The Village of Oak Park has reached an agreement with the West Cook YMCA and The Carleton Hotel of Oak Park to provide shelter for migrants until Feb. 29, according to a Dec. 29 memorandum from the Emergency Operations Center.
In December, officials said that migrants staying at these locations would have to move out by Jan. 31. New funding has allowed migrants to stay an additional month.
“We want to work with the migrants and asylum seekers so they can find networks and a community that will enable them to thrive,” village president Vicki Scaman said. “That may or may not be within the Village of Oak Park.”
At the beginning of March, rooms where migrants are currently staying at the YMCA and The Carleton will no longer be available because of pre-existing commitments, according to the memo.
Cook County’s Department of Emergency Management and Regional Security will provide additional funding in the amount of $350,000, said Dan Yopchick, Village of Oak Park chief communications officer. The village was notified about receiving the funding on Dec. 25, he said.
“This puts us in a much better situation,” Scaman said. “This helps us, for lack of better wording, pay ourselves back. Cook County is paying us back.”
The funding will extend the ongoing services, Yopchick said, including room rentals at the YMCA and The Carleton, prepared meals, services from Housing Forward, transportation, legal services and more.
Migrants staying at these locations will be provided with a Demand for Possession and Termination notice, which is legally required to provide adequate notice, according to the memo. The document will be written in English, but caseworkers are ready to translate. The migrants were due to receive the notices Dec. 29, Yopchick said.
According to the memo, support for the emergency shelter program has been the result of $400,000 in grant funding from Supporting Municipalities for Asylum Seeker Services and a total of $650,000 allocated by the village board of trustees in unspent American Rescue Plan Act funding.
“[We’re] happy to work with any additional communities that might be interested or willing to learn about our experience and potentially continue that aid,” Scaman said.
Scaman added that working with the faith-based community in Oak Park to aid migrants is a model that should be replicated in other places.
The memorandum states that asylum seekers are encouraged to work with caseworkers to make plans for after Feb. 29 and village staff will share available resources. Oak Park will provide transportation for relocation. Migrants who arrived in the United States before July 31, 2023, can apply for Temporary Protected Status.
Village staff are available to offer support and answer questions from migrants, Yopchick said, to try and assist with personal plans for their transition.
It is anticipated that Oak Park’s emergency declaration, set to expire on Feb. 6, will be extended to Feb. 29, according to the memo. Extending the emergency declaration is predicted to be an agenda item contingent on board approval at the first village board of trustees meeting of the year on Jan. 16, Scaman said.
The emergency declaration allows the village manager authority to make financial decisions quickly without waiting on board approval, Yopchick said.
Residents have reached out to Scaman with positive feedback regarding the village’s emergency response, she said, but some remain concerned about a responsible transition process for the migrants.
“The time was really desperately needed,” Scaman said. “January 31st was going to come entirely too quickly for us to have the answers that we need.”
The village has also been notified by the State of Illinois, according to the memo, that more resources may become available.
“[This funding] is a game changer for us,” Scaman said. “I’m grateful also to all of the volunteers and residents of Oak Park that are really very positive examples of what it is to be welcoming.”
