Official statement of support for striking Chicago Teachers Union Local 1 from the Collaborative for Health Equity Cook County. contact info@checookcounty.org www.checookcounty.org follow on twitter @checookcounty

1. Collaborative for Health Equity Cook County Supports Striking
CTU Local 1 Teachers: Education Justice is Health Justice
Collaborative for Health Equity Cook County (CHE Cook County) supports Chicago
Teachers Union Local 1 in its defense of quality education for all Chicago children.
The struggle of Chicago public school teachers for a contract and for more
educational resources and basic services for all students addresses a root cause of
unjust and preventable health inequities.
According to the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine (IOM), the
public health literature documents the health benefits of strengthening the
education system.1 Its report, US Health in International Perspective: Shorter Lives,
Poorer Health the IOM states that “In the United States, health status differs
markedly for poor people, for people with low educational attainment, and for some
minority populations...”2
CHE Cook County has documented a 14-year gap in life expectancy between people
living in the richest one-fifth of Chicago-area neighborhoods compared to people
living in the poorest one fifth of Chicago-area neighborhoods.3
Chicago teachers are fighting for educational justice in the context of a structurally
racist education financing system that provides lower quality education to students
of color in Illinois.4 Chicago public teachers receive less pay than teachers in other
Illinois school districts, while educating a higher proportion of students from
households living in poverty than other school districts.5 In 2010-2011 Chicago
Public School District 299 was tied with Atlanta among 95 large school districts in
1 National Research Council and Institute of Medicine, Woolf, S., & Aron, L. (2013). U.S. Health in international perspective:
Shorter lives, poorer health . Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. Page 6
2 ibid. page 17
3 Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, & Cook County Place Matters. (2012). Place matters for health in cook county:
Ensuring opportunities for good health for all.| Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies: Washington, DC.
4 Martire, R. (2014, February 11). School funding reform: Closing the opportunity gap. [Presented at DePaul University,
Chicago, by Ralph M. Martire, Executive Director, Center for Tax and Budget Accountability
5 Rado, Diane. “Salaries rift between CPS, other districts: City teachers paid less face chronic urban problems.” Chicago Tribune,
October 9, 2016. page 10.

2. the United States as the most racially segregated for Black public primary school
students, and 8th most segregated for Hispanic primary school students.6
CHE Cook County is in solidarity with CTU Local 1 because we support quality
education for all children K-12 as well as early childhood education, in order to
eliminate social inequality that originates in the social structure.7 CHE Cook County
supports efforts to build political power to support policies that fairly and equitably
distribute the resources—including public education—necessary for health and
well-being. Labor unions are critical partners for public health professionals and
activists working to eliminate stark, unfair, and preventable health inequities.8
CHE Cook County Steering Committee members and leadership urge all individuals
and organizations that care about social justice, human rights, and health equity to
join us by publicly expressing their support for a fair contract for Chicago Public
School teachers. Quality, equitable public education is essential for public health.
We call on champions of health equity to wear red on Tuesday, October 11th and to
stand in solidarity with CTU Local 1.
info@checookcounty.org
www.CHECookCounty.org
Twitter: @CHECookCounty
6 DiversityDataKids.org (2016) “School Segregation (Dissimilarity Index) Public Primary School Students Dissimilarity with
White Non-Hispanic Students by Race/Ethnicity.” Using Source: National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of
Data, Public Elementary/Secondary School Universe Survey.
http://www.diversitydatakids.org/data/ranking/90/school-segregation-dissimilarity-index-public-primary-school-students-
dissimilar/#loct=6&cat=5,4&tf=5&ch=2,3,4,5
7 US Dept of Health & Human Services Region V Social Determinants of Health Team of the Infant Mortality Collaborative
Improvement and Innovation Network (CoIIN) and the Health Resources and Services Administration. (2016). Foundational
practices for health equity: A learning and action tool for state health departments DRAFT may 24, 2016
8 Malinowski, B., Minkler, M., & Stock, L. (2014). Labor unions: A public health institution. American Journal of Public
Health, e1-e11