News—Southwest Side residents stood along side Bank of America officials yesterday to announce a new partnership to combat the foreclosure crisis in the neighborhood and ensure hundreds of families can stay in their homes.
The announcement came after a two-hour meeting with Bank of America officials Andrew D. Plepler, Global Community Impact Executive and President, Bank of America Charitable Foundation, and Robert Grossinger, Senior Vice President and community resident leaders, from area faith institutions, schools and other organizations that belong to Keep Our Homes campaign at St. Rita Church on the Southwest Side.
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News—Please follow these links to learn more about efforts related to improving health outcomes for students at Marquette Elementary School through Elev8.
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News—SWOP executive director Jeff Bartow was featured in Chicago news outlets on recent bill signing of foreclosure grace period legislation sponsored by State Senator Jacqueline Collins.
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News—Neighbors and community members gathered for prayer and a “posada” to highlight the plight of families facing foreclosures in one of Chicago’s hardest hit neighborhoods this holiday season. Families formed a procession through the neighborhood, beginning at St. Nicholas of Tolentine Catholic Church, and stopping in front of vacant homes hit by the recent rise in foreclosures.
In a re-enactment of the journey of St. Joseph and the Virgin Mary going to Bethlehem for the birth of Jesus, families asked for “posada” or lodging for families affected by foreclosures. In traditional posadas, the chorus asks for lodging for the Holy Family with stanzas played by the inn-keepers who refuse them a room. In this posada, southwest side families affected by foreclosures were requesting additional time to stay in their homes and were refused by the banks.
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News—Illinois US Senator Richard Durbin held up SWOP and our neighborhoods as an example of the tremendous local suffering caused by the national mortgage crisis during a federal hearing on December 4th at the Dirsken Federal Building in Chicago.
Two days earlier, the Senator was visibly moved by seeing the huge number of foreclosures on maps produced by SWOP at a meeting with our staff and leaders. Father Stan Rataj from St. Nicholas of Tolentine Church, Livia Villarreal from the Southwest Reach Center, Mike Reardon from Neighborhood Housing Services (NHS) and SWOP staff Jeff Bartow and David McDowell had arranged the meeting to speak with the Senator about our work fighting the foreclosures on the southwest side. As Father Stan laid out the impact of the crisis on his parish and Villarreal and Reardon shared information about the “Keep Our Homes” campaign recently begun by SWOP, SW Reach Center and NHS, the Senator began thinking with us on ways to bring the key decision makers from the top foreclosing banks to the table to speak with our leaders about local solutions to save our homes.
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News—Students of the Southwest Organizing Project’s ESL and GED program participated in a special ceremony and potluck dinner celebrating their completion of the Fall 2008 semester. The Southwest Organizing Project, working in partnership with Malcolm X College, recognized the achievements of two-hundred forty-six students who completed the sixteen week fall semester. Family members and friends cheered in the Maria High School auditorium as teachers read the names of their students and they walked across the stage to receive their certificate.
The Southwest Organizing Project has been working with Malcolm X College since January 2008 to offer free adult education classes in the mornings and evenings at Maria High School. The number of registered students has steadily increased over the last three semesters with 347 students registered for the fall semester. Maria High School is currently the largest satellite location for Malcolm X College’s Continuing Adult Education program.
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News—On November 20, HB 4613, the Access to Religious Ministry Act unanimously passed the Illinois General Assembly. The Access to Religious Ministry Act (HB 4613), ensures access of religious workers to immigrant detainees in county jails across the state.
HB 4613, sponsored by State Representatives Daniel Burke (D-Chicago) and Julie Hamos (D-Evanston) and State Senators Iris Martinez (D-Chicago) and Jacqueline Collins (D-Chicago), has the support of religious institutions and leaders including the Sisters of Mercy, the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR), Southwest Organizing Project, and the Resurrection Project.
The Access to Religious Ministry Act would ensure that immigration detainees in county jails have the same access to priests, nuns, ministers, rabbis, imams, and other clergy as the criminal populations in these jails. Religious workers would be able to meet with immigration detainees who wish to consult with the religious workers regarding their spiritual and other needs.
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News—Chicago Public Schools (CPS) students and CPS CEO Arne Duncan announced the creation of a new student-led pilot project aimed at reducing the city's high dropout rate. The program was launched at a breakfast gathering of the education community in downtown Chicago convened by Voices of Youth in Chicago Education (VOYCE), a coalition of youth leaders from seven community organizations, including the Southwest Organizing Project, and 12 high schools throughout Chicago. VOYCE worked with CPS to develop the pilot project, one of several recommendations made in the VOYCE report released today detailing solutions to stem the CPS dropout crisis.
“Each CPS high school student faces a unique situation and we believe that the better we understand our students, the more effective we can be at helping students stay on track for graduation,” Duncan said. “We are excited to partner with VOYCE because it gives us another opportunity to have a direct dialog with students and engage them
in transforming the Chicago Public Schools.”
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News—Organizer Stephanie Garza, 25, was chosen as this year’s recipient of the Cardinal Bernardin New Leadership Award for her remarkable work with immigrant parents through the Southwest Organizing Project in Chicago. Bishop Roger P. Morin, Chairman of the USCCB Subcommittee on the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, praised the choice.
"Stephanie is a clear example of a young leader who is inspired by her faith to empower low-income people to work together to address the root causes of poverty in their communities. Her example and witness inspires us all, and I congratulate Stephanie and her family for the achievements that have led to this important honor," Morin said.
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News—Parent organizing efforts at Marquette Elementary are starting to pay off. On September 17, more than 100 parents showed up for open house. Though a hundred-some parents in a school with nearly 1700 students may seem like a drop in the bucket, in previous years "we only got a quarter this many," said Principal Paul O' Toole. At least 20 of them expressed interest in joining the school's Parents as Mentors program, in which parents work in classrooms for two hours, four days a week, while furthering their own knowledge and skills.
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