COMMUNITY CHARACTER COALITION 

OF ELK GROVE
 

"Service Through Volunteerism"

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CCC History

The Origins of CCC

2000

March

Three staff members from District 59 were sent to California for Character Counts training: Ana Casadas, Birdie Bisceglie, and Jane Paterala. 

The district had received an Illinois Violence Prevention Grant for $100,000 to finance this training and the implementation of Character Counts in District 59.

 

Fall

We offered CC training sessions for all our teaching staff, and training sessions for our parents and community members.                         

With the grant money, we bought banners, teaching materials, books, and other resource materials for each District 59 school.

 

December

We gave Character Counts presentations for community groups, the Elk Grove Village board, The Park District board, and EGV police.

2001

March

We held a Character Counts community-wide breakfast. 18 different community groups attended from Elk Grove, Des Plaines, Arlington Heights, and Mt. Prospect.  There were 8 school districts and two churches as well. We offered a one-day community-wide CC training.

 

May 15th

We held our first CC Community Network meeting.  There were 11 different community groups represented from Elk Grove, Des Plaines, Arlington Heights, and Mt. Prospect.  District 59 staff members and our Board of Education members also attended.  By this time, we had about 60 people/groups in our CC address group.  These people had expressed interest in receiving updates about what we were doing with CC in District 59 and in our Elk Grove Village community.

 

August 7th

We held our second CC Community Network meeting.  The CC presentation was given for EG park district pre-school teachers.

 

September

  • We offered sharing sessions throughout the year for our staff so that they could share the ideas, activities, events and resources that were working well for them in promoting the Six Pillars.  
  • We offered CC training to our District 59 bus drivers and lunch personnel.
  • We established a district CC committee with representatives from each school.
  • We created a CC district website to keep everyone updated with our progress. It listed special CC events or programs in the district and news about the Community Network.  
  • We offered CC sessions for our parents and community members.

 

October 2nd

Community Network meeting.  Deputy Chief Mike Lebert, from the EG police, received a $25,000 donation from the Shinnyo-en Temple in Elk Grove for the police to use for CC training. Elk Grove High School also received $15,000 from Shinnyo-en for the implementation of CC at Elk Grove High School.

Presentations were given to Kids’ Club staff and the catechists from St. Julian Eymard Church in EG.

 

November

CC training was offered to all new District 59 teachers.

 

2002

Character Counts continued to progress in District 59. Community groups continued to meet through the Community Network group. The Elk Grove community became very involved with the efforts in the schools to implement the Six Pillars.

 

2003

Spring              

Representatives from District 59, District 54, Queen of the Rosary, EG High School, EG library, EG park district, Village of EG, EG police, EG Township, and the EG Chamber of Commerce began meeting to explore the possibility of forming a coalition among the private and public sectors of the community to create a community coalition.  

 

Vision and mission of the coalition: ”To create a model community where the quality of life is supported by Core Ethical Values translated into good character practices, which are taught, promoted, and recognized throughout the Elk Grove Village community.”  

 

Summer           

Two sub-committees were formed comprised of representatives from a variety of the agencies and organizations that had been part of the CC Network.  The By-laws sub-committee drew up a document to be approved by the Network members at the September meeting.  This effort was led by Mike Lebert and Tammy Miller.  The Linkages sub-committee, headed by Jim Arey of EG High School, explored ways to build collaboration with a wide variety of service agencies, local businesses, faith-based institutions, and service organizations from the private and public sector.

 

September 16

Proposed bylaws were accepted and adopted and the Community Character Coalition of Elk Grove was formally established.

The Linkages Committee proposed a schedule of activities to occur throughout the year for the Elk Grove community.  The newly formed coalition began to implement the month-to-month activity recommendations during the 2003/2004 school year.

 

Spring 2003      

Representatives from School District 59, School District 54, Queen of the Rosary School, Elk Grove High School, Elk Grove Village Public Library, Elk Grove Park District, Village of Elk Grove, Elk Grove Police Department, Elk Grove Township, and the Elk Grove Chamber of Commerce began meeting to explore the possibility of forming a coalition among the private and public sectors of the community and create a community coalition.

 

The vision and the mission of the coalition was to create a model community where the quality of life is supported by Core Ethical Values translated into good character practices, which are taught, promoted, and recognized throughout the Elk Grove Village community.

 

Summer 2003           

Two sub-committees comprised of representatives from a variety of agencies and organizations were formed to assist in establishing the new coalition. The Bylaws sub-committee drew up a document to be approved by the Network members at their September meeting. At the same time, the Linkages sub-committee was formed to explore ways to build collaboration with a wide variety of service agencies, local businesses, faith-based institutions, and service organizations from the private and public sector.   

 

Mike Lebert and Tammy Miller led the Bylaws committee in the arduous task of creating the governance structure of the coalition. The committee drew up the rules and regulations, the structure of the organization and identified the committees that would provide support and activities in the day-to-day operation of the coalition.   

 

Jim Arey of Elk Grove High School and chair of the Linkages committee presented several ideas to members aimed at bringing the public and private sectors together. A proposed schedule of activities to occur throughout the year for the Elk Grove community was presented. Mr. Arey and sub-committee members supported the position that our youth is a valuable resource and needs to be included in coalition activities.  The coalition will begin to implement this sub-committee’s month-to-month recommendations during the 2003/2004 school year.

 

With bylaws in place and representatives from a cross section of the community committed to promoting good character practices, the Community Coalition of Elk Grove is set to provide resources and opportunities for all who live, work and attend school in the greater Elk Grove area. 

 

September 16, 2003

The vision and mission of this group became reality when the proposed bylaws created by the Bylaws Committee were accepted and adopted and the Community Character Coalition of Elk Grove was formally established.  

 

Originally, District 59 staff members had created and established Character Counts Community Network. They had a vision of expanding the district goal of providing a safe and nurturing environment by using the important messages found within the framework of the Character Counts program to build positive character traits and to link the school district with the communities it served. Representatives from area organizations and businesses participated in Network meetings for three years, with many of the participants coming from Elk Grove Village. Eventually, some members from Elk Grove Village felt the need to become more focused in a single community so the group would have a greater impact, and discussions began to explore the possibility of becoming a community-based organization. While attending a Healthy Du Page Coalition meeting, Network members Harriette Herrera, from District #59, Tammy Miller of the Elk Grove Park District and Mike Lebert of the Elk Grove Police Department began the brainstorming process of how to create a stronger, more focused coalition. The idea was brought to Network meetings in the spring and shared with Network members through the Internet for those who were unable to attend. There was strong support from the members who lived and/or worked in Elk Grove to move forward and develop the coalition.