{"id":33821,"date":"2026-05-29T15:36:39","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T20:36:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/devcofi.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=33821"},"modified":"2026-06-01T11:36:23","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T16:36:23","slug":"ellen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cofionline.org\/es\/ellen\/","title":{"rendered":"Ellen: So\u00f1ando con el futuro"},"content":{"rendered":"

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” custom_padding=”0px|||||” custom_margin=”-40px|||||”]<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe current moment is proving that parents are never going to back down \u2013 despite threats and funding rollbacks from the federal administration. Parents will continue to speak up and advocate in solidarity. Now is the moment to elevate their voices and invest in community organizing.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.6″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”]<\/p>\n

Even before Ellen co-founded Community Organizing and Family Issues, she had decades of experience as an organizer, having worked in political campaigns, a labor union, and a community organization.<\/p>\n

She knew how charismatic, often self-appointed leaders, typically White males, wield power forcefully and keep others away from the seats at the policymaking table.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew that not everyone in the community believed they could take action and make change,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

After launching a leadership training program for women community activists called the Women Leaders in Action and successfully training 80 women community leaders, Ellen and a group of 18 visionary leaders wanted to take it to the next step and created COFI.<\/p>\n

\u201cThirty years ago, we had a dream of building a powerful parent-led organizing movement of mostly mothers and grandmothers fighting for racial, economic, and educational justice for their families. I could never have imagined how far we\u2019d come,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Today, COFI is standing true to that dream and mission of building parent power and the voice of parents, especially for mothers and grandmothers from Black and Brown communities. Using The COFI Way<\/em><\/a><\/span>, COFI\u2019s innovative parent leadership development and organizing model, more parents are being invited to policymaking tables, here in Illinois and across the nation \u2013 or they are pulling up their own chairs to make sure their voice is heard!<\/p>\n

\u201cCOFI\u2019s model has turned traditional leadership training, especially what was around 30+ years ago, on its head,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd we\u2019re proud of that. It is not about individual powerful leaders. It is truly a collective movement for collective goals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of Ellen\u2019s favorite goals and victories that she\u2019s seen COFI and its parent-led membership organization, POWER-PAC IL<\/a><\/span>, lead include restoring recess to elementary schools in Chicago, removing police officers in Chicago Public Schools, and moving toward a holistic approach to safety, reforming Chicago\u2019s fines and fees system, and, most recently, passing an Illinois Child Tax Credit.<\/p>\n

\u201cMothers and grandmothers are the backbone and heart of COFI, and these successes really speak to their resilience and determination to make their voices heard and improve the lives of their children and their communities,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Now, as she looks ahead to the next chapter of COFI, she shares a dream that many individuals have expressed in the 30 Stories for 30 Years series: training more parents, organizations, and individuals across the country in The COFI Way <\/em>and ensuring that equity is built into who has their voices heard in policymaking.<\/p>\n

With the 30th Anniversary, COFI is thrilled to launch a Wisdom Advisory Council to build upon the successes and lessons learned over the past three decades of parent-led organizing. The Council, which brings together partner organizations, funders, board and parent leaders, is providing strategic guidance to expand COFI\u2019s work nationally, through its COFI Center for Action and Learning<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe current moment is proving that parents are never going to back down \u2013 despite threats and funding rollbacks from the federal administration,\u201d she said. \u201cParents are continuing to speak up and advocate in solidarity. Now is the moment to elevate their voices and invest in community organizing.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” link_option_url=”\/chanelle\/” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”]<\/p>\n

<< Back to Chanelle’s Story<\/strong><\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” link_option_url=”\/about-cofi\/30-years\/30-stories-for-30-years\/” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”]<\/p>\n

Back to 30 Stories >><\/strong><\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Incluso antes de cofundar Community Organizing and Family Issues, Ellen contaba con d\u00e9cadas de experiencia como organizadora, habiendo trabajado en campa\u00f1as pol\u00edticas, un sindicato y una organizaci\u00f3n comunitaria. <\/p>","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":33826,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"

Meet Leah, a longtime partner and supporter of COFI!<\/p>

She partnered with COFI on a parent-led project that COFI Organizer Talibah<\/span><\/a> and other parents worked on to address the lack of developmental screenings.<\/p>

As the director of a statewide community collaboration project, Leah collaborated with seven communities, including Englewood, to boost early learning enrollment. Englewood parents, armed with training from COFI, discovered that fear of stigma and mistrust of systems led some families to avoid developmental screenings for early intervention and special education.<\/p>

Parents pitched an idea to Leah: with funding, parents could support other parents to navigate the early intervention system and the special education system to get children in their community the support they needed.<\/p>

Leah funded the project and parents did it!<\/p>

Fast forward to 2024: during a training with The COFI Center for Action and Learning<\/a><\/span>, Leah visited Parker Academy in Englewood (pictured below) and met parents who were initially part of the project and were still benefiting from it!<\/p>

\u201cI got really emotional about a dad whose son benefited from the program and thrived,\u201d she said. \u201cThe parent-led project in Englewood shows that with a little bit of seed money, families can lead and make their innovations last. It is a systems change success story. This is how things work when parent voices are at the table.\u201d<\/p>

This anniversary and Leah\u2019s dream serve as a reminder of the connections forged through parent-led efforts. Change begins with a parent\u2019s dream, and when they unite with others and partners like Leah, remarkable transformations can ripple out.<\/p>","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-testimonials"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nEllen: Dreaming Forward | COFI<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Meet Ellen! 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