SPRINGFIELD, ILL. (Feb. 26, 2008)–Leaders of Grow Your Own Illinois on Tuesday urged the General Assembly to approve $4.5 million in funding for fiscal year 2009 to keep the successful program on track.
The funding is essential to sustain the program, which is performing beyond expectation, said Madeline Talbott, Lead Organizer of Action Now, a GYO IL member organization, at a rally in the Capitol attended by about 150 would-be teachers in GYO programs across the state.
“Grow Your Own is building stronger communities and improving neighborhood schools by investing in the unrecognized and dedicated talent in these communities and helping them become teachers,” Talbott said. “GYO is working for children by preparing as teachers strong and capable adults who already living in our communities and will be very effective in the classroom.
GYO unites community groups, higher education institutions and school districts to recruit teacher candidates – especially minorities – from lower-income neighborhoods where schools have trouble retaining qualified staff. The state funds provide forgivable loans that help put the candidates through college so they can obtain teaching certificates. In exchange, they agree to teach for at least five years in neighborhood schools.
The law requires GYO to prepare 1,000 new teachers for the classroom by 2016. After only two years of implementation, GYO has 545 teacher candidates, 87 percent of which are people of color. Since 2006, the number of teacher candidates has grown by 38 percent and their course loads and credit hours have increased by an estimated 50 percent, which has led GYO to ask for additional funding.
Addressing the rally, Rep. Esther Golar announced that she is sponsoring the GYO $4.5 million appropriations bill in the House. Rep. LaShawn Ford, a Democrat from Chicago’s West Side, said he is also committed to supporting the $4.5 million in funding when the appropriations bill is introduced in the House.
“We are fighting to ‘grow your own’ because teachers have to be parents, police and counselors,” he said. “We have a passion for teachers and support them.”
Other state legislators who are backing GYO include Sen. Mattie Hunter (D-Chicago), Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie (D-Chicago), Rep. Susana Mendoza (D-Chicago), and Rep. Deborah Graham (D-Oak Park).
House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) spoke at the rally and urged those attending to talk to their legislators in order to support GYO funding and the revenue needed.
Through a spokesman, Sen. Iris Martinez (D-Chicago), the assistant majority leader and sponsor of the Senate bill to appropriate the funding, said, “Every child deserves to be taught by dedicated teachers, regardless of where he or she attends school. The Grow Your Own Teachers program has demonstrated its effectiveness in educating and retaining skilled teachers to provide dedicated service to students who attend hard-to-staff schools.”
Senator Martinez sponsored the original GYO bill and has fought to implement and expand the Grow Your Own Teachers program since its inception in 2004.
At a news conference that preceded the rally, Rep. Esther Golar (D-Chicago) explained why she is a strong supporter of GYO.
“The teacher candidates understand the troubles in our urban communities,” she said. “Students need to see people who are like them and who take the responsibility to make change. “
Representing the Springfield Public Schools, Human Resources Director Alexander Ikejiaku said, “Every year we need more teachers, and what this program does is harness a local supply of qualified teachers.”
Encouraging lawmakers to keep GYO going, Jo Anderson, executive director of the Illinois Education Association, said, “Now is not the time to stop. This is a beginning with demonstrated success. We will have qualified teachers who are part of our communities.”
A bilingual teacher candidate at the news conference, Francisco Romo of Chicago’s West Lawn community, said, “This gives us a chance to fulfill our dreams and act as role models to future teachers.”
Another teacher candidate at the news conference, Tiana Camphor of Chicago’s Southwest Side, summed it up: “GYO means hope for the community.”
GYO has at least a “twofold effect,” she said. “It offers opportunities for the teacher
candidates and for the underserved students we are going to teach. These are our children, the ones we know and love. We see the statistics and acknowledge the problems, and [Grow Your Own] offers a solution. ”
For further information, please contact Steve Andrews, Resource Coordinator, Grow Your Own Illinois, 773-456-2287.
