Chicago -
By Christopher Stewart/Minnesota Reformer
I am Black. I am a father. I love my children like nobody’s business.
I will not be invisible.
I make this simple declaration because, even though involved Black fathers are the norm in the lives of Black children, we are dogged by a defamatory narrative about our supposed absenteeism.
Posted on June 30, 2021
By Neal Morton/The Hechinger Report
In 2013, families at a Seattle high school raked in more than $100,000 for a raffle to win a Tesla Model S.
The year before, the parent teacher association at Garfield High cleared $40,000 in raffle tickets for a Nissan Leaf. Other schools in this tech-boom city rely on lavish galas to raise as much as $422,000 in a single night, and some spend almost as much as they haul in.
During the pandemic, parents at the John Stanford International School spent $249,999 – one dollar less than the school district allows before the board steps in to review such spending – on teaching assistants for a dual language program. This year, the Green Lake Parent Teacher Association paid about half that much to cover the cost of the elementary school’s vocal teacher and a portion of a full-time counselor’s salary, among other supports for students.
Meanwhile, on the city’s South End, parents at Rising Star Elementary celebrate when they can cobble together even $300.
Posted on June 16, 2021
By The Uptown People’s Law Center
The United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois certified all 28,000+ state prisoners to be part of a class Monday in a class action lawsuit challenging IDOC’s excessive use of solitary confinement.
Plaintiffs, represented by the Uptown People’s Law Center and pro bono attorneys with Winston and Strawn, allege that conditions in solitary are horrific; that IDOC permits the use of solitary confinement for minor infractions; and that IDOC uses lengthy, disproportionate stays, all of which constitute “cruel and unusual punishment” in violation of the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Plaintiffs also allege that prisoners are given no meaningful opportunity to present a defense, and sometimes are not even told why they are being sent to solitary, thereby violating the 14th Amendment by not complying with the minimum requirements of due process.
Posted on June 15, 2021
By Arise Chicago
Workers’ rights group Arise Chicago supported workers through a nearly decade-long campaign to recover more than a quarter-million dollars from their former car wash employer, Octavio Rodriguez, involving several government agencies and a federal court.
3 Little Village men get long-awaited payday after former car wash owner cheated them out of wages https://t.co/9Ij6NsDMFv via @SunTimes
— Arise Chicago (@AriseChicago) June 1, 2021
Posted on June 1, 2021
