What 2025 Taught Us About Parent Power
Across Chicago, families showed up not just to react to decisions, but to influence them by asking hard questions, sharing lived experience, and insisting that schools work better for their children. At Kids First Chicago, we believe parents hold essential expertise about what students need to thrive. This year, that belief was affirmed again and again.
From Participation to Leadership
We watched a shift take place in 2025. Parents moved from attending meetings to setting agendas. From listening to leading. With access to clear information, supportive spaces, and one another, families across CPS stepped into advocacy with confidence and purpose.
Through conversations in living rooms and community spaces, leadership development cohorts, and school-based teams, parents built skills, but more importantly, they built trust in their own power. These connections stretched across the city, reaching families in nearly every community area and strengthening a growing network of parent leaders.
From listening to leading. With access to clear information, supportive spaces, and one another, families across CPS stepped into advocacy with confidence and purpose.
When Parents Changed the Outcome
One of the clearest examples of parent power came during critical budget discussions. When proposals threatened to deepen CPS’s deficit and place additional strain on classrooms, parents organized alongside civic allies and made their voices impossible to ignore.
Their advocacy helped stop a plan that would have increased long-term costs, a reminder that budgeting decisions are not just technical exercises, but choices that directly affect students and schools. Parents made it clear: student-centered decision-making matters.
This year also reinforced the role of clear, accessible information in driving change. Whether digging into academic trends, understanding governance shifts, or advocating for digital access, parents used data to ask better questions and push for accountability.
From launching a new annual look at the state of CPS to informing the transition to a new, hybrid Board of Education, facts became a shared language in helping elevate parent voices in conversations that too often exclude them.
Looking Ahead
As we look ahead, a recent citywide survey we commissioned underscores the urgency of this moment. Results from the survey revealed many Chicago residents still don’t realize CPS is moving toward a fully elected school board, making parent awareness and participation in upcoming Local School Council elections more important than ever. Read more about the findings in WBEZ.
We know that parent leadership will matter even more. With new elections approaching and changes in how CPS is governed, many families are still learning how their voices fit into these decisions. Our work in the year ahead will focus on closing that gap and making sure parents not only know they belong at the table, but feel prepared to lead.
Thank you, K1C, for all the support you have given us throughout these years of fighting. Although it has been difficult, we continue to stand strong for our students and the community!
—Alma & Consuelo
Learn More About K1C
Read our 2025 Impact Report for a deeper look at our year-in-review.
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