Dear D187 Staff Member,
District 187 is on a mission together, and as a community, we are building momentum. The entire City of North Chicago is making incredible strides
together. And the more we work together, the better we can do for all children and all residents. In North Chicago, we have a shared sense of community, and a shared sense of purpose; schools, city, police, not-for-profits, all working together for our kids.
I am writing to ask that you join this mission, and add to our momentum by supporting a new not-for-profit in North Chicago with the goal of sending all students to college for free.
To provide for our students’ futures, a group of leaders has come together to start the North Chicago Public Education Foundation (NCPEF) with the goal of paying for all students in North Chicago to attend college for free. As a first step, we are working with community partners to raise money to provide scholarships for all eligible students to attend the College of Lake County (CLC), our local community college. With your help, we will pay for tuition, books, and the wrap-around supports that our students need to ensure success in their first two years of college.
Our new partnership with CLC is called the Warhawk Lancer Scholarship.
Warhawk Lancer Scholarship will focus on eliminating the financial burden of post-secondary education by providing scholarships to highly-qualified graduates of North Chicago Community High School to attend our local regional community college. We will partner with CLC and other community agencies to support students and provide on-going assistance and counseling support.
CLC offers students multiple pathways to success: the beginning of a 4-year university degree, an associates degree in a wide range of selected fields, or a shorter-term certificate that prepares them for a career in a field like pharmacy. Whatever our students want to pursue, CLC is an excellent first step in their post-secondary education.
As a community, we want to make a promise to each student accepted in the program – a promise of full support for both years. This full support is estimated to cost $3,500 each year, or $7,000 for both school years. We will only offer scholarships to the students we can provide support for at least two years. Our goal this year is to support 10 students.
This letter serves as our very first NCPEF fundraiser so we want to start strong. In order to reach our goal of supporting 10 students for two full years at CLC, we need to raise $70,000. Can we count on you to make a gift of $500, $250, $100, or even $50? Your gift will directly support college education of students from right here in North Chicago. Please use the enclosed return card and envelope to make your gift to NCPEF’s Fund One 2020.
As you make decisions about your year-end giving, I very much hope you will give generously to launch the North Chicago Public Education Foundation and in doing so, help build strong futures for our outstanding students, and our entire community.
Sincerely,
John P. Price, Board of Directors