Progress Through Partnership
E-Newsletter for members and friends of Chicago Appleseed
and the Chicago Council of Lawyers

May 2008

In this e-Newsletter:

Increasing the Effectiveness of Parental Involvement in Education
 Chicago Appleseed works with Illinois Parent Resource Center at Columbia College

caffj no wordsChicago Appleseed Fund for Justice has established a collaborative working relationship with the Illinois Parent Information Resource Center at Columbia College (PIRC). The PIRC is a federally funded program of the U.S. Department of Education that implements and supports a variety of programs and policies, and provides resources to increase parental involvement, improve student achievement, and strengthen partnerships among parents, teachers, school administration and communities. Chicago Appleseed is working with the PIRC on the following three initiatives:

1. The PIRC is using a curriculum designed by Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL), entitled Creating Collaborative Action Teams (CAT): Working Together for Student Success. The curriculum will be used as staff development training for the parent liaisons employed by the schools working with the PIRC. Chicago Appleseed has designed a new module on advocacy -- a process though which parents learn to participate in decision making at all levels. Policy and Research Associate José Meléndez will facilitate the session whose goals are to introduce the Collaborative Action Team to advocacy. Specifically, team leaders will identify the advocacy needs of the school, home, community and students. Team Leaders will follow a process of categorizing advocacy issues -- prioritizing their relationship to the CAT.

2. Chicago Appleseed will also be facilitating the PIRC's Parent Advisory Board meeting in the June of 2008. This will be a technical assistance session on increasing communication skills for the Parent Advisory Council for the Illinois PIRC.

3. Chicago Appleseed will be an organizational partner in the PIRC's NCLB Road Show during the summer of 2008. The road show aims to increase awareness of the PIRC, as well as provide workshops on Parental Involvement throughout the state. The tour will bring together the most important influences in children's lives-school, family, and community. The Illinois PIRC will work with educational stakeholders to create a partnership of networks, develop parent leadership, compile and identify resources, and disseminate information related to NCLB and statewide school policy. On this Summer Tour, José Meléndez, on behalf of Chicago Appleseed, will be facilitating a session on Parent Empowerment through Building Bridges for Understanding. The session will focus on how to build coalitions with other parents, community groups and educators as a way work together to increase student achievement through parent involvement. Tentative dates for the road show are the end of July, early August, possible stops will include Chicago, Carbondale, Rockford and Springfield, Illinois.

Visit the PIRC at Columbia College. 

 

 

Chicago Appleseed Begins Court Watching Initiative at 26th Street
 

dual logoAfter releasing in December 2007 the Report on Chicago's Felony Courts, Chicago Appleseed joined forces with the Chicago Council of Lawyers to prioritize the report's 50 recommendations and to begin implementing them. We are focusing on bond court, pre-trial services, the role of adult probation, assistance to the offices of the Cook County Public Defender and the State's Attorney, and the budgeting process. But we began with recommendations that stemmed from the finding that "The system must give greater attention to the public it is intended to serve."

In February, 2008, Chicago Appleseed, with the cooperation of Presiding Judge Paul Biebel, began a court watching program in the Criminal Courts Building at 26th and California utilizing a Code of Conduct based upon the National Center for State Court's Trial Court Performance Standards and Measurement, which promotes "access to justice" as the focal point for evaluating courts.

Standard 1: Trust and Confidence in Public Proceedings.
The trial court conducts its proceedings and other public business openly. The court must ensure that its proceedings are accessible and audible to all participants, including litigants, attorneys, court personnel, as well as members of the public including victims, families, jurors and the general public.

Standard 2: Safety, Accessibility and Convenience.
Trial court facilities are safe, accessible and convenient to use for all members of the public, as well as courtroom participants. Court personnel should not engage in any intimidation or impropriety to visitors including victims, families, jurors and the general public regardless of their social background.

Standard 3: Effective Participation.
The trial court gives all who appear before it the opportunity to participate effectively, without undue hardship or inconvenience. The court must accommodate all participants in its proceedings- especially those who have language difficulties, mental impairments, or physical handicaps. This includes interpreters for the deaf, arrangements for the impaired, and translators for non-English speakers. Also, defendants should be able to ask their attorneys questions during proceedings without being reprimanded.

Standard 4: Courtesy, Responsiveness and Respect.
Judges and other trial court personnel are courteous and responsive to the public, and accord respect to all with whom they come in contact. The criminal court should be accommodating and less intimidating. No court employee should by words or conduct demonstrate bias or prejudice based a person's social background to other employees of the court, as well as members of the public. Furthermore, victims and defendant's families should be treated with appropriate tact and basic sensitivity, and their questions should not be criminalized or ignored.

Court watchers worked on a volunteer basis and were recruited from local law schools, schools of social work, criminal justice, and undergraduate institutions. Court watchers for the period of March, 2008 through May 2008 were selected from the University of Chicago, University of Illinois at Chicago, Loyola University and Northwestern University. Each court watcher participates in a three-hour training session led by Chicago Appleseed Research Associate Nicole Martorano Van Cleve.

Our goal is to maintain an ongoing court watching initiative to observe the changes that take place in the environment afforded the public, defendants, and the professionals who find themselves at 26th and California. Our summer court watching program will utilize summer associates in Chicago area law firms. Thus far, DLA Piper and Winston & Strawn will be participating in the 2008 effort. Those wishing to volunteer their time for court watching beginning in September should contact Malcolm Rich (312-988- 6552 / malcolmrich@chicagoappleseed.org). We will issue periodic reports both to the court and to the public.

Read the report that led to the courtwatching program. 

Preparáte Conference Features Chicago Appleseed's Policy Work
 

caffj no wordsResearch and policy associate José Meléndez will co- host an educational seminar at the Prepárate: Educating Latinos for the Future of America conference. The seminar, "Making the Most of Federal and State Policies for Undocumented Students," focuses on recent work done by the Appleseed Network. Appleseed Centers have been researching state tuition laws in Illinois, Nebraska, and Washington State for the past six months in relation to advocating for the passage of the DREAM ACT. The DREAM Act is bipartisan national legislation that addresses the challenges facing young people who grew up in the United States and have graduated from our high schools, but whose educational future is circumscribed by current immigration laws.

This session will highlight policy and programmatic research findings with attention to best practices and recommendations to comply with and navigate state tuition laws for undocumented graduating high school seniors. Participants will increase their knowledge of the national in-state tuition laws, become aware of the issues undocumented students face as they transition from high school to college and work, and learn more about financial resources for undocumented students. Mr. Meléndez will co-host the seminar with Jorge Nieves, Principal Consultant, Illinois State Board of Education.

Learn more about the Preparáte conference. 

Foundation Grants Awarded to Chicago Appleseed
 

caffj no wordsChicago Appleseed is pleased to announce three recent foundation grants: the Joyce Foundation, the Krasnow Family Foundation, and the State Street Foundation. Foundation grants provide valuable funding for programs such as judicial election reform, financial access and education, and more.

Please join us in thanking these foundation for their support of and commitment to Chicago Appleseed and systemic reform!

Support Chicago Appleseed with your donation.