A parent learning center opened March 11 inside Collins Academy STEAM High School in North Lawndale, aiming to rebuild connections between families and neighborhood schools after years of closures. The new Parent University campus at 1313 S. Sacramento Drive offers classes and skill-development programs such as job application assistance, financial literacy workshops, and expungement support, according to Chicago Public Schools officials.
The initiative is designed to help families support their children’s education while also advancing their own skills. Developed through a collaboration between the North Lawndale Community Coordinating Commission and CPS’s Community Action Council, the Parent University is part of a broader effort to strengthen educational infrastructure in the area.
“This is a community-led project,” Betty Green, a retired CPS principal and longtime North Lawndale organizer who helped develop the program, said at the ribbon cutting. “The North Lawndale community envisioned a place where we could come together, learn and love each other.”
The center joins CPS’s network of 15 Parent University campuses citywide but stands out for its roots in local advocacy that began more than a decade ago. Community organizer Leonard Moore recalled that neighborhood leaders first approached the Chicago Board of Education about 15 years ago seeking funding for a new science and technology academy. While the district declined to fund a new school outright amid widespread school closures affecting majority-Black neighborhoods on the South and West sides, it did approve approximately $40 million in upgrades for three local schools: Johnson Elementary, Chalmers Elementary, and Collins Academy.
Moore said organizers aimed to create a “triad” of schools offering continuous STEAM-focused education from elementary through high school. He added that future offerings at the parent center will be shaped by family input: “We already have some workshops prepared, but we really want to meet with parents from all the schools in North Lawndale and ask them what they want,” Moore said. “We want to make sure we’re meeting the needs of parents and helping them become stronger partners in their children’s education.”
CPS chief operating officer Charles Mayfield said during the event that strong parent engagement leads to better student outcomes: “Schools with strong parent and family engagement often see stronger attendance, less chronic absenteeism and improved academic outcomes,” he said. “Possibility doesn’t happen by yourself. It happens with the village.”
Collins Academy Principal Lakenya Sharpe told parents that they are welcome at the center: “You are welcome here,” she said. “You are welcome to grow and to be part of the journey we’re taking together.”
Parent Verna Wilson described how similar programs helped her nine children succeed academically: “Parent University became part of my village,” she said. That support made a difference… I’m bringing everybody I know here. This community needs it.”
Pam Price, a longtime West Side community leader, reflected on changes in North Lawndale: “Some of us remember how the West Side looked years ago — all the vacant lots and everything,” Price said Tuesday. “But look at the beautiful things that are coming back to the West Side of Chicago.”
