Fifteen more schools are set to join Chicago Public Schools’ Sustainable Community School program, an eight-year-old model that incorporates community voices into the structure of neighborhood schools, including education and programming.
A total of 51 schools across the city now have the Sustainable Community School designation, which joins community organizations and nonprofit voices with school leadership, parents, educators and other community members. Together, they make shared decisions about each school’s curriculum, culture, programming and more.
The 15 new schools are scattered across the city, including in the neighborhoods of Humboldt Park, Archer Heights, Gage Park, Roseland, and more. The expansion of the program creates a “hub of wraparound academic help and social support” that extends to the neighborhood school’s entire community, Mayor Brandon Johnson said at a press event Monday.
“We are focused on expanding sustainable community schools and the communities that have been historically disinvested in and left behind, because this is a powerful way that we can eliminate inequities and expand opportunities for young people to learn, grow, and thrive in a safe and supportive community,” Johnson said.
The expansion comes as the district continues to battle funding woes. While the Chicago Board of Education passed its $9.96 billion budget late last month, it relies on an expected additional $150 million in state funding that it has not yet secured and on revenue that Gov. JB Pritzker has said is unavailable.
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When asked about funding for the expansion, Johnson replied it’s the governor’s and the state General Assembly’s responsibility. “I have given over a billion dollars into our public schools. There is no administration in the history of this city that has contributed more to our public education system, and here’s why: because I believe in it.”
CPS did not respond to the Tribune’s request for comment on how the program expansion or the $150 million gap will be funded.
The program started with 20 schools in 2018, with 16 more schools from the South and West sides joining the list during the 2025-26 school year. The model has been a focus of the Board of Education in recent years, which named the Sustainable Community Schools as a priority in its 2023 Strategic Five-Year Plan. The 2025 Chicago Teachers Union contract also included the creation and funding of more Sustainable Community Schools, with each school receiving $500,000 annually.
Beyond that, CTU’s contract includes plans to designate and implement at least 70 Sustainable Community Schools by the 2027-28 academic year, meaning an additional 19 schools will join the program’s ranks next year.
At Monday’s press event, CTU and Illinois Federation of Teachers President Stacy Davis Gates said the expansion signifies progress.“I’m honored to bargain for community in our collective bargaining agreement.” Davis Gates said. “I’m honored to have a symbol of that struggle be a part of the Chicago Public Schools and the way in which it gives power and priority to our students, to our educators, to their families, to the people who live in that community.”
The fifteen newly designated schools include Chicago High School for the Arts in Humboldt Park, Chicago Vocational High School in Avalon Park, Roberto Clemente Community Academy in Ukrainian Village, DeWitt Clinton Elementary School in West Ridge, Mary E. Courtenay Elementary Language Arts Center in Uptown, Marie Sklodowska Curie Metropolitan High School in Archer Heights, James Farmer Jr. Elementary School in Grand Boulevard, Foster Park Elementary School in Auburn Gresham, Gage Park High School in Gage Park, Mildred I. Lavizzo Elementary School in Roseland, Little Village Elementary School in Little Village, Roswell B. Mason Elementary School in North Lawndale, Benjamin E. Mays Elementary Academy in Englewood, Parkside Elementary Community Academy in South Shore and Theodore Roosevelt High School in Albany Park.