Migrants Will Move Into Portage Park’s St. Bartholomew This Month

PORTAGE PARK — Migrants will soon move into the closed St. Bartholomew school building.

The Catholic school at 4910 W. Addison St. in Portage Park closed last year after merging with Pope Francis Academy. The Archdiocese of Chicago is leasing the building to the city at no cost, according to a Friday afternoon news release from Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office.

The shelter will only be used for families. Migrants will be housed in both the convent and the school building, and they will begin moving in mid-April, according to the Mayor’s Office.

While St. Barts can accommodate up to 350 people, Ald. Ruth Cruz (30th) told Block Club the shelter will start with 50. The initial residents will move into the church’s convent while Cook County oversees the construction of showers in the former school building.

“The idea is to start small and see how it goes,” Cruz said.

The city is subleasing St. Barts to the Zakat Foundation of America, an international humanitarian agency. The Zakat Foundation will be responsible for staffing the shelter and will assume all operational costs, according to the Mayor’s Office. The foundation will also be working with Chicago Public Schools to enroll students.

Cruz is working with Cook County Commissioner Anthony Quezada and Reps. Lindsey LaPointe and Will Guzzardi to organize a resource fair at the shelter. She said the event will likely include free vaccinations, clothing donations, legal resources to help migrants apply for work permits, information about public transit and more.

“This initiative represents a remarkable example of what can be achieved when the public, private, and non-profit sectors collaborate towards a common goal,” Johnson said in the news release.

Plans to use St. Barts as a shelter were first announced in December.

In a Dec. 1 letter, Ald. Ruth Cruz (30th) told neighbors the school could start housing between 300 and 350 migrants as soon as January.

On Dec. 7, roughly a dozen people held a protest outside St. Bart’s, denouncing the shelter plans.

Cruz said the plans were delayed because working with the Zakat Foundation required different legal agreements.

“This is the first time the Zakat Foundation is running a shelter, so there was a longer vetting process,” she said.

The shelter’s current lease is six months. Once the lease is up, the city, the archdiocese and the Zakat Foundation will determine “if the need is still there,” Cruz said.

“I know there is some hesitation, I know there are some concerns, but the majority of our residents are ready to help,” Cruz said.

About 30 residents have already signed up to volunteer at the shelter, Cruz said. To learn more about volunteer opportunities, email [email protected].

Last week, the Mayor’s Office announced that migrants would soon be moved out of five temporary shelters at Park District buildings. Migrants staying at Gage Park, 2411 W. 55th St.; the Broadway Armory Park, 5917 N. Broadway; Brands Park, 3285 N. Elston Ave.; Leone Park, 1222 W. Touhy Ave.; and Piotrowski Park, 4247 W. 31st St., are being moved to other nearby shelters, according to the Mayor’s Office.

There are over 38,000 migrants seeking asylum in Chicago, 9,680 of whom are staying in one of the city’s temporary shelters, according to city data.

“The family shelter at St. Bartholomew Catholic Church is a testament to the resilience and empathy of our community,” Cruz said in the Friday news release. “I look forward to assisting the Zakat Foundation, Cook County, and the Archdiocese in providing these vulnerable families with a safe place and the necessary resources to create a new life for themselves.”