Miguel del Valle visits Chicago Program

This semester CP students were honored to meet with Miguel del Valle.   del Valle was City Clerk of Chicago until 2011, the first Latino elected to the Chicago City Clerk’s office.  Prior to his City Clerk position, del Valle was the first Hispanic Senator elected in the Illinois General Assembly where he served for 20 years.   In 2011, del Valle ran for the office of Mayor of Chicago. In the election he came in third in a field of six, with about nine percent of the vote.

del Valle spoke to CP students about an issue he is passionate about:  education.  He is currently chair of the Illinois P-20 Council.  The Council is working to improve birth to adulthood education in Illinois.  The goal of the P-20 Council is to increase the proportion of adults in Illinois with high-quality degrees and credentials to 60% by the year 2025.  del Valle talked about a curriculum designed to take students through all of their educational years, from pre-K through grad school.   

 

del Valle has been working for many years on issues facing Chicago Public Schools, including inequities in funding, and a lack of commitment to fully support neighborhood schools.  His first speech was to fight off an amendment to strip bilingual funding.  He ran for office to work on education issues; attempting to improve life for his constituents.

His first experience with the school system in Chicago was when he failed in the third grade.  He was born in Puerto Rico, and, at the time, he spoke only Spanish, and no one in the school could communicate with him.  He spoke of the importance of teachers, and the importance of supporting them.  “Effective teachers connect with students,” he said.  He remembers a particular teacher who saw potential in him, and inspired him.

He is passionate about making career options available to students.  He tells students there are many other roads available to them; if one doesn’t work out, “take another [road]; don’t stop, don’t go backwards.”