News

On Oct. 27, the Evanston Cradle to Career (EC2C) initiative held its quarterly partners meeting at Evanston Township High School, attended by leaders of more than 30 partnering organizations. The partners announced how $172,500 in recent funding from United Way of Metropolitan Chicago would be allocated, and they discussed a “bold goal” around kindergarten readiness. (Evanston RoundTable)

Rigoberto Velazquez had a bachelor’s degree in psychology from DePaul University and a steady job at a home health agency, but wasn’t sure what he really wanted to do with his life. So he started taking classes part-time at Wilbur Wright community college, part of the City Colleges of Chicago, where he fell in love with computers. (Chicago Tribune)

Choosing the right health insurance plan can be a cumbersome process, and this year’s political back-and-forth over Obamacare has made it seem even more confusing. (Chicago Tribune)

Eric Cadet, 18, is a senior at Evanston Township High School. He is part of the Stay in School Initiative, a nonprofit program from United Way of Metro Chicago, Exelon and ComEd. The program provides students around the Chicago area with mentors, tutoring, resume and networking help and interview preparation, among other skills. (Chicago Tribune)

Earlier this year, social service provider CJE Senior Life laid off nearly 90 people and shuttered a program aimed at helping some seniors preserve their independence – all due to the state not having a budget to disburse funding. (Chicago Tribune)

Community groups are scrambling to figure out how to connect Chicagoans with health insurance in the wake of the Trump administration no longer funding outreach efforts in 18 cities, including Chicago. The federal money was used to help enroll people into plans sold on the Obamacare public health insurance exchanges, and to usher the uninsured into the expanded Medicaid program in Illinois. (Crain's)

President Donald Trump’s administration has ended Affordable Care Act contracts that brought assistance into libraries, businesses and urban neighborhoods in 18 cities, meaning shoppers on the insurance exchanges will have fewer places to turn for help signing up for coverage. (Chicago Tribune)

The National Museum of Mexican Art was filled with concerned students this past Saturday to address the growing violence in their communities. Exelon’s Stay in School Initiative met at NMMA to discuss social justice and personal accountability, as part of the initiative’s mission to keep students engaged and in the classroom. (Lawndale News)

We recently posed the question: “Will Exelon’s Funding Move Away from Chicago with This Leadership Change?” after the energy company hired a new philanthropy executive who will be based in Washington, D.C. Local nonprofits may have been a bit worried at first, but Exelon has emphasized that its philanthropic approach in the city and state would not be changing. (Inside Philanthropy)

Eleven years after the Stay in School Initiative was created by Exelon, ComEd and the United Way of Metropolitan Chicago to fight the high dropout and truancy rates in various Chicago Public Schools, Stay in School and its six community partners have served over 25,000 students ages 11 and up. (Lawndale News)