Peace and Education Coalition Launches New Web Site

The new Peace and Education Coalition of Back of the Yards web site features many more photos, a signup for email alerts and links to schools, parishes and social service agencies here in the neighborhoods.

The new site was announced at today's Peace and Education Coalition meeting, the first of the new school year. About 50 people attended, including many new faces. 9th District Commander Eugene Roy noted it was the best turnout he had yet seen.

Some key news about neighborhood services:

The University of Illinois Mile Square health center at 47th and Loomis is now offering shots and physicals for back to school to all families whether or not they have insurance. The clinic is open until 8 p.m. on Wednesdays and hopes to start Saturday hours soon.

Neighborhood Housing Services has relocated to the new Park Federal Bank building at 47th and Honore. The building has a large community room where NHS will hold homebuyer education classes in Spanish. Foreclosure prevention counseling is also available.

All three Peace and Education Alternative High School campuses have space for new students. Back of the Yards Neighborhood Council is providing free shuttle service for students who have to cross gang lines to get to the campus of their choice. The Irene Dugan campus is now dedicated to service 15 and 16 year olds who are at risk of dropping out or have stopped attending their assigned high school. Dugan now has about 16 students on the books and has space for up to 30. Application forms are available from the Dugan website.

At Second Chance, 46 students are currently enrolled and there is space for 80. Second Chance continue to serve students ages 17 or older who have dropped out and want to finish high school. Call 773-535-1450 for more information and to obtain an application.

This fall, the Peace and Education Alternative High School is opening its third campus at 4946 S. Paulina. (They will be sharing space with Big Picture High School.) Right now 38 students are enrolled and they can take up to 50.

Last year, 36 students graduated from the alternative high school campuses. The school counselor contacted 32 of those graduates over the summer. One is attending Eastern Illinois University. A dozen are attending two-year schools, mostly City Colleges: Daley, Kennedy-King, Harold Washington and Wright. Two of those 12 students already have plans to transfer to four-year schools: one to the UIC College of Nursing and another to Chicago State. Three are in job training programs and one is working full-time, so just over half of the recent graduates are living out concrete postsecondary plans, most of them in some kind of college.