As
would croon, we’re on the road again.
Photographer
and I are heading south to Central Illinois, where we’ll be working on several stories.
Two are for the
in which I was privileged to participate last July.
The first of those stories is looking at issues of worker safety enforcement in Midwestern communities that have seen an increase in their Latino populations during the past decade.
There is a seemingly positive story to tell in
, the place where we’re headed first.
Over the past couple of years, government agencies, workers’ advocates, people in the legal system, and media worked to call attention to, and put pressure on, the owners of the Cherry Orchard apartment complex.
Many of the migrant workers who come north to work in Rantoul were living in conditions that are public health administrator Julie Pryde called “appalling,” according to Dave Hinton in the Rantoul Press.
Eventually, the pressure worked and the apartment complex was boarded up.
We’re going back to see where things stand now.
We’re meeting with folks from the local head start, Pryde and others she has invited to a meeting on Monday.
We’ve made contact with local politicians and residents.
We’re also optimistic about connecting with families.
Hearing from them will be critical for the first and second stories, which will focus on the various types of trauma these folks experience and the resilience they muster to deal with these difficulties.
We’re also planning to go to
site of a factory owned by meatpacking giant
The former
was also where a
took place in 2007.
In Beardstown we’ve made contact with teachers, workers and community organizers.
We talked with Cargill for several months, asking them repeatedly for access to one of their plants.
They denied the request.
I’ve just got some quick packing to do before I pick up the rental car and Omar and we head on our way.
We’ll be posting the words, sounds, and images we see and hear during our trip.
As always, we want to hear from you, too, about what we should be looking for and asking while we’re on our journey.