What a Busy Week !

Rev Brew Event

First off, thanks to all of you came to our fundraiser last Tuesday night. The conversation was at a capacity level as the sharing of thoughts, ideas, names and stories continued non-stop for three hours. Many of us have known each other only via electronic media outlets. It was wonderful to be able to meet everyone behind the website comments, Facebook posts, emails, phone calls and tweets. Thanks to the wonderful musicians who shared their talents with us and to Revolution Brewing for providing great food, drink and a beautiful space.

Over 100 enthusiastic guests attended and we raised over $5000. Now we can use these funds for sound equipment at rallies, printed materials, trips to Springfield, website maintenance, and other operating expenses. The valued contributions of real public school parents will help us continue to advocate for sustainable funding of our schools and for parent voices to be included in the public school conversation. Thanks again to all who came out to this event and for all of you who were there in spirit and have shown your support throughout the past two years.

And even though the event is over, it's never too late to contribute.

Board Meeting

Well, that was Tuesday. On Wednesday morning we arrived at the Board of Education meeting at 5:15am to sign up for a two minute spot and present a letter on the longer day. We got our two minutes in by 1:00pm and presented the letter that we worked on with eleven different parent/community groups around the city. Read and share our letter to the Board.

This board meeting was also full of parents, students and teachers who were there to oppose the 17 school actions that were unanimously approved 7-0 after the meeting.  Many of you have emailed and called us looking for ways to support the parents and students impacted. There is a bill proposed by Rep Cynthia Soto and State Senator Iris Martinez in Springfield for a moratorium on the actions. If this is something you are interested in, you can ask your state representative to support HB4487 and your state senator to support SB3239.  If you need help locating your elected officials, use this lookup tool or email us and we will help you at info@ilraiseyourhand.org.

Calling All Arts Advocates! Apply by March 15, 2012. 

Ingenuity Incorporated is seeking volunteer candidates for advisory panels to help bring more arts programming to CPS. Leaders and visionaries from across all city sectors are sought to lend insight and critical thinking to creating a well-rounded educational experience for all CPS students. Individuals with exceptional leadership in the arts, education, youth development, and/or citywide planning to be part of the teams that inform this work and strategy are encourage to apply to one of Ingenuity's three Advisory Panels. Kudos to Ingenuity for their worthy and facilitative efforts to include high quality arts programs for Chicago public school children of all ages.