South Side Parents To Demonstrate Against Closure Of Early Childhood Learning Facility

In Areas Already Jeopardized by CPS Closures, Loss of Early Learning Program Would Compound Educational Woes for Low-income Communities, Parents Say

CHICAGO, April 16, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following is being released by SEIU Healthcare Illinois and Indiana:

WHAT:   Parents who live in neighborhoods already reeling from proposed Chicago public school closures will descend Tuesday on the offices of a nonprofit agency that plans to shutter a venerable south side early childhood educational facility.  About 100 parents with children enrolled in the Wright Renaissance Center at 7939 S. Western Avenue have signed a petition denouncing the demise of the facility, which is owned by the non-profit Ada S. McKinley Community Services, Inc.

Parents on Tuesday will seek to talk to McKinley's CEO, urging him to spare the center from the chopping block and saying plans to close the center would perpetuate the systematic flight of educational resources from low-income neighborhoods that have already been jolted by proposed public school losses.  In fact, CPS plans to close two schools with Head Start programs that reside in the same zip code as Wright. 

McKinley has attributed plans to close the center to declining enrollment, but workers at Wright say the facility has a waiting list of parents seeking to admit their children there.  The company's quest to close the center is all the more troubling at a time when President Obama has recommended redoubling investment in early childhood learning, particularly in low-income neighborhoods were children struggle to overcome structural disadvantages that can hamper their growth. 

WHEN:     9:30 AM on Tuesday, April 16, 2013

WHERE:  1359 W. Washington Blvd, Chicago.  Headquarters of Ada S. McKinley Community Services

SOURCE SEIU Healthcare Illinois and Indiana