SPRINGFIELD – For Dora Brooks-Rodriguez and Trista Bond, it’s the second chance they’ve been waiting for. After years of volunteering at their local schools, they are now on their way to the head of the classroom. But the program that has given more than 500 an opportunity at a college education and a second chance is facing elimination because of the state’s budget crisis.
Brooks-Rodriguez and Bond both live on Chicago’s South Side, both have raised families and placed their dreams of becoming a teacher on the back burner. That was until they applied for Illinois’ Grow Your Own Teachers, an initiative funded by the state.
“I have been a special education teacher’s assistant for 21 years at Daley Elementary Academy School, and I am ready to be the teacher,” Brooks-Rodriguez said. “This is an awesome opportunity. I have wanted it for so many years, but couldn’t afford it.”
Grow Your Own, which recruits candidates from low-income neighborhoods where schools struggle to retain a qualified staff, provides financial assistance in the form of tuition, books and childcare so each individual can earn a bachelors degree and obtain a teaching license in Illinois.
This program, which to date has graduated and placed 11 teachers, is fighting for survival as the state slashes funding. Rep. Esther Golar (D-Chicago) said education is an area that is being hit the hardest.
Golar, who is an advocate of the program, introduced House Bill 391 on Tuesday. If passed, the bill would pour $4.5 million into the state’s education fund.
“We, in education, cannot withstand any more cuts,” she said. “If Grow Your Own doesn’t get the funding, the program will not survive. The real life and breath of any individual is education and we have to always fund these types of programs in low-income communities that need the programs the most.”
Attending Northeastern Illinois University, with four children at home and one in college, Bonds said Grow Your Own is “like the best scholarship you could ever have. They pay tuition, books and even child care so I can follow my dream.”
“If the funding for this program is cut, my heart will be broken and this great opportunity will be taken away,” she said.
Last year, the state cut the program’s funding by almost 40 percent, but Gov. Pat Quinn kept it alive by funneling $1.2 million to it. Steve Andrews, resource coordinator for Grow Your Own, said the program is not asking for additional money; they are simply asking for flat funding.
But House Speaker Mike Madigan (D-Chicago) said it would be irresponsible to promise funding to any organization with the current budget shortfall of $12.8 billion.
“We are all concerned about education and we want to continue to produce teachers that live in the neighborhoods where they work so they will know the children and understand the problems of the neighborhood,” Madigan said. “But the general approach for all state programs is to stay afloat. Eventually the economy will come back. If these programs are still online, we will be in a good position to provide them with funding.”
Sen. Kimberly Lightford (D-Westchester), also an advocate for Grow Your Own, said although the program has been great and should be at the top of the list in the future, it is unlikely the program will find funding next year.
“The budget will recoup itself. It will turn around and when it does, this is the type of program that we need to look at for long-term funding,” Lightford said.
Nearly 90 percent of Grow Your Own candidates are people of color with strong ties to their communities. Golar said it’s these candidates that are in tune with the neighborhoods’ cultures and challenges.
Andrews said it is a disastrous time for the state and every program is in danger.
“They are talking about cutting programs completely or by 50 percent,” he said. “If that happens to Grow Your Own, over 90 percent of our candidates could not continue because they do not have financial capabilities to find their education.”
Brooks-Rodriguez is also attending Northeastern Illinois University, with her three children in college. She said the program has been a gift from God.
“This is an opportunity of a lifetime, but it has been challenging because I work full-time,” she said. “But I am excited for this chance and can’t wait until the day I walk into Daley Elementary Academy with my teaching certificate. It will be one of the greatest days of my life.”
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