BPNC GIVES THANKS!

BPNC would like to thank Mesirow Financial Services for its generous donation of Thanksgiving baskets and turkeys for all 40 of our hard working parent mentors. Our parent mentors are working 10-15 hours a week in classrooms at Burroughs, Shields, Shields Middle, Columbia Explorers Academy, and Davis. Thank you so much! 

BPNC would also like to thank Saint Anthony Hospital for their generous donation of 25 turkeys to needy families in the Brighton Park community!

BPNC would like to wish all of our families and generous supporters a wonderful and Happy Thanksgiving!

Public Meeting

BPNC held a public meeting at Columbia Explorers Academy on October 28. Over 400 community residents and leaders were in attendance. The meeting focused on raising the minimum wage in Illinois and Chicago, as well as developing much needed resources in the community such as financial stability programs, school based mental health services, violence prevention, access to quality healthcare, and the construction of Pre-K classrooms at Columbia Explorers Academy.  Columbia currently has no Pre-K classes in their school.  Cook County Commissioner Jesus "Chuy" Garcia and State Senator Martin Sandoval were in attendance and were asked by community leaders to support these much needed resources. The public officials agreed to offer their support!

Paso a Paso Expansion

BPNC received a $40,000 grant from AT&T to expand the Paso a Paso program in Brighton Park. Paso a Paso is a high school transition program that works with students in community schools and provides resources in the form of in school and after school programs, as well as providing college mentors at the high school level to help freshmen students stay on track for graduation. This type of work keeps the community safe and puts young people on track for success at an early age. Thank you AT&T for enriching and improving the lives of youth in Brighton Park community. 

Save the date!

PwC Workshop @ Shields Middle School

Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) employees spent the morning of November 11 at Shields Middle School offering interactive financial literacy workshops to 90 parents and students. PwC staff facilitated modules from their Earn Your Future curriculum as part of their partnership and commitment to youth education and giving people the tools they need to become financially secure. The parents' workshop focused on practical tips for paying down loans, building credit, and becoming financially secure. The workshop for eighth-grade students included discussions on career options and inspirational stories from PwC employees on how they got to be at PwC. BPNC staff will continue to facilitate PwC's Earn Your Future curriculum for Brighton Park middle school students throughout the rest of the school year.

Affordable Care Act (ACA)  

BPNC kicked off the second year of open enrollment for ACA on November 15th. So far enrollment staff has facilitated 97 applications into Adult Medicaid and Qualified Health Plans. Starting on Monday December 1st, BPNC will have certified In-Person Counselors at four local schools including Sawyer, Gunsaulus, Shields Middle and Burroughs.

Foreclosure Prevention & Pre-Purchase Counseling

BPNC is a HUD-approved counseling agency that offers both foreclosure prevention and pre-purchase counseling.  Our mission is to provide housing counseling to assist struggling homeowners to apply for a loan modification or other home retention options, or to allow potential home buyers to make smart decisions in the home buying process and to avoid predatory lending.  All of our services are free of charge. In the past year, BPNC has assisted 32 families to apply for mortgage assistance which resulted in $9,133,738.22 in total support.

Client Success

BPNC helps community residents keep their homes

The client's hardship began in October 2010 when his wife was hospitalized and his living expenses increased. The client was also laid off from his employer in 2011. He was able to receive 18 months of unemployment until he exhausted all of his benefits. The client attended the BPNC office regarding foreclosure prevention counseling on January 22, 2014. The loan was delinquent for 3 years. On October 22, 2014, the clients bank granted a permanent loan modification under the U.S. Department of Justice and State Attorney General national mortgage settlement and the clients payments have been reduced to a manageable amount, and his interest rate stands at 2.625%.

Elected School Board

Illinois has over 800 school districts with Chicago being the only one that has an appointed school board. All members of the Chicago Board of Education are hand-picked by the mayor. Over the last couple of years, the Board has approved over 50 school closings and massive budget cuts resulting in cuts to programs and layoffs for teachers, librarians and administrator on top of having abysmal learning environments. BPNC was involved in collecting petitions from community members in 3 wards surrounding Brighton Park: 12, 14, and 15. The purpose was to simply add this question to the February ballot: "Should the City of Chicago have an Elected School Board." 

Community members all agreed and signed the petitions, resulting in the passage of the referendum question to be on the February 24th ballot in all three wards. Thanks to the hard work of BPNC canvassers who were out door-knocking in the cold and making phone calls and to the Brighton Park community members who will now have the opportunity to have a voice in this matter and in their community schools. 

Immigration Services

As part of the New Americans Initiative, BPNC has joined forces with the Southwest Suburbs Collaborative and the Instituto del Progreso Latino to provide immigration services for community residents. BPNC staff have volunteered at monthly citizenship workshops that have helped hundreds of people receive free legal assistance and application filing for citizenship. 

President Barack Obama recently announced he would sign an executive order to stop the deportation of millions of people and provide conditional status for millions of undocumented people in the United States. This is a step in the right direction, but the fight must continue, none of these developments are officially law, and congress will fight to reverse this order. We hope that everyone continues their support for BPNC and its campaign for immigration reform. 

BPNC will be organizing info sessions for community members who want to learn more about Deferred Action for Parental Accountability (DAPA) as well as hosting a Citizenship Workshop in Brighton Park on February 22, 2015. Please see the BPNC website for more information as it becomes available.