Hope Chicago helps students and families
BY TIA CAROL JONES
A new scholarship fund, Hope Chicago, aims to support the students of Chicago and their families by providing wraparound support, as well as a debt-free post-secondary education. Paying for college can often be a
barrier in a students’ decision to attend.
Hope Chicago has the support of the City of Chicago, and College Possible, the Chicago Urban League, the City Colleges of Chicago, and Chicago State University are support partners for the endeavor. Hope
Chicago also received a $1 million gift from the BMO Financial Group.
Ted Koenig, the President and CEO of Monroe Capital and co-founder of Hope Chicago, founded the Chicago Scholarship Fund with partners at Monroe Capital as a way to remove financial barriers for high school students so they could attend college and trade schools.
“We believe that higher education and trade schools are the right and best options for our young people to obtain better paying jobs and have more satisfying and meaningful careers. Education is the answer to creating better lives, to reducing violence and to help close the wealth gap. Education should be a non-negotiable opportunity for all young people in Chicago and in every major city in the U.S.” he said.
Koenig believes the opportunity to attend college should not be a condition of how much money a student’s parents have, the color of their skin, race, zip code or the community where they live. It is why Koenig and his partners decided to merge the Chicago Scholarship Fund with Hope Chicago to create an organization to fund education in Chicago.
Hope Chicago will work with and provide a funding source for non-profit
organizations who also are doing the work and providing resources to students in the city. The organization has a two-generation model which enables students and their parents to attend a college or trade school.
“We love Chicago and we’re sick and tired of hearing excuses of why things
either don’t work or can’t work. We’re not going to talk about things anymore, we’re going to do it,” Koenig said.
Hope Chicago has a goal to raise $1 billion and send 30,000 children and their parents to school. Hope Chicago wants the business community to partner with them and invest in Hope Chicago and the student scholars.
Eric Smith, the vice chairman of BMO Financial Group, believes the investment in Hope Chicago will help the students who are in need the most. The hope is that the money will enable the students to graduate debt free and allow them to start their careers with a strong foundation. Smith asked the business community in Chicago to join BMO in the journey to invest in Hope Chicago.
“Companies are only as strong as the communities they serve and being a part of the bold, transformative initiatives like this to tackle big issues. We can’t do it the same way we did before, we have to try new and bold initiatives like this, led by strategic leaders like Dr. Janice Jackson,” he said.
Dr. Janice J. Jackson, CEO of Hope Chicago, touted Hope Chicago’s partnership with the City of Chicago, Chicago Public Schools.
“We really believe in making sure our students have a solid post-secondary plan, but more importantly, land in universities that enter into the partnerships that Hope Chicago is going to be setting up, we know that they are going to make sure our students are successful and persist,” she said.
For more information about Hope Chicago, visit www.hopechicago.org.
