Pilsen Residents Embrace Education as a Lifelong Process at 2nd Annual Pilsen Education Summit

On Saturday October 25th, hundreds of Pilsen residents met at Benito Juarez High School to celebrate a second successful Pilsen Education Summit, with a theme of “Education as a life long process”.  At the Summit, registrants took advantage of the wide variety of workshops on topics ranging from continuing education, how to be successful in college, and school retention to street gang prevention and financial literacy. Along with the workshops, the afternoon featured an information fair to showcase services available to our community. Over 20 organizations were there to promote their programs, services and most important for outreaching to those in need.

For example, Robert Rivera from The Resurrection Project as he was able to connect with families who were at the brink of defaulting on their mortgage payments, thus about to become another victim to the current rampant wave of foreclosures.  Community based organizations like TRP came out to join local higher education institutions such as Northeastern University, National Louis University, Kennedy King College, Arturo Velazquez West Side Tech, DePaul University and DeVry College.

Over 500 Pilsen residents in attendance took advantage of all the opportunities available at the education summit

Alex Morales

Twenty families had an opportunity to go home with a refurbished computer courtesy of Arturo Velazquez West Side Tech College. Having a computer will give families a new way to accomplish some of the research necessary to narrow down the right higher education opportunities, along with a low-cost way to keep connected with family and friends.
 

Community leaders served a model example on how Latinos can progress through Education

Alex Morales

During lunch, local residents had an opportunity to hear from our inspirational Keynote Speaker Ricardo Meza, Regional Counsel of Mexican American Legal Defense & Education Fund and Deputy Superintendent Beatriz Cuello -the highest ranking female in the Chicago Police Department.  These speakers provided great examples to our youth of how education can help them accomplish personal success as well as benefit the community as a whole.  Overall the Summit allowed both parents and children an opportunity to learn the crucial information they will need to make the right decisions about the educational future of their children.

To see all the photos from the Education Summit, click here.