GSU panelists say there is a lack of support systems in South Suburbs

November 4, 2007
By David Schwab, The Star

The state of affairs for Latinos in the South Suburbs "is very desperate" and is at a critical crossroads in terms of education, health care and employment, experts speaking Thursday at a Governors State University forum said.

"Latinos are coming to (the South Suburbs) fast, but they have little or no support systems," said Catalina Ramos-Hernandez, director of the GSU Latino Center for Excellence.

She was the moderator of an event called "The Impact of Education on Health and the Workforce in the Latino Community," part of a slew of educational and informational events building up to Saturday's inauguration ceremonies of GSU President Elaine Maimon.

The panelists ranged from health care researchers, to policy experts, to lawyers to community activists.

The two-hour event was mostly a general discussion of issues Latinos face in the United States. But in interviews afterwards, panelists were able to boil down some of these issues to how they were playing out in the South Suburbs.

Each said the rapid migration of Latinos to the South Suburbs, both from Chicago and directly from abroad, presented Latinos simultaneously with an enormous challenge and tremendous potential for success.

Adriela Fernandez, associate dean for academic programs at Purdue University and former doctoral student at GSU, said that at the crux of the issue was the population explosion of Latinos in the elementary through high school system. This population, she said, needs to find ways to fill the ranks of professional, managerial, and academic jobs in order to move the Latino community, and the economy in general, forward.

Jose Arrom, a health researcher at the University of Illinois at Chicago, said "parts of the South Suburbs are very segregated," and that fact, coupled with the idea that many Latinos are new to the area, has caused a fragmentation of social programs and networks for Latinos.

Arrom was optimistic, though, that in time Latinos in the South Suburbs will adapt to the new area, and the area will adapt to them, opening up better access to education, jobs and health care.

Jorge Mujica, a journalist, labor organizer and community activist, said there is a particular problem bothering Latinos in the suburbs of Chicago.

That problem is the "no-match letter" issue, a mandate for employers that's been halted by the federal government.

Even though employers shouldn't be firing employees they suspect don't have valid Social Security numbers, this is occurring in suburban areas, including the South Suburbs. He said that could be because suburban Latinos don't have the strength in numbers or the leverage of those in Chicago.

"We are seeing the effects of all the anti-immigration policies," in the South Suburbs, Mujica said, echoing Arrom's notion that the Latino community in the South Suburbs is fragmented, leaving many workers at risk.

Echoing Fernandez's sentiments, Mujica agreed that if they don't come into positions where they can do the hiring and firing, Latinos will remain under-informed, underpaid, and under-served in areas such as the South Suburbs, and they will continue to fall prey to backlash against immigration.

Virginia Martinez, an attorney for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, wanted to know what could be done to help rectify some of the issues addressed by the panel.

"What are the strategies (to address some of the major issues affecting the Latino community) that could work in the community?" she asked.

From the panelists, there was a sense that rhetoric wasn't going to cut it, but also a sense that the day's discussion was at least a step forward that gathered some key voices together in the same room.

"We need better bridges," Fernandez said, adding that, "Governors State has already taken the first step" in building connections between the community, grassroots organizations and academia as they concern the Latino population.

David Schwab may be reached at dschwab@starnewspapers.comor at (70802-8832.
http://www.southtownstar.com/neighborho ... os.article


As usual its all about their Raza . . . funny how they keep "forgetting" to put the ILLEGAL in front of the word immigrants because we all know that legal immigrants don't have ANY of the problems mentioned in this farce of an article.

IMMIGRANTS come in all races and ethnicities, if these racists were truly concerned about IMMIGRANTS this meeting would not have been limited to "Latinos".