Education

The goal of the Education Team is to transform the culture of schools into a relational culture where parents genuinely feel connected and students, teachers and principals feel supported.  This goal is accomplished through four concurrent strategies which are targeted toward increasing parental participation, developing student leadership, enhancing teacher preparation and developing integrated services inside schools. 

 

  • Parents as Mentors Program

    Since 2006 parents on the Southwest side have been transforming the life of elementary students in four CPS schools. The parental engagement initiative, Parents as Mentors, sponsored by the Southwest Organizing Project (SWOP) has been working with teams of parents at Eberhart, Marquette, Morrill, and Talman Elementary Schools.

  • The Grow Your Own Teachers Program

    Grow Your Own is an innovative partnership of community organizations, higher education institutions, and school districts that supports parents, community members, and paraprofessionals in low income communities to become highly qualified teachers.

  • VOYCE: Voices of Youth in Chicago Education

    Voices of youth in Chicago Education is a youth-led, multi-racial, cross-cultural, and cross-community collaborative effort to decrease drop out rates and also increase college enrollment in Chicago Public Schools through methods of research and community organizing.

  • Elev8 (formerly Integrated Services in Schools)

    SWOP is the lead community partner of one of 5 Elev8 (formerly Integrated Services in Schools) projects across the City of Chicago. These partnerships, leveraged through the New Communities Program of LISC Chicago and with the generous financial support of Atlantic Philanthropies, are working to create a new model for middle schools that will enhance academic support as well as provide holistic family social services so that students graduate prepared to succeed in high school and beyond.