
East St. Louis Graduates Earn Scholarships, Associate Degrees
Despite a challenging pandemic year, the East St. Louis Senior High School Class of 2021 collectively earned over $16.6 million in college scholarships.
East Side Aligned (ESA) is one movement with many voices, powered by the unrelenting desire for children and youth in the East St. Louis School District 189 footprint to have equitable opportunities throughout their childhood and beyond.
In 2015, over 400 community stakeholders (half of which were youth) worked together to develop a bold agenda for young people. This agenda, known as The Roadmap, includes more than 180 strategies to improve the readiness and well-being of young people. Fast forward, ESA has become a vibrant movement, driven by a constellation of collaborative groups committed to creating the conditions for young people to thrive.
The ESA movement has facilitated transformational change, including:
The highlights above provide a glimpse of the impact the ESA movement is having in the lives of people who live and work within the East St. Louis area. At the cornerstone of this work are a set of core beliefs:
United Way of Greater St. Louis
Despite a challenging pandemic year, the East St. Louis Senior High School Class of 2021 collectively earned over $16.6 million in college scholarships.
Representatives from East St. Louis School District 189 and Township High School District 214 in the Northwest suburbs of Chicago shared how they have implemented trauma-informed practices in their districts in partnership with the Illinois Federation of Teachers and community partners.
This spring, the East St Louis School District Class of 2020 celebrated nine seniors who earned their associate’s degrees while graduating from high school.