Stand with Chicago Parents: Kids Need a Library

How We Won

Oct 28, 2010

For six weeks in 2010, a group of Chicago moms sat down to stand up for their children. In Pilsen, a largely Hispanic neighborhood in Chicago's South Side, moms occupied for 43 days a rundown, one-story field house in their fight to have a library for the children of Whittier Elementary. Chicago Public Schools tried to ignore their demands, but after major media coverage and organizing on the part of the moms, they've announced that they'll now work with the moms and create a library for students. More than 500 Change.org members helped push for a win by sending messages to officials on the moms' behalf.

Update: Victory! On October 28, 2010, Chicago Public Schools head Ron Huberman announced that Whittier Elementary School would receive a library. More than 500 Change.org members wrote letters in support of the Whittier moms who staged a sit-in to fight for their children's rights to a library. The moms continue to work with CPS on the specifics of the plans. You can read more here and leave the moms an expression of your support.

Parents in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood want a library for their children, but Chicago Public Schools instead plans to demolish Whittier Elementary School's field house to make way for green space.

Although neighbors use the field house as a community center and an informal library, Chicago Public Schools has not negotiated with the parent group that has staged a sit-in there since September 15, 2010. On October 4, CPS ordered Peoples Gas to shut off the heat and hot water at the site - despite the parents and children camping out there in protest. Although Chicago's City Council ordered the heat turned on and the demolition postponed on October 6, negotiations between the school system and parents are still at a standstill.

Stand with Whittier Elementary parents and tell Chicago Public Schools and Chicago's City Council that the children of Pilsen need a library. Dedicate the funds earmarked to demolish the field house to renovation of the building, and work with parents and the community to come up with a solution that benefits Whittier Elementary students.

Photo credit: Solidarity With the Whittier Parents' Sit-In

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