Letter to the Editor of the Hyde Park Herald

This is a letter to the editor of the Hyde Park Herald that was submitted this past week.  We are so excited to get the word out!  Help us!  Spread the word and share the link to the blog!

Dear Editor,

We are very excited that the Hyde Park/Kenwood Community Action Council (CAC) is up and running.  This is an entity that has been created by individuals in our community, in partnership with Chicago Public Schools, to create a vision for our neighborhood schools through the participation and voice of parents, teachers, administrators, community members, churches, non-profits, and community organizations.  There are eight other CACs in the city in various neighborhoods, some of which were developed a few years ago.

As the CAC develops, it needs to hear from the community.  We are in the early stages and need representatives from all neighborhood schools and the community at large.  There is an application process to become a board member; however, all meetings are open to the community.  If you are curious, interested, or want to join, please come to our monthly meetings.  If you know someone who might be curious, interested, or want to join, please spread the word!

The next meeting is Wednesday, February 19th at 6p, at Kenwood High School's Little Theater.  We hope to set a regular meeting time each month so that it is easy to plan to be involved.  

At that meeting on February 19th, leadership will be elected.  We urge anyone to run for office.  We will be electing two interim co-chairs and two interim co-secretaries.  These interim positions will last until June when the CAC will reassess its progress and development. If you would like to serve as a leader, there are two simple requirements:

1- Email hydeparkcac@gmail.com BY FEBRUARY 15 with your name, email, phone number, and 2-3 sentences about your affiliation and interest in the CAC.

2- Be prepared on February 19th at the meeting to give a 1-minute oral presentation about yourself (present those 2-3 sentences to the group from your email).

Temporary work groups have been formed to start some of our important work, like Strategic Planning, Rapid Response/Steering, PR, and By-Laws.  These will morph as needed into more structured committees as we develop our mission statement, create our priorities, and elect our leaders.  If you don't want to lead, there is other work to be done.  Please consider signing up for a work group if you can give some time or efforts for our schools.  At this time, you do not need to have an application in to volunteer to become part of a work group.

Please visit the blog, http://hydeparkcac.blogspot.com/ for ongoing announcements and information, including the application, CAC guidelines from CPS, and meeting announcements. Email hydeparkcac@gmail.com to get on our email list for meeting invitations and announcements.  Please share this information with everyone you know!

Come, join, participate in creating a vision for our community schools!

-The Temporary Leadership Team of the Hyde Park/Kenwood CAC

Nancy Baum, Patricia Breckenridge, Camille Hamilton-Doyle, Deb Hass, Robert Quashie, Kristy Ulrich Papczun