From its “Renaissance 2010” school reform plan in the 2000s to the 2013 shutdown of fifty neighborhood schools to the endless rounds of budget cuts and layoffs, the city of Chicago has carried out one of the most brutal public-education austerity programs in the country. Poor neighborhoods of color have borne the brunt of such cuts, but they have also begun spreading to the city’s wealthier neighborhoods.

In the process, and as a result of the organizing of groups like Raise Your Hand, some parents and community members in predominantly white, middle- to upper-class neighborhoods — most of whom haven’t always considered themselves activists — have joined the struggle for educational justice against the dire conditions that budget cuts, layoffs, and closures have imposed on the city’s schools.

I spoke with Raise Your Hand member Vanessa Caleb — a mother of three children, two of whom are Chicago Public Schools (CPS) students on the city’s North Side — to talk about this politicization, the state of CPS, and how she has engaged with the fight for quality public education in Chicago.