SR0231 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SR0231 LRB096 12462 KXB 25471 r

SENATE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, Elev8 Chicago seeks to improve the educational achievement and life outcomes of disadvantage middle school students in five Chicago schools (Ames Middle School, Marquette Elementary, Orozco Academy, Perspectives-Calumet Middle School, and Reavis Elementary); and

WHEREAS, Elev8 Chicago envisions these young people graduating from 8th grade ready to make important life choices; giving them a fire for learning, healthy minds and bodies, and the support required to succeed in high school and beyond; and

WHEREAS, To achieve this vision, Elev8 Chicago has created a highly integrated program that: extends the school day with afternoon, weekend and summer programming; creates on site, adolescent-focused health clinics in each school; provides social supports including public benefits screening, mentoring, and high school placement assistance; includes local and national advocacy efforts to build supportive policies; and

WHEREAS, Research has suggested that participation in extended day programs increases youth's skills and evidence indicates that locating extended day programs in schools may increase youth's participation in these services or at least support the involvement of a broader (perhaps more at-risk) population of youth; and

WHEREAS, Locating extended day programming on school campus improves students' connections with their schools, both by improving the relationships they have with adults in the school and by fostering a sense of belonging; and

WHEREAS, School-based health services particularly benefit children coming from urban and rural communities underserved by the traditional health care system and research has shown that school-based clinics enable students to receive more needed health services, especially for uninsured and harder-to-reach populations; and

WHEREAS, The benefits of placing health services in schools extend beyond simply making services more easily accessible; students at schools with these services not only use health care more often-they use it differently, shifting toward regular preventive care and away from palliative and emergency services, and thus saving the state and the health care institutions money; and

WHEREAS, In the integrated services model, the school building becomes a hub of academic and enrichment activities for children, while also providing adult programming and resources for families and community members; and

WHEREAS, The Elev8 Chicago sites programs offering family support and parental and community involvement will ensure that middle school students and their families provide a stable home environment; and

WHEREAS, Family support programs commonly provide parents with educational and employment opportunities and help them access and maximize public assistance benefits; such services can help to increase the income level of the family and thereby improve the children's well-being; by making the school a place that helps parents with their income, employment, and other needs, integrated service models ameliorate the alienation that many parents in underserved communities feel toward schools in general; and

WHEREAS, Research indicates that each core component of this program can play a pivotal role in the lives of children; the Elev8 approach of providing all of these services together in a coordinated manner seeks to achieve results that are far greater than those that can be achieved by any one of the methods on its own; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that Illinois is committed to closing the gap in teaming achievement levels between low income and middle-income or upper-income children and youth and the Elev8 initiative seeks to rectify this disparage by creating dynamic integration of services within schools, one of the principal environments in which young people spend their time; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the Elev8 Chicago integrated services model enables stakeholders to break down traditional ways of thinking about what school can provide to a community and what a community can provide to a school; this dialogue should include school administrators, parents, community residents, service providers and businesses, together these individuals can strategize what can best suit the needs of students, families, and members of the community; and be it further

RESOLVED, That Elev8 Chicago integrated services model enhances educational opportunities and truly engages parents which transforms the standard school environment by providing additional social, emotional, academic, and health-related supports that help students learn.