An anonymous donor has offered a match for your donation and all donations up to $5K total! Please help us get this match while doubling your impact! Your gift of $5 becomes $10; your gift of $50 becomes $100. Thanks for considering! Online donations are accepted here.

We truly appreciate everyone who has given thus far! At the time of this email, we’re at 85% of our $10K goal. These are the last few days of #RYHGrow2020. Help us get there!

We hope that you & your family are well. We are hoping for sun this upcoming long holiday weekend! ☀️ A few things we want to highlight at the top of our weekly newsletter:

Food Assistance

• We enjoyed this informative article from Hyde Park Herald about how a CPS Meal Site works as explained by a CPS lunchroom manager. Worth a read: Hundreds of meals distributed every day at Ray School: 'We don't ask questions. We'll just give you whatever you ask for'
• RYH webpage: CPS Grab & Go Meal Sites: Basics + Sites + Delivery Form
• Expanded SNAP benefits (Pandemic EBT or P-EBT) applications available here. Families can participate in both P-EBT & any meal distribution program currently available at their school. Flyers in English & Spanish.

Chicago COVID Resource Finder | Text "covid" to 312-436-2280 to access via phone.

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week! Teachers, now more than ever, we parents appreciate all that you do! We see you teachers- your hard work and dedication PLUS all the extras you are doing right now to ensure your students and their families are healthy, safe, engaged, and connected to your classroom and school community. Thank you. You make a difference every day. 🍎

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 4, 2020

Contact: Jianan Shi
Raise Your Hand for Illinois Public Education, 617-838-1420 / jianan@ilraiseyourhand.org

CHICAGO - Education advocates this afternoon asked Governor JB Pritzker and Illinois State Board of Education Superintendent Carmen Ayala to prioritize the use of federal CARES Act funding to reduce racial gaps and other disparities in student learning during and after the COVID 19 crisis.

The CPS Board of Ed conducted their monthly meeting virtually. The meeting was live streamed on the CPS YouTube channel. Below are the RYH prepared statements and press coverage of the meeting. Part of our live tweet thread is here. 

We hope you and your family are well. Yes, this newsletter has a lot of content- again. If you read and scroll you'll find many things of value. You can find the RYH COVID-19 Resources page here- we try to update this daily. You can read more about what we are doing during this time here. Here are all the ways to stay in touch with us. Stay well, friends.

~ RYH Board & Staff

UPDATE 6.17.20: This webpage will no longer be updated since the end of the school year is upon us. We will create something simpler for the Summer. 

Thank you for visiting our COVID-19 Resources webpage.

The Advocate Group is holding a series of Special Education Workshops to help parents determine if their child may be eligible for extra special education services. Please join us!

Marca Bristo, a dynamic and inspiring Chicago-based disability rights activist, died this past Sunday and leaves behind an incredible legacy where she transformed the landscape for people with disabilities in this country. The Founder of Access Living, she was tenacious, gregarious, strategic and had a vision of a world where people with disabilities would live in a world of inclusion, independence and empowerment.  As she took a leading role in the creation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, she changed the conversation about accessibility for people with disabilities from one where public and private institutions had no obligation to provide access to one where access for all is a Civil Right.

It’s just a start. We parents know that the reality on the ground, in our schools, ultimately doesn’t reflect the promises made by a mayor- we heard too many promises made at press conferences by Rahm.