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92_HR0969
LRB9216919BHbh
1 HOUSE RESOLUTION
2 WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of
3 Representatives are proud to congratulate El Hogar del Nino
4 on its 6th Annual Banquet, which will be held on June 15,
5 2002; and
6 WHEREAS, El Hogar del Nino was founded in 1972 by 7
7 community mothers who worked under the guidance of Jane M.
8 Garza Mancillas and Dr. Patricia Engle to develop the first
9 quality, affordable day care services in the Pilsen/Little
10 Village area of Chicago; and
11 WHEREAS, The need for quality, affordable day care
12 services for Hispanics in Chicago has never been higher, and
13 the benefits of this quality reach well beyond the childhood
14 years and help children through high school and college; and
15 WHEREAS, Currently, there are 110,707 Hispanic children
16 enrolled in Chicago Public Schools; in 1970, there were
17 56,000 Hispanic children enrolled, making them the only
18 ethnic group to have grown in absolute numbers during the
19 past 2 decades; and
20 WHEREAS, The high school drop-out rates of Hispanics in
21 the Chicago area are alarming and well-publicized, ranging
22 from 50 to 70% per high school; a recent study funded by the
23 Ford Foundation concluded that intervention must begin before
24 high school, in the early school life of the child; and
25 WHEREAS, Over 2,300 children have benefited from El Hogar
26 del Nino day care services since 1972, with all but 7
27 remaining in school, finishing high school and securing
28 employment, or attending college; and
29 WHEREAS, El Hogar del Nino was formally established as a
30 research and demonstration project of the Office of Child
31 Development (Department of Health, Education and Welfare);
-2- LRB9216919BHbh
1 the intent of the project was to bring together two dominant
2 but divergent approaches to pre-school education; first,
3 Spanish-speaking children would have a structured bilingual
4 curriculum to facilitate learning English; second, in an
5 effort to compensate for untrained community staff, an
6 unstructured Montessori learning environment would be used to
7 facilitate self-directed child learning; and
8 WHEREAS, From its humble beginnings in the basement of a
9 church, El Hogar del Nino has grown to provide day care to
10 over 300 children each year and community services in 3
11 locations with a current operating budget of approximately
12 2.5 million dollars, 40 full-time staff, and 13 part-time
13 staff; the agency has been recognized nationally and
14 designated by the National Council of La Raza as their 1997
15 Affiliate of the Year; and
16 WHEREAS, El Hogar del Nino is in the process of
17 developing a new child care and family service center
18 immediately adjacent and north of the existing facility at
19 1718 S. Loomis in the Pilsen/Little Village area of Chicago;
20 the new child and family service center contains 25,914
21 square feet and will serve 240 site-based pre-schoolers, 29
22 toddlers, and 80 infants through home-based programs;
23 therefore, be it
24 RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
25 NINETY-SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
26 we congratulate El Hogar del Nino on its 6th Annual Banquet
27 and for its positive and guiding influence on Hispanics, not
28 only as children in preschool, but also as young adults
29 throughout high school and beyond; and be it further
30 RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
31 presented to El Hogar del Nino of Chicago as an expression of
32 our esteem.