Ted Michalke is retired from his career as a health care strategist, but he’s deeply immersed in the human rights advocacy fostered by Heartland Alliance. Ted chairs Heartland’s international board of directors.
The 133-year-old organization sprang from the pioneering work of Chicagoan Jane Addams, a tireless advocate for working women, children and European immigrants who were arriving in the city in crushing numbers at the turn of the 20th century. Today, Heartland carries on Addams’ effort to advance human rights and champion human dignity, not just here in Chicago but around the globe.
“I was first introduced to Heartland’s commitment to at-risk, and often marginalized, immigrant populations populations in the 1980s,” says Ted. “At the time, Heartland’s programs were a lifeline to Vietnamese immigrants who were forging their new lives in Chicago – and in the process running up against anti-immigrant affronts against their restaurants and shops. It took some deft mediation to open people’s minds and quell the concerns about the rapid transformation within the community.
Heartland was part of that journey, helping yet another immigrant population realize its American dreams. In the end, the gentrification of Uptown’s West Argyle Street led to what became lovingly known today as Little Saigon.”
Over the past two decades, a seemingly continuous onslaught of wars and religious and cultural intolerance has taken an immense toll, Ted says.
According to the United Nations Human Rights Commission, more individuals are experiencing forced displacement around the globe today than at any other time in human history.
“By the 1990s, it was` clear that Heartland needed to do more than wait to help marginalized immigrants once they arrived in Chicago,” Ted says. “We understood that we had to work our way upstream to try to stem the flow of displaced populations that were being uprooted by torture, conflict, human rights violations, and myriad other abuses.” In rapid succession, Heartland launched partnerships in Guatemala, Rwanda, Kurdistan in Northern Iraq, and Colombia – all places with well-documented cases of systematic genocide.
The HIV and AIDS crisis became another international calling. Heartland’s programs in Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Burundi focused as much on providing direct services and trauma recovery as they did on policy reform.
Whether it’s housing, healthcare, access to justice or human care needs here in the Chicago region or around the globe, Heartland’s programs are innovative, dedicated to those who need it most, and a model for best practice, Ted says. “When individuals have the chance to heal from the trauma of violence and human rights abuses,” he says, “they become a part of positive change in the world.”
By: Larry Johnson and Nancy Malitz
This piece was originally published in The Park Monroe Newsletter. For more information, please visit: www.parkmonroeresidents.com or email Barb Kimble at barbara.kimble@att.net
