July, 2010Mass Rally at CPS Headquarters against Cuts!

As we reported last month, Pilsen Alliance participated in a Mass Rally with a broad based coalition of community groups including the Chicago Teachers Union and our GEM partners! Thousands of students, parents, teachers and community residents participated in this massive rally calling for better solutions for the current CPS budget deficit then what is being proposed; laying off 2700 teachers, cutting critical programs like Special Education, Bilingual Education and many recreational programs and increasing class size to 35 students in a classroom!!

While details are still pending, CPS released information to the media earlier this week that they will NOT be raising class sizes in elementary schools, but will raise class size to 35 in high schools! They also stated that there will not be additional teacher lay-offs, yet hundreds of teachers and Assistant Principals have already received their 'pink' slips.

What does this all mean? The Chicago Board of Education's budgeting process is still unclear and only convinces Pilsen Alliance and other Education Advocates that a more transparent, inclusive process is critical! Check out a Petition designed by our partners at Blocks Together, which calls on the Board of Education to "Open Their Books" and conduct Community Budget hearings! Feel free to print it out, sign on and send back to Pilsen Alliance, 1831 S. Racine, 3rd Floor Chicago, IL 60608.

Si se puede!
In solidarity,

Alejandra L. Ibanez,
Executive Director

Did you notice our website just vanished out of thin air?

Due to some technical glitches and internet piracy we lost our original website, but we were lucky to find a better home here @ thepilsenalliance.org

While many more updates and upgrades on our website are underway, you can still find all the original information, photos, stories, program and campaign descriptions at our website.

Check us out!