Our Achievements

Established the Pre-GYO program as an intensive recruitment and training program that bridges low-income people of color into the Grow Your Own Teachers program; Pre-GYO is being used as a model for other GYO consortia as they begin a new phase of expansion. In addition, Action Now Institute maintains a GYO consortia, partnering with Northeastern Illinois University in order to help “grow” teachers from the North Lawndale, Englewood, West Englewood, Auburn-Gresham, East/West Garfield Park and Austin communities.
Former GYO candidate Romanetha Looper graduated with honors from Northeastern Illinois University, was a McNair Scholar, is now getting her Master’s Degree from Loyola University and is employed at Penn Elementary.
Co-convened the Coalition for Effective Teachers to generate awareness of and opposition to the decision made by the Illinois State Board of Education to drastically raise the passing score required to pass the Basic Skills Test; the test is a barrier to a significantly high percent of low-income teacher candidates of color who want to enroll into a College of Education in Illinois.
Joined the Chicago Communities for Excellent Public Schools (CEPS) Coalition that works for quality education for low-income students of color and ensures Federal School Improvement Grants (SIG) are used in the best interests of our schools.

Co-convened Raise Illinois, a coalition of dozens of partners, to fight for a minimum wage increase in Illinois.
Released report with Women Employed, “Chicago’s Growing Low-Wage Workforce: A Profile of Falling Labor Market Fortunes,” that exposed the trend of a growing low-wage workforce in Chicago that is becoming older and more educated.

With the Foreclosure Convening, a coalition of more than a dozen organizations, we won level funding for the Cook County Circuit Court Foreclosure Mediation Program to continue throughout 2011.
ANI’s work in home foreclosure prevention has contributed to generating a success rate that is the highest among similar court foreclosure mediation programs in the country – approximately 1/3 of homeowners who entered the program saved their home and another 1/3 reached a mutually beneficial agreement with the lender.
Helped educate 475 homeowners in foreclosure about court mediation and engage them in the program.
Won $8 million in foreclosure prevention for the “Save Our Neighborhoods” program in order to increase statewide outreach to those who are facing foreclosure.