Striking Out

The teacher strike was years in the making.. and sadly looks like it could be weeks, until there is a truce.

This is a very challenging time for students and parents.  Students need to continue learning.  Parents need to go to work.  Community organizations are scrambling to provide help, but it is hard with shoe string budgets and limited facility space.  For example, YMCA is doing a great job opening up their sizable facilities to provide activities for students.  Chicago Commons is allowing recent pre-school graduates (now in kindergarten) to return to our pre-schools during the strike.  It is a testament to Chicago Commons’ staff, and other organizations, who are stepping up to help working parents.

As for the two warring parties – the Mayor’s team and the Teachers – who is to blame? 

Both. 

Mayor Emanuel and his team sowed the seeds for this fight.  It is a problem they created.  See Carol Marin’s insightful summary of this.  

On the other hand, the teachers risk losing public support if they don’t stay focused and work to get this resolved quickly.  Teachers have right to fight for a better evaluation system and for compensation for the extended school day.  However, they are dead wrong to criticize efforts to provide temporary care during the strike.  They should count themselves lucky that there are organizations filling the gap while they fight the battles that need to be fought.  And the union must be clear to the administration about what it will take to reach a truce.

Let’s all hope and encourage the cooler heads on the Mayor’s team and the CTU team will find a truce to this battle in the next few days.

Taking to the Streets

The whole city is on edge with this summer’s violence around Chicago.  It is good that we are at least confronting this anti-social behavior – and calling for actions to be taken.  Of course, the police are the front line for responding to violent incidents.  But it is up to all of us to look for ways to change the environments in or neighborhoods for the better.  Slowly but sure, our daily actions will help root out the behaviors that lead to violence.

In West Humboldt Park, we have been having daily problems with larger groups of people loitering in front of our Adult Education Training Center (ETC) on Chicago Avenue.   Why are they there?  Some are up to no good and others are just hanging out with friends.  Without saying a word to us, these groups of people on the sidewalk discourage others from attending Chicago Commons, increasing the worries about violence breaking out.  This creates a negative cycle where the more motivated neighbors stay inside and cede the streets to the idle.

After much dialogue with the Police Department, nearby businesses and organizations, Chicago Commons decided to launch a campaign to engage the groups loitering near us.

Rather than simply pushing our neighbors down to the next block, we want to introduce them to the services and programs that could help them identify the talents they could contribute to our community.  To that end, we will join with Neighborhood Housing Services, West Humboldt Park Development Council, Salvation Army and Fresh Moves to conduct weekly activities in front of the ETC. Activities will include:  outreach tables on the sidewalk, daily clean-up in front of our business, Friday sale of fresh vegetables by Fresh Moves, voter registration, Salvation Army mobile nutrition unit, mobile Library, and other activities through August and September.

We hope others will join us in this direct outreach.  Together, we can “Make it Happen.”

Next Generation Engineers

STEM education -- stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math education.  There is going to be a huge demand for people trained in STEM disciplines in the coming years.  


Yesterday, Ron Kaminsky and Don Kleyweg from HBK Engineering  met with a school age classroom (7 to 12 year-olds) at the Guadlupano Center in Pilsen, showing our students how STEM subjects are applied in the real world.


Students learned about "Sub-surface Utility Engineering" - or SUE for short.  There were great questions about what is underground in Chicago and how it gets there.  Students got to touch and feel special materials like high voltage cable, fiber optic cable and samples of different pipes.  







The class has decided to continue to explore underground and the math needed to do this type of engineering.  As a next step, students decided to measure the length of their strides so that they can calculate distances from Guadalupano to their homes by counting their steps.  They learned that utilities engineers actually use this same method!


We are grateful for HBK's support of Chicago Commons, partnering with us to inspire the next generation of engineers! 

Tidal Waves

Things are different this year in Springfield.  There is a slow motion earthquake underway, unlike any time in 20 years or more.

And with earthquakes, come tsunamis .

The first wave hit us last week with news that the state ran out of child subsidy money two months early (before end of fiscal year).  No more payments for centers like Commons until July at earliest.   Many smaller centers are talking about closing.  Now there is news that State might have found funding to fix the next 2 months... but it must pass legislature.  So maybe first wave isn't as big as feared?

However,  a much bigger second wave is coming.  Proposals are to drastically reduce eligibility for child care , making many working poor families ineligible... if this happens, you will see many child cares swamped by it, shutting their doors.  We will know more by end of May.  Watch for thousands of parents to show up in Springfield on May 16th.

At Commons, we are preparing for the waves, we will survive, but the threat to the families that we serve is enormous.

More on child care crisis

More on the emerging child care funding crisis here.

The only positive is that the State of Illinois is truly starting to hit bottom.  Maybe leaders will finally start to take some bold actions??

This situation is a total disgrace.  The state is forcing many small child care centers to decide -- either mortgage everything and gamble that the state will eventually catch up on payments,  or close down now and stop serving their good customers -- hard working low-income families who are paying a portion of the child care, but cannot afford the full freight without a subsidy.  

Chicago Commons currently has enough cash on hand to last for a couple of months, but this is very worrisome to us also.

Over 100 parents from Chicago Commons will be going to Springfield on May 16th to say something about all of this.

Child Care is at the heart of our economy

Child Care is at the heart of our economy... especially right now among low-wage workers.  Low-wage households cannot continue to work full-time without child care subsidies.  The cost of full time child care easily eats up most of these families' paychecks.  Without subsidy, they are better off working odd jobs or irregular hours.

This is proven... see the National Bureau of Economic Research.  Families with child care are between 13 and 32% more likely to be employed.  This from one of the nation’s most influential economics organizations, the one that officially declares when recessions begin and end.

It is time for us to wake up and understand child care's critical role in our economy.  

In the meantime, funding for State of Illinois child care subsidy just ran out this month , so organizations like Chicago Commons might not get paid for May or June.  Unless the State takes action on this, we will soon be forced to decide whether to cut off families who come to us for full day care.  A suburban center was on the news tonight because they just broke the news to parents that they might cut off full day care immediately.

Taking the Medicine

Finally, we have a bold prescription for Illinois’ fiscal crisis, thanks to Governor Pat Quinn. Maybe we should call him “Dr. Quinn Medicine Man”. This week was a momentous week.

The Governor announced massive proposed changes to the State’s pension and Medicaid systems. These are cuts worth many $billions over the next several years.

This is very bitter medicine. It will be painful for many people with modest or low incomes. But if these steps are not taken, it will mean even worse devastation later.

And, vital social services like child care subsidies have already been cut and are at risk of being completely squeezed out of the state budget if these steps are not taken.

Now it is up to the Legislators to follow Dr. Quinn’s lead and adopt these tough measures.

Chicago Commons, had its own days of financial reckoning several years ago. It required some bitter medicine too. But because we made sacrifices, we are able to continue our positive impact on communities today. By taking these tough steps today, the State of Illinois will have brighter days ahead.