Millions of African-Americans migrated to Chicago from the south, in what is known as the Great Black Migration, to escape violence, lack of jobs and to be able to provide access to quality education. The same thing that brought us here is forcing us to leave.
From 1980 – 2020, Chicago’s Black population has declined from 1.2M to 800K.
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According to the Illinois State Board of Education, the achievement gap between Black and white students is currently 36 percentage points with a 10-point gap between Latinx and Black students.
We are requesting that Chicago Public Schools establish a Black Student Task Force to work in concert with the district to support our children’s academic growth— increasing graduation, college and career success rates.”
—Natasha Dunn
“The Black community in Chicago has been in a pandemic before the pandemic even started.” -Brian Mullins
Black Chicagoans have experienced an epidemic of unemployment and violence most notably in the last three decades. Research continues to show us that education outcomes such as graduation rates, math and literacy grade level performance & school discipline data have a direct influence on the community’s financial viability.
For years we have been politely requesting that Chicago Public Schools (CPS) create a Black Student Achievement Task Force. As a result of massive school closures, of which 90% were in Black neighborhoods, our children have fallen even further behind. On July 24, we are headed to the CPS School Board meeting to insist our task force gets created.
