News Briefs

District 67 hosted its 4th annual ELL Family Night

Golf School District 67 hosted its 4th annual ELL Family Night. This is an opportunity for our community and families who speak a second language to enjoy a delicious dinner from various neighboring ethnic restaurants, learn about the District’s ELL program and meet the District’s Language Ambassadors.

In an effort to ensure all families feel welcome and informed, District 67 started a Language Ambassador Program. A Language Ambassador is a parent who is fluent in English and a second language including, but not limited to Arabic, Assyrian, Polish, Romanian, Spanish and Urdu. Raffle prizes and free books were a special bonus.

We’re proud to have Mayor Dan DiMaria participate in this event.

Documentary Screening/Discussion: No Small Matter

The lasting impact of high quality early childhood care and education on children’s health and educational success is increasingly clear. But not all children and families get access and programs struggle with adequate resources.

Lifting Up Early Childhood is a coalition of over 60 partners in Evanston and Skokie working together to build local support for early childhood care and education so that our communities ensure that all our children get the best start and build a strong foundation.

Documentary Screening & Panel Discussion, NO SMALL MATTER is the first feature documentary to explore the most overlooked, underestimated, and powerful force for change in America today:  early childhood education. This event is

Wednesday, November 20, 2019 at 5 p.m.: registration & dinner, 6 p.m.: the programming begins, it’s at Evanston Township High School Auditorium 1600 Dodge Avenue, Evanston. Childcare is available.

Please register to attend (and request childcare) at:evanstonforever.org/lifting up.

Cook County State’s Attorney Kimberly Foxx Statement on Retirement of Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson

“I’m proud to salute Superintendent Eddie Johnson for his commitment to the brave women and men of the Chicago Police Department and the City of Chicago. As a life-long Chicagoan, who like me grew up in Cabrini Green, to have the opportunity to give back to the city you love through public service is an honor and privilege. This work calls for tremendous sacrifice, and I am grateful for Superintendent Johnson’s collaborative partnership and mutual respect as we worked to increase public safety and end the cycle of violence in our communities. I want to thank Superintendent Johnson for serving and protecting the citizens of Chicago for 30 years and wish him and his family all the best as they enjoy the next chapter of their lives.”

Illinois to seek Disaster Declaration from Small Business Administration to aid 1.4M Illinois residents

SPRINGFIELD - The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) today denied the state’s appeal for federal assistance to help residents in 22 counties recover from 2019’s severe storms and historic flooding along the Illinois and Mississippi rivers. In light of these new developments, the Illinois Emergency Management Agency will seek a disaster declaration from the U.S. Small Business Administration. If approved, an SBA disaster declaration would enable residents and business owners in the approved counties, and its contiguous counties, to apply for grants as well as low-interest, long-term loans.

To date, the federal government has approved public assistance funding for 28 counties in Illinois. The federal public assistance program provides grants to assist state and local governments, nonprofits and houses of worship with the response and recovery costs associated with the declared disaster. Under the guidelines of the PA program, local jurisdictions can be reimbursed for up to 75 percent of eligible costs. Based on the $61M in losses identified during the joint preliminary damage assessment, Illinois stands to receive an estimated $45.7M. Of that, FEMA has already obligated $1.3M to launch the public assistance program in Illinois.

“While we are extremely disappointed that Illinois did not qualify for Individual Assistance funding, we will not give up fighting to provide resources to the citizens of Illinois,” said Alicia Tate-Nadeau, Acting IEMA Director. “We are committed to working with our federal delegation to encourage FEMA to change the eligibility requirements of the Individual Assistance program that hurts states like Illinois, and in the meantime, we will work with our state and federal partners to identify any other available resources.”

The state will work with the federal delegation to encourage changes to FEMA’s rules for determining Individual Assistance grants. These rules outline six factors for funding consideration: uninsured home and personal property loss; disaster impacted population profile; impact to community infrastructure; fatalities; disaster unemployment and the state’s fiscal capacity to recover from this devastating event.