By Elli Brodsky, ONE Intern

Early Wednesday morning July 7th, 2010, ONE and LAC travelled with leaders from EZRA, Mercy Housing Lakefront, and Lincoln Park Community Shelter to City Hall. Stephanie Sideman from EZRA led the bus chants hailing “What do we want?” “Affordable Housing!” “When do we want it?” “Now!” All of the leaders and staff were gearing up for a day of excitement, learning, and the progression of the Sweet Home Chicago Ordinance in City Council. We listened in the City Hall chamber as Julie Dworkin, Director of Policy from the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless and Alderman Walter Burnett, Jr. gave an overview of the ordinance and fielded questions. Many alderman such as Thomas Tunney, Helen Shiller and Ariel Reboyras, asked very challenging questions and discussed how the ordinance would impact TIF funds throughout the city and individual wards.

In addition, we had many leaders from all of the Coalition’s organizations present testimonies in support of the ordinance. Doug Baschiere from the Lawrence House represented ONE and did an amazing job discussing how the Sweet Home Chicago campaign could improve his living residence and many others. After a long day, we finally returned to the bus and as we ate lunch we were able to debrief the events of the day and hear feedback from the leaders. Many of our leaders were curious as to when we would have a vote that would take the ordinance out of the Joint Finance and Housing Committee. It looks as though that will happen at the next hearing on July 28th. At this point, we have 26 aldermen in support of the ordinance. With the help of Business and Professional People for the Public Interest (BPI), the Coalition has been working hard to gain more support.

by Anthony Boatman

Every year on June 30th the CeaseFire program is thrown into the budgetary spin cycle, with youth and community getting the short end of the stick. CeaseFire is a proven program that engages high-risk youth in an effort to address violence.
ONE and the CeaseFire team held a prayer vigil and barbeque at the corner of Thorndale and Winthrop on June 30th. The vigil was to stress the point that CeaseFire is a much needed program for our community. Ending CeaseFire at a time when the level of youth activity is at its highest makes no sense. Many of these youth experience inconsistency in every aspect of their daily lives, and need programs such as CeaseFire to change their thoughts about violence and its negative effects on a community. In many instances, the mentorship of the CeaseFire team is the only consistent positive communication these youth receive. To end this program when community safety is at risk only shows that the State of Illinois plays a lead role in being inconsistent.
CeaseFire would like to extend thanks to the local clergy, community and staff of ONE that participated in the vigil. Many voices make a difference.

by Theo Carter

Youth representatives from Voices of Youth in Chicago Education (VOYCE) had a meeting scheduled on June 21 with Drew Beres, Special Assistant to Chicago Public Schools’ Chief Executive Officer, Ron Huberman. The purpose of this meeting was to secure funding for VOYCE-sponsored freshman retreats at several CPS high schools throughout the city. At 10:00, VOYCE youth from seven different community organizations marched upstairs and waited, only to be disappointed by Mr. Beres not showing up. Bernard McCune, acting director of the CPS Office of College and Career Preparation, arrived in place of Mr. Beres. As the meeting started, VOYCE youth were informed that the department Mr. McCune heads cannot fund VOYCE retreats. As a result, VOYCE youth mobilized a plan to attend the upcoming board meeting in order to express their need for financial support from CPS.

The day of the board meeting was June 23. Some VOYCE youth woke as early as 4:00 in the morning in order to be in line at 5:30 a.m. so they could secure a position on the meeting agenda. Youth wore VOYCE t-shirts in an array of colors, showing their unity and strength. When the board meeting started, Mr. Beres approached VOYCE youth to ask them not to speak during the board meeting. After seeing all the different colored VOYCE shirts in the room, Mr. Beres pledged to meet with VOYCE in the next week. In spite of Mr. Beres’ plea, VOYCE youth testified to the board. The powerful pleas of the youth caught the ear of Mary Richardson-Lowry, President of the Board of Education.

On the day of the scheduled meeting with Mr. Beres, VOYCE youth filled a conference room at Dyett High School and gave a powerful presentation on VOYCE and its impact. As the meeting concluded, CPS officials asked VOYCE youth to submit budget reports and told them to expect funding soon. By organizing and unifying around one common goal, VOYCE youth have shown CPS the seriousness of supporting young people and their ideas on education reform.

To learn more about the June 23 CPS Board Meeting and view VOYCE representative Theo Carter’s comments regarding tenured teacher layoffs, go to Channel 7 link: http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=7516536 .

By: Salvador Perez, 6th Grade Teacher
Daniel Boone Elementary School

“ A community school? In our school? It doesn’t sound like a good idea.”
“It will increase the operating costs and these people are going to be
using our classrooms and facilities. Who is going to be supervising them?”
“Are the instructors qualified to teach these children?”

These were some of the staff comments and questions that arose at Daniel Boone Elementary when we received the proposal to implement a Community School Program in our school in 2003. A significant portion of the faculty was resistant to the idea of other members of the community “invading our school.” Finally, after several meetings in which the potential benefits of the Community School were analyzed, we decided to give it a try.

It was worth it. After six years of service, the Community School has proven to be an extremely effective way of providing academic and extracurricular activities and services for our students and their families.

Prior to the implementation of our Community School, teachers provided some after-school programs, but these were mostly limited to remedial academic programs.

Through the Community School program, our school now offers a large variety of programs for diverse ages and interests such as the “Stretch and Grow” and the “Clap, Sing and Read” programs for kindergarteners and the Homework Club, Book Club and Drama Club for older students. Soccer, Gymnastics, Yoga and Volleyball classes are available for those students who prefer kinesthetic activity. For our diverse community, we offer computer classes and language programs such as English as a second language, Spanish, Arabic and Assyrian.
I am one of two teachers working in the 5th and 6th grade Homework Club and I love it. It has giving me the opportunity and the luxury to work on a one-to-one basis with some of the most needy students in our school and really make a difference in their education by been available to them when they need me. The Community School program has proven to be an effective way of providing essential academic and extracurricular opportunities for our students and their families.