Michael1942's Blog

Could it get worse? The Springfield Urban League which has been a mainstay in Springfield and  traditionally the Eastside of town, has started down a path of  increasing disservice to that community. In the past several years, there have been grant funded programs that through poor administration have failed. The program called “Youth Build” was designed to train young men and women in the skills of construction culminating in their being placed with local companies as laborers to learn the business. To date there have been few if any placements from that program. These neighborhood residents could have possibly been used in the Springfield Housing’s construction of new homes on the East Side. The PITW (put Illinois to work) initiative proved a bust in that improper screening allowed folks who were unemployable due to some background issues  to work in proximity of young children and could not be hired due their lack of High school diplomas or GED’s.  The Head Start program is literally falling apart due to poor management and the seemingly iron fisted rule of the C.O.O. Since May of last year at minimum 40to 50 teaches, aides , bus drivers and other ancillary workers have been released for reasons ranging from Union activity to unsubstantiated  violations of policy. The workers began a unionizing campaign that while successful has not slowed the train of destruction that is engineered by this leader. The Head Start program if compared to a  sailing ship with a torn mainsail is now floundering due to understaffing and lack of overall leadership.The biggest loser in all of this are the clients of Head Start, the preschool children whose parents work, the parents who need a place for their children while they work and the employees who work for the program whose children and often grandchildren attend Head Start classes. Head Start provides a safe environment for these children along with the basic learning skills of reading, writing, personal relationships with other children of different backgrounds and 2 USDA approved meals a day. This is all being shredded by the actions of the Head Start upper management. I wonder if the Policy Council (a group composed of parents and Head Start Staff) knows all of the details on this situation as they are supposed to be aware of the hiring and firing of Head Start employees. What of the Springfield Urban League board of directors?