No kid hungry

[VIDEO] NOTE: The video above is a preview for the documentary Hunger Hits Home. You can watch the documentary directly from the Food Network website via the VIDEO link in the brackets.

I saw a few minutes of this documentary on the Food Network this morning. This is an ongoing concern here in these United States where we're concerned about our young people struggling with hunger.

While this blog hasn't consistently tackled this issue we have posted about it on occassion. What was shared here at one point was an appearance on C-Span's Washington Journal was actor Jeff Bridges and Bill Shore talking about hunger in America.

In my mind yeah hunger is an issue but so is health. We want to teach our young people to eat healthy and that's as important as ensuring that they have something to eat.

BTW, over the years I have been tempted to share programs from Whole Foods Market to help schools start gardens. I know that they're not the only player as far a grocery stores in this activism. Perhaps to help not only the issue of hunger but of nutrition there are ways to attack this issue as well.

Half of all public school students in Illinois now considered low-income

Half of all public school students in Illinois now considered low-income

Most public school students aren't prepared for college work, data show

Most public school students aren't prepared for college work, data show



Click the link above for the Newsalert blog to read more about this subject. I will write my thoughts in the near future. If you see the excerpt it's a shame. What can we do to get CPS students ready for college?

Open House for the Method plant in Pullman NEXT Thursday

This information was sent to people on 9th Ward Ald. Anthony Beale's e-mail list:

• Open House

  Informational Session for the Pullman Community (9th Ward)
  Thursday, September 18, 2014
  7-9pm
  
  Gwendolyn Brooks College Preparatory Academy
  250 E 111th Street
  Chicago, IL 60628
  (Enter Door #36)
  
  for more information on open positions or to submit your resume, please visit www.methodhome.com
  
  If you do not have a computer to apply for method jobs, no worries... 9/2/14 -10/3/14, please call 773.928.6000 x229 to schedule an appointment to use computers that are available, here you can apply for jobs, upload your resume, and complete a prescreen assessment.

An actual flyer is seen below.

DNA Info: 'The Wiz' Screening Encourages Audience To Sing Along, Dress in Costume

[VIDEO] So the Studio Movie Grill owned Chatham 14 Theaters still have those Black World Cinema events every 1st Thursday. This Thursday The Wiz - released back in 1978 starring the late Michael Jackson and Diana Ross - will be shown at the Chatham.

Black World Cinema's movie night this month at Studio Movie Grill-Chatham will feature "The Wiz" — and audience members are encouraged to sing along and dress in character.

The movie, starring singer Diana Ross and the late Michael Jackson in the "Wizard of Oz" remake, will be shown at 7 p.m. Thursday at the theater, 210 W. 87th St. Admission is $6.

Venisha White-Johnson, director of operations for the theater, said she hopes the audience will sing during some of the musical numbers.

"It's a fun way to engage the audience and have fun, too," she said. "We also want kids to come dressed up in their favorite 'Wiz' costume."

Free school supplies also will be given away, but White-Johnson said children are not required to wear a costume to receive the school supplies.

How appropriate that this event was scheduled because school has just started for the year.

Congrats to Jackie Robinson West #JRW

I want to offer a belated congratulations to the Morgan Park based Jackie Robinson West Little League team. They made it all the way to the Little League World Series and unfortunately lost to a team from South Korea on Sunday for the Little League baseball world title.

Unfortunately I never had the chance to truly watch them play but it's great to know this group of young men have already tasted success in their young sports careers. Here's hoping they will continue to have success not only on the baseball diamond but also in their lives away from sports.

Every young man or woman either playing youth sports or even playing in high school, college or professional can always have the ability to become a champion if they work extremely hard. That also goes for life whether in school or in a career as well.

Chicago was truly behind this team and this morning there is a parade for them.

BTW, Worlee over at The Sixth Ward shared his own thoughts on not only JRW, but also the state of Little League baseball on the south side. We need to provide outlets such as this for our youth to keep them out of trouble and team them skills that would help them not only in sports but in life.

DNA Info: Movie Theater Will Give Away Free Tickets For Donated School Supplies

Photo via UTD Discount Activities

And again sorry for the short notice on this, but if you're going to the Studio Movie Grill theater in Chatham @210 W. 87th St. perhaps you can bring some school supplies as well:

An annual event at Studio Movie Grill-Chatham will give away movie tickets for a donated school supply worth $5 or more.

Tickets can be used to see any movie but must be used the same day, said Lynne McQuaker, a spokeswoman for Studio Movie Grill. High school and college students must show a valid ID to receive their student tickets and no adult tickets will be distributed.

The third annual Back-To-School Supply Drive runs from 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturday at the South Side theater, 210 W. 87th St.

Also for additional reading over at The Sixth Ward on Thursday, the expected changes to the Chatham 14 are running behind!

9th Ward Back to School parade, picnic, & health fair

I apologize for this short notice. This event is expected to occur tomorrow afternoon and is worth noting here.

Further information is below:

• Alderman Anthony A. Beale's 15th Annual Back-to-School Parade, Picnic and Health Fair
  Join Alderman Anthony Beale for his 15th Annual Back-to-School Event Saturday, August 16, 2014
  
  Parade Kick-off: 11:00 a.m.
  Roseland Little League
  12483 South Michigan Ave.
  Picnic Immediately Following in Palmer Park
  201 E. 111th Street
  
  Alderman/Committeeman Anthony A. Beale
  34 East 112th Place
  Chicago, Illinois 60628
  773.785.1100

Flyer is below

HuffPost - 'This Is Are Story': Chicago Public Schools Are Failing

WOW, we see more public school bashing here.

"This Is Are Story" - this article states this is a theme for the senior class at Robeson High School. See something wrong with this short statement. Yeah one glaring one we should all know especially since a conjugated verb is substituted for a similar sounding determiner pronoun.

Either way this story is about the CPS and the statistics regarding our school system that doesn't make it look very good:

• Four out of 10 CPS freshmen don't graduate.
• 91 percent of CPS graduates must take remedial courses in college because they do not know how to do basic math and other schoolwork.
• Only 26 percent of CPS high school students are college-ready, according to results from ACT subject-matter tests.

After you completely read this is public education more of a holding cell and should it be used more as a launching pad?

WBEZ: CTA overcharges kids to get to summer school, job programs

WBEZ/Linda Lutton

As often stated I don't have children yet. It would be unacceptable that CTA and CPS hadn't adequately einsured that students still get reduced fare to get back and forth between home and their schools. Especially during the summer session as indicated in this recent article.

In what appears to be another stumble in the city’s transition to the new Ventra fare-collection system, thousands of young Chicagoans are paying more in train and bus fares than they should be this summer.

Typically, students under age 20 going to summer school or jobs programs would pay reduced CTA fares—currently $0.75 per ride and $0.15 for a transfer.

But many have gotten a rude awakening this summer when they’ve used their student cards on buses or trains.

“I swiped it, and I had (added) a dollar. Usually a dollar is good for me to get over here, but it said ‘insufficient fares,’said student Cesar Fierro in the hallway of his high school, Noble Street College Prep. Fierro rides on a student Ventra card he purchased at school.

He’s been paying $4.50, every day, to get to and from summer school—if he has the money.

“Like yesterday I had to walk all the way home,” said Fierro. That’s a 4.5-mile hike, from Augusta and Milwaukee to Fullerton and Kostner.

 And while school officials attempt to solve this issue, they seem to get the runaround:

School staff at Noble Street say they’ve “easily” spent 10 hours on the phone over the last two weeks trying to get reduced fares for summer school students— “calling back and forth to Ventra, being sent to CTA, the CTA saying, ‘Go back to Ventra.’ It seems to be a very confusing time for the companies as well as the schools,” said Noble Street administrative assistant Nicole Baily.
...
CTA spokeswoman Lambrini Lukidis says that’s because reduced fares are for students enrolled in an educational program, not for all youth. “If you're enrolled in the regular fall term, once that term finishes, the entitlement on the Ventra card is turned off automatically,” said Lukidis.

For students to get reduced fares during summer, schools must submit each student's individual transit card ID number to the CTA (or to one of Ventra's subcontractors). Lukidis says the transit agency has been working since spring with schools to prepare for the summer session. She says 5,500 Chicago Public Schools students and 9,500 students from charters and private schools are already receiving the reduced fare.

“So we have mechanisms in place for this to work successfully, and it has,” says Lukidis. She blamed Noble Street's problems on a "miscommunication on how to activate and get all of those entitlements processed."

Well at least there's an explanation, not to keep this from happening again!