NEW REPORT SHINES A LIGHT ON PARENT-LED POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS ABOUT THE MENTAL HEALTH SYSTEM, SHOWS WHAT’S WORKING AND NOT WORKING FOR ILLINOIS FAMILIES
COFI parents speak to the challenges U.S. Surgeon General raised in recent advisory about parental stress and their solutions show a pathway to addressing the public health challenge
CHICAGO—Community Organizing and Family Issues (COFI) and its statewide parent-led membership organization, POWER-PAC IL (Parents Organized to Win, Educate and Renew), today released a new report called “Shining A Light: How Parent-Led Solutions Can Heal Our Communities and Address Trauma.”
The release of the report launches a parent-led campaign to tackle five solutions that COFI parents identified and prioritized through their grassroots efforts:
- Peer support and parent-to-parent programs that fill gaps in underserved communities
- Sensible reforms of Medicaid, which many families don’t qualify for due to their immigration status, could make mental healthcare more affordable
- Expanding community sports and arts programming to keep kids and parents healthy
- Supporting and investing in community mental health services, especially on the West and South Sides of Chicago and East St. Louis
- Making sure everyone involved in education, government and healthcare systems has a healing-centered framework, not just formally trained professionals
“What the Surgeon General shared wasn’t surprising. We hear the mental health challenges about parenting all the time,” said Liliana Olayo, Co-Chair of POWER-PAC IL’s Health, Food and Recess Campaign, who helped develop the report/campaign’s recommendations. “Once you know the harm and trauma that children and families are experiencing, you can’t ignore it. We, as parent leaders, are taking action by launching this campaign and getting trained in peer-to-peer supports. Now, it’s time for policymakers and decision-makers to work with us to address trauma in our families and communities.”
Parent leaders in POWER-PAC IL collected 1,033 responses during and post-pandemic in the following communities: Aurora, Chicago, East St. Louis, Elgin and Evanston. The most striking result revealed that 50% of respondents had no services in their area to support their family’s emotional health needs.
When asked about other barriers to accessing mental health, 37% named affordability as a challenge, 29% said there were long wait lists and limited appointments, 23% said transportation or location was an issue and 19% said there was a lack of information about services and how to find them.
“These challenges shouldn’t be challenges. These are easy fixes if you’re willing to make a difference,” said Katrina Falkner, Co-Chair of the Health, Food and Recess Campaign. “Our communities need services and resources, but most of all, we need policymakers to develop a healing-centered approach, listen to our stories and team up with parents to implement these recommendations.”
Chicago Public Schools (CPS) Chief Safety and Security Officer Jadine Chou and Dr. Gina Lowell of Rush University Medical Center joined parent leaders for the report’s release this morning.
In Chicago, parent leaders have been working with CPS Chief Safety and Security Officer Jadine Chou for five years on building and growing the district’s Whole School Safety policy, which officially passed in July 2024. The policy expands the meaning of safety to include physical, emotional and relational. For nearly 20 years, parents advocated to stop punitive discipline and criminalization of students of color in schools and instead push for investments in healing practices, restorative justice and youth mental health.
“I’m really proud of the work we’ve been doing with COFI, the Whole School Safety Steering Committee and the Office of Social and Emotional Learning. Schools play vital roles in our students’ and families’ lives and are important pillars in our communities,” Chou said. “Just as the report mentions, I hope other school districts explore how they can provide more holistic and comprehensive supports for our young people.”
Dr. Gina Lowell of Rush University Medical Center has known COFI and POWER-PAC IL parents for more than six years and has been a key partner in building parent power through their work together in BRIDGES, a system of care effort to enhance support for Chicago’s pregnant and parenting families who have been affected by trauma. BRIDGES connected COFI parent leaders to colleagues who trained them in Circle of Security (COS) and Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET).
The parent leaders have gone on to teach other parents about trauma and PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) and give them space to reflect on their best and most challenging moments. COFI and POWER-PAC IL are the second community group to receive NET training in the United States.
“This report is extremely important and demonstrates the hope and power of these parent organizers to lead the way,” Dr. Lowell said. “Our field is struggling to meet the mental health crisis that so many families and people are experiencing, and it’s going to keep growing unless we start thinking of doing what parents suggest in this report. Parents can be healers for their children, each other, their schools, their communities – with the necessary infrastructure to sustain them.”
COFI parents in Kane County have also been working closely with State Senator Karina Villa to launch a peer-to-peer mental health support pilot in Aurora, Illinois. In January 2024, parents launched the Parent Power Center, which received a legislative add-on of $250,000 from Senator Villa’s office.
Senator Villa said this about the campaign launch, “I’ve known the COFI mothers in Kane County for a long time, and they strive to ensure everyone in our community has access to their peer-to-peer support. It’s an incredibly powerful tool we have to make our mental health system more equitable and gives parents and families a dedicated space for their emotional well-being. We need more spaces like this in the 25th District and our state.”
View the report here. If you are interested in receiving a physical copy, please email cofi@cofionline.org with your name and mailing address and we will mail you a copy.
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Jacqui Guillen
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