By: Ashmar Mandou

Illinois legislators including Senator William Delgado, Representative Dan Burke, Will Guzzardi and Representative Silvana Tabares joined more than 600 parents on Monday, March 16th at Northeastern Illinois University at the Statewide Parent Mentor Convention and to celebrate 20 years of the Parent Mentor Program.

For 20 years, the Parent Mentor Program, which started in one school through the Logan Square Neighborhood Association (LSNA), has grown to 70 schools with a partnership of 16 community-based organizations across the state assisting teachers and tutoring over 14,000 students. Recently, the award-winning program has been threatened by Governor Rauner’s FY16 budget cuts.

“The Parent Mentor Program is one that completely changed my life,” said Monica Espinosa, parent leader with Logan Square Neighborhood Association (LSNA). “This is a program that gives parents the tools to learn more about their child’s education, to ask questions, to be their child’s ambassador, to know where to look for more resources. The Parent Mentor Program is a program that needs to be around and needs more funding.”

Aside from being a celebratory event, members of the Parent Mentor Program attended academic and leadership workshops throughout the day. If you would like to learn more about the Parent Mentor Program, visit www.lsna.net.

Photos courtesy of LSNA