State funding gives hope to those seeking a high school in Chicago's Chinatown neighborhood

The Illinois Legislature has set aside $50 million to build a  high school on Chicago's Near South Side, boosting the hopes of residents in the city's Chinatown neighborhood who have spent years pushing for a school to serve their community.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports that the grant doesn’t guarantee a school will be built, but it revitalizes an effort that was stymied a few years ago when a plan to convert a South Loop elementary school into a high school failed.

[FROM 2018: Chicago scraps plans to convert elementary to high school]

The Chicago district would need to commit between $25 million and $60 million for the project to have any chance of becoming reality.

State Rep. Theresa Mah, who spearheaded the proposal in the Legislature, says she’s confident she and community leaders can work with the city to make it happen.

Grace Chan, the executive director of the Coalition for a Better Chinese American Community, says she’s hopeful the school could be ready in the next three to four years.

Figuring out a location would be one of the bigger challenges because the school district doesn’t own any land or buildings in the area. Property in the South Loop is especially expensive given its vicinity to downtown, and the nearby Chinatown and Bridgeport neighborhoods are both heavily built-up.

Any location would have to be easily accessible by foot or public transit to both Chinatown and Bridgeport residents, community leaders have said.