The organizations, chosen out of 15 applicants, for the “Whole School Safety Steering Committee,” include: Voices of Youth in Chicago Education; Mikva Challenge; Community Organizing and Family Issues; The Ark of St. Sabina; and BUILD Inc.
The groups will each receive a $30,000 stipend, funded by philanthropic organizations, for their work, CPS said.
Meyiya Coleman, a youth leader for Voices of Youth in Chicago Education, said groups like hers have spent years working toward the removal of SROs.
“It’s amazing to know that CPS wants to work with us on this, to actually figure out a way that we can find the better solutions on dealing with school safety,” Coleman said Tuesday. “Now that our board and all of CPS is willing to finally listen to young people, it’s amazing.