Obama Foundation partners with CPS on awards for civic engagement
Civic-minded Chicago Public School students, educators, schools and community organizations could get $2,000 grants thanks to a new partnership between the Obama Foundation and CPS, officials said Wednesday.
Michael Strautmanis, the foundation’s vice president of civic engagement, said the awards fit with promises laid out in their community commitments and the foundation’s shared vision with CPS to elevate young leaders.
“The Obama Foundation believes that civic engagement is a pathway to empower communities,” Strautmanis said. And so, he added, it is important “to bring it to life through encouraging and inspiring and empowering CPS” students and schools.
The foundation and CPS will select two recipients for each category; each will receive a $2,000, foundation-sponsored grant “to support civic projects that will empower young leaders and positively impact communities across the city of Chicago,” the foundation said in a statement announcing the awards.
Students at 124 of CPS’ 644 schools are already involved in programs, like student voice committees, through the school system’s Department of Social Science and Civic Engagement, LaTanya McDade, chief education officer at CPS, said. There’s also the “Participate!” civics curriculum, aimed at strengthening civics education, in 89 CPS schools.
Strautmanis said the foundation, which will help pick the winners, is looking for students “who’ve made an impact through addressing a critical issue in their world, so it could be in their class, it could be in their school, it could be in their community.” They want someone who has researched the issue they’re trying to tackle and engaged the community to craft solutions, he added.
For schools, the foundation wants institutions that help students become “the citizen leaders that we need them to be,” Strautmanis said. That may include bringing students into the decision-making processes within the school or building opportunities to foster civic learning — the criteria for teachers is similar.
Details aren’t set, but applications, criteria and information on eligibility will be available early next year.