Culminating a learning experience based upon the new Chicago: Choices and Changes unit, more than 2,200 third-graders from 78 schools wrote letters to and sent Mayor Daley their dreams and plans for the city. The children wrote about everything from potholes, their parents’ joblessness and gun violence, to their appreciation for parks, gardens, open spaces and urban agriculture. As illustrated in the letter below, all of the students learned the importance of sharing their ideas as the first step to change.
Dear Mayor Daley,
You seem to make a lot of good dections. Would you like to come for a sleep over? We could stay up late and talk about a lot of good things we could do in Chicago. Think about it.
Love, Gio
On September 24, 2009, a representative group of nine students from three schools, along with their teachers and parents, personally delivered the "Letters to the Mayor" to Mayor Daley in his City Hall offices—where he hosted them on a guided tour for more than 40 minutes, pausing for individual pictures with every child, school and family group. Burnham Plan Centennial Vice-Chair Adele Simmons answered every student's letter on the Mayor’s behalf, with a personalized letter of her own.
See all programs of the Bold Plans. Big Dreams Education Initiative