Asylum Seekers and Special Guest Corey Brost

 Viator House of Hospitality

Interfaith dinners, "Potuck for Peace" in Daily Herald

From Poverty to ? Mobility and refugees

For more about mobility, see this post.

Debriefing videos about people in poverty:

What stood out?  

What were the obstacles these people faced?

The Line, MediaEd documentary (2015) 48 minutes on Mediacast.
Documentary about the varied types of people living at the poverty line.  The first two are from Chicagoland.  One is a white suburban Dad who lives in the western suburbs.  The next is a black woman living in the city who moves to Oak Park.  Here is a link to The Line on Mediacast.  

Poor Kids, Frontline documentary (2017).  54 minutes online at PBS.
Twenty percent of the children in the US are growing up in poverty! That's 1 out of every 5 kids in the United States is living at the poverty level! Yes, you read that correctly - 1 out of every 5 children in the United States is living in poverty right now!  That's a higher rate than 34 out of 35 Western countries. 

Children of the Mountain (2009), 49 minutes on Mediacast.
Diane Sawyer did a special report on Appalachia that highlighted the children affected by poverty. I think there is a tendency for us to blame the adults for their impoverished situation, but we forget that these adults were once children born into a world of difficulties and obstacles that led to an adulthood of poverty. You can hear Diane Sawyer talk about it here. Can you use your sociological imagination to see all of the social forces that limit those who are in poverty in America? Watch the excerpt below from 20/20 to see the complicated life of the rural impoverished American or watch the whole video on mediacast here.  Below is a preview:

Google Form for this lesson.

1.  What other questions do you have about poverty?

Immigration and Mobility

1965 law changed who the US admits as immigrants.

How might these immigrants compare to the people in poverty in the videos above?

 

Refugees and Mobility

Refugees fleeing dire situations overseas are in search of a better life in the USA.

Watch this video about the role that Viator house plays in helping teen refugees:

Refugees fly to South America and make their way by land to the USA including the very dangerous Darien Pass through the jungles of Panama. Outside magazine features the dangerous journey here:
https://www.outsideonline.com/2098801/skull-stake-darien-gap#close


And PBS highlights the dangerous journey here in Part 1/2:

Whether fleeing war, persecution, poverty or the effects of climate change, migrants and refugees worldwide routinely find themselves in great danger. Perhaps the most hazardous migrant trail of all is the Darien Gap, a wild, lawless stretch straddling Colombia and Panama. Before the pandemic, special correspondent Nadja Drost and videographer Bruno Federico reported from this perilous path.

And part 2/2 from PBS is about how the U.S. immigration policy affects the refugees:

2.  What questions do you have about the refugees or Viator House? 

3.  Do you have any interest in the presentation tonight?

TONIGHT 6:30PM: Webinar hosted by League of Women Voters of Buffalo Grove featuring Melissa Adamson, J.D., an attorney with Immigration & Legal Advocacy National Center for Youth Law will be joining our program to let us know how we can best advocate.


Registration for the webinar is required:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/1016030477638/WN_7XmEpkEqSm-osRVqKKYrjg