When Astria Campbell works as a substitute teacher at inner-city schools in District 186, she often asks her middle and high school students what they want to be when they grow up. The most common answer is to work in the same low-wage jobs as their parents. Campbell, 42, who grew up in a working-class […]
poverty
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Black behind bars
In 2013, one out of every 266 people in Illinois was in prison. For African-American residents, it was one in every 68 people. That’s just one of the shocking facts illustrating the serious racial disparity in Illinois’ criminal justice system. About 60 percent of the state’s prison population is black, despite African-American people making up […]
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From the streets to stability
William Guyer PHOTO BY PATRICK YEAGLE It only took about a month for William Guyer of Springfield to go from employed to living on the street, but it took him almost a year to get back. Guyer’s story is one of injustice, heartbreak and determination. Although he ultimately climbed out of homelessness, he says he’s […]
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spur of the moment poem #1
the woman ahead of me in thecheckout line paid for her groceriesin quarters the cashier made manylittle stacks and checked them againand again to be sure there were fourin each the woman was more defiantthan embarrassed my cheerful remarkwas probably out of line looks like yourobbed your piggy bank she said to meyou’ll be here […]
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Telling their stories
Springfield photographer Adam Smith, left, is producing a documentary film about the homeless people with whom he spent the past three months. Bill Guyer, right, is one of Smith’s subjects in the film. PHOTO BY PATRICK YEAGLE In the middle of the gazebo at Washington Park in Springfield sits a homeless man named Bill Guyer. […]
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Springfield teacher publishes children’s book on Africa
Springfield teacher Allison Gnuse wrote a children’s book about her experiences in Kenya. Photo BY PATRICK YEAGLE Although it’s only a dozen pages long, Allison Gnuse’s book is helping change lives more than 8,000 miles away. Gnuse, a Springfield teacher, recently published a children’s book about her time in Kenya, and most of the book’s […]
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Shortchanging Illinois children is a choice
Although times are difficult for social services in Illinois, a statewide advocacy group thinks that it is still possible to positively affect the lives of children. Voices for Illinois Children, a nonpartisan advocacy group which uses policy analysis and research to advance the lives of children, families and communities in Illinois, hosted its annual Illinois […]
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Rebirth of a rivertown
Walking down the main business street in Cairo, Ill., it’s tempting to think that this spring’s floodwaters of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers were sent to put the languishing town out of its misery once and for all. Many buildings along Commercial Street in Illinois’ southernmost town have long been abandoned, left to decay since […]
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District 186 wants to limit ‘Public School Choice’
With four themed magnet schools and one charter school drawing students from across the city regardless of attendance boundaries, School District 186 prides itself on offering “choice” to Springfield families who want to put their children in unique educational settings. [See “Choice schools,” April 7, 2011]. But besides the popular magnet schools Superintendent Dr. Walter […]
