Joe Deacon
/ WCBU
A state grant of almost $860,000 will allow Peoria Public Schools District 150 to help students and families from communities adversely impacted by the war on drugs.
The funding comes from the “Restore, Reinvest, Renew” program, commonly called R3, which gets 25% of the tax revenue from Illinois’ legalization of adult-use cannabis. School officials touted the grant during a news conference Tuesday at Trewyn K-8 School on the city’s south side.
“What an opportunity for individuals who are in dire need, and can benefit from some support and guidance for success and actually becoming contributing members of society,” said PPS Superintendent Sharon Desmoulin-Kherat. “We are here in one of the most distressed communities in the state and in the nation, 61605 (ZIP code) at Trewyn Primary School, and this community, like many other communities are, impacted by the horrors of violence, have bolstered by concentration of disinvestments identified by rates of gun injuries, child poverty, unemployment, and incarceration rates.