Take the 35th Street bus to the 31st Street Beach!

Service to 31st Street Beach

How does this affect my trip?
Bus service will be extended to 31st Street Beach weekends and holidays from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day.

Buses in both directions will operate east of 35th/Rhodes, and begin/end at 31st Street Beach. Buses will run nonstop between Rhodes/33rd Pl and the beach. Buses will serve the beach from 9:10am until 9:40pm on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.

Buses will continue to begin/end at 35th/Cottage Grove early morning and late evenings on weekends, and at all times on weekdays.

Why is service being changed?
Service is being extended for the convenience
of customers traveling to/from 31st Street beach.

April News

This month's general meeting will be postponed due to scheduling conflicts.

Please note - May's meeting will include nominations for new officers. Please think about people you might like to nominate for Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary and Treasurer. You can also nominate yourself if you are interested in serving. 

In order to nominate, vote, or run, you must be a member in good standing. Membership requires that you have, in the last year (July-June):

• Attended at least one BA meeting. 
• Participated in at least one BA action or event. 
• Made a financial contribution. 

If you are not sure of your membership status please contact Jennie

Upcoming events:
Clean and Green - April 26, 9:30am - 1 pm, McGuane Park signup at 9:30 am - This is a super fun event! There will be refreshments and cleaning supplies available. Come ready to get dirty!

A Quality Education for Every Child: How Do We Get There?- April 26, 10am - 12 pm, Chopin Theatre, 1543 W. Division Seating is limited, please register. Sponsored by Raise Your Hand and Chicago Community Trust.

Landlord Workshop - April 28 6-8 pm, 9th District Police Station

National People’s Action D.C. Conference, April 26 - April 28

Community Heliport Meeting with PERRO @ First Trinity - April 29, 6:30 - Let's have the community run forum that we deserve!

 McGuane & Palmisano park advisory councils meeting May 5, 6:00 pm, McGuane Park field house

CAPS May 13, 6:30 pm 9th District Police Station. 

Gasland Showing, May 17th, 6-9pm at Benton House.

Bridgeport Alliance General Meeting and Nominations - May 29, 7:00 pm

CPS Local School Council (LSC) Elections

The Bridgeport Alliance Encourages Local Residents to Vote in CPS Local School Council (LSC) 

Elections On Monday, April 7, parents and community members can vote at their local elementary school.

On Tuesday, April 8, parents and community members can vote at their local high school.

Local School Councils or LSCs are very important to our local Chicago Public Schools. They approve a school’s budget, help write a school’s improvement plan, and they hire and evaluate principals.

A LSC consists of 6 parents, 2 community members, 2 teachers, 1 nonteaching staff member, and the principal. A student is a member at high schools.

Strong communities have strong schools. It takes all of us, together, to strengthen our schools.

Will you commit to vote in the LSC Elections? 

Who is running at our local schools?

This link to a DNAinfo article has a complete list of Parent and Community candidates. We welcome candidates to respond to this blog with their qualifications or to post on the BA Facebook page

To find your elementary school and high school: Please use this website & plug in your address. You do need to select the “Search by Address” button. http://www.cps.edu/schools/find_a_school/pages/schoollocator.aspx

If this does not work, please call the Department of School Demographics and Planning at (773)553-3270. Local school phone numbers are included below.

There are 2 exceptions to the above that we are aware of:

• For Sheridan (a magnet school), anyone who lives in these boundaries can vote there: the lake to the east, Ashland to the west; 12th Street to the north, 39th Street to the south.) 
•  For Air Force Academy High School, only parents can vote. We understand that the 2 community representatives on their LSC are appointed by the AFA Board. 

 Voting Requirements:

• Community members voting must be at least 18 years old. 
• You can vote anytime during the hours of 6:00 am to 7:00 pm. 
• Voting takes place at each school. 
• You can vote for UP TO 5 candidates. 
• You will receive a ballot that includes both Parent Rep and Community Rep candidates. 
• You do need to present current identification. 
•  If you are a CPS parent voting at your child’s school, you will need the report card you just picked up, plus one more form of ID. 
•  If you are a community member, you need 2 forms of ID to prove you live within the school’s boundaries 
• Accepted forms of ID include: 
•  Driver’s License 
•  IL State ID 
•  Credit Card with picture 
•  Voter Registration Card 
•  Matricula Consular 
•  MediPlan/Medicaid Card 
•  Permanent Resident Card 
•  Current Lease or Utility Bill 

 Thank you so much for your time and commitment to our community and our schools!

Local school contact & location information:
 Philip D. Armour, 950 W. 33rd Place, 60608, 773-535-4530
 Alexander Graham, 4436 S. Union Ave., 60609 (773)535-1308
 John C. Haines, 247 West 23rd Place, 60616 773-534-9200
 Holden Elementary School 1104 West 31st Street, 60608 (773) 535-7200
 Robert Healy, 3010 S Parnell Ave., 60616 (773) 534-9190
 George B McClellan, 3527 S Wallace St., 60609 (773) 535-1732
 Mark Sheridan, 533 W 27th St., 60616 (773) 534-9120
 James Ward, 2701 S. Shields Avenue, 60616, 773-534-9050
 Tilden Career Community Academy HS, 4747 South Union Avenue, 60609 (773) 535-1625
 Air Force Academy HS, 3630 S Wells St., 60609 (773) 534-7706

 Voting issues? Please contact: Election Central Office of Local School Council Relations 773.553.1400

Insurance or Medicaid Help

Hello Friends, I am sharing some information provided by our friends at Ada S. McKinley Services.  

FREE Community Breakfast – open to all

Free hot breakfast

3^rd Saturday of each month

March 15, April 19, May17

From 9am-11am

Come when you can, leave when you must.

Enjoy good food and conversation.

At Salem Lutheran Church

318 E. 74th St. (74th & Calumet)

Chicago, IL 60619

773-783-7776

www.salemchicago.org

Enter on 74th St. by alley

Saturday, March 15th, 10am to noon

GET COVERED! 

SIGN UP FOR INSURANCE OR MEDICAID!

Affordable Care Act health insurance counselors will be at Salem’s parish hall from 10am-noon on Saturday, March 15th. These in-person counselors from Ada S. McKinley Services will be available to help people sign up for insurance or Medicaid. They will assist anyone to apply through the health insurance “marketplace” or to apply for Medicaid, in order to comply with the legal requirements of the Affordable Care Act. 

YOU MUST BRING: government issued photo ID, income verification, and SSN’s for all who will be covered on your plan. 

WHY? Most Americans must have health coverage in 2014 or pay a penalty on their 2015 taxes. If you don’t have coverage, you’ll pay a penalty of either 1% of your income, or $95 per adult ($47.50 per child). If you don’t enroll by March 31, 2014, you can’t get private health insurance inside or outside the Marketplace until the next open enrollment period starts (probably November 2014). You’ll be uninsured and be charged the 2014 penalty. 

Elected School Board!

Please - CONTACT YOUR ALDERMAN BEFORE THE FEBRUARY 12 COUNCIL MEETING, urging them to vote both the ordinance for an elected school board referendum out of committee and to place it on the November 2014 ballot. 

Also, check out the LSC (Local School Council) fact sheet below to learn how to help schools in your neighborhood.

Affordable Care Act enrollment Event at Benton House

NAC Update

Thank you to all who attended the Tuesday meeting hosted by the McKinley Park Neighborhood Advisory Council (NAC) at SEIU offices at 2229 S. Halsted St.

Here is an update on this community meeting regarding the proposal to open a new school, Be The Change Charter School, in Bridgeport. The charter team wants to locate their new school at the Bridgeport Art Center, 1200 W. 35th St. They will recruit students from Bridgeport, McKinley Park, Armour Square, Bronzeville and Pilsen.

The NAC reported the results of their evaluation of the Be The Change charter proposal and found that the proposal:

• lacked depth and detail in curriculum planning.
• had little evidence of community involvement and outreach -- 85 surveys out of a possible 114,000 residents in the target area with most from Bridgeport residents, not parents and not representative of the CPS mandated target area.
• had only two community partners with only one sponsor offering immediate assistance.
• Community attendees asked questions of both the NAC members and of the charter school team. Many felt that their questions were not answered by the charter school team, plus their answers were not to the point. Since CPS did not release the written charter proposal before the community comment meeting, few attendees could find out the information they requested.

The majority of the attendees felt that opening a school in Bridgeport is wrong and a poor use of our tax dollars. The Bridgeport area schools have hundreds of available seats according to CPS. And with per-pupil budgets, a decline in enrollment could cause one of our neighborhood schools to close. The new CPS per-pupil budgeting system doles money out to individual schools based on their enrollment. A new school could also affect enrollment at our great parochial schools.

When CPS issued their request for proposal to open a new school, the purpose was to relieve overcrowding in "Priority Communities".  McKinley Park was identified as a Priority Community by CPS but most of their overcrowded elementary schools are west of Western Avenue -- schools at 3542 S. Washtenaw, 4747 S. Marshfield, 4747 S. Winchester, 4600 S. Hermitage , and 3625 S. Hoyne are overcrowded. A new school at 35th & Racine would not help these children.

We are asking you to call Alderman Balcer at 773-744-6663 and tell him we do not need or want a charter school in Bridgeport.  Tell him to go to the CPS Community Meeting on Charter School Proposals Monday, December 16, at CPS, 125 S. Clark, and speak against this proposed new school on our community's behalf.

We are asking you to contact the CPS Board of Education at 773-553-1900 or via http://www.cpsboe.org/contact  to tell them we do not need or want the Be The Change charter school in Bridgeport.

Other ways you can voice your opinion:
A Community Meeting hosted by CPS will be held at CPS headquarters, 125 S. Clark St., on Monday December 16.   If you want to speak, sign up begins at 4 p.m. and will conclude at 6:30 pm.  Bring a valid ID with you.  The meeting will begin at 4:30 pm and end at 9 pm. Nine charter proposals are on the agenda for that night.

On Tuesday, January 7, CPS will host a Hearing on each of the nine charter proposals at CPS headquarters.

Charter school design teams will make brief presentations.  CPS Office of New Schools will share the NAC recommendation as well as its own recommendation on whether the charter should be approved or not.

Then, the public is welcome to comment.  The procedure will probably be similar to the above.
A final decision on all nine proposals will be made by the Chicago Board of Education at their January 22 meeting at CPS headquarters, 125 S. Clark Street, 5th floor at 10:30 am. Registration to speak at this meeting will begin online at www.cpsboe.org on Monday, January 13, at 8:00 am.

Something else to note.... CPS had already approved 10 other new charters to open in the Fall of 2014:
http://voices.suntimes.com/early-and-often/backtalk/the-10-cps-charter-schools-that-may-open-in-fall-2014/