Our Team and Family gathered in person for Spring Collaboration Day for the first time since the beginning of the COVID pandemic. During this time, we celebrated our accomplishments, shared stories of impact, and renewed our commitment to our mission of empowering students to reach their full potential. It was a day filled with inspiration, unity, and a shared vision for the future, emphasizing that our collective efforts will continue to drive positive change for our students and our community. 

The day was marked with a powerful spoken word performance by staff members on what social justice means to our organization.

Social Justice means collaborating with Rush University to open a food pantry with healthy food options for KIPP Academy Chicago families.

Social Justice looks like offering KIPP Chicago families an opportunity to earn their HS diploma alongside their KIPP student.  

Social Justice looks like offering KIPP students the opportunity to debate current events directly impacting them and participate in the Model UN conference in NYC. 

Social Justice looks like having access to VR headsets and experiencing Algebra through cutting-edge Math curricula. 

Social Justice looks like using a five-year, $600K grant to ensure all KIPP Students can pursue something they are passionate about. 

Social Justice looks like using the Creative Schools Grant to ensure students at KAP receive emotional support through Art Therapy.  

Social Justice looks like collaborating with the KIPP Foundation’s professional learning partnership to get better at coaching and supporting teachers and students with rigorous grade-level learning opportunities. 

Social Justice looks like collaborating with the KIPP Foundation in their professional learning partnership to adopt a Science of Reading-aligned curriculum that ensures teachers and students have the resources and materials they need to be reading to learn by third grade! 

Social Justice looks like implementation of and professional learning about a research-based phonics curriculum – Hillrap –  so that students who are not reading at grade level YET have opportunities to close their reading gaps and excel. 

Social Justice looks like investing in SEL training for our SEL peer leaders to ensure that Social Emotional Learning is always a part of KIPP Chicago’s academic program. 

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To better understand what supports currently matter most to teachers, we have launched our annual Staff Wellness Survey. Based on the survey results, we will design our monthly winter and spring workshops that offer camaraderie, fun, and relief.

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KIPP Chicago piloted a new lifestyle and benefits platform for our staff. In response to staff feedback, we heard the desire for autonomy in their wellness journey. As a result, we partnered with Fringe as a meaningful solution and tool for their wellness journey and would offer the necessary autonomy.

The pilot ran from May-June 2022, during which 112 staff members of all professional levels of the organization accessed the portal and 221 lifestyle benefits were selected. The benefits included wellness classes, subscriptions to various lifestyle organizations and services, personal development, activities for children, and so much more!

Based on staff survey responses, we’re happy to report the pilot was a success.

“Transparently, with the rise in the cost of so many things and being a parent of 4, I simply, at times, don’t have the funds to do a lot of things. So the options Fringe offers got me excited, and I actually waited to combine my points, and now I’m deciding between something for myself or the family.”

“Fringe allows you to choose how you are being appreciated based on your needs. Appreciation can look different at different times so the flexibility to choose based on your current needs or wants is a huge benefit.”

“I think this is a great way to give teachers and staff something they may need. I love having so many options for how to spend points. From groceries to fitness support, there is something for everyone. I wish we had something like this after I had my baby; having options like support with postpartum or finding childcare is amazing for mothers or expecting mothers. I think this could really benefit staff!”

We are very grateful to our teacher wellness sponsor, Stephanie Morimoto, owner of Asutra, for bringing this to KIPP Chicago.

Marquita Curry – CPS Principal Advisory Committee

Marquita Curry was elected to the CPS CEO Principal Advisory Council (PAC) in May. The PAC is a group of elected principals from across the district who provide input and feedback on key district initiatives and policies. The PAC has 28 members who engage in regular meetings with CEO Martinez and Chief Education Officer, Bogdana Chkoumbova so that principals’ voices are centered on decisions that directly affect their staff, students, and community.

Marquita serves on the PAC as one of only three principals representing fellow charter/contract/and options schools in Chicago. She is excited to strengthen the connections between our schools and the district by sharing the great work happening at KIPP Chicago while also deepening her understanding of the strengths and challenges of the district as a whole. She is honored to serve!

Latinx Motherhood Womanhood and Mental Health

We centered the voices of our Latinx teachers and parents through a panel discussion celebrating Latinx motherhood, womanhood, and mental health. The panel included Sylvia Ibarra-Moderator, Managing Director of Student Services- ML, Kayla Vigil Nuguid, English Learner Case Manager & Bilingual Teacher, Jennifer Torres and, Diverse Learner Teacher and Maria Quiroz, KIPP Chicago Parent. During the conversation, the panelists shared their joys, challenges, desires for inclusion, and vulnerabilities. In addition, we reflected on the fullness of their respective experiences faced during the COVID-19 pandemic and post-COVID. Thank you to our Whole Child Wellness Champions, Chantell Denney and Alanna Bonfiglio for your support in planning and organizing this impactful event!

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We know moving our bodies has a multitude of benefits. Even better is moving our bodies in community with others! We were so excited to welcome Latrice Madkins back for more Zumba and KIPP Ascend Primary’s very own CLIMB advocate and unofficial wellness coach, Scott Riley, leading a HIIT class.

Love Lounge Workshop

We were honored to host Chicago creatives, Meagan McNeal and Harold Green, to lead us in a virtual, evening poetry and song-writing workshop. KIPP Chicago families and staff came together for a few hours of creativity, fun, and community.

Fringe Wellness Platform

In response to staff feedback about a desire for autonomy in wellness journeys, we are working to pilot Fringe, a wellness platform, with a group of KIPP Chicago staff. This pilot will run from May-June 2022 and will help us to evaluate the platform. Fringe offers wellness classes, subscriptions to lifestyle organizations, personal development workshops, activities for children, and more.

We want to extend a huge acknowledgement of gratitude to Stephanie Morimoto, owner of Asutra, for sponsoring our pilot with this platform. Thank you, Stephanie, for your continued support of staff wellness.

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Each school’s wellness champion is a teacher, paraprofessional, operations leader, or assistant principal who is committed to staff wellbeing. Their goal is to promote and help to communicate the calendar of wellness events for our KIPP Chicago community. The wellness champions’ inaugural event was the food distribution at each campus on December 17th with Chi Fresh. This year’s wonderful group of wellness champs includes: Janise Wright, Sameka Gates, Jillian Lindenberg, Julie Theibert, Alanna Bonfiglio, Andrew Albert, Bryan Warner, and Chantell Denney.

Wellness Champion Feature: Bryan Warner

We are so grateful for our wellness champs and their commitment to staff wellbeing. Mr. Warner is a dedicated, multi-faceted educator and mentor to both students and teachers at KIPP Bloom College Prep. His peaceful temperament, wisdom, and unwavering support make him an indispensable teammate.

Tell us a little about yourself, and what is one of your most proud accomplishments?

I am one of the principal owners of A WARNER IDEA LLC specializing in the baby product industry. We have been in business for over 6 years. Starting a company is one the hardest things one can do but I am working to leave a legacy for the next generations. I am a father of four children, 3 are attending HBCUs on the east coast and one is a junior in high school.

My passion is to bring staff and students to their fullest potential by affecting positive change through connectivity, support, and my expertise in the academic and social spaces. I am humbled to be a part of KIPP, who is striving to achieve the goal of providing well-rounded educational, social, emotional and wellness programming to achieve the best outcomes for students and staff. My background is working with at-risk youth, both in an academic and residential setting at all levels. Partnering with the Equity Committee, I seek to find better ways to address students’ holistic needs by affecting change that addresses the uniqueness of the population served to enhance KIPP’s presence in the community.

I enjoy spending time with family, writing poetry, serving the community and learning everything I can to better myself and those around me. One of my most proud accomplishments is raising intelligent hard-working children who are all honor roll students, entrepreneurs, critical thinkers, risk-takers, and self-reliant individuals who are supported.

What brought you to KBCP?

What brought me to KIPP was the opportunity to work in a school again. I missed working with children and believed that I could affect change in the public school system. Fun fact, I was passed over when I first interviewed with a KIPP school. I received a call a few weeks later offering me the position and I almost said no. A person I respected said, “You should give them a try because they did not know what they missed out on. Give them another chance.”

What are some of your hopes for students as they enter the next phases of their lives, after Bloom?

Some of my hopes for students is to achieve the high standards and graduate with the skills necessary to succeed in a 21st century world. Students have the opportunity to be educated by diverse, culturally relevant experts in whatever roles the adults have in their lives. Students taught in environments that are conducive to academic, social/emotional and life skill learning. Encounter people that will protect them, nurture them, challenge them, and teach them the truth about themselves. Most of all, be healthy and strong in the ways that matter.

If you could impart one piece of wisdom on all students, what would it be?

Don’t let the problems of today be the problems of tomorrow. Plan the day, don’t let the day plan for you. Take action with purpose.

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This award is given to just 10 KIPP teachers from across the country each school year. We are ecstatic to announce that Carla Crespo, Assistant Principal & Diverse Learners and English Learners Teacher at KIPP One Academy, was one of ten recipients of this prestigious award! Read the full speech given by fellow educators to honor Carla: Sylvia Ibarra-Delgado, Emily Janik, Briana Jocelyn, Maggie Lee, Whitney Paul, and Gabby Tate.

Ms. Crespo is known for helping her students make remarkable academic strides. Last year, her 5th grade students advanced nearly 30 percentage points in math and reading in just the first four months of the school year. In addition, on the rigorous “Access Test” to test out of the English Language Learner program, Ms. Crespo’s students’ passing rate is nearly six times the state average. Outside of the classroom, she leads after-school Government and Spanish clubs, provides tutoring four days per week, and regularly helps students and families connect with community resources on social media.

“I truly cannot overstate just how laser-focused Carla is on the academic growth and success of her students,” says Whitney Paul, KIPP One Academy’s School Leader. “Carla is the kind of teacher who truly does whatever it takes to support all students and families in a variety of ways, and does so with a positive and loving attitude.”

Wellness Workshops

In tandem with our 13 weeks of parent content and curriculum, we offered similar wellness workshops for our teachers. We offered nine staff workshops through the 2020-2021 school year. We concluded this season of workshops with panel discussions centering Black Motherhood, Womanhood, and Critical Thinking (May) and a panel discussing Pride, Identity, and Mental Health (June).

Both workshops featured the voices of KIPP teachers, senior leadership, and alumni or parents. The Black Motherhood, Womanhood, and Critical Thinking workshop elevated the resilience of Black women and their evolution navigating identity, self-actualization, and mental health. Our Pride Identity and Mental Health centered the needs of members of the LGBTQ+ community, individuality, and building a safe community for LGBTQ+ students.

We thank our teachers, staff, parents, and alumni for their vulnerability and willingness to share their personal experiences with our community. The content of the conversations, diversity of voices, and perspectives provided joy, safety, and bonds when connection is deeply needed.

Surge Fellow, Sameka Gates

Sameka Gates of KIPP Academy Chicago has been named a 2022 Surge Fellow! The Surge Fellowship is the signature program of the Surge Institute and serves as a best-in-class, cohort-based experience that unites, accelerates, and empowers 20-25 emerging leaders of color in education. Surge Fellows go on a journey, not just learning the hard skills needed to function at the executive level and navigate complex systems but also joining a vast network of mission-driven leaders of color who understand and support each other’s needs. Congratulations, Sameka, on a much-deserved fellowship! Check out Sameka’s profile here!

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At the start of 2021, we recognized the reality of ‘Zoom fatigue’ and worked to prepare once-a-month wellness workshops for staff, instead of several events monthly. We made sure to pack each Wellness Wednesday event full of thoughtful, meaningful content!

For February, we hosted a Black Renaissance with an artist panel discussion, led by Lawrence ‘Binky’ Tolefree, alongside a Zumba class. Participants could enter the virtual event and choose between the panel or Zumba and both spaces allowed for gathering together in community, whether through high energy or low.

In March, we centered the needs of women during our Womxn’s Mental Health Workshop, offering participants a choice between an Afrobeat Zumba class or a workshop with Simi Botic, a holistic health coach.

On April 28th, nearly 50 team & family members joined our virtual workshop centering Black Fathers, Mental Health, and Critical Thinking. Dr. Obari Cartman hosted the robust conversation with our KIPP panelists, Lee Fisher, Jarell Lee, Pete Gooden, and Ivyl Watts. Dr. Obari emphasized the need for Black men, in particular, to take care of their wellbeing by expressing their feelings, journaling, and creating space for mindfulness and meditation. Then the panelists weighed in on various topics from raising Black boys, the media, gun violence, police brutality, and breaking familiar patterns.

“It was great to have that space created in the first place. As a black father, there is a ton of duality that you have to operate in. You’re always conscious of everything. Being able to talk about it is great. I enjoyed having my white counterparts there listening in and growing their knowledge and empathy. The only way we ALL change is if we ALL learn.”
-Branden Bufford

“I appreciated this space for the diverse perspectives and experiences of the fathers on the panel. While we may all identify as Black men, we are not a monolith and can continue to learn from each other’s similarities and differences.”
-Pete Gooden

“It was powerful to reflect on the questions presented by Dr. Cartman, many of which I had never thought of before. It was also simply bucket-filling to engage in the conversations with the panelists and other community members. Looking forward to the next!”
-Jarell Lee

“One of the first things we need to do is just talk..we need to find the language and permission to say how we’re feeling…modeling a new way of being human….we have to dismantle these notions…it’s a human thing to express your emotions, the range, from shame to guilt to regret to anger to sadness and grief…if there’s no space to say it out loud, it all turns to anger. The anger is masking a million different things.”

“You can have all of these feelings inside, but once you write, once you get it out, there’s a relief that comes from documenting it, from releasing it. It can be a ritual, giving your feelings a space to rest, something else to hold it rather than your heart, mind, and spirit. If you don’t put it somewhere, it just ruminates…most of the men I know have a list of strategies to distract, to move away, like drinking, smoking…these things can be an
illusion of reprieve that’s different than the actual relief you get when you write.”

“Particularly for the young people, they are embedded in a social media world that is an experiment that we’ve never seen before. The amount of distractions from self that keep us away from the ability to sit still, to be quiet, to center ourselves, to listen to our intuition. Those kinds of things are critical to mental health, to wellbeing.

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As we are all working from home, we sincerely miss the opportunities to gather in person for the sake of community, joy, and wellbeing! In striving to virtually hold space for connecting with others across the region, we’ve hosted 9 wellness workshops since the start of the school year. Workshops have included: yoga, mental health resources presentations, financial health presentations, watercolor, pasta making, family cooking class, paint-and-sip, and holiday hot cocoa bombs. Through partnerships with outside organizations and our own staff members, we’re grateful to the variety of people who presented these thoughtfully curated workshops!

Workshop Partner Spotlight

Yellow Vibrations is a therapist matchmaking platform founded by Christian Ziraldo. Her vision is to build, connect, and support the professional relationships necessary for mental wellness and joy, providing clients with the agency to make informed decisions and take control of their mental health.

Christian, in her own words:

Hi, I’m Christian, and I created Yellow Vibrations to provide a landing place for those seeking therapy and healing but are overwhelmed by the process. Don’t worry! It isn’t you. The tools we currently have to bring together therapists and clients are lacking. The beautiful, wonderful, fantastic part is that many people are becoming aware of the importance of healing past and generational traumas, working through the dark parts of ourselves, and finding ways to cope with our world. The challenging, sticky, frustrating part is- the systems in place to facilitate that healing is convoluted, confusing, and often inaccurate. This is where I would like to offer my help.

A few facts about me:

• I earned my dual master’s degree in Community and School Counseling from Wayne State University and my bachelor’s degree in Social Theory and Practice from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
• My heart and home is in Detroit, MI, but my current adventure has led me to Oakland, CA.
• My passion is helping others find their joy (and finding joy myself!). I love those deep, soul-soothing conversations you have with someone close to you, so I decided to make it my profession.
• In my free time, you can catch me dancing to Beyoncé, baking yummy treats, or spending time with my husband and kitten.

Financial goals and celebrations

Currently, approximately 45% of our team is actively and consistently engaged with Holberg Financial, one of our teacher wellness partners, for financial literacy goals. Since COVID, using the Holberg model for financial health, our team’s aggregate financial health score has increased from 42%-51%. Our staff uses this model when creating a budget, saving for a home, and planning for student loan payments.

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As we move into fall and back-to-school, our wellness team is committed to finding new, fun, and creative ways to bring wellness events to KIPP Chicago! During a recent survey, we saw a 62% increase in responses from our 2019 survey and we’re excited to keep learning more about our teachers’ needs. Our partner offerings from last year include Core Power Yoga, Chill Meditation and Massage Studio, Asutra, Holberg, Lyric Opera, LA Fitness, Chicago Ideas, Pure Edge, and Unmeasured Barre classes. Based on the most current teacher wellness survey, we are working on aligning all of our partnerships and wellness offerings with what teachers want and need.

Wellness champions

We are dedicated to the mission of bringing our community of teachers and leaders opportunities to decompress, relax, and come together in joyful ways. This past spring, as we reassessed staff wellbeing needs, we developed a team of peer-nominated wellness champions. The team set a goal of offering weekly remote wellness events for KIPP Staff, elevating our existing wellness-oriented resources for kids and families on our digital platforms. Last school year, staff engaged in yoga, watercolors, candle-making, game nights (like the one shown here with host Miguel Rodriguez), dance, and meditation. After reviewing the teacher wellness survey, we’re thrilled to unveil our 2020/2021 wellness events calendar soon to continue our work of bringing teachers together in wellness, joy, and community.

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We loved welcoming teachers into our Children’s Museum of Art and Social Justice for our first two wellbeing workshops: watercolor and yoga. We are currently working on continuing our teacher wellness workshops online. We’ll be looking for people to lead meditation, yoga, dance, and other workshops from home. We’re really excited for our own Ellen Sale, School Leader of KIPP Bloom College Prep, to guide us in a yoga class as she is close to completing her certification!

Partnerships and Teacher Discounts

Unmeasured, a virtual barre class series, is offering teachers 20% off their monthly membership.

Asutra is offering a standing 10% membership for KIPP employees. This is right on time for our quarantine and chill! The code has been sent to staff and we’re grateful for this partnership!

Core Power Yoga is offering a discounted Black Tag membership for Chicago Public Schools employees. This features unlimited yoga, at any Core Power Yoga studio across the United States. To take advantage of the membership you must present your KIPP Chicago ID card and enroll in auto renewal.

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