Happy Holidays and welcome to Winter Break! We have lots of resources and news to share below. We'd recommend skimming the below now, then saving this webpage so you have the links for viewing or reading when you are ready to digest.

Join us in toasting parents & caregivers at our annual event, Raise a Glass! We will be mailing out our RYH swag next week so get your tickets today!

Context: The Class of 2021 missed the school-administered SAT with Essay at all IL schools (scheduled for April 2020) due to the pandemic & the IL Stay At Home Order. 

UPDATE 9.21 7PM: There's been some press coverage on this issue- see far below.

UPDATE 9.18 5PM: An email was sent to CPS parents this afternoon.

Thank you for visiting our Back to School 2020-21: COVID-19 Resources page. We are sharing the latest guidelines, FAQ docs, and other relevant links for parents. Updated: 1.12.21, 5:30PM.

This is our third COVID-19 Resources page: You can find our original COVID-19 Resources page here (Spring 2020) and Summer 2020 here.

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