Minority Communities Need More Funding Speech

“Minority” Communities Need More Funding

Hello everyone, my name is Tyler Rice.  Today, I will be discussing with all of you an issue within the Chicago Land area regarding the limited, high quality resources in minority communities. 

As I’m sure we all know Chicago is a very segregated city.  In fact, it has remained as one of the most segregated cities in the United States for several years.  Based on a study done by John Logan and Brian Suits, professors of Florida State University, the Black and White dissimilarity score is 75.9 which is extremely high.  The center for Government Studies at Northern Illinois University collected data which supports the professors’ study; in addition, it draws the conclusion that segregation makes it easy for the distribution of education and resources to be unequal among communities.  This leads me to my next point of high quality resources and programs being unavailable in minority communities.  Professors Logan and Suits illustrate through a map that the majority of White people live on the north side, majority of Black people live on the south and west side areas, and majority of Hispanic people live in the northwest and southwest areas.  Furthermore, the farer south or west you go in Chicago the lower the quality of the programs and the poorer the communities.  Because budget cuts significantly effects these poor communities; they are unable to fund quality programs which can benefit children as well as programs benefit children who live in north side areas. 

Some people may argue that programs in the south and west side areas are equal to the programs on the north side; however, that is not the case.  According to the Chicago Tribune, majority of the best high schools in Chicago are located up north where most White people resign.  So, it only makes sense that the best ballet programs, karate programs, acting programs, and other high quality programs are also located on north side. Other people may argue that the real problem isn’t a minority community problem, but a low income community problem.  That’s also false, as a “real problem” is something that affects the majority of people.  Chicago consists of approximately 3 million people most of which are considered minorities.  According to the Northern Illinois University’s in depth segregation report, 35% of Chicago population is African American, 30% is Hispanic and 7% consists of other races.  That equates to 72% of the population which makes up the “minority communities”.  That’s 72% of people who aren’t receiving high quality resources and programs in their communities while the small 28% of White people are.  This is unacceptable.

            Why is it that some can wake up in the morning with a smile as they are well rested while we the 72% must rush out of our homes, with no time to smile, at the crack of dawn to get where we need to go?  Why is it that some can leisurely walk from their house to the high quality programs their involved in while we the 72% must drive, take the bus, or take the train?  Why is it that we the 72% always seem to have street drugs in our communities, but no beneficial programs?  Why is it that we the 72% have schools being closed in communities on a daily basis?  Why is it that we the 72% have a small chance of being successful if we only use the resources in our communities?  Why is it that we the 72% have few quality programs and resources in our communities while 28% live amongst many?

            This just may be a design to limit the success of us the 72%.  Regardless, this is a problem needs to be solved.  Minority communities need more funding from the government.  The purpose of the funding is to produce high quality programs and resources from which children and young adults can benefit.  The funding of these programs will potentially produce more Chicago citizens who are well educated and obtain careers previously unavailable to them because of the lack of resources in their communities. What I need you to do is help promote this issue, so it can gain sufficient government attention resulting in funding for these communities.

Once again, my name is Tyler Rice.  Lastly, I would like to thank you for your time. 

Have a nice day!