“Each month, I know I can show up to the Southside branch meetings, have my voice heard, and work together with other parents and caregivers toward our collective goals.”

Cornelia, or Cye Cye, has dedicated her life to showing up for people and for her community. As a home care worker, a proud auntie and great auntie, and lifelong Chicagoan, she found her community in COFI’s parent-led membership organization, POWER-PAC IL, especially in the Southside branch, which the parents have named Southside Parents United Roundtable.

“Each month, I know I can show up to my branch meetings, have my voice heard, and work together with my community toward our collective goals,” she said.

Right now, one of their collective goals is focused on improving access to healthcare. For Cye Cye and the rest of her branch, it’s deeply personal.

She and many COFI-trained parents receive healthcare coverage through Medicaid. Now, the federal administration’s rollbacks aren’t just bad policy but will be life or death. Parents and families will be forced to choose between spending money on health, food, rent, and more.

Cye Cye and other Southside and POWER-PAC IL leaders have spoken up over and over about the impact these cuts would have on them and the difficulty they face in proving they’re working. It means they have to take time off work, travel outside of their communities to public aid offices, and wait hours past their scheduled time.

“The impact of these cuts would affect all families – Black and Brown communities,” she said.“For working people like myself, that’s not a minor inconvenience. It’s forcing me to choose between getting a paycheck and showing up for my patients who need care on a day-to-day basis.”

In addition to healthcare coverage, the Southside branch is deeply passionate about improving access to mental healthcare. The branch is working on a resource guide, similar to the West Side’s, to help their community understand fees and low-cost options available in their community.

“So many parents, children, and neighbors have been through a crisis and don’t know where to go to get help,” she said. “That’s why this is very critical for our communities to have a resource guide.”

Cye Cye often thinks about her grandfather, who worked for years as a dishwasher at The Berghoff. He had Medicaid, family, community, and lived a long life. She wants the same thing, especially for the next generation, and her dream is to make sure that the people who come after her have more opportunities than she did.

“One of my great nephews wants me to go fishing with him, like my grandfather used to take me,” she said. “I want him and all the people in my community to go further, live long lives, and continue teaching the next generation.”