Support School Districts' Proposal for Reform in Education Funding

The Illiniois legislature is considering a number of proposals that would reform school funding in Illinois on a comprehensive basis.

A resolution adopted by the School Boards of both Districts 65 and 202 defines the current problem as follows: "Illinois ranks 48th out of 50 states in state spending for local public schools; most state governments nationwide pay half the cost of local schools, but Illinois pays only about one-third of that cost; and local school districts in Illinois fill this budgetary gap through an over-reliance on property taxes with one result being a tremendous disparity in the amount of per-pupil funds that school districts statewide are able to provide..."

We think it is important to substantially increase State funding to the schools so that all schools have the resources to provide their students with a high quality education. Increased funding is critical to reduce class sizes where needed, to provide teacher training and mentoring, to buy textbooks and supplies, to implement before and after-school programs, and to implement other strategies.

While comprehensive school funding reform is necessary, it could have substantial consequences for School District's 65 and 202. Under one proposal, Evanston residents would end up paying a lot more taxes to fund education, but Evanston schools would take a hit - they would suffer a net loss in revenues from State and local taxes.

In response to this concern, the District 65/202 Joint Legislative Task Force has drafted a resolution that both School Boards have adopted. The resolution urges our State Senator and State Representatives to insist that any school funding legislation increase substantially the funds for special education programs and for poverty grants. Because about 16 percent of the students in Districts 65 and 202 receive special education services and 38 percent come from low-income families, these allocations would minimize the hit and possibly result in a net benefit for our schools.

We think this is a creative approach that would provide more State funding to schools providing mandated special education services. By increasing the poverty grants, it would provide need-based funding and enable schools to implement interventional strategies for at-risk students. The approach would recognize the diverse population that School Districts 65 and 202 serve.

It is impossible to predict whether the State legislature will take action this session, but there appears to be a better chance that legislation will be adopted this year than in prior years. We encourage you to write, email or call your legislators and tell them you support the resolution adopted by Districts 65 and 202.

Outside In, Inside Out

By Charles Wilkinson

She was thirty-three years old, in a marriage that "sorta happened" to her. Her two children sorta happened as well. Last night's argument with her husband was still noisy inside her as she waited outside my office.

"What's wrong?" I asked as soon as I saw her. She dropped to the sofa, sighed and said, "Everything."

Silence. Then she started. "I'm tired of feeling like an appliance in my marriage and I have no idea of what to do about it. I'm this...this thing at home that shops and cooks and cleans and does the laundry and it's like...like I'm not me anymore! Either I've lost myself or never had myself in the first place." She went on to describe the argument which sounded so inane she felt embarrassed.
"My guess is the argument isn't new," I said and she nodded. "So that's not what's important. But something is going on with you that is. Any guesses?"
More silence. "I love my husband and kids, honestly I do. But I don't love my life. I feel like a little girl who's been playing family, that it's not fun any longer and that it's time I grew up!"

"Say some more," I prompted.

"I feel like I'm living from the outside in rather than from the inside out. I bounce from this to that and have become very good at being what others need me to be. It's like I have all these strings tied to different parts of me, like I'm a puppet. I am so tired of that feeling."

"So, if you untie the strings, what'll happen?"

"I'll fall apart. I'll be a pile of pieces. And that's even worse!"

"It doesn't have to be," I said, "if yougo inside and put yourself together the way you want. But it takes a woman to do that, not a little girl. And that seems to be what you are bumping into with your feelings."

I went on to explain that when one lives from the outside in, they are being reactive, giving their power away to what is outside of self, defining self by other's expectations and needs instead of their own. But when one lives from the inside out, they are proactive, claiming their own power, and creating their lives with their own choices.

"If that sounds selfish," I said, "you are missing an important point. Healthy choices are not about self alone. When your choices come from within, they are about others as well if they are made maturely, that is, responsibly. It's critically important to know and trust the quality of one's person when living inside out. Any strings you have belong to you, not to others, because you have chosen them. Does that make sense?",

"I guess so," she said. "I have to get clearer about what's inside to make what's outside workable. Is that what you're telling me?

"Yes; that and the fact that a woman goes at life differently than a little girl. A woman usually belongs to her self while a little girl belongs to those who want and need her to be a little girl. You're growing up and the bad news is you are not there yet."

Still more silence. "So, what's the good news?" she laughed, rising to leave.

"That you're beginning to know it," I said.

Trolls, Toads, Idiots and Liars

By Peggy Tarr

Again, people talked about patterns of meanness, stupidity, deceit and insecurity found in supervisory and managerial staff at places of employment as well as in leaders throughout the country and beyond - a never-ending subject.

We laughed (to keep from crying) as we threw out words that captured the essence of these leaders. "Trolls! Toads! Idiots! Liars!"

I looked up our terms of endearment in dictionaries and online, finding a variety of definitions as determined by time, place and technology.

Troll: Used as a verb, troll means to sing or utter in a full, rolling voice; to fish with a moving line; to cause to turn round and round. As a noun, a trolls is a person who lives or sleeps in a park or under a bridge or viaduct; in Scandinavian folklore and children's tales: a supernatural giant or dwarf that lives in caves or other subterranean dwellings.

In the story "Three Billy Goats Gruff," the troll under the bridge emphasizes the troll's negative reaction to outsiders intruding on its physical environment. He is an ugly, obnoxious creature bent on mischief and wickedness. In Internet terminology, someone who intentionally posts derogatory or otherwise inflammatory messages or images is called a troll.

A toad is a "tailless amphibian closely related to frogs," or a person regarded as "repulsive, loathsome or contemptible."

An idiot is "an utterly foolish, stupid or senseless person," and a liar is a person who makes false statements with a deliberate intent to deceive.

These definitions confirmed the accuracy and appropriateness of the words we chose. Sadly, these confirmations were not uplifting.

As more and more people observe the same negative characteristics in leaders, on the job and elsewhere, it suggests that this sad state of affairs is epidemic with the prognosis less and less encouraging.

A close friend of mine theorizes that many humans still possess the drive to confront and slay (dragons) and the drive for self-preservation, but having been denied an appropriate arena in which to indulge these drives (e.g., the wild), they have redefined who is prey and what is a threat. =Prey is too often now perceived as those humans considered to be intelligent, kind, weak and powerless. (Sigh!)

"Man is a god in ruins." - Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882).

"When one does not know how to convince, one oppresses; ...as ability declines, usurpation increases." - Madame de Stael

"Few people can be happy unless they hate some other person, nation, or creed." - Bertrand Russell (1872-1970)

"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - - Unknown

"You can lock your door from a thief, but not from a liar." - Virgin Islands

"Evil enters like a needle and spreads like an oak tree." - Ethiopia

"When spider webs unite, they can tie up a lion." - Ethiopia

"Every power is subject to another power." - Shona People

"Don't compromise yourself." - Janis Joplin

Women Are Hidden Victims of Violent Conflict in Africa

No matter how impossible the achievement of peace may seem against Africa's many violent conflicts, it is our responsibility as members of the international community to make this impossibility a reality. To give up would be a betrayal of women caught in the middle of these wars -- brutalized, raped and then forgotten. We need to remember these hidden victims and work to ensure peace on their behalf.

As militias and government forces fight to control a territory, they rape women and rule the population by fear. These rapes and beatings terrorize villages and break down local economic and social systems. Unable to work, women and their families are deprived of income. During community raids, girls and women are enslaved as wives for militia commanders and kept captive for years.
Systematic rape is a crime against humanity according to the International Criminal Court. Despite this, rape is a standard weapon in wars on the African continent and around the world. Thousands of women have been victimized in the militia wars or genocides in Rwanda, Northern Uganda, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cote D'Ivoire and Democratic Republic of Congo. In the current conflict in Darfur, Sudan, hundreds more victims have been claimed.

Even as peace agreements are made, the perpetrators of these heinous crimes are exempt from punishment. Often the atrocities are accepted as an inevitable feature of war. As women face stigma returning home, they are threatened or discouraged from reporting the crimes, and no one has been brought to justice in these conflicts for using rape as a weapon of war.

While the perpetrators roam free, or receive comprehensive medical treatment in prisons, their victims return to their lives, starkly changed. Brutality and genital mutilation with objects such as sticks, bottles or guns, coupled with a lack of medical treatment, leave many women seriously hurt. Often left with children from the rapes, victimized women are then shunned and turned out of their homes. They live in poverty, many of them suffering serious injury or disablement.

Tens of thousands of women are infected with HIV and other STIs (sexually transmitted infections) during wartime. Militias are thought to rape women with the intent of spreading HIV. In Rwanda, it is believed that the Hutu militia's widespread campaign of rape used HIV as another attempt to exterminate Tutsis.

As a result of sexual violence, sixty percent of HIV cases in sub-Saharan Africa are female. Further stigmatized for having HIV, and with no access to medical treatment, these women add to the huge number of HIV victims and AIDS deaths in Africa.

Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) work tirelessly to bring the plight of these women to the attention of the international community. Together, we need to put pressure on the United Nations and the governments of countries at war and recovering from war to protect women and not forget them in the aftermath, the peacemaking process. Sexual violence needs to be taken seriously by officials and become a punishable crime in practice instead of theory. Above all, women and citizens of the world need to speak out about this violence.

We must raise our voices and demand that women's bodies do not become battlefields in times of conflict - or peace.

A Guest Essay

by Anne Marie Williams,
ETHS Senior Studies Student

Please get involved today:

Learn more: Dr. Mardge Cohen will speak about treating for HIV women who were raped during the Rwandan genocide. The talk will take place on May 22 at 8:30 p.m. at Evanston Township High School, 1600 Dodge Ave., Evanston.

1. Donate to We-ACTx, an organization supporting Rwandan clinics treating women who contracted HIV during the 1994 genocide. Go toGo to http://www.crossroadsfund.org/WE-ACTx-Rwanda.html for details.

2. Donate to stop the atrocities occurring today in Darfur, Sudan, at www.savedarfur.org.

3. Write elected officials to demand continued support for African Union troops in Darfur, and for international pressure to allow UN troops into the country. Information at www.amnestyusa.org.

4. Encourage elected officials to ratify CEDAW, an international treaty for the rights of women ratified by 182 countries - but not the United States.

5. Stay informed of the hidden side of violent conflict and speak out to protect women around the world.

Anne Marie studied the effects of war on women as a part of her Senior Studies project. She will make a presentation on this topic at 8:30 p.m. on May 22 at Evanston Township High School, 1600 Dodge Ave.

Letters to the Editor

Progressive Environmentalism Extends to the Civic Center
Editor:

Progressive environmentalism - what does it mean? Is it "green" buildings, LEED-certification, thrift, recycling, rehabbing, even pride in uniqueness?
The City Council delights and believes in its progressive environmentalism,
At the April 23 meeting of the City Council, civic awards were presented to citizens and organization for their numerous and varied efforts to promote environmentalism in this community.

Council members applauded enthusiastically, smiling broadly, because the City Council delights and believes in progressive environmental efforts.

After this praiseworthy ceremony came the citizen comment portion of the Council meeting. The leading comments concerned the results of the recent Civic Center referendum, its significance to this community, plus a well-reasoned summons to City Council.

These words recalled the reason for the referendum - the City Council voted unanimously to sell the Civic Center.

The City Council delights and believes in progressive environmentalism?

The Civic Center building is a sound, solid, impressive structure, a prime candidate for a demonstration of how an older but useful building can be recycled, rehabbed - not for an alleged $31 million, but skillfully and thriftily by plentiful local talent willing and eager to get to work.

The City Council believes and delights in its progressive environmentalism. Is there not an incredible contradiction here?

Right before our eyes a large, noteworthy recycling, rehabbing project at 2100 Ridge Ave. - AKA the Civic Center.

City Council should rescind that "sell" vote.

Get really green.
-Ann Dienner

Keith Terry Thanks Evanston
Open Letter to the Citizens of Evanston:

I want to thank all the citizens of Evanston who elected me to service on the District 65 School Board. Words cannot fully express how appreciative, happy and honored I am to serve all the children of this City.

I especially want to thank my campaign committee: Your collective energy, passion and professionalism were truly special. Thank you for agreeing to take this journey with me. You kept me honest and on point.

I also want to thank the people who during the fall of 2006 encouraged me to run.

I am glad that I listened to your wisdom and instruction.

As I said many times during the campaign, I believe that no parent in Evanston should feel that District 65 is the school system of last resort but rather should feel that D65 schools are centers of excellence.

I am not prepared to settle for anything less than the very best for our children and I hope you share that same desire. Over the next four years there will be many challenges, and I am confident that together we will overcome them all, because we must.

Lastly, I want thank the departing School Board members for their commitment and dedication. And to the candidates I ran against, thank you for your energy and passion, which I hope will not be lost or dimmed, because this City needs you.

So again, Evanston, thank you and God bless you.
- Keith Terry
District 65 School Board Member-elect

"Affordable Housing" Is a Misleading Concept
Editor:

I hate the expression "affordable housing." It is a euphemism that implies the intent to hoodwink the public.

In reality, the initiative proposed that the public should pay for the housing of some who - for one reason or another - are unable to earn enough to pay for their housing. Isn't the federal government supposed to take care of that? I seem to recall that we already pay taxes for that.

Is this just a political ploy to get the public to pay more by hiding it and calling it by another name?
-- John Tuzson

Keep It Evanston, Not Chicago
Editor:

I have waited several days to cool off before writing this letter. I have been a resident of Evanston for almost 40 years. When our family moved here in 1969 we were impressed by the school system, the civic pride so evident in the new friends we made and by the charm of the City's architecture.

Now I am growing more and more appalled by the physical changes that have taken place in this once-beautiful suburb.

Building after building is now being razed to make room for a large luxury condominium. There seems to be no end in sight.

Whence cometh all these new luxury condo dwellers? Where are the ordinary people going to reside? Modest homes in northwest Evanston are being bought up, razed and replaced with incongruous luxury homes. And each new building seems uglier than the last one.

To me the crowning blow was the construction of Sherman Plaza - the very heart of downtown Evanston - a gigantic mishmash of non-blending shapes and styles - an edifice that makes me wince each time I drive by.

And now our eager developers have unveiled plans for an equally unattractive tower (Alderman Cheryl Wollin calls it "wild") of 49 stories, which would add amply to the oversupply of condos we already have. What in the world are we thinking of? Are we trying to compete with Chicago's skyscrapers, with their exciting plans for a Trump Tower and a Calatrava twisted spire? This is Evanston, for heaven's sake. Let us keep it Evanston. We have a heritage to cherish.

I shall not live long enough to behold the future Evanston - a ghost town of empty condos. I hope that we can turn our attention to the ordinary citizens, the middle class, the poor, the disadvantaged. They are in greater need. And we should do it now.
-- Barbara DeCoster

Evanston Does Not Need Tower
Open Letter to Members of City Council:

As an economic development professional and Evanston resident, I urge you to save the 708 Church building and prevent "The Tower" from being built. The proposed development is horribly misguided and would be a gross misuse of tax dollars.

Developers Klutznick and Anderson's plan flies in the face of nearly every proven, modern best practice for revitalizing downtown retail districts in the following ways. For example:

Scale. The much-lauded Federal Main Streets program, the acclaimed New Urbanist theories, and the work of the late, great urban planner Jane Jacobs all champion downtown commercial districts that are pedestrian-scaled.
Five hundred and twenty-three feet is fine for office parks and high-rise residential areas. But such a behemoth is poison for town-center retail districts. Downtown Evanston's density of beautiful, historic, human-scaled buildings are exactly what most towns engaging in smart economic development are looking to emulate. They help create a friendly environment that invites strolling, shopping, and engagement with others on the street. Our town planners should be striving for Main Street, not Trump Towers.

Locally owned businesses
The plan will displace or destroy some of Evanston's most beloved and successful locally owned, independent businesses -- including Uncle Dan's, Williams Shoes, and dozens of professionals -- and replace them with, to quote the developers, "regional or national" retail.

That means chain stores - the same bland offerings that shoppers can find in any other suburb in the area. Without unique businesses, there will be no reason for shoppers to come here. Evanston must learn a lesson from the mistakes of Chicago neighborhoods that confused chain-store incursion with economic success. Clark Street in Lakeview and Halsted and Armitage in Lincoln Park have been down this road, watching their commercial districts lose their identies, marketability, and customer base when the chains took over. Once the shoppers grew disenchanted and moved elsewhere, many of the chains closed, leaving behind empty storefronts with inflated chain-store rents. Unlike business owners who live in a community and have roots beyond their profits, chain stores' corporate owners will close without a second thought when the money dries up.

In addition to supporting local culture and marketability, locally owned, independent businesses have been found by a myriad of studies, including one in Chicago, to provide far superior economic benefits to communities than chains. That's because the money spent at local businesses stays and recirculates in the local economy at a much higher rate than money spent at chain stores.

It's easy to figure: Locally owned businesses hire more local staff; they use local service providers such as accountants, attorneys, and graphic artists; and they spend their own profits back in the local community. In addition, one study showed that local businesses give 350 percent more to local charities than non-local businesses. Money spent at chain stores goes back to corporate headquarters in some other state. Smart economic development focuses on encouraging and supporting local entrepreneurship.

Moreover, other studies have found that economies comprising primarily small local businesses are more creative, more diverse, more predisposed to smart growth, and more attractive to tourists, young people and entrepreneurs. Tom Lyson, a development sociologist at Cornell University, has found that these communities tend to enjoy greater levels of social equality and stability, and less dependence on welfare.

Proper use of public funds
A misguided, if well-intentioned, plan is one thing. But using public funds to implement it is unthinkable.
Developers Klutznick and Anderson are asking for TIF money - our property tax dollars - to help them destroy a charming building, ruin the scale of the downtown streetscape, and displace local businesses. You can't blame ‘em for asking, I guess. But our elected officials would be grossly negligent if they took the bait. I hope that Evanston's zoning ordinances will make redevelopment of 708 Church unattractive to developers wielding wrecking balls. I urge our City officials to uphold the zoning that is in place.

However, if the zoning allows it and the new owners choose to exercise their legal right to demolish their property, they should receive not one penny of public funds.

This seems to me to be a proposal that is all about money. The developers are looking to make a tidy sum of it through expensive condo sales, and the City is hoping to plump up their tax base with forty-eight stories of new residential units. It's an understandable impulse on the City's part. We sorely need money for our schools, parks and other crucial public services.

But we must find other ways to raise it than chunking out our downtown for sale to developers. If we're looking to stimulate more money in our local economy, let's start with building infrastructure to support local business ownership and cultivate a stellar, unique downtown that will attract shoppers from all over the region - shoppers whose dollars, once spent here, will stay here.
--Ellen Shepard

Illinois Needs Responsible Gun Laws
Editor:

Once again our country has suffered another gun-related tragedy, just as the preceding tragedy has faded from memory. These situations will continue to happen; more communities will be devastated until something is done. The events in Virginia could have happened anywhere, including Illinois. The League of Women Voters of Illinois has studied the issue extensively and has advocated for responsible legislative controls of firearms in Illinois since 1976. Since then tragedy after tragedy has ignited debate, and after each event the League has urged a change in the laws. Enough! Illinois needs gun laws immediately and several bills are before the Illinois General Assembly right now.

The League of Women Voters of Illinois urges our representatives to support HB758, a bill that would require all persons buying handguns from private sellers to pass a background check.

Likewise, the League of Women Voters of Illinois urges support of HB796. Presently, handgun dealers in Illinois are not required to obtain a license from the state to do business here. Businesses that have little or no potential for large-scale violence are presently regulated. Why not gun dealers? HB796 requires handgun dealers to obtain a state license.

This recent event has broken the record as the deadliest in U.S. history, and it will take some time before it fades from memory and is replaced by yet another tragedy. Horrific tragedies like this make no sense and could be prevented with common-sense gun laws. Urge your legislators to support sensible gun control legislation.
--Michelle Jordan

Support Peace, Plant a Peace Pole
Editor:

Thank you for mentioning the monthly war protests in downtown Evanston. While many people (even though I don't know any) may object to war protests as being unpatriotic, it is important that we're able to have that voice. But in addition to anti-war protests, and protesting against something, we sometimes have to take a stand for something. For instance, we can work for peace by teaching our children its virtues. And sometimes, they can teach us a thing or two.

As a member and sometimes a Sunday school teacher at First Congregational Church of Evanston, I've become involved in a project to plant a "Peace Pole." Peace poles are monuments planted all over the world in order to spread the message, "May Peace Prevail on Earth" and to serve as a reminder for people to keep peace in their thoughts. More than 200,000 poles have been planted in more than 180 countries around the world.

Our church, which planted a pole on May 6, decided to take on this project. As part of the process, I worked with the children on the subject of peace. Inspired by a couple different children's books, I asked the kids to tell me their thoughts on peace. What does it look like, sound like, taste like? Some of their statementsstunned me. Among my favorites were, "Peace feels like being baptized"; "you could build 1000 homes with peace"; "peace tastes like snow on your tongue"; and I think the most appropriate: "Peace sounds like someone listening really well."

I realized then that just as much as I was trying to get the children to think about peace and really learn something as we embarked on this project, I'd learned a thing or two from their young, uncluttered minds. And I think we should all listen really well.
--Lacey Weil Ogboluman

Referendum Votes Show City Council Has No Mandate
Editor:

No matter how much the partisans on either side will massage the vote results from the April 17 referenda, you, the Evanston City Council, have not received a mandate to move one way or the other regarding the rehabilitation of the present building or the matter of relocation.

Therefore it is time for you to step up to your responsibility as decision makers. One thing is clear: Judging by the number of voters on the civic center referenda, many of your constituents are interested in the disposal of the subject.
--John P. Petersen

Keep Small Businesses in Evanston
Editor:

As Evanston develops the downtown area, professional office space and affordable store fronts for local, small, independent and single-owner businesses and services are disappearing and being replaced with high-end luxury apartments and glitzy storefronts affordable to "corporate" and chain businesses.

Does Evanston value residents working in the community? We should be doing all we can to provide desirable, affordable spaces to attract our own citizens to work right here in the City, where they can walk, bus or bike to work. The only shop owners who can afford these higher rents are the big name-brand stores that, excepting the welcomed restaurant explosion, drastically change the flavor of our unique shops and boutiques.

One current area under discussion is the large, central block between Sherman and Orrington and between Church and Davis. We are concerned that Evanston has been over-condo-ed and that we are losing the vintage buildings, the independent retailers and the small businesses that give our town its unique character.

Do we really need another expensive tower in downtown Evanston that caters to an exclusive, wealthy retail clientele?

One of the healthiest aspects of Evanston that makes our City desirable is the citizen involvement and community input. Local activists as well as individual citizens regularly post community information in shop windows and store bulletin boards.

Recently, such a posting for a local non-profit was denied by every one of the "corporate" chain stores because of "corporate policy," while similar postings were graciously allowed, almost without exception, at the local and boutique businesses.

Are these "corporate" businesses good citizens within our community, helping to keep an alive, active and informed citizenry? It's hard to imagine the impersonal nature of such policies becoming standard in Evanston.

At a minimum, we should be asking value questions about what kind of community we are building, along with what will be good for the bottom line in the budget. And ideally, we should be building with the triple bottom line (profit, community and environmental sustainability) in mind, lest we look back ten years from now at the building boom and bemoan our lack of foresight.

Let's be leaders in what keeps a community thriving - good services for those who live in the community, great schools, local businesses and jobs, cultural opportunities and, healthy environments that keep attracting vibrant, involved residents.

We are truly creating a situation of professional flight from our downtown area as we greatly diminish the available affordable office space and make it harder for individual entrepreneurship.
Robert Mark, Carole Mark,
Linda Kruhmin, Carolyn Zezima
and Joe Seldess

Job Center Really Helps
Editor:

On Saturday, April 21, the Youth Job Center of Evanston held its annual fundraiser. I am a client at the Job Center and I gave a speech at the benefit. I would like your readers to know what I said about the Job Center so they can understand how the staff there has helped me and helps other young people.

Here is my speech:
My name is Danielle Blackwell. I am 23 years old and the mother of two children.

I first became affiliated with the Job Center in 2003. I was searching for employment, but found so much more at the Job Center. At first, I was apprehensive because the Center's operations are located in a beautiful Victorian-style house on Church Street -- not your traditional setting. The staff was very welcoming and attentive.

At the time, Sacella Smith was the director of the Strategic Corporate Alliances, or SCA program, and she encouraged me to enroll in the job-readiness and computer training program. That helped me improve my skills so that I could find a position with a career path. This program helped me prepare for a job/career: not to just think about working in a dead-end job, but about obtaining a position in a company where there was stability, upward mobility and long-term growth.

I was always really nervous and uncomfortable in interviews and the SCA program helped me become more relaxed and aware of what to do and what not to do in an interview. We even had mock interviews with companies with real Human Resources professionals, I think that is a very important aspect of the program -- providing young people with realistic examples of what is expected in the workplace.

Just because you have an amazing resume doesn't guarantee you a job. What seals the deal is how you present yourself in the interview. And if we learned nothing else, we learned that having self-confidence makes a huge difference.

We also learned how to budget our money once we got a job. This really comes in handy now. I have an Excel spreadsheet that I use daily to keep me on track. I am proud to be a graduate of the SCA program and a YJC "STAR!"

After successfully completing the program we began my job search and the Job Center found me a temporary position at Northwestern University. It was a really nice job working in the Graduate School of Business; I was there for almost a year and then they notified us that our temporary positions would be ending.

I immediately contacted the Job Center and they helped me update my resume, provided additional job coaching and we began applying for new jobs. A few weeks later, I was hired at DePaul University as a receptionist in the Kelstadt Graduate School of Business. I have been there for more than three years. I was recently promoted to Graduate Office Assistant. More important, I am now taking classes in hopes of completing my bachelor's degree in Business Administration at DePaul.

The Youth Job Center plays such an important part in the lives of so many young people. The staff works hard to ensure all Job Center clients continue to succeed.

The Center encourages us not only to maintain employment, but to explore furthering our education and work on a career path. (If not, Ms. Smith will kill you! -- just kidding.)

I know the Job Center helps young people succeed, and I serve as an example. The Center assists all youth regardless of your socio-economic status, race or religion. If you are serious about developing your skills and entering the workforce, they will help.

Everyone always tells us to get a job, but the Job Center shows you how to get a job, keep it and strive for so much more. When I become the head of a company or own my own company, the Youth Job Center will definitely be on my donations list, because the work they do is extremely important and necessary.
--Danielle Blackwell

Help Metra, Pace and CTA
Editor:

Residents of northeastern Illinois face serious congestion and inconvenience this summer if $226 million in immediate additional funding is not provided to Metra, Pace and the CTA. The problem will extend way beyond current transit riders, because drastic service cuts will put huge numbers of additional drivers on the already-congested roads and streets in our area.

The RTA, parent of the three operating agencies, has meanwhile proposed long-range funding, calling for $10 billion in capital expenditures over the next five years, mostly just to maintain what we now have, plus some modest expansion. In addition, it indicates that $400 million per year in additional operating funds are needed. Its recommendations are supported by a year-long, recently-released review by the Illinois Auditor General.

I urge the General Assembly to respond to these needs. In addition, however, there should be reforms at both the operating agencies and at the RTA. Heretofore, the RTA has functioned as a largely ineffective layer of overhead, due to a lack of authority to do its job, which is to integrate the three systems into one smoothly operating entity. Representataive Julie Hamos of Evanston, Chair of the Illinois House Mass Transit Committee, has introduced legislation to strengthen the RTA in significant ways, and this measure should accompany any financial support from the legislature.

Meanwhile, the CTA has new leadership, pledged to eliminate waste and mismanagement, the latter highlighted by ts huge unfunded pension obligation. It should be held to its promises to improve service and efficiency.

What is necessary for this issue to attract attention in the legislature is for citizens to communicate with their representatives, the governor and the Senate and House leadership. I urge all to make their voices heard.
--Alex Sproul