，去傳達我們的理念和夢想。我們通過互聯網，尋找一些關於芝加哥唐人街的資料和狀況。收集關於唐人街的歷史、文化、公共設施、環境衛生、社會治安等各方面去了解唐人街。並集合一些歷年事件和活動，將所有資料和數據整理，做成一個專門會講述唐人街現狀的演示文稿。並向不同的社區組織展示。在演示文稿當中，他們為唐人街的衛生，治安，停車等問題提出了相關的解決方式。例如，他們呼籲在永活街增添公共垃圾箱，增加自行車警察巡邏，興建多層停車場以及鼓勵人們多使用自行車。

    Moreover, “Origin” members have make more than 300 calls to collect different ideas and opinions from local residents in order to understand the local perspective of Chinatown. People who came from different places, age group, and different background  will provide us with a more comprehensive data to analyze. From those data we can see how the Chinese people in the Chinatown community identify themselves and what they believe as the advantage and disadvantage of Chicago Chinatown. We have seen many interesting responses and we also appreciate our youth group and local resident to take out times to talk about their experiences in Chinatown. Their storys and responses make this presentation and research more reliable. Within the Questionnaire, our youth discover that 53.3% of the Respondents will want to move out of Chintown due to the sanitation and Safety  problems. When talk about idenity isuues, 62.2% of respondents that live within Chinatown believe that they are still Chinese. While 58% of respondents that live outside of Chinatown believe they are Asian Americans. Identity problem also play a major role on whether or not Chinatown resident truly understand Chinese culture and whether or not they want to move away form Chinatown.

此外，『起源』為能清楚了解社區每個人的對華人社區的看法，”起源”少年們同時也通過以”打電話，問問題”的方式，打了超過300通以上的電話，去收集和記錄不同意見和看法。人們來自不一樣的地方，不一樣的年齡、不一樣的背景和職業，給我們最全面、最客觀的數據去分析。得出華人群體對華埠歸屬感，華人對自我身份的定位，和他們認為現今芝加哥華埠所有的優勢和劣勢是什麼，等等很多十分有趣，耐人尋味的結果在”打電話，問問題”中，也很感謝人們可以抽空和青少年們，聊聊他們在唐人街發生的故事，令到整份調查分析更加的真實。在問卷分析研究中，他們發現，居住在華埠的人群中，有53.3%的受訪者認為如果有能力，因衛生、治安等原因他們希望能夠搬離華埠。在居住在唐人街以內的受訪華人中，有62.2%的人認為他們是中國人。而居住在唐人街以外的受訪華人中，有58%的人認為他們是美籍華人。同時，身份認同也對華人對文化的理解和是否願意搬離唐人街有著影響。

    Safety has always been an issue in Chinatown. Especially when crime statistic increase within the recent years, Safety  become a more serious problem that even caught media’s attention. Residents in Chinatown are also worry about their own Safety , and the resolution to this Safety  problem require both government’s support on catching the criminals and resident’s awareness of the surrounding. In order to protect themselves residents must pay more attention to their surrounding and learn more tips about how to avoid those situation. “Origin” youths notice the problem and wish to make some videos to warn people how to protect themselve from robbery and other Safety  issues. For example, people should not keep on looking at their phone while walking and make sure to close window and place valuable items at a safe place. Those videos contain humorous part that make people laugh and at the same time teach people many lessons. We can see that the “Orgin” members have truly put efforts into this presentation.

治安一直是芝加哥華埠一個老生常談的話題了。由於近年唐人街發生了多宗搶劫事件，歹徒明目張膽的案，引起社會各方關注，住在華埠的老百姓也是人心惶惶。而要解決治安問題，除了政府各方面去積極打擊罪惡之外，當然也少不了的是人們自身防範意識。要學會保護自己，提高警惕心。”起源”少年們也發現這一點，並想到如今社交網站，視頻網站如此流行。他們希望通過製作一些小視頻，來提醒人們，如何防範身邊的罪惡，如何保護自己。例如，不要在街上做”低頭一族”；自己離開車的時候，關好門窗，放好重要財物。用幽默的方式去演繹小視頻，讓人在捧腹大笑的同時，也受益良多。幕前幕後的青少年們，也是下一番苦功啊！

    Within these two months, “Orgin” youths from not knowing each other and don’t even speak the same language to now becoming best friends. From the beginning, the youths have no idea how to improve Chinatown community. But now, all the youths work together and come up with a well performed presentation. We have received compliments from each organizations who came to see our presentation. We see all the youth’s growth and how they challenged themselves in every step. Most importantly we also see the potential and the future of our community within those youths.

就是在這短短兩個月中，”起源”青少們從一開始互不相識，來自不同的成長地方，不同背景和語言，到最後變成摯友；從一開始對於如何改善我們中國城毫無頭緒，到最後能做出如此驚艷的成績，每一樣東西都條條是道，有明確的目標。有一個如此完美的成果展示會，並獲得來自各個社區組織的讚賞。我們不僅僅看到他們的成長，看到他們挑戰自我，看到屬於年輕人的活力。我們也看到了，我們華人社區的未來的潛力和希望。

Not just the youths can improve our Chinatown community. Actually, every single one of us could make it better. The “Origin” team can grow bigger with everyone’s support just like a tree that can keep on growing to provide protection and prosperity to our community. Together, we can make our community better.

其實不僅僅只有青少年們可以是，是改善中國城的起源和活力。我們每一個人都可以，”起源”這支隊伍可以越來越大，好像一棵大樹一樣，不斷成長，一直充滿活力，為我們的社區造福，一同攜手創建美好社區。

Love Yourself, Love Community.

愛自己，愛社區。