EXPERTS AGREE—MERCY HOME IS SOLUTION FOR KIDS STRUGGLING IN SCHOOL
Schools Leaders Ron Huberman, Sr. Mary Paul McCaughey Speak at
Mercy Home Forum on Education
Mercy Home for Boys & Girls hosted a private forum for members of its leadership boards that featured CEO of the Chicago Public Schools Ron Huberman, and Superintendent of Catholic Schools, Archdiocese of Chicago Sr. Mary Paul McCaughey. The discussion centered on how the two school systems work with Mercy Home to help hundreds of disadvantaged and troubled youths each
year overcome achievement gaps that threaten their futures. CBS 2 anchor and Mercy Home Board of Regents member Jim Williams moderated the panel discussion, which was held at Mercy Home’s Girls Campus on the South Side.
Both school leaders credited Mercy Home’s success in fostering academic achievement to the structure that it provides the high-risk young people who live there. “Kids have to feel safe, that someone loves them, that someone is making sure that they are doing their homework,” said Huberman. “If Mercy Home weren’t there to provide this, many of these kids might be lost to the street,” Huberman said, adding, “I wish there could be 200 Mercy Homes throughout the U.S.”
Sr. McCaughey called the youth home transformative in the lives of disadvantaged young people. “Mercy Home finds kids where they are and cheers them to the next goal to help them be what they can be,” McCaughey said, adding “Mercy Home is the face of God for these children.”
The event brought together the youth home’s leadership groups—the Board of Directors and Regents, the Leader Council, and the Junior Board—around the topic of education. “This afternoon was an inspiration,” said Rev. L. Scott Donahue, President and CEO of Mercy Home. “I was moved that the leadership of our home and the leadership of two of the largest school systems in the country could come together like this and share perspectives on how we might best serve the educational needs of disadvantaged young people. What a hopeful sign for the future for kids like ours.” Fr. Donahue said.
Darryl G. Schimeck, the president of Atlantic Plant Services and the chairman of Mercy Home’s Board of Directors and Board of Regents said that Mercy Home’s supporting boards should be proud of the impact that their support has had on the success of young people at
Mercy Home. “We have measured their progress, we have calculated the outcomes and we know we are preparing kids for bright and successful futures,” Schimeck said.
Last year, all high school seniors living at the home at the end of the school year graduated. Additionally, youth who came to the home 3.3 and 2.7 years behind in math and reading, respectively, gained an average of 1.5 years in math and 1.8 years in reading last year. These results were contained in a recent report on education released by Mercy Home that measured the outcomes of educational supports offered to children there.
The event was also the opportunity to announce to Mercy Home’s board members the quiet phase of a major fundraising initiative for education called Legacy of Learning. The four-year campaign will build on Mercy Home’s success by providing the funds needed to cover educational costs for all children who come to Mercy Home in perpetuity. Mercy Home’s young people, who range in age from 11-21, are currently attending more than 50 Chicago-area public and private grade schools, high schools, trade schools and colleges.
Each evening, after its young people return home from school, Mercy Home provides executive function training, tutoring, supplemental coursework, access to proctored leaning technologies and much more to help them catch up to their classroom peers. Children come to Mercy Home struggling in school often due in part to personal traumas, like abuse, neglect or neighborhood violence.
