‘When I hear this news, I think, I am not in America’

English language students and families gather in an Albany Park Community Center classroom. Their class is ending due to problems with the Illinois budget.
English language students and families gather in an Albany Park Community Center classroom. Their class is ending due to problems with the Illinois budget. WBEZ/Odette Yousef
English language students and families gather in an Albany Park Community Center classroom. Their class is ending due to problems with the Illinois budget.
English language students and families gather in an Albany Park Community Center classroom. Their class is ending due to problems with the Illinois budget. WBEZ/Odette Yousef

‘When I hear this news, I think, I am not in America’

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There are everyday people whose lives are changing as a result of the state’s budget problems. We’re collecting stories of people Caught in the Middle.

Grant money that goes toward some programs to help immigrants hasn’t been given out by the state of Illinois. So immigrant students learning to speak English at the Albany Park Community Center in Chicago were told their classes would end two weeks early. WBEZ’s reporter Odette Yousef met teacher Mary Jude Ramirez and student Alaaeddin Aladawi on the last day of the canceled class.

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