Oak Park’s village board of trustees unanimously approved the submission of a grant application for more than $1.94 million to provide aid to asylum seekers in the village.
Late last year, migrants from Central and South America started coming to Oak Park. In November, the village board passed an emergency declaration that gave its manager, Kevin Jackson, spending authority to help around 200 migrants staying in Oak Park gain access to food and transportation. A month later, the board announced it would send away buses of new arrivals because of its lack of resources. As Oak Park struggles to accommodate the influx of migrants to the area, local businesses and organizations have stepped up to help out the community in crisis. From restaurants to churches, these places have donated food, clothes and even haircuts to people who are new to town and have little to nothing in their possession.
Food establishments cannot sell or distribute disposable food containers that partially incorporate or are entirely composed of polystyrene foam packaging, a ban that went into effect Jan. 1.
Less than a month after Oak Park’s village board allocated $500,000 in unspent American Rescue Plan Act funding to aid asylum-seekers, the village’s Emergency Operations Center has outlined protocols to send any new arrivals away.