Thursday, July 28, 2011

Foreclosure Workshop, Block Party, Expungement Seminar

Manny Flores
        PUBLIC WORKSHOP: Are you being threaten with property foreclosure? Come to the Foreclosure Workshop being held this Saturday, July 30, 2011 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Little Village Community Council, 3610 W. 26th St. The workshop will be bilingual; in Spanish and English.
           DIRECTOR Manny Flores, of the Division of Banking for the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, will conduct the workshop and Mario Pantoja, Director of Consumer Services in the Illinois Dept. of Financial & Professional Regulation, will be at the workshop to help homeowner’s with issues on foreclosure. The Division of Banking regulates mortgages, pawnshops and banks.
               HOMEOWNERS ARE ENCOURAGED to bring any documents regarding foreclosure status. Representatives from the ICC, HUD, FHA and attorneys will be on hand for consultation. There will be a power point presentation and a question and answer period. Complaints will be taken from homeowners who have been scammed by private institutions or attorneys for the purpose of low modifications on property. Little Village H.O.P.E. is a co-sponsor of the event.


                BLOCK PARTY: The ponies, sponsored by Midwest Generation, are coming to the 5th Annual Community “Back To School” Block Party. The Little Village Community Council, official sponsor of the event, will host the Block Party on Saturday, August 6, 2011. The party begins at 10 a.m. until 5 p.m.; blocking 26th St. to 25th St. & Central Park Ave., in Little Village.
                         FREE HOT dogs, pop, popcorn, ice cream and school supplies will be given to the children in Little Village. There will be a jumping jack, piñata, face painting and a clown. This is a community block party to bring a day of fun to the children of Little Village before returning to school.
                    Registration to the Block Party will begin at 9 a.m. The LV Community Council welcomes sponsors, please call 312/286-3405.

                 LSC LEADER: Luz Zavala serves as President of the Title 1 NCLB Parent Advisory Council, a Parent Representative on the Local School Council at Maria Saucedo Scholastic Academy, 2850 W. 24th St., Chicago [renamed from the Carter H. Harrison High School], and as a volunteer.
Luz Zavala
                 AT THE May 24, 2011 Chicago Board of Education meeting Luz addressed the Board members. The address was about serious concerns of the LSC’s and the NCLB Parent Advisory Council regarding the Chicago Public Schools Department Office of Local School Councils and Title 1 NCLB.
                 LUZ TOLD the board members that, “Facilitators have verbally promised training but have never delivered it. We attend parent meetings at the parent center and are told to contact our facilitators, and they in turn tell us to come to the NCLB meetings, only to be redirected to yet another person with no real answer. The lack of proper understanding and lack of training from CPS on parent involvement funds to include the process and expenditure process is a total disaster. Please check the log in the office to see how long it takes to process payment of a vendor. We are held hostage by your employees who don’t understand our time constraints in a school,” Luz said.
                 “THIS CPS department has failed the taxpayers of the City of Chicago and CPS parents by their failure to deliver what the NCLB Act was designed to do, involve parents with meaningful consultation, under the terms of Section 1118 of the NCLB Act,” Luz said.
                 “OUR ENTIRE school system needs help from competent professional CPS employees from the Central Office. We need a professional with a thorough knowledge and understanding of the budget for parent programs in order for us to align them with our SIPAAA.
Maria Saucedo Scholastic Academy
         LUZ CONTINUED: “Employees are well paid to render services for parents. However, CPS employees have done a lousy job the past couple of years under the direction of Jose Alvarez, Carol Wood, and now Willie Montes de Oca and NCLB Valerie Watkins-Pendergrass. The incompetence and ineptness of employees is unprofessional and disgraceful to this great City of Chicago. At a time that we are cutting budgets in education, I ask board members to investigate and review the performance, management, and work out-put of  employees, especially those with extremely high salaries”, [furthermore].
                 “LSC NEEDS expert help, not someone who yells at us as if we are children, when we ask for assistance. We cannot go to the parent center at 521 East 35th Street when the NCLB staff hides; they have been totally ineffective and non-productive for parents.

                 “WE CAN no longer tolerate the unethical and dishonest way of protecting CPS employees who are paid from public tax dollars to be slackers and loafers. The reward for non-performance is either getting moved to another department to hide them or promote them at a much higher salary within the Central Office. Apparently, the rules do not apply to Central Office employees like they apply to employees at the local school.” 
                  “YOUR EMPLOYEES do not answer telephone calls, but they all have private telephone lines which only their personal friends have access to. Why aren’t the direct telephone lines given to the public? The layers of bureaucracy start with secretaries who are to forward calls to facilitators, who we can never locate, or managers who always pass the buck to another person. This is frustrating to us as parents.”
                 “STARTING WITH Mr. Montes de Oca who cannot, will not, or doesn’t know how to supervise this staff and Director of NCLB for District 299 Ms. Valarie Watkins-Pendergrass who is responsible to oversee our NCLB programs and supervise the persons [Ms. Anita Lau and Diantha James] who are yet another obstacle to approve our parent involvement money expenditures”.
                 “THE CONSTANT hurdles, rejection of all our purchase order requests all year have not been met because they reject everything and no one seems to help, assist or guide us through a comprehensive manner to ensure we spend our federal funds in a timely manner”, stated Luz.
                 “THANK YOU [CPS Board members], we look forward to your intervention, investigation and help for parents to spend the Title I, 1% percent money, which we have a right to use on effective parent programs and presenters at our schools or risk losing our money again. We expect and deserve the best from the Chicago Public Schools,” concluded Luz Zavala.
We commend Luz Zavala for her courage to speak out and her hard work for the betterment of LSC’s and NCLB goals.

                 EXPUNGEMENT SEMINAR: The Little Village Community Council and HOPE in conjunction with attorney Jorge Montes, former chairman of the Illinois Prisoner Review Board, will be hosting a bilingual adult and juvenile Expungement Seminar on Saturday, Sept. 17, 2011. The seminar’s aim is to help ex-offenders in removing obstacles that prevent them from getting work, finding housing, avoid deportation and rejoining our community.  Borra tu record criminal.
Front row: Ana Calderon, Blanca Jara
Standing: August Sallas, Jorge Montes,
Baltazar Enriquez
           LEARN HOW to expunge and/or clean-up your criminal record. Bring a copy of your “rap” sheet and disposition of your case to the seminar. These can be obtained at your local police station for a fee.
            VOLUNTEER ATTORNEYS will help adults and juveniles, seeking to have their records cleared, understand the necessary paperwork needed, sealing of records, clemency and/or pardon.
            PRISONER REVIEW BOARD will be available to screen potential clemency petitions and provide information regarding the preparation of petitions.                
            IN ADDITION to free clemency orientation, participants will obtain information on employment, job training, health care, housing and other services for ex-offenders. The location will be announced at a future date.              
            ATTORNEY JORGE MONTES served sixteen years as chairman of the Illinois Parole Board and his expertise is his wealth of experience and knowledge of the expungement process.
            SERVING ON the committee for the Expungement Seminar is yours truly, Attorney Jorge Montes, Baltazar Enriquez, Ana Calderon and Blanca E. Jara. If you want to retain his services, Attorney Montes’ phone number is 312/850-9844.


“Back to School” Community
Rock Party
Friday, July 29, 2011
3218 W. Cermak Road
8:00 p.m. till Midnight
“Luna Zeppia”  “Skam”
“Victims of the Night”
“Dimension Cuatro”
“Tone Zone”
Donation: $10
Host
Latin American Motorcycle Association [LAMA]