National Day of Service: 2020 Community Challenge
Ernest Sanders
Published: October 19, 2010
Tenisha Jones (L) Elev8 Program Director speaks with a student (r) and Derrick Hopkins, Assistant Secretary of Education, at Perspectives Charter Schools-Calumet Campus' cafe.
KaSheika Brown
The Federation for Community Schools, the City of Chicago (through the city’s Chief Service Officer) and the Office of the Mayor partnered with the Department of Education to be one of five cities across the country to host a Day of Service in October 2010. The Day of Service was designed to both engage communities and schools to raise awareness about President Obama’s goal for America to lead the world in post-secondary education completion by 2020.
The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) was also interested in partnerships between communities and schools to hold a series of community activities around the city and at schools that promote or shine a spotlight on high school graduation and access to post-secondary education.
Although the centerpiece is middle-schoolers, the DOE’s request is a mirror image of Chicago Elev8 initiative. See comments below about the success of this day from Tamara Davis Perspectives Calumet Middle School Principal.
“This Saturday we hosted the Elev8 Day of Service, in which Alberto Retana, White House Director of Community Outreach, and Peter Cunningham, Assistant Secretary for Communications and Outreach, United States Department of Education, attended and spoke at the event. The event included the 4 other Chicago Elev8 schools, and our visitors were in awe of our school, scholars, and the results of your work,“ said Davis.
There were resources marketed to help students and their families remain focus on the academics. These resources included:
- Financial Literacy Informational
- College and Career Center Information
- Career Fairs
At the end of the day of service, Mr. Retana provided remarks that encouraged the students to remain influence in their hard work and keep track of President’s Obama’s goal for America to lead the world in post-secondary education completion by 2020.
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