Big Shoulders Fund President and CEO Josh Hale reflects on the struggles of Chicago and how they directly impact the schools Big Shoulders Fund supports. You can read the post in its entirety on HuffingtonPost.
Chicago is struggling to a heartbreaking degree. The New York Times ran a series of articles on the violence in Chicago and sent a team of reporters to cover the violence over Memorial Day weekend. The Chicago Tribune runs a summary every Monday of the number of shootings over the previous weekend. Alongside this violence come unprecedented fiscal challenges that are threatening our social service agencies and schools. I am concerned as a parent, a CEO of a growing nonprofit that serves inner-city children, a property owner and taxpayer, and most of all as a human being who believes that every child deserves access to the opportunities and environment that will enable them to reach their potential.
Chicago saw the greatest population loss in 2015 of any urban area in the country. It is the responsibility of city’s leaders and institutions to provide a reason to stay, and to eliminate reasons to leave. Our future depends on all of us working together.
The conditions in Chicago and Illinois may make some of us want to pull the covers over our head. And I am the first to admit that I read all the news coverage and often get bogged down questioning how we got here. But rather than shrink in fear, I think it’s time to double down on mission. Read more…