Chicago Moratorium on School Closings...

House Bill 0363...Provides that there shall be a moratorium on school closings, consolidations, and phaseouts in the school district in the 2009-2010 school year, and provides that any of these actions that are subsequently appropriate shall be carried out no sooner than the end of the 2010-2011 school year.

Synopsis As IntroducedAmends the Chicago School District Article of the School Code. Requires the Chairpersons of the House of Representatives' Committee on Elementary & Secondary Education and the Senate's Committee on Education to each appoint 5 members to a Special Joint Chicago Education Facilities Subcommittee. Requires the Joint Subcommittee, with the help of independent experts, to analyze past school district experience with respect to the closing or opening of schools, school repairs, school additions, school phase-outs, school consolidations, and school boundary changes; to consult widely with stakeholders about these facility issues; and to examine relevant best practices from other school systems for dealing with these issues systematically and equitably. Provides for a draft policy and a final proposed policy. Provides that there shall be a moratorium on school closings, consolidations, and phaseouts in the school district in the 2009-2010 school year, and provides that any of these actions that are subsequently appropriate shall be carried out no sooner than the end of the 2010-2011 school year.

Effective immediately.House Floor Amendment No. 2

Deletes everything after the enacting clause. Reinserts the contents of the bill as introduced with the following changes. Makes changes concerning the General Assembly's findings. Provides for a Special Joint Chicago Education Facilities Committee instead of a Special Joint Chicago Education Facilities Subcommittee, with members appointed by the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate as well as additional members. Makes changes concerning expert assistance, the gathering of evidence, the committee's duties, a draft policy, hearings, and proposed law. Removes the moratorium provision. Effective immediately.

http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?DocNum=363&GAID=10&DocTypeID=HB&LegId=40579&SessionID=76

August 1: The next in the round...

Stay tuned for the agenda, but mark the date on your calendar.

We meet on different days, times and locations to better fit in the full and busy lives of sistas.

in the round...


Saturday, August 1


1pm


Brainerd Branch Library


1350 W. 89th Street


(89th and Loomis)

Also, we will start planning for a 2010 in the round... conference in the fall. Contact us if you'd like to be on the planning committee intheround@spokenexistence.com.

End Involuntary Sterilization in Illinois...

Sign petition here: http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/hb2290/.

What would you do if you were a person with a disability, and your legal guardian decided to have a doctor operate on you so you couldn’t have babies? What would you do if your guardian didn’t even tell you about this, or tricked you into doing it? This is called involuntary sterilization, and in Illinois it happens more often than you think. Involuntary sterilization is when your guardian and your doctor agree to tie your tubes or do a hysterectomy/vasectomy without your permission or knowledge. We are one of 16 states nationwide with no laws to protect people with disabilities who have guardians from sterilization.

Now we have a chance to change that. Today, there is a bill in the Illinois House of Representatives called H.B. 2290. This bill would update a law called the Probate Act of 1975. H.B. 2290 would add to the Probate Act by saying that a guardian would need to get a court order to have a doctor do a sterilization on a ward with a disability. The exception would be if you might die or be seriously harmed without it. Otherwise, a court would have to say that sterilization is ok, and the court would have to do their best to figure out whether the person with a disability is ok with it or not. Right now, we do not have that kind of protection at all.
H.B. 2290 is an important bill that protects the bodies of people with disabilities who have guardians.

Remember, not every person with a disability has a guardian. Most people with disabilities make decisions about their own lives. A guardian makes decisions for a person with a disability who needs help with decisions. A person with a disability who has a guardian still can often make their opinions known, and it is important to respect that opinion.

So what can you do to help? We need this bill to pass the Illinois House of Representatives NOW! If you live in Illinois, contact your state representative and ask them to sponsor H.B. 2290 TODAY! You can find out who your representative is at the Board of Elections webpage. If you are with an organization, have your organization join our list to support H.B. 2290! Let’s make this happen today! Check back at this page for updates.

Organizations Supporting H.B. 2290:
American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois Chicago Foundation for WomenEquip for EqualityFRIDAIllinois Network of Centers for Independent Living (INCIL)Katie Watson JD, Assistant Professor, Medical Humanities & Bioethics Program, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University

For more information, or to sign onto our list of organizations supporting H.B. 2290, contact FRIDA member Michelle Robbins at (915) 496-5468 or free_our_people@yahoo.com. To read the bill, go to the bill online.

JUNE 18: Speak Out for health care...

Join us...June 18

Come share your stories about the health care system.
For example—your experiences with doctors, clinics, hospitals, insurance providers, and age, size, race, class, gender or disability insensitivities.

Health care is a human right...

We deserve affordable, accessible and quality health care.

RSVP at SpeakOut@spokenexistence.com

We will be joined by Byllye Avery...

Byllye Avery is co-founder of Raising Women’s Voices for the Health Care We Need. A dreamer,

a visionary and a grassroots realist, she has combined activism with social responsibility to explore

women’s health issues. Founder of the National Black Women’s Health Project and the Avery Institute for

Social Change, Byllye Avery has dedicated the last 30 years to inspiring women with her experiences, wisdom and spirit.

There’s just a real special magic that happens
when women come together to work together
in an effective way for a common cause.
– BYLLYE AVERY

Why should women raise our voices for health care reform?

Byllye: The reason why women should raise our voices is because we have a
unique perspective about health care and what our health care needs are, and our
perspectives need to be in the mix.

Our bodies, our lives, our health and our priorities are different from men’s. If
you don’t get the voices of everyone you run the risk of developing services that
are ineffective and that don’t meet the people’s needs. Also, we’re the caretakers.

We take care of everybody -- lot of the time before we take care of ourselves --
and we make spaces for our lovers, our sisters, our aunts, our children and our
families, so it’s very important.

There’s power in our collective voices. It’s really easy to not do something... But
it’s much easier go along when see other people are doing something. You
become motivated, you want to join. Our whole notion is to do good in the world,
to unite with other people. There’s just a real special magic that happens when
women come together to work together in an effective way for a common cause.

Resources....

• ICAH Illinois Caucus of Adolescent Health http://www.icah.org/
• Girl World http://www.alternativesyouth.org/content/view/48/82/
• FUFA Females United For Action http://womenandgirlscan.org/females-united-for-action/
• YWEP Young Women's Empowerment Project http://youarepriceless.org/
• YWAT Young Women's Action Team http://www.youngwomensactionteam.org/
• SYC Southwest Youth Collaborative http://www.swyc.org/
• Women and Girls CAN http://womenandgirlscan.org/
• Kuumba Lynx http://www.kuumbalynx.org/
• RVA Rape Victim Advocates http://www.rapevictimadvocates.org/
• Chicago Hip Hop Initiative http://www.chihiphop.org/
  

Youth initiated, school based daycare center....

STUDENTS AT SIMPSON ACADEMY FOR YOUNG WOMEN CREATE SCHOOL-BASED DAYCARE CENTER

Chicago—March 25, 2009—The Night Ministry, in partnership with Alternatives, Inc., is pleased to announce the support of the Simpson Academy for Young Women. Throughout the 2008-2009 school year, the students at Simpson Academy have been working on plans to open a school-based daycare center for their children.

The daycare center presentation will take place at the Simpson Academy Cafeteria, 1321 South Paulina Street on Tuesday, March 31, 2009 at 12:30pm.

The Simpson Academy for Young Women is now the only school in Chicago that serves pregnant and parenting girls between the ages of 11 and 18. Simpson offers a general education curriculum in a nurturing environment that includes social work services and counseling services for students and their families. In their Job Readiness class, the students were surveyed and recognized a pressing need for a day care center, especially since Simpson is a school for pregnant and parenting girls. As part of their curriculum, the students collaborated to research and develop a viable plan for a school-based daycare center from a teen parent’s perpective. In creating their center, students created a budget, daily schedules and activities, menus, safety regulations, and staff.
The goal of this project is to promote healthier families and decrease subsequent pregnancy with teen parents. Funding is from by The Office of Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention, Department of Health and Human Services.
For more information about the Daycare Center Presentation at Simpson Academy for Young Women, contact Carmen Curet at 773.506.7474 X226. For more information about the Response-Ability Pregnant and Parenting Program in Lakeview, please call Melissa Maguire at 773.506.6007.

Alternatives, Inc. is a not-for-profit youth and family service agency established in 1971, serving Chicago's northeast communities of Uptown, Edgewater, Rogers Park, Lakeview, North Center, Lincoln Square and West Ridge. The agency's mission is to facilitate personal development, strengthen family relationships, and enhance the community's well being. The organization has grown from a small, single site offering substance abuse services to a multifaceted agency that employs 50 full-time staff, manages over 175 volunteers and serves over 3,000 youth and families annually.

The Night Ministry connects with Chicago’s vulnerable youth and adults, providing basic supplies, self-care supplies, free healthcare, housing and supportive services for youth, referrals to other resources, and more. We offer services at the moment of need on the street, a mobile health bus, and our shelter and supportive services programs for homeless youth.

Chicago: League of Black Parents...

Per the Black Star Project...

League of Black Parents Meeting, Saturday, May 9, 2009, 10:15 a.m. at 3509 South King Drive, Chicago, Illinois

Dear Prospective League of Black Parent Member:

Across the United States, the educational, social and economic outcomes for most Black children are a catastrophe! In the new global educational and economic order, many, if not most, Black American children cannot compete.

The principles that guide the League of Black Parents include:
Black parents are responsible for the education and well-being of Black children.
Black parents must organize and work together to educate and save their children.
Black parents must invest as much time in educating their children as they invest in their jobs, personal entertainment and social lives.
Black parents must connect to community resources to assist in raising their children.
Black parents must create their own Individual Education Plans for their children.
Black parents must meet for 90 minutes a month on issues concerning their children (preferably at a League of Black Parents Meeting).
Black Parents must work with schools, faith-based institutions and community-based organizations to properly educate their children.

Our actions, or inactions, will determine the future of our race. Please join Black parents across America who know that if we are not organized, our children will not be recognized. If we do not speak up, Black children will have no voice. Black parents must advocate as well as educate. We must take responsibility for the education of our children.

By joining the League of Black Parents, you will also join our community-based Black Star PTA chapter so that we can take advantage of existing resources. Our next next monthly meeting of the League of Black Parents in Chicago on Saturday, May 9, 2009, at 3509 South King Drive, Suite 2B, at 10:15 am.

Annual membership for the League of Black Parents is $50.00. Everyone is invited to join. Please contact 773.285.9600 or blackstar1000@ameritech.net for more information or to become a member of the League of Black Parents. Membership is open to parents, educators, clergy, community members and students of all races, ethnicities and faith backgrounds.

We want to start chapters on the south side, the north side and the west side of Chicago as well as in western suburbs, southern suburbs and northern suburbs. We also want to start chapters in other cities. Thank you for being in the vanguard of educating and saving Black children.

May you realize your best,

Phillip Jackson Executive Director
The Black Star Project
773.285.9600