A Real Alternative: Tragedy and Hope in an Urban Immigrant Community.

Abstract

Uvaldo enrolled at Dugan, located in Back of the Yards, a predominantly Mexican immigrant community on Chicago’s south side, after leaving a traditional high school because he felt unsafe. Other students have their own stories. Tony was ordered to attend an alternative school after repeated suspensions – once for being caught on school grounds with two ounces of marijuana. Karina was arrested and advised not to return to her high school after taking part in a lunchroom fight with another girl. Manuel can’t point to a specific reason why things didn’t work out at his former school. ‘I just stopped going,’ he tells me. ‘Over there they don’t really care if you go or not.’