Hull House

A sad day for Chicago with the rapid closure of Hull House last week.

Chicago Commons enjoyed a long history of cooperation with Hull House.

Graham Taylor, Commons’ founder, was a friend of Hull House’s Jane Addams and served on their Board over a century ago.

Hull House and Chicago Commons both have been leading social service organizations over the past 25 years -- expanding pre-school opportunities in neighborhoods with highest poverty, creating highly successful adult education programs for the unemployed, and establishing a presence in troubled public housing developments.

The two organizations even discussed a merger in 2005, ultimately deciding the time was not right.

The closure of Hull House does not mean that the day of neighborhood based charities is over. To the contrary, it is as vital as ever.

Hull House’s financial struggles were the result of heavy reliance on State of Illinois funding and lack of focus.

Chicago Commons had its own financial struggles a few years back. Our key to success was FOCUS. We were able to right the ship by focusing on specific neighborhoods with highest needs and deepening our work in those neighborhoods. This sense of focus on neighborhoods and services has helped strengthen our finances by clarifying what is most important and allowing us to simplify our organization.

The legacy of neighborhood based social programs is alive and well in Chicago!

Thanks HSA!!

HSA Commercial Real Estate has supported Commons for many years. This year, they joined us in our efforts to support the public schools in our neighborhoods.

HSA employees generously provided essential winter clothing and supplies for 19 families in need at Piccolo Elementary in West Humboldt Park.

Piccolo is one of the schools proposed for turnaround next year by Chicago Public Schools. While the debate goes on about the best way to improve Piccolo, the students and staff continue to work hard to improve this year. HSA's support went a long way to boost morale among students. Many of the students said it was the first time they had received holiday gifts through the school.

Thanks HSA!!

The Eligibility Cliff

Got a call today from a mother whose 1^st grader attended one of our pre-schools.

She really wants her daughter to attend our after-school program at her old pre-school site. But she makes $120 too much per month to qualify for the program (per State of Illinois and federal rules).

She has been unsuccessful at finding workable alternatives, she can afford from her modest paycheck (under $30,000 per year). She called the Executive Director’s office out of sheer frustration after two years of struggling to find an alternative.

This is all because she fell off the “eligibility cliff”. There is a moment that families crosses an invisible income line and suddenly become ineligible.. there is no phase out. It is one of the worst perverse incentives, I’ve ever seen. “You earn too much”.

Kudos to our staff who help families navigate this complicated web of funding and eligibility rules, but the whole system is built without a foundation.

There are ways to make it more rational, but it is going to take much more leadership from organizations like Chicago Commons if it is ever going to happen.

City Budget Notes

It is City Budget time. And this year the City government really must make some hard choices. Both expense cuts and revenues increases are required. It is a double whammy. Mayor Emanuel included both, so that is a good start.

Now come the moral choices… what will we sacrifice? One topic for non-profits is free water. Non-profits like Chicago Commons have been getting free water for years. In good times, our city could afford this nice benefit. However, times are tough and we may need to pay our own way now. Does Commons like it? Of course not. Are we going to advocate against it? No. Sacrifices must be made.

Are we against anything in the Mayor’s budget? Yes. Two budget cuts are really bad ideas:

1. Cutting library hours. The library is a singularly important place in our neighborhoods. One of the few safe places where true learning can happen. It allows residents to pursue whatever it is they are after. We need more library hours, not less! The new West Humboldt library is seeing over 800 people per day and growing.

2. Cutting free tax services. There is a tiny amount of money in budget for free tax preparation services. It is cut by over half. However, for low-income families this is an absolute godsend. Most low-income working families with kids get a big tax refund thanks to Earned Income Tax Credit. Cutting this benefit means many families will not even do their taxes or could be gouged by a private preparer. This city-funded service injects way more money into the pockets of low-income families than it costs us.

A United Approach

At the recent CPS Board Meeting, a CPS official said “ it could [be] that our parents are voting with their feet,” by way of explaining why enrollment is declining at some under-performing schools. At Commons we have also seen more of our pre-school graduates going to schools outside the neighborhood, BUT the majority of our students still go to their local school.

Someone recently pointed out to me that the schools with declining enrollment are also in neighborhoods where foreclosure rates are off the charts. So it is important not to get caught up in the rhetoric. There are several reasons for declining enrollment in underperforming schools, and it is not only parents voting with their feet.

The bottom line: We do need to strengthen school management and that takes the right people and resources. And we, the community neighbors, must lend a hand to the school managers and teachers by engaging parents to be supportive of the school and students. It must be a unified effort.

One School At A Time

Remember the Morgan Stanley slogan… “one client at a time”?

Looks like CPS is adopting the "one school at a time" approach toward a longer school day.

I always found the Morgan Stanley ad campaign annoying, but the CPS strategy could hold a lot of promise.

So far teachers at four schools have voted to extend their school day unilaterally, not waiting for the teacher union – CPS negotiation to play out. In return CPS will provide each school and teachers with added funding.

Two of the schools are magnet or selective public schools. And two are majority low-income students, where arguably the extended day may be needed the most.

Will more schools take up the vote?

One thing we know for sure, extended school day by itself will not turn around a school. But -- most important -- an engaged group of teachers and parents definitely is a foundation for a better school. If the “one school at a time” approach encourages teachers and parents to organize and take local action, that’s good enough for us. Waiting for the high level political battles to play out is a recipe for the status quo and we don’t want that.

Turn up the heat!

Margaret Mead would be proud:

A first in education reform today... a small, vocal Local School Council on the South Side voted to turn its own school into a charter.

PREDICTION: No charter school operator will take up this call to action. If one does, they deserve big time praise.

WHY am I so negative? As the FoxNews story shows below, there is actually little parent involvement at this school despite the small, vocal Council. It is quite hard to inherit a neighborhood school with poor history of parent involvement. Charter school operators prefer to start a brand new school, attracting only engaged parents who take the time to apply for their child.

But that should not discourage this small, vocal group in Pullman. Even if they don't become a charter, they have laid down the gauntlet. Something must change! If they persist, it is sure to have a positive effect on the neighborhood and improve options for students. We at Commons are really interested to see how this plays out.

And it encourages us to redouble our effort in our own neighborhoods -- to support parents and community residents to take up the fight for better education, to support all educators who are pushing for excellence.

Community Demands Change for Wendell Smith Elementary: MyFoxCHICAGO.com