Stephanie Mendoza to become Evanston's next city clerk dailynorthwestern.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from dailynorthwestern.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
UpdatedWed, Mar 10, 2021 at 6:03 pm CT
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Willard Elementary School kindergarten teacher Meghan Rice, of Highland Park, has taught in Evanston/Skokie School District 65 for the past four years. (Kathy Atkins/via Golden Apple Foundation)
EVANSTON, IL A kindergarten teacher at Willard Elementary School was named a finalist for the 2021 Golden Apple Awards for Excellence in Teaching.
Meghan Rice, who has taught in Evanston/Skokie School District 65 for the past four years, was selected last month as one of 32 finalists out of more than 700 nominations for the prestigious award, a record in its 35-year history.
This year, the award for educators will be given to teachers at the pre-kindergarten to third grade level. Last year, the award went to fourth through eighth grade teachers, and next year it will rotate back to the high school level.
Evanston Fight for Black Lives organizer Maia Robinson said she wants all community members to feel a “sense of pride” over the community fridge EFBL will install in the upcoming weeks as well as a responsibility to take care of it.
As a form of mutual aid, she said the guiding principle for the fridge is to “leave what you can, take what you need.”
“It’s not trying to point out who’s the one in need and who’s the one volunteering,” Robinson said. “That, to me, is what mutual aid is, doing whatever you can to take care of the community. That fits well with abolition, because the whole foundation of abolition is to look after one another and not depend on the state or the government to do life-affirming things. They should, but if they’re not doing it, we can do it ourselves. We can take care of one another.”
Evanston Now
City clerk candidate: Stephanie Mendoza
Stephanie Mendoza, 28, is the only candidate for Evanston City Clerk whose name will actually appear on the Feb. 23 ballot. All the other contenders are running write-in campaigns.
Stephanie Mendoza.
Stephanie Mendoza, 28, is the only candidate for Evanston City Clerk whose name will actually appear on the Feb. 23 ballot. All the other contenders are running write-in campaigns.
Mendoza offered the following information on her background and what she views as the key issues in the campaign in response to an Evanston Now questionnaire.
Background
I moved to Evanston in 2010 with my husband Edwin and our oldest son Emir, who was still a baby at the time. Evanston clearly embodied the values we wanted to build our family around and it still does today. Since then, we started a local business, had two more wonderful children, and have actively participated in community causes and organizations.
Evanston Community Foundation announced Monday its latest round of grant recipients through its Evanston Community Rapid Response Fund. The grants, which total to over $300,000, will continue supporting nonprofit organizations and community members through the COVID-19 pandemic.
ECF established the Rapid Response Fund days after COVID-19 arrived in Evanston, and has received nearly $4 million in donations since March 2020. The fund has awarded $4.3 million in grants since its inception.
The fund’s new round of grants seek to address homelessness, food security and mental health. The recipients include a collaborative grocery program through C & W Market, Evanston Aid and District 65 Family Center that will provide groceries to over 400 community members, focusing on families with young children, seniors and minority-owned businesses. ECF has also awarded grants to Interfaith Action of Evanston, which has organized a warming center, and to small businesses distributing meals to re