CCC Welcoming Committee Hopes to Create a Cicero For All Regardless of Immigration Status
Community members and organizational representatives attend the Welcoming Committee launch event held on December 18 at Dulce Mami Cafe in Cicero.
By Irene Romulo
Cicero is home to an estimated 18,000 undocumented immigrants, one of the highest of any township in Illinois. The now officially launched Welcoming Committee, part of the Cicero Community Collaborative, aims to support them and the larger immigrant community by working to create, as their vision states, “A Cicero where immigration status, national origin, race/ethnicity, and language are not barriers for community, belonging and safety.”
Yadira Martinez, a coordinator with the Cicero Community Collaborative, explained that just a year and a half ago the group had not developed any goals or plans for the future. Now the group has official members as well as goals for 2020.
“Prior to this there wasn’t a lot of community members…they didn’t have a chair or proper guidance on what they wanted the Welcoming Committee to look like. They decided within themselves that they were going to focus on immigration and immigration rights. That’s why now they have plans for the future,” said Martinez.
Linda Rios from the All Our Kids Network (AOK) in Cicero attended the Welcoming Committee’s launch event in early December. The AOK network is made up of agencies that offer home visiting as well as in-center programs, like Pre-k and Head Start, for pregnant women and children birth to five.
According to Rios, there are approximately 8,000 children in Cicero ages birth to five who would qualify for the programs but the network struggles to fill the 4,000 slots they have now.
“When we’re promoting [these programs] in the community there’s a lot of resistance from a lot of people,” explained Rios. “When there was a big presence of [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] in Cicero...families didn’t want to enroll. Although none of the programs disclose or ask immigration status, there is still a fear in the community.”
Missing out on early childhood programs, she says, has a significant impact on young children’s development and the well-being of an entire community.
“Data shows us that by third grade if a child is not caught up in reading and math, the probability of them exceeding and excelling to their full potential in junior high and graduating from high school diminishes year to year…If you focus on them now, we’ll see the effect in the community five years from now, ten years from now,” said Rios.
In Cicero, only 16 percent of kindergarten age children possess the skills and developmental strengths usually associated with long-term success in school. These programs can help give students and parents the extra resources and skills needed to ensure their children get the support they need.
The Welcoming Committee hopes to address fears about Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) by working with service providers in Cicero, as well as parents and community members, to share information about immigrant rights, DACA, and the Rise Act. They also plan to increase Cicero’s Census count, a challenge considering that Cicero is considered a hard to count community across all areas.
Marisol Celis, a long time Cicero resident who also attended the launch event, says that she’s interested in all activities that exist to benefit the community.
“I want this to keep growing and I hope we can all collaborate especially to ensure that we support young people who want to continue their studies but who aren’t able to because they don’t have papers.”
The Welcoming Committee meetings are open to any interested community member. The next one will be at Family Focus at 1500 S. 59th Court on January 22nd from 3:00-4:30pm.
*This piece has been edited to reflect that the AOK Network is composed of different agencies that offer services.
