Blog

Recently, I had the wonderful opportunity to attend an event at Chicago Public Media located at Navy Pier, also referred to as WBEZ. This event was a gathering that reflected on Studs Terkel’s book Race: How Blacks and Whites Think and Feel about the American Obsession. Some of the individuals interviewed by Terkel were special guests at the discussion.

To expose a whole new audience to the exciting opportunities Uniting America has to offer, Alicia, Karina, and I recently hosted a half-hour segment on CAN TV. Chicago Access Network Television (CAN TV) reaches 1 million viewers across the city of Chicago. 1 million people who can help make their communities more immigrant-friendly. 

When I first met the staff at MCC full-time school a few months ago, the worry they expressed the most was their relationship with the community.  They want their neighbors in Morton Grove to see them as a positive attribute to the neighborhood.

I have been working with a few community organizations over the past few weeks in preparation for our HIV Health Fair on May 18th at the Vietnamese Association of IL. I would like to highlight one of those organizations in this blog: the Asian Health Coalition. 

This Tuesday marked the second time I visited Springfield with ICIRR for advocacy day. It was an amazing sight to see 1,300 people come down to visit with their legislators and inform them of the issues that are important to them—everything from parent mentors to drivers licenses for the undocumented.

This past Tuesday, we took a bus full of members of the Melrose Park community and the surrounding suburbs to Springfield to participate in the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights’ (ICIRR) Advocacy Day. The bus riders were going to Springfield to talk to legislators about issues affecting their community including the Uniting America program.

The energy in Springfield was electric Tuesday at ICIRR’s advocacy day. The rotunda of the capitol was buzzing with people cheering for our various platform issues. I got the chance to talk to several people and I was very impressed with their dedication to come down and advocate for their rights.

This past Tuesday the Spanish Community Center held their 3rd annual Golf Outing. This is a very large fundraiser for the center, and also brings publicity to the community center. We had many local politicians, businesses, and even local minor league team the Joliet Slammers came to golf.  Each hole had a different theme or event.