Going into the communities

Boy have I been foolish. Because I come from the communities I cover, I thought people in these communities would care about what I care about; what is actually happening in those countries. The people that are indulged in the communities in Chicago have much bigger issues to worry about than what is going on at “home.”

For example, I happened to be invited to a board meeting at Holy Resurrection Serbian Orthodox Cathedral. They weren’t talking about the new possibilities of Serbia joining the European Union. They weren’t even talking about the ongoing struggles in Kosovo. The board members were concerned about losing the St. Sava Academy.

For years, many Serbian immigrants have sent their children to St. Sava Academy for school instead of a traditional American grammar school. However, enrollment has drastically dropped, leaving the school fighting for survival. Mira Djordjevic, the school board president, and board members attribute the decline in enrollment to the recession and increased tuition, among other things.

The issue now becomes parents removing their children from the school because there aren’t enough kids enrolling. The parents don’t want their children to go to a school that has little to offer their children, especially friends.

For my article, I will focus on the schools effort to raise enrollment and keep their current members. If the school closes, numerous jobs will be cut and funding to the church will decrease. I plan on talking to families who have chosen to remove their children from the academy and families that have chosen to stay with the school. Getting both sides of the story will provide insight on what the community’s thoughts are of the particular church and school.

For the Bosnian community, I want to do a profile story on Mirza Mahic. I read a NYTimes story about Mirza Mahic and immediately fell in love with it. Like me, Mahic came to the United States after the war. Like me, his family had nothing here in the States. But instead of hating Serbians and Croatians for what happened in the war, Mahic, a Chicago resident decided to form a leadership initiative to help Bosnian refugees.

I have tried to get in contact with Mahic through social media so I can find out what his leadership initiative is currently. What struck me most about Mahic and his group is that they didn’t only want to limit their efforts to Bosnians, but Serbian and Croatians from Bosnia that were effected by the war. Even as members of the group decided to leave because the group put efforts to help all immigrants, Mahic stuck to his beliefs. Along with talking to Mahic and group members, I want to speak with individuals that his group has helped. Hopefully I will be able to speak with him sometime this week so I can finally meet him and see what kind of story I can do.

Where these immigrants are based.

*** According to the 2012 U.S. Census, there are 121,938 Bosnian-born immigrant in the States. Out of those immigrants, 12,826 live in Illinois, the most populated state of Bosnian-born immigrants in the country. Cook County is home to 9,691 of those immigrants.

***According to the same census, there are 35,765 Serbian-born immigrants in the States. Out of those immigrants, 7,569 live in Illinois, also the most populated state of Serbian-born immigrants in the country. Cook County is home to 5,083 of those immigrants. 

Both of the county numbers surpass many whole state populations of the immigrant groups.