‘This is really the shot in the arm that we needed.’ Five CPS schools partner with Hope Chicago to help send roughly 4,000 students to college debt-free. [chicagotribune.com]

By Tatyana Turner, Photo: Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune, Chicago Tribune, February 25, 2022

Tonya Hammaker, the principal of Farragut Career Academy high school, had been hearing students make comments like " Can you believe it?” and “I wish that was us” in the hallways all throughout the week.

The young scholars were referring to the Chicago Public School students who got the news that their college education has been paid for with the help of Hope Chicago, a citywide, multigeneration scholarship program that covers tuition, room and board, books, fees and surcharges for CPS students and one of their parents or guardians.

This past week the Hope Chicago team, led by former CPS CEO Janice Jackson and Pete Kadens and Ted Koenig, Hope Chicago’s co-founders and co-chairmen, visited high schools — including Benito Juarez High School, Al Raby High School, Morgan Park High School and Noble-Johnson College Prep — that are part of their inaugural cohort to announce to 4,000 students that their postsecondary education will be fully funded.

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