RYH Family, 

Tomorrow will mark my first full year at Raise Your Hand. When I stop to catch my breath, still my mind, and reflect on this past year, I am overwhelmed with gratitude. Every day I get to serve, co-design a future that works for all families, and paint it into existence. I get to be part of the beautiful moments when parents realize their own agency, witness our collective power, and organize to create change. As we close out this academic year, I promise to continue working hard to earn the gift that is this job. 

We hope that you & your family are well. A few things we want to highlight at the top of our weekly newsletter:

NEW! Unemployment Assistance

The State of Illinois has expanded its eligibility criteria for its Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) Program to include parents and guardians who have been unable to work due to child care needs. More information can be found here.

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.

We hope that you & your family are healthy and safe. This newsletter is brief. Information overload + foggy brain = here’s what you need to know this week:

- Thanks to the 1000+ parents at 281 schools who have already completed our RYH Remote Learning Survey.

Use our map here (and below) to check your school:

• Does your school have respondents?
• Do you have parent contacts at a school with no or only one respondent?
• Is there a school or neighborhood Facebook group or discussion board where you can post our survey & encourage parents to take it?

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. 🍎

We hope you and your family are healthy and well. Please consider following us on all of our social media channels for daily updates. First, a few things we want to highlight...

• Did you know that your child does not need to be with you to pick up food from a CPS Meal Site? Did you know that a child can pick up food? Did you know that you should receive 3 days of breakfast and lunch for each of your children? Check out our webpage:  CPS Grab & Go Meal Sites: Basics + Sites + Delivery Form.
• Find all 10 of our RYH Parent Mantras for Remote Learning (+ a bonus one where you can create your own!) here. Hang in there, folks!
• Check out City Bureau’s Chicago COVID Resource Finder. Please share with families. Text "covid" to 312-436-2280 to access via phone.
• Raise Your Hand has joined the Right to Recovery (R2R) Coalition, which is made up of progressive grassroots organizations and elected officials who believe that our path to recovery must center those most at risk. We are looking for parents who want to be part of the fight and join RYH's Right to Recovery parent leaders. If interested, fill out this form. Thanks to those of you who already signed up!

On Saturday, Governor Pritzker suspended in-person instruction for the rest of the school year in IL. We recognize that there are so many questions about public education in IL. We are trying to find the answers and share them out. We are also consistently pressing for parents to be at the table, virtually of course, so that we have input in the plans and solutions moving forward. Please consider following us on all of our social media channels: Ways to stay in touch!

CPS started Remote Learning on Monday. Thank you for sharing your concerns, your successes, and your stresses with us. You are not alone. We’ve been sharing a RYH Parent Mantra for Remote Learning via social media every day this week and will continue to do so next week. You can find those Mantras here. We created this one pager, RYH CPS Remote Learning Guidance (Synopsis), to give you the basics on CPS Remote Learning Guidance. Here's a helpful resource from SEL Chicago: Supporting Children in Remote Learning.

Below you will find some Quick Links, information on the consolidation of CPS Meal Sites, and .... did you know report cards will be sent by CPS next week? Please see below on some confusion on grading policy during this time and confusion on the CPS school calendar.

We hope you and your family are well. We’ll start with some RYH QUICK LINKS:

• RYH webpage: RYH Remote Learning SpEd Resources from CPS Parents, Teachers & Clinicians
• RYH one pager compiled from several Zoom calls with SpEd community: What SpEd Parents Want to See from CPS re Remote Learning 
• RYH webpage: CPS Grab & Go Meal Sites: Changes for Spring Break & beyond 
• RYH one pager: RYH CPS Remote Learning Guidance (Synopsis) 
• RYH one pager: Various Supportive Resources (pdf) 
• RYH webpage: RYH COVID-19 Resources
• A Letter from RYH's Executive Director: Hope is a Discipline | Community Building and Resources during COVID-19

Here are all the ways to stay in touch with us. Stay well, friends.

~RYH Board & Staff

We have compiled a list of resources that were shared by Parents, Teachers, and Clinicians in the various SpEd Community video meetings we have had since the COVID-19 school closures.  Please share links to any other resources you may have to faheyhughes@gmail.com and we will add them.  

UPDATED 5.27.20