“Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs only to the people who prepare for it today.”

—Malcolm X.

Greetings Craig,

The April Power Breakfast, which focused on the transition to an Elected Representative School Board, was very well received.

Based on requests, and due to the critical importance of this subject matter towards improving the education of our children, COAL will again host a discussion on the transition to an elected school board for the May Power Breakfast, scheduled for Saturday, May 4, 2024, via Zoom.

The challenge before us?

We must educate ourselves and the community on the ERSB legislation and the transition to an elected school board; we must be an informed electorate;

We must identify and encourage qualified individuals to run for the school board, individuals interested in our children receiving a quality education and capable of fixing what is wrong with the Chicago Public School system. This requires providing support to strong candidates in every school district and ensuring they make the ballot;

We must be intentional in getting these qualified, more independent candidates elected. This requires that we organize and mobilize the vote, so that the school board isn’t stacked to serve special interests. We must have a strong turnout for the November Election;

We must put pressure on the Mayor to make quality-based, rather than political-based appointments to the board; his appointed school board members must have requisite Intellectual skills and substantive expertise and should be responsive to those that voted him into Office; 

And importantly, we must recognize that our job isn’t done after the November election; we must put mechanisms in place to engage and monitor the board, and to force the board to prioritize improving the education of our children, no matter what the make-up of the partially elected school board is, when it is seated in January of 2025.



This is a tall order; however, our children deserve our collective efforts towards improving the state of education in the City of Chicago.

COAL is honored to again host Valerie Leonard, Founder of Non-Profit Utopia and Illinois African Americans for Equitable Redistricting (IAAFER), and Gerald Morrow, former Principal of Dunbar High School and Co-Chair COAL Education Committee, along with Dr. Kim Dulaney, VP of Education and Programs at DuSable Black History Museum and Co-Chair COAL Education Committee, and Nicole Johnson, Writer/Journalist/Author and member of the IAAFER Strategic Planning Team, to discuss the ERSB law and running for the elected school board in the November 5th General Election.

Please join COAL, via Zoom, for another important conversation on public education in Chicago and the transition to an elected representative school board.

Respectfully,

COAL Education Committee

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"The time to work seriously and collectively, to improve the state of our Community, is upon us..."

Let Us be intentional in all aspects of the Work that must be done.

INFORMATION ON THE ISSUE

URBAN PREP SIGNING DAY '24

About COAL

COAL is an umbrella organization founded by 13 of Chicago's historic African American mens clubs. COAL's overarching mission is to identify, examine, illuminate and find resolution to issues impacting the greater community. We strive to use our collective experience, expertise and resources to improve the quality of opportunity, quality of preparedness and the quality of outcomes (expressed as 'quality of life') for our Community.

What We Believe

The Coalition of African American Leaders believes that it is important to examine the critical issues confronting the African American community where injustice, inequality and the absence of access and opportunity continue to prevail, thereby negatively impacting us as a people.

COAL is an assemblage that advocates and organizes for appropriate and responsible public policy change, system behavior change and equality of opportunity. We aim to achieve for all of our people the fullness of the life experience without any form of racism or exclusion as a deterrent.

We believe we must prepare ourselves for the opportunity of this full participation, thereby achieving the necessary education and training to participate.