By Faith Benson, AmeriCorps State & National Member A child’s school experiences play a huge role in healthy child development. Since most children spend a large portion of their childhood attending school, maintaining a stable and consistent school environment is vital to a child’s functioning both within that space and outside of it. Research has shown that children thrive on predictable routines (Hemmeter, 2006). Alternatively, children who change schools multiple times throughout their academic years are at developmental risk, emotionally, socially, and academically. In a nationa ..read more

By: Vince Parisi, AmeriCorps State & National Member Gentrification is the process of neighborhood change that results from an influx of higher income residents. It is most often used as a pejorative to describe the displacement that can result when the original neighborhood residents can no longer afford to pay rent or property taxes on their accommodations. Displacement can occur directly through lease-non renewals, evictions, or physical conditions that make housing uninhabitable, indirectly due to rent increases, or culturally when services and shops have shifted to cater to a changed ..read more

Lashawn Gordon, ​AmeriCorps Volunteer     In the heart of the South Side of Chicago lies the Englewood neighborhood Despite ongoing challenges such as poverty, unemployment and a lack of investment in the neighborhood throughout the neighborhood, the community stands strong. Currently, a movement is underway to change the lives of the residents and bring hope to the community. The movement’s goal is to make a positive change in the lives of children and families by shedding light on unrealized potential residing in Englewood along with providing resources such as educational support ..read more

Jocelyn Tenorio, HOPES Development Manager           Across multiple sources, the philosophy of Restorative Justice (RJ) has a common theme of humanizing students, rather than punishing them if they do something deemed as wrong. Rather than using punitive measures, such as detention, that work to physically exclude students, Restorative Justice practices seek to engage students and understand the root of their behavior. When engaging with historically marginalized Black and Brown students, educators should embed Critical Race Theory (CRT) alongside Restorative Justice ..read more

Stephanie Salgado, HOPES Site Coordinator     Time and time again, migrants and asylum seekers are marginalized as their humanity is ignored and their stories go untold or are blatantly overshadowed by persistent negative stereotypes.  Their journeys, which often start with hope for a better future, a seemingly simple dream, is a dangerous and deadly reality. In addition to risking falling prey to kidnapping and exploitation, among other horrible fates, while they await their claim, asylum seekers are in a legal and social limbo as their lives are essentially put on hold as the ..read more

By Shaw Qin, AmeriCorps State and National​           In the past year, more than 8,000 migrants have arrived in Chicago seeking asylum and permanent residence (Bosman, 2023). Due to the city’s limited investment in resources and services for migrants, many are now staying in temporary shelters, police stations, and respite centers. At HOPES, we have also seen an increasing number of migrants in our programs, two of which now have 30% Spanish-speaking families. Amidst the public attention and debate, this migrant influx sheds light on an often invisible population and ..read more

Daniel Gantner, AmeriCorps State & National Member     When someone faces homelessness, there are often numerous hardships that have all contributed to the situation. Arguably chief among these hardships is lack of income due to stagnant wages or unemployment. Many Americans who live paycheck to paycheck are seeing that their wages are not keeping up with the continually rising cost of living in the United States. This problem is largely due to two concurrent damaging trends: government policies that have created stagnant wages and a general rise in rent and housing prices. In o ..read more

By Jake Schwartz, AmeriCorps VISTA Program Coordinator  The state of the healthcare system in the United States has long been the subject of intense debate - and oftentimes heavy criticism - for the perceived shortcomings of various aspects of healthcare that fail to adequately support patients. Among the most glaring issues within U.S. healthcare are the existing financial barriers for both primary care and emergency care, the variability of treatment outcomes across different socioeconomic levels, races, and genders, and the current lack of more accessible, non-traditional methods of r ..read more

By LaFlanicea Branch, AmeriCorps State & National Member Educational strategies are useful for supporting individuals experiencing homelessness and offer positive benefits for both children and their families. Struggles among each individual are not always easy to identify, especially with poverty or traumatic situations. Educational resources are important with designated plans to foster the needs of the students, as well as their parents, experiencing homelessness. The lack of education makes it hard to break the cycle and prevent homelessness in many cities across the co ..read more

By Sloane Shabelman, AmeriCorps State & National Member        With an annual increase in homelessness throughout the United States, one statistic must be discussed more: of the U.S.’s homeless population, 50% have spent time in foster care, according to the National Foster Youth Institute. If we as a nation are committed to fighting homelessness, we must take this statistic into account and figure out what changes need to be made to the foster care system to decrease its impact on homelessness.        A report by Chapin Hall at the Univer ..read more