Hundreds of new parents graduated on Thursday, June 6th from the Logan Square Neighborhood Association Parent Teacher Mentor Program at Carl Schurz High School. “After demonstrating the dedication and love that the parent mentors put into helping each student, the Parent Mentor Program will receive a budget in FY20 of $3.5 million to continue extending the program to more schools and help more students,” says Logan Square Neighborhood Association (LSNA) parent mentor coordinator Teresa Labastida. “This wonderful program really works. It not only helps raise the grades of the students but also helps make them feel welcome in the schools and have confidence in themselves. It transforms the lives of parents and students in every school.” On Thursday, 936 parent mentor graduates from 117 Illinois public schools will walk the stage at Schurz High School. This graduating class successfully finished a year of leadership and instructional practice training centered on two hours/day of volunteering in classrooms (at least 100 hours), but that’s not all. They also organized to bring this opportunity to more parents and more schools next year and won a state budget increase for the program. Recognizing the graduates as Commencement Speaker was incoming president of the Chicago Board of Education Miguel del Valle.  Del Valle was instrumental in establishing the Parent Mentor and Community School models over 20 years ago as a state senator.