This article is the second in a series about the access of pregnancy care for immigrants in Champaign. You can read part one here and part three here. Teresa Rodriguez Teresa Rodriguez is another Champaign County resident who has experienced language and cultural barriers. Rodriguez is from Mexico City. She said when she started looking…
Lee esta historia en español This article is the first in a series about the access to pregnancy care for immigrants in Champaign. You can read part two here and part three here. “Why are you having more children?” That’s a question a doctor in Champaign asked Fabiola Silva during a doctor appointment. “He started…
PEORIA — Decades after Jubilee College ended operations as a frontier educational institution, it was operated as a federal Indian boarding school. That troubling part of the Peoria County historic landmark’s legacy may soon receive official recognition. A new report commissioned by the U.S. Department of the Interior sheds light on the locations where Indigenous…
Estas son preguntas que en general les hacen a las mujeres que están embarazadas. “¿Por qué quieres tener más hijos?” Esa es una pregunta que un médico de Champaign le hizo a Fabiola Silva durante una cita médica. “Empezó a hacerme muchas preguntas que ni siquiera eran relevantes,” dijo Silva. “En lugar de ayudarme, me…
URBANA – Students learn in both French and English at Yankee Ridge Elementary School on the south side of Urbana. Yankee Ridge hosts Urbana School District 116’s only French dual-language program. “It’s not just beneficial to our students who are learning English,” said Yankee Ridge principal Mykah Jackson. “It’s also important for our students who…
CHAMPAIGN – Students at Kenwood Elementary had a special visitor on Tuesday. Newbery-winning author Erin Entrada Kelly — a Filipina-American children’s book author — conducted a brainstorming session via Zoom with the students. She then spun a story out of the class’ brainstorm. Trevor Nadrozny is the principal at Kenwood Elementary School in Champaign. He…
URBANA – A recent University of Illinois study that asks what positive aging means to Latino elders has opened a discussion on how to cater to their needs. Positive aging consists of having a healthy lifestyle going into older age, according to U of I Social Work Professor Lissette Piedra. More than 100 Latino residents,…
CHAMPAIGN – A fourth grader takes the microphone at Booker T. Washington STEM Academy in Champaign, to cheers from his classmates. Professional hip hop artists – who go by the stage names Klevah and TRUTH – have set clear rules for the freestyling circle, or cypher, over the course of a week with the students….
LaChelle Hope’s parents did not know they both carried a genetic mutation that, if inherited, could cause their baby to be born with a serious condition called sickle cell disease. It was only after they had their first-born child — Hope’s older sister — that they found they both carry the trait. Her sister was…
CHAMPAIGN — Champaign-Urbana nonprofits are using COVID-19 relief to help victims of labor and sex trafficking free themselves. To become free and independent, victims need a legal status via a trafficking – or “T” — visa. Lisa Wilson is the executive director of The Refugee Center in Champaign. She says T visa applicants need a…
CHAMPAIGN – Instead of practicing their swings, the baseball players were designing a remote-control car. The First String Little League coaches had decided to give the players a break that rainy afternoon. A handful still showed up to the Don Moyer Boys and Girls Club in Champaign to build a small, Jackie Robinson-themed car. “They’re…
For some Midwesterners, farmers markets are a quintessential summertime tradition touting local, healthy food and laid-back community gathering spaces. But people of color say many markets aren’t designed with them in mind, and in fact, systematically exclude them from participating. That’s why the Farmers Market Coalition gathered a group of experts to design an anti-racist…
CHAMPAIGN – The Refugee Center helped more than 50 people from Kabul settle in the Champaign-Urbana area after the Taliban took over that area in August of 2021. They continue to help their clients settle in their new homes in different ways. One of which includes obtaining a job at Guardian West manufacturing. Lisa Wilson…
CHAMPAIGN – The three Democratic contenders for Illinois’ 13th Congressional District faced off on Tuesday, revealing different approaches to gun violence, reparations for slavery, immigration and more. Tuesday marked the first public forum with the three candidates. The progressive Jewish organization Bend the Arc hosted the event online. Illinois Democrats redrew the Congressional districts last…
SPRINGFIELD — Lawmakers in Springfield are attempting to address stigmas around mental illness and substance abuse – by paying employers to hire those in recovery. If the Recovery Tax Credit bill passes, the state would lower taxes for businesses that hire people who have, at minimum, started treatment for mental illness or substance abuse. “One…