Celebrating the holidays with McCormick Foundation Executive Fellows at the Early Childhood Leadership Academy's recent holiday party. It was once again so inspiring to spend time and talk about the importance of early childhood education last week with other fellows at the Erikson institute. Many of these women and men are lifelong early childhood educato...

Last night, I had the honor of joining 600 other community members from many Northshore communities to celebrate the Evanston/Northshore YWCA. The YW is such an asset to our communities, especially because of the work it does in supporting women and children who are victims of domestic violence. I know from personal experience that the YWCA crisis interven...

Let's Be Honest (Part 2): Early Investments in Kids Pay Off Big, So We Must Invest This year I have had the great privilege to be part of the inaugural cohort of the McCormick Foundation's Executive Fellowship in Early Childhood Policy. I am one of 32 Fellows from the education, legislative, judicial and nonprofit sectors brought together by the Erikson...

It’s been over a week since I wrote a blog entry, and wanted to make up for lost time with coverage of the most significant issue we face as communities and as a state – our current financial crisis. This crisis has gotten significantly worse since Governor Rauner took office and held resources hostage to forward his political agenda. But it c...

I wanted to say a huge thank you to so many folks for joining us today for cider, cupcakes (from Chef Chloe) and lots of walking and getting signatures. We have more than 800 signatures as of today to be validated. It has truly been a team effort. We can't stop now, but I wanted to say thank you to these amazing volunteers as we round the corner! Ni...

I've been struck by the number of parents of special needs students and special education educators I have spoken to over the past week while knocking on doors. District 65 has embraced inclusion since before I was elected to the school board. In fact, my concerns about our proper resourcing of the implementation of this program were one of the reasons I ra...

400 down - 600 more to go! Just a quick note of thanks to everyone who volunteered their time on Saturday or Sunday to knock doors and get petition signatures. We are getting closer to the required signatures of 500. But, we can't stop there. We will need at least 1,000 signatures to ensure I can make it on the ballot. I f you haven't already, plea...

I strongly considered not heading out today to knock doors from 4-7 given the awful atrocities of last night. Yet, in some small way, it felt like I was doing something positive in the midst of so much pain and suffering. I was greeted so warmly even on a day when anyone's tendency would be to shut the door and pull the blinds shut. I was told "you ar...

In 2013, Illinois passed a conceal carry law which superseded previous local laws prohibiting handguns in various communities in District 17. I was on the District 65 Policy Committee at the time we were required to adopt policy associated with the new law which included the following components. I had real trouble with these in terms of their practic...

From the Campaign Trail So, I have been knocking on doors every day for about three hours. And, before you gasp - it's been the most fun part of this campaign thus far. Here's one funny story from yesterday. I was trying to leave an apartment building yesterday after talking with a nice man who would not sign my petition because he grew up in Russia an...

Let me start by saying that SB1947 was absolutely necessary and is a step forward for increased equity of funding across the state. With revisions to include a hold harmless and commitment (although not allocated guarantee) of $350M in additional state funding to education, it does represent progress. And, yet... I was told by a policymaker yesterday that ...

Thank You Friends for a Great First Petition Drive We have collected 250 signatures in just one week! We started our day at Backlot Coffee (Thank you for the space John Kim)! We set off at 10 a.m. to greet folks on Central Street and then canvassed the neighborhoods around Willard School. I spoke with many parents of school-age children about their...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE info@candancechow.com September 19, 2017 312-286-9036 CANDANCE CHOW RUNNING FOR 17th DISTRICT STATE REP. Long-time progressive leader and Evansto...