From Newstips.org reports

Culminating a year-long educational and organizing effort, students from Austin, Little Village, and Oak Park are holding a 15-mile Walk for Health Justice this Saturday, highlighting the issue of extreme disparities in access to health care and demanding change in the health care system.

Organizers say they are expecting over 200 marchers.

Starting from Oak Park Village Hall at 8 a.m., students will walk through Chicago communities suffering high rates of health issues due to lack of access to care. Along the way, they will hold community speakouts at Garfield Park, Cook County Hospital, North Lawndale College Prep, Jorge Prieto Family Health Center, and Franklin Park.

At each stop, two or three students will speak about their families' and neighbors' experiences with the health system -- and demand that policymakers address the health needs of all communities.

The project began as the social action component of a class of 7th and 8th graders at the Secular Jewish Community and School of Oak Park, whose members decided to reach out to other area students. Youth associated with the Westside Health Authority in Austin and Whitney School in Little Village joined to form Youth Everywhere Advocating for Health (YEAH), an organizing committee that holds monthly meetings in rotating locations.

The group studied health issues and held a youth summit on health in March at UIC's School of Public Health. There, over 80 students watched portions of the film "Sicko" and participated in a Jeopardy-format game covering information from the movie, before breaking into small groups to make t-shirts and banners and discuss media strategies.

The students are learning about health issues and about organizing for social change and building bridges across communities boundaries, said Rebekah Levin, a teacher at the Secular Jewish Community.