Full Text of SR0231 96th General Assembly
SR0231 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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SR0231 |
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| SENATE RESOLUTION
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| WHEREAS, Elev8 Chicago seeks to improve the educational | 3 |
| achievement and life outcomes of disadvantage middle school | 4 |
| students in five Chicago schools (Ames Middle School, Marquette | 5 |
| Elementary, Orozco Academy, Perspectives-Calumet Middle | 6 |
| School, and Reavis Elementary); and | 7 |
| WHEREAS, Elev8 Chicago envisions these young people | 8 |
| graduating from 8th grade ready to make important life choices; | 9 |
| giving them a fire for learning, healthy minds and bodies, and | 10 |
| the support required to succeed in high school and beyond; and | 11 |
| WHEREAS, To achieve this vision, Elev8 Chicago has created | 12 |
| a highly integrated program that: extends the school day with | 13 |
| afternoon, weekend and summer programming; creates on site, | 14 |
| adolescent-focused health clinics in each school; provides | 15 |
| social supports including public benefits screening, | 16 |
| mentoring, and high school placement assistance; includes | 17 |
| local and national advocacy efforts to build supportive | 18 |
| policies; and | 19 |
| WHEREAS, Research has suggested that participation in | 20 |
| extended day programs increases youth's skills and evidence | 21 |
| indicates that locating extended day programs in schools may | 22 |
| increase youth's participation in these services or at least |
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| support the involvement of a broader (perhaps more at-risk) | 2 |
| population of youth; and | 3 |
| WHEREAS, Locating extended day programming on school | 4 |
| campus improves students' connections with their schools, both | 5 |
| by improving the relationships they have with adults in the | 6 |
| school and by fostering a sense of belonging; and
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| WHEREAS, School-based health services particularly benefit | 8 |
| children coming from urban and rural communities underserved by | 9 |
| the traditional health care system and research has shown that | 10 |
| school-based clinics enable students to receive more needed | 11 |
| health services, especially for uninsured and harder-to-reach | 12 |
| populations; and | 13 |
| WHEREAS, The benefits of placing health services in schools | 14 |
| extend beyond simply making services more easily accessible; | 15 |
| students at schools with these services not only use health | 16 |
| care more often-they use it differently, shifting toward | 17 |
| regular preventive care and away from palliative and emergency | 18 |
| services, and thus saving the state and the health care | 19 |
| institutions money; and | 20 |
| WHEREAS, In the integrated services model, the school | 21 |
| building becomes a hub of academic and enrichment activities | 22 |
| for children, while also providing adult programming and |
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| resources for families and community members; and | 2 |
| WHEREAS, The Elev8 Chicago sites programs offering family | 3 |
| support and parental and community involvement will ensure that | 4 |
| middle school students and their families provide a stable home | 5 |
| environment; and
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| WHEREAS, Family support programs commonly provide parents | 7 |
| with educational and employment opportunities and help them | 8 |
| access and maximize public assistance benefits; such services | 9 |
| can help to increase the income level of the family and thereby | 10 |
| improve the children's well-being; by making the school a place | 11 |
| that helps parents with their income, employment, and other | 12 |
| needs, integrated service models ameliorate the alienation | 13 |
| that many parents in underserved communities feel toward | 14 |
| schools in general; and
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| WHEREAS, Research indicates that each core component of | 16 |
| this program can play a pivotal role in the lives of children; | 17 |
| the Elev8 approach of providing all of these services together | 18 |
| in a coordinated manner seeks to achieve results that are far | 19 |
| greater than those that can be achieved by any one of the | 20 |
| methods on its own; therefore, be it
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| RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL | 22 |
| ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that Illinois is committed |
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| to closing the gap in teaming achievement levels between low | 2 |
| income and middle-income or upper-income children and youth and | 3 |
| the Elev8 initiative seeks to rectify this disparage by | 4 |
| creating dynamic integration of services within schools, one of | 5 |
| the principal environments in which young people spend their | 6 |
| time; and be it further
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| RESOLVED, That the Elev8 Chicago integrated services model | 8 |
| enables stakeholders to break down traditional ways of thinking | 9 |
| about what school can provide to a community and what a | 10 |
| community can provide to a school; this dialogue should include | 11 |
| school administrators, parents, community residents, service | 12 |
| providers and businesses, together these individuals can | 13 |
| strategize what can best suit the needs of students, families, | 14 |
| and members of the community; and be it further
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| RESOLVED, That Elev8 Chicago integrated services model | 16 |
| enhances educational opportunities and truly engages parents | 17 |
| which transforms the standard school environment by providing | 18 |
| additional social, emotional, academic, and health-related | 19 |
| supports that help students learn.
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